When this new HBO series premiered last week, I initially, and fearfully, misread its title as Alt Def Comedy. What a relief, then, to realize it was, instead, the latest series from Russell Simmons, who first enlivened HBO’s comedy landscape in the Nineties with the groundbreaking, talent-launching Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam. That series brought to prominence so many folks, including the producer, that Simmons no longer feels the need to put his own name in the title of his newest show. But his influence… that’s everywhere.