Oops, he did it again! Apparently, Britney is not the only Spears who is vying for bad publicity these days. Alas, the personal troubles for our dear Aries Spears continue as he is arrested in New York early this morning on a misdemeanor charge of forcible touching. An excerpt from this article spells out the details of both the incident and Aries' release:

"NYPD received a 911 call shortly after midnight [EST] after a woman claimed that Spears had fondled her at the Comix Comedy Club in Manhattan, where Spears had earlier performed. He was arrested just before 1:00am [EST] and taken to the station and booked. He received a desk appearance ticket and was released on his own recognizance."

Frankly, I don't know which of the following I find more disturbing: the news of Aries' arrest or the horrid mug shot featured in the aforementioned article. At any rate, while Aries struggles to learn the meaning of the word boundaries, Planet MADtv would like to thank newt007 for the heads-up on this unfortunate story. We will keep you posted (literally) as further updates surface. Let the hearty outcry of support for everyone's favorite "MADtv" cast member begin!

UPDATE (03/05): Yesterday was Aries' day in court, or his first day, at least. Apparently, the Manhattan Supreme Court loves Aries so much that it has scheduled him to return for another hearing on Wednesday, April 16th. After his initial arraignment on the aforementioned sexual abuse charge, Aries now faces up to ninety days in prison. For more information, as well as Aries' latest Kodak moment, check out this article.

UPDATE (04/21): According to this article, Aries Spears appeared in court this past Wednesday (April 16th). After he pleaded guilty to the aforementioned "forcible touching" charges, the judge rewarded him with a lovely fifteen-day suspended sentence. Aries will wait one year before serving the actual sentence, during which time he must behave himself like a good breast-obsessed comedian. The lesson here, as spelled out by District Attorney Elizabeth Pederson, is simple yet painful: "You can't high-five a woman's breast." Great! Now what am I supposed to do with my Friday nights?

Those wild and crazy "MADtv" cast members are just popping up everywhere these days! Never fear, for "Rapid-Fire Appearances" is here to bring you up to speed.

Let's kick things off with the golden lady herself, Nicole Sullivan. Not even married life can hold back our gal, who will appear in a star-studded episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in January 2008. Because the storyline for this "CSI" episode revolves around a rodeo, it's only fitting that professional cowboy Ty Murray be one of the guest stars, along with his girlfriend, singer and occasional actress Jewel. In the ultimate act of "yee-haw" showbiz nepotism, the episode will also feature Brendan Wayne (grandson of John) and Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon and Jessi Colter). Although we do not yet have further details on exactly how Nicole's character will fit into this whole, crazy scheme, feel free to read this article for more information, partner.

Do you have DirecTV? Neither do I, but subscribers may want to catch Aries Spears and Jeff Richards together in an upcoming episode of "The Supreme Court of Comedy." The series, which will air on DirecTV's general entertaiment network, the 101, has quite an unusual premise:

"'The Supreme Court of Comedy,' exec produced by Jonathan Murray, features real cases originally brought before small claims courts in California that will now be presided over by comedian Dom Irrera at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. The 'counselors' representing the plaintiffs and defendants will be alternating comedians.

Matchups include Sinbad vs. Tom Arnold, Tom Papa vs. Victoria Jackson, Jamie Kennedy vs. Aries Spears and Jeff Richards, and Tommy Davidson vs. Paul Rodriguez. Ten episodes have been ordered."

Although there is no word yet on when Aries and Jeff's episode will air, we will keep an eagle eye out for details. Will these "MADtv" alumni win their "case"? Will anyone without DirecTV give a rat's patootie? Drama ensues!

It's official: Orlando Jones never sleeps. In 2008, the Big O will add director R.A. White's comedy film Ye Olde Times to his mile-long resume. The film's plot involves two rival Renaissance fairs -- one cheesy, one priding itself on "serious productions of real Shakespeare." (Orlando's character belongs to the latter.) Jack Black, David Arquette, and Matthew Lillard will also join in "ye olde" fun. Curiously enough, no actresses are listed in the credits so far. The author of this article speculates on the possibility of man-love among the characters; however, the most likely scenario is the other she mentions: the old-school theater practice of having the male actors play both the male and female roles, thus negating the need for female actors. Oh, Orlando, what delectably daffy projects await your fans in the near future?

Finally, Phil LaMarr will appear in the 2008 Jonathan Fahn film Old Dogs, which centers around three men in their seventies who mistakenly pick up a bag of cocaine and find themselves caught between the police and the mob. Logic, as well as respect for the forty-something Phil, tells us immediately that his character, Joe, is not one of the three old men mentioned in the movie's title; however, at least from what we can gather, Phil does appear to have a sizable role in the comedy/drama, which stars John Saxon, Basil Hoffman, and Larry Gelman as the "old dogs." Can you teach an old "MADtv" cast member new tricks? Check out Phil at a theater near you to find out.

It appears that the nonviolent, rapid-fire gun is out of blanks for the time being. Do not be dismayed, though, because before you know it, the bullet chamber will once again be loaded with information on "MADtv" cast members' film and television appearances. Now that I have extended this unnecessary metaphor well past its target, all that is left to say is the following: stay tuned for more "Rapid-Fire Appearances"!

UPDATE (01/10): Nicole Sullivan's "CSI" episode debuts tonight at 9:00pm EST on CBS. Don't miss it!

UPDATE (02/25): Thanks to this article, we can now confirm that Ye Olde Times does indeed have at least one female star. Don't get too excited; it's just Lindsey Lohan. Although we still do not have word on exactly when this Orlando Jones extravaganza will be completed, a spring release seems realistic.

MADtv alumni and all-around funny man Aries Spears is scheduled to appear tonight (or rather 12:35am EST on September 19th if you want to be a stickler about it) on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien alongside Kelsey Grammer and musical guest James Blunt. Aries is likely to discuss the recent DVD release of Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror, a collection of three urban-themed horror stories that debuted at last year's Cannes Film Festival and as part of After Dark Film's Horrorfest.

So if you can't get enough of Aries Spears' unique brand of humor, love James Blunt or are secretly hoping for Kelsey Grammer to announce that he is reprising his role as Dr. Frasier Crane, tonight's episode of Late Night mustn't be missed.

Credit goes to blackwind for submitting this story.

Not content with 8 years of MADtv as his only sketch comedy experience, formerly departed castmember Aries Spears has landed a new role "The Underground"

From Chron.com:The Underground: Daman Wayans, still smarting over the cancellation of his ABC series My Wife & Kids, proves that not all of his comedy is family-friendly in this outrageous sketch series featuring such naughtiness as "The Real Vagina Monologues" (use your imagination ... or don't) and "The World's Smallest ... ," well, we can't complete that title.

"My goal was to test myself," Wayans said. "I can't call myself an artist if all I'm doing is trying to, you know, get a network to cancel my show. That's not my goal. My goal is to see how far we can go."

The Underground premieres September 14th (2 days before Season 12 of MADtv), on Showtime.

We've been waiting a long time for this, and it's finally surfaced thanks to a bit of sleuthing. The cast changes for the 11th season of MADtv are as follows:

Departing: Spencer Kayden, Ron Pederson, Aries Spears, Paul Vogt

Returning: Ike Barinholtz, Frank Caliendo, Daniele Gaither, Keegan-Michael Key, Bobby Lee, Michael McDonald, Nicole Parker, Jordan Peele, Stephnie Weir

New Castmembers: Arden Myrin, Crista Flanagan

New Featured Players: Frank Caeti, Nicole Randall Johnson

So there you have it. Now, in addition to two Franks in the cast, we also have two Nicoles! Nicole Randall Johnson studied at the Groundlings and has made appearances in tv shows such as CSI, Reno 911!, Felicity and Monk. She also made a brief appearance in the current #1 movie in America, The 40 Year Old Virgin.

And this tiny spoiler comes from FOX.com, outlining what we can expect in the first episode:

For the momentous 11th season premiere, the late-night comedy lampoons Hugh Laurie (Michael McDonald) and the FOX hit HOUSE. The hilarity continues with parodies of Vince Vaughn (Ike Barinholtz) in “Wedding Crashers” and Morgan Freeman (Jordan Peele) in “March of the Penguins” on MADtv airing Saturday, Sept. 17 on FOX.

Don't forget to watch!

Last week, Debra Wilson was busy filming her role in a new Andy Dick film, which I am assuming is Danny Roane: First Time Director, the same film that Mo Collins will be featured in. Debra will be playing a nurse, but Andy wanted her to have complete creative freedom over the character. She gets to create the character and improv all of her lines, all that he told her was that she was a nurse. It is a small role, but she is excited to have that much creative control.

Later this month, she will be filming a whole new set of Sierra Mist advertisements. The previous ads, which premiered early this year and also featured MADtv's Aries Spears and Nicole Sullivan, were a huge success. It is rumored that not everyone was invited to return and at this time Debra doesn't know the status on Nicole and Aries being asked back. Debra and the "Mist-takes" will be filming 12-15 more commercials, which will be premiering in January 2006. If you haven't seen the first set of ads, you can view them, along with bloopers and out-takes, at mist-takes.com.

Don't forget to also check out her all new reality special in which she takes on a very haunted area, along with other celebrities. It premieres October 31st, Halloween, on MTV.

From Celebrity Justice:

It was the slap heard around Sacramento, as Aries Spears, star of FOX's "MADtv" went head to head with Mike E. Winfield, a comedian and contributor on Sacramento's KSFM world famous morning show. Aries once headlined a show that Winfield once opened. But Winfield was let go and the two never saw each other again until a heated encounter at KSFM.

We're told that Spears was unaware that Winfield would be on the show at the time he was booked. On the air, Winfield confronted Spears and asked why he was fired. And during a commercial, things got ugly. The situation escalated, coming to a head when Spears slapped Winfield across the face. Winfield tells "CJ" he is thinking about pressing charges. But was Spears set up? Winfield says no.

All I can say is that I'm thankful he is no longer on MADtv. This is pretty disgraceful, Aries should be ashamed. You can view the article, and accompanying video, here.

As most of you guys know by now, a number of season 10's biggest cast members will not be present for season 11. For some of them, it was a personal decision not to renew their contracts, while others were cut by the producers. Whatever the reason, this is a first glance at what the cast will look like as of right now:

Departing Cast: Ron Pederson, Aries Spears, Paul Vogt and Stephnie Weir.

Returning Cast: Ike Barinholtz, Frank Caliendo, Crista Flanagan, Daniele Gaither, Keegan-Michael Key, Bobby Lee, Michael McDonald, Nicole Parker and Jordan Peele.

In addition to the cast mentioned above, for the first time ever on MADtv there will be two African American female cast members. When I recently spoke to Debra Wilson, she informed me that a new black female has been added to the cast for season 11. She's got an improv background like Daniele and performed with Groundlings. I'm not sure of her name yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. I have not heard yet if Spencer has been added to the regular cast, but we'll find out very soon I'm sure.

Thanks to forum member mrekim as well as Debra Wilson and Mo Collins for updating us with this information.