C.J.: Have you ever received a really bad gift? Lizz Winstead wants you

Comedian Lizz Winstead is looking for you if you've been on the receiving end of a worthless gift.

"Gift Intervention," her new Lifetime Web show, will be hunting for talent from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mall of America for the next two weekends.

Winstead, who flew back to her home state Tuesday, said: "We're trying to get people to come to the mall with these gifts and the stories behind them. Some people have gotten gifts that they still, to this day, cannot figure out what they are."Now, I'm a gift interventionist. I kind of like it. I'm not a trained professional. But they never are; there is no training involved in giving advice."

Winstead also will be casting for another show; this one will be searching for 40-plus guys who've always wanted to be in a rock band.

"It's kind of a reality show, social experience," she said. "We want to get a guitar player from one city, a singer from another, and drummer [etc.] and bring them to New York and have them become a band. This is for "Fuse, a newish music network that is owned by the people who own Cablevision. We started our search with ads on Craigslist, and you know there are a lot 40-plus guys who are wanting the dream."

The band tryouts will be from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday in Java Jack's basement in Minneapolis.

"I've got to support my peeps. You know, no one is better to Minnesota than me," she said. "That's a huge, huge statement on my part, isn't it?"

Hyperbole is the gift of comedians.

Say thank you, Jon

Whenever "Daily Show" anchor Jon Stewart's sees Lizz Winstead, he should kiss her feet.

Nobody has been better for his career and bank account than Winstead has. "He does not kiss my feet, but he's certainly incredibly sweet," she said.

As well Stewart should be, because Winstead is a co-creator of Comedy Central's Emmy-winning "Daily Show."

She left the show after some inflammatory remarks by a previous anchor, who also happened to be a Minnesotan.

"People always say, How do you feel now that you're not on the show and it's so successful? I always equate it to, you know, if I were to get pregnant and had to give my baby up for adoption and then Jon Stewart walked in, I would be like, 'Here you go. I know you're going to raise this baby just fine. I can go off into the sunset and do other things I think are fun.'"

Late but no beeline

Jerry Seinfeld was nice enough Tuesday when he treated me to a celebrity walk-by outside Chambers.

He just wasn't walking fast enough, considering he was late.

Seinfeld was here promoting his "Bee Movie" with an event at Edina's Southdale theaters.

Before he got into the yellow and black VW Beetle that was his limo to the event, there had been ample speculation by men on the street about why he was rolling Purple Time (as in late like Prince).

One guy joked that maybe Seinfeld was busy having his makeup done. I told the guys that Seinfeld didn't wear much makeup, but that maybe he was getting a kick out of the fact that the premiere couldn't start without him. Still, I made a makeup related joke to Seinfeld.

"How you doing?" Seinfeld said as he traipsed by.

When I asked whether he was running late because he had trouble putting on his eyelashes, Seinfeld said nothing. Maybe he didn't hear me, didn't get it or didn't think it was funny. While it wasn't as comical as the "Master of His Own Domain" episode of his TV show, it was a lot funnier than the "Hellloooo" episode.

Louie's Vegas vision

Louie Anderson spent a day looking for business opportunities at the Schussler Creative laboratory in Golden Valley.

The Minnesota-born comedian is interested in taking one of Steve Schussler's restaurant concepts to Las Vegas.

"He spent a whole day going through all of the concepts, talking to my entire staff, and it was on a Saturday, so my whole staff came in on a Saturday just to meet with him," said Schussler, the mad genius behind the Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex dining concepts.

Judging Britney

Judge Lynn Toler of TV's "Decision House" and "Divorce Court" shows, said Britney Spears' child custody judge has to be alarmed by how the pop princess has ignored directives.

"It frightens a judge when you say repeatedly, by not doing things, I will not follow the orders of the court," Toler told me Wednesday when she was promoting her My 29 WFTC shows.

"She's either disregarding [orders] or not capable of following them," Toler said. "Whenever you see something like this, you err on the side of caution."

Because of Spears' inability to STAY AT HOME, the empirical evidence provided by the paparazzi really works against her.

"It's not so much he said/she said anymore," Toler said. "There is objective evidence out there. It's I have her going to rehab, I'm doing drug tests on her, I have third parties saying I don't think she is treating her children well. I have pictures of her out at the club."

By far, the most disturbing photos have been of Spears carrying her kids through a paparazzi crush. I favor a law requiring the use of long lens by throngs of paparazzi.

Don't need another law, said Toler, "just a sense of dignity that says, 'She's got a 2-year-old in her arms. Let's take 10 steps back and give the woman a break.'"

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com.