A COMEDY UPDATE
A Deleted Scene
I'm happy to report that I spent most of my spare time since the last Canon laughing my ass off. On Thursday 2/8 I swung by the UCB Theater and caught a legendary installment of A Muthaf*ckin' Evening with Fabrice Fabrice. Played by Nick Kroll with expert creepiness, agression, and take-no-shitedness, Fabrice Fabrice rammed through a near 80-minute set, UGG boots and spandex a-blazin. He was visited by John Mulaney, a drunken Britton dressed as a tree played by Jon Daly, as well as Fabrice's agent, played by Brett Gelman. As usual, Anya Garrett took some phenominal (and very representative) pictures at the show.
The following evening I went to a more traditional stand up show, John Oliver at Comix. It's sort of unfortunate that people only really know Oliver from the Daily Show because his stand-up is so much more impressive than his reporting. His prepared material is air-tight and his off-the-cuff crowd work riffing is flawless. I spied Children of the Unicorn member Dave Hill in the audience as well.
Then on Saturday I went to the Plug Awards hosted by David Cross. Though more of a rock show than a comedy show, the event wasn't without a comic presence. Invite Them Up's Bobby Tisdale did the voice of David Cross's 20-foot puppet, Tom Shillue was a member of the house barbershop quartet, and I even saw Variety Shac's Heather Lawless roaming the venue.
WHAT'S HAPPENING? OH, I DON'T KNOW, ONLY:
IN OTHER NEWS
The guys from Stella and The State have been so busy lately that they deserve their own bulleted news summary.
For a pretty long time, The Daily Show stopped taking reservations for upcoming shows. Yesterday, though, I happened to be on the Daily Show Comedy Central page and noticed that they have a new (how new, I do not know) reservation system set-up that allows you to choose the day you want to see the show. Before it was more of a lottery where you sent in your name and availability and waited for your number to come up. Unfortunately, a lot of these dates already seem booked up and it takes a lot of trial and error in finding dates with vacancies. Anyhow, here's the reservation system. Good luck, Commie!
The Colbert Report is not taking reservations.
Tom Scharpling and his program The Best Show on WFMU continue to play a crucial role in maintaining what I consider the essential and unavoidable relationship between rock and comedy. Why, just look at his programs from the past few weeks. On 1/2/07 he had Paul F. Tompkins on the show. Then on 2/6/07 he had comedy duo Time and Eric on the show. THEN just the other day on 2/13/07 he had Zach Galifianakis on the program.
The debate as to whether the Sarah Silverman Program is pure genius or pure juvenile nonsense is raging. Personally, I love the damned show. The casting all the way down to the minor bit parts is a who's who of my personal favorite comedians. Luckily it looks like Comedy Central agrees as they have picked up the show for 14 more episodes.
Rififi is closing it's doors from 2/15 - 3/1 for renovations. Details are sketchy as to what exactly they'll be doing, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. Sadly, this means that shows like Invite Them Up will have to take a break. More at The Apiary.
Speaking of The Apiary, one of my favorite recurring things published on there is a series called From Behind the Bar at UCB. I find it really interesting to read the ruminations of one of the bartenders at one of NYC's premier comedy venues. Anyhow, the piece is written by NYC based writer/performer Margot Leitman whom incidentally, can be seen on 2/15 at Mo Pitkins as she co-hosts Stripped Stories with Giulia Rozzi
I love Chelsea Peretti's blog
Finally, Carlos Mencia, a notorious non-Mexican* joke thief and all around hack, has his ass handed to him by Joe Rogan. Backstory HERE.
*Mencia is half German and half Honduran and makes millions of dollars at the expense of Mexicans. Unacceptable.
A Deleted Scene
I'm happy to report that I spent most of my spare time since the last Canon laughing my ass off. On Thursday 2/8 I swung by the UCB Theater and caught a legendary installment of A Muthaf*ckin' Evening with Fabrice Fabrice. Played by Nick Kroll with expert creepiness, agression, and take-no-shitedness, Fabrice Fabrice rammed through a near 80-minute set, UGG boots and spandex a-blazin. He was visited by John Mulaney, a drunken Britton dressed as a tree played by Jon Daly, as well as Fabrice's agent, played by Brett Gelman. As usual, Anya Garrett took some phenominal (and very representative) pictures at the show.
The following evening I went to a more traditional stand up show, John Oliver at Comix. It's sort of unfortunate that people only really know Oliver from the Daily Show because his stand-up is so much more impressive than his reporting. His prepared material is air-tight and his off-the-cuff crowd work riffing is flawless. I spied Children of the Unicorn member Dave Hill in the audience as well.
Then on Saturday I went to the Plug Awards hosted by David Cross. Though more of a rock show than a comedy show, the event wasn't without a comic presence. Invite Them Up's Bobby Tisdale did the voice of David Cross's 20-foot puppet, Tom Shillue was a member of the house barbershop quartet, and I even saw Variety Shac's Heather Lawless roaming the venue.
WHAT'S HAPPENING? OH, I DON'T KNOW, ONLY:
- 2/15/07, 8:00pm, UCB Theater: The Dave Hill Explosion: Featuring Randy "The Cowboy" Jones (from The Village People) & Lucy Wainwright Roche.
- 2/17/06, 9:00pm, Children's Aid Society Bldg: Moonwork Presents an Evening of Original Works. Featuring Demetri Martin, Mike Birch, Craig Baldo, Reggie Watts, and Tom Shillue. Get there early; this event will sell out
- 2/19/07, 8:00pm, UCB Theater: Bro'in Out with Leo & Tony. Featuring Zach Galifianakis, Demetri Martin, Martha Plimpton & The Last Car!!! Reserve now! Reservations are disappearing quickly!
- 2/19/07, 11:00pm, UCB Theater: Crash Test. Aziz is back, people!
- 2/20/07, 8:00pm The Pit: Here's The Thing. This may be sold out by the time you read this. Line-up includes Slovin & Allen, Christian Finnegan, Brett Gelman, and more.
- 2/21/07, 8:00pm UCB Theater: STAND-UP: Michael Showalter. Michael Showalter swings by UCB to test some new material before heading off to the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
- 2/21/07, 8:30pm Rififi: Invite Them Up. Rififi is closing for repairs soon, so why not catch an installment of Invite Them Up before the closure?
- 2/22/07, 8:00pm Comix: Hot Tub Variety Show. This wonderful variety show is hosted by Kurt Braunohler & Kristen Schaal. This installment features special guest David Cross!
IN OTHER NEWS
The guys from Stella and The State have been so busy lately that they deserve their own bulleted news summary.
- Former State cast member Kevin Allison, the "red head gay", has replaced Alex Zalben as artistic director of The Pit. See the newsflash on his personal site
- David Wain's film The Ten is going to be at SxSW in March. The film features Paul Rudd, Joe Lotruglio, Adam Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Rob Corddry, Kerri Kenny, Gretchen Mol, Oliver Platt, Winona Ryder, Liev Scheiber, Mather Zickel, Justin Thereoux, Jessica Alba, Michael Showalter, Ken Marino, and Zak Orth. CC Insider has some really awesome clips
- Reno 911: Miami is coming out on February 23rd. Most people are aware that the cast of Reno 911 is comprised of some ex-State members. However, this film will feature a cameo by THE ENTIRE CAST OF THE STATE. Yes, I wrote that in all caps because I am that cranked.
- Michael Ian Black has a film coming out in April called The Next Girl I See. It features Jason Biggs, Rob Corddry, AD Miles, and scads more talent.
- Ken Marino wrote and produced a film showing at SxSW called Diggers. The film is a coming-of-age comedy about four working class friends growing up in Long Island as clam diggers. I'm sold by the premise and the cast alone.
- Michael Showalter is heading out to Aspen for the HBO Comedy Arts Festival. If you find yourself in Colorado and have the means to get into his shows, he'll be there from 2/28 - 3/3 with Mary Lynn Rajskub (Mr. Show, 24) and John Oliver (The Daily Show). Check out one of his UCB Theater practice gigs.
For a pretty long time, The Daily Show stopped taking reservations for upcoming shows. Yesterday, though, I happened to be on the Daily Show Comedy Central page and noticed that they have a new (how new, I do not know) reservation system set-up that allows you to choose the day you want to see the show. Before it was more of a lottery where you sent in your name and availability and waited for your number to come up. Unfortunately, a lot of these dates already seem booked up and it takes a lot of trial and error in finding dates with vacancies. Anyhow, here's the reservation system. Good luck, Commie!
The Colbert Report is not taking reservations.
Tom Scharpling and his program The Best Show on WFMU continue to play a crucial role in maintaining what I consider the essential and unavoidable relationship between rock and comedy. Why, just look at his programs from the past few weeks. On 1/2/07 he had Paul F. Tompkins on the show. Then on 2/6/07 he had comedy duo Time and Eric on the show. THEN just the other day on 2/13/07 he had Zach Galifianakis on the program.
The debate as to whether the Sarah Silverman Program is pure genius or pure juvenile nonsense is raging. Personally, I love the damned show. The casting all the way down to the minor bit parts is a who's who of my personal favorite comedians. Luckily it looks like Comedy Central agrees as they have picked up the show for 14 more episodes.
Rififi is closing it's doors from 2/15 - 3/1 for renovations. Details are sketchy as to what exactly they'll be doing, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. Sadly, this means that shows like Invite Them Up will have to take a break. More at The Apiary.
Speaking of The Apiary, one of my favorite recurring things published on there is a series called From Behind the Bar at UCB. I find it really interesting to read the ruminations of one of the bartenders at one of NYC's premier comedy venues. Anyhow, the piece is written by NYC based writer/performer Margot Leitman whom incidentally, can be seen on 2/15 at Mo Pitkins as she co-hosts Stripped Stories with Giulia Rozzi
I love Chelsea Peretti's blog
Finally, Carlos Mencia, a notorious non-Mexican* joke thief and all around hack, has his ass handed to him by Joe Rogan. Backstory HERE.
*Mencia is half German and half Honduran and makes millions of dollars at the expense of Mexicans. Unacceptable.
posted by Dale Gribble at 10:34 AM
1 comments
