NYC Comedy Picks for Monday 6/28/10
Extraordinarily talented comedy stars Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Gravid Water) and Arden Myrin (Whiplash)
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[FREE] 6:00 pm: Kevin Allison (legendary MTV sketch series The State, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, host of award-winning storytelling show Risk!) hosts this free open mic show for storytellers, in which you can put your name in a hat for the chance to tell a five-minute true story...and if it's a good one, possibly be included in Kevin's popular podcasts on the Web: Risk! Storyslam
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 7:00 pm ($17.50 online with discount code NIFF): My #1 pick for the 2007 FringeNYC Festival, this wonderful group of actresses/improvisors portray characters as if they were in a play, but improvise everything they say and do. The luminous performers include Katharine Heller, Brenna Palughi, Lynne Rosenberg, and Lauren Seikaly, each of whom is immensely appealing and quick-witted. Further, they have an intimate, lovely chemistry with each other; and they've all committed to baring their personal lives, thinly disguised via their characters (hence the title's Naked). As a result, this is one of the most honest and nuanced improvised shows you'll ever see. Check out some videos of previous episodes here; and then grab tickets for tonight's fourth installment at the Soho Playhouse of a 10-week Monday night run: Naked in a Fishbowl
[FREE] 7:30 pm: NYC stand-ups Liz Miele, Dan Cartwright, Vlad Caamano, Robert Dean, and Dan Enfield performing at a free weekly show in the Manchester Pub hosted by Phoebe Robinson: Case of the Mondays Comedy
7:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours at the Luca Lounge (222 Avenue B off 14th Street)—at John Morrison's Motel Luca
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Some of the best improvisors in the world—Kay Cannon (30 Rock, Let's Have A Ball), Tara Copeland (Mother, Ms. Jackson), Michael Delaney (Conan O'Brien, The Stepfathers), Anthony King (Gutenberg The Musical, Reuben Williams), and Thomas Middleditch (Improvised Shakespeare Company, Baby Wants Candy)—mixing it up with Broadway & off-Broadway stars Kevin Carolan (The Ritz, Dirty Blonde), Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Sesame Street, Tony nominee for Avenue Q, Stuffed and Unstrung), Dana Eskelson (Lascivious Something, After Ashley), Jennifer Grace (Theatre World Award Winner for Our Town, The Hypocrites), and Jonathan Kaplan (Diary of Anne Frank, Tony nominee for Falsettos) as they crash improv into classic theatre scenes at actor/director Stephen Ruddy's Gravid Water
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): NYC stand-ups Laurie Kilmartin (co-star of this summer's Last Comic Standing; Comedy Central, Craig Ferguson), Jamie Kilstein (Montreal Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Streeter Seidell (top comic for CollegeHumor.com), Kevin Barnett, and John F. O'Donnell (50 First Jokes) performing in the Lolita Bar at Liam McEneaney's Tell Your Friends
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Amy Heidt's one-woman show was one of the very best productions at this past August's FringeNYC Festival (for my review, please click here)—if you didn't catch it then, don't miss this wonderful opportunity to see Amy demonstrate her brilliance as both actress and writer; and comedy dynamo Shannon O'Neill performing her extravaganza about an annual talent show in "Charlie Sheen Prison, the only talent show starring the criminally retarded and insane," directed by the wonderful Will Hines, in the double-bill Amy Heidt: Dominate Yourself! and Prison Freaks: A Talent Show
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest stand-up comics in the country—tonight including Hannibal Buress (red-hot rising star; staff writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, concert film The Awkward Comedy Show; 2010 ECNY Award for Best Male Stand-Up), Donald Glover (NBC's Community, sketch/improv troupe Derrick, feature film Mystery Team), and Arden Myrin (Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, numerous other TV shows & films; for Mad TV samples, please click here and here and here)—guest-hosted by the wonderful Sean Patton (red-hot rising star; killer set on Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, VH1) at Whiplash
NYC Comedy Picks for Tuesday 6/29/10
Adam Wade hosts a special evening of storytelling at Whatever Happened to the Nerds?
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Comics industry pros join super-hosts Alex Zalben, Justin Tyler, and Pete LePage in a lively & hilarious discussion about four-color pop culture at Comic Book Club
[FREE] 8:00 pm: Sharp NYC comics Dan Allen, Noah Garfinkel, Ritch Duncan, and Mike Pomranz performing at Brooklyn's Bell House Front Lounge hosted by the breathtaking Sara Schaefer (Jimmy Fallon): Get Off Your Knees
8:00 pm to midnight ($5): Four full hours of improv for only five bucks—tonight featuring UCBT house troupes The Opera, Sandino, DeCoster, Badman, and Robber Baron; and at 11:00 pm high-level improv students tutored by Neil Casey & Ryan Karels perform in four-person teams ala top troupe Krompf—all at Harold Night
[FREE] 8:00 pm: NYC stand-ups Phoebe Robinson (host off Case Of The Mondays Comedy), Elon James White (Comedy Central), Jermaine Fowler, and Neil Charles performing at Cellar 58 (58 Second Avenue) alongside delightful host Abbi Crutchfield and comedic rapster Andrew Singer: Positively Awesome
[TOP PICK] 8:30 pm ($5): World-class storyteller Adam Wade (two-time Moth GrandSlam Storytelling Champion (2006 & 2009) and record-breaking 15-time StorySlam Champion; The New York Times Magazine; host of Real Tales of College; for Adam's award-winning tale of being an NBC page on Conan O'Brien, please click here) hosts a show that's "like watching the characters of The Wonder Years and Freaks & Geeks all grown up and telling coming-of-age tales of love, lost, regret, and redemption, with Jim O'Grady (Moth Grandslam Champion), Brigid Boyle, Armando Diaz, and a few of Adam's students: Adam Wade's Whatever Happened to the Nerds?
8:30 pm ($3): Rachel Feinstein (finalist on this summer's Last Comic Standing), Russ Meneve, Tom McCaffrey, and more performing at the Housingworks Bookstore Cafe for an almost-free weekly show hosted by Joe DeRosa...who's celebrating the release of his comedy CD The Depression Auction: Punch Up Your Life
[FREE] 11:00 pm: Free open mic stand-up show that's seldom much fun for audience members but is a nice opportunity if you want 4-5 minutes to test out your comedy material on stage: Bring It
NYC Comedy Picks for Wednesday 6/30/10
Genius stand-up Anthony Jeselnik (Big Terrific) and hilariously fearless sketch comic Arden Myrin (Totally J/K)
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
6:30 pm & 9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours—with two installments running back to back every Wednesday at John Morrison's Ochi's Motel
[FREE] 7:00 pm to midnight: Five free hours of improvisation in The PIT's Super Free Wednesday
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Reggie Watts (musical improv comedy genius; 2009 ECNY Award for Best Musical Comedy Act and 2007 Andy Kaufman Award; cast member of the new Electric Company; Jimmy Fallon; for video samples, please click here), Arden Myrin (Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, numerous other TV shows & films; for Mad TV samples, please click here and here and here), and more join best bud hosts Noah Garfinkel & Joe Mande (author of Look At This F*cking Hipster) at Totally J/K
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Superb stand-up Dan St. Germain, Lederhosen Lucil (Krista Muir), and Ben Kronberg performing at Fontana's (105 Eldridge Street between Broome and Grand Streets; take the B/D subway to Grand Street) hosted by brilliant comedic singer/songwriter Adira Amram and her musical group The Experience, with Adira thoroughly living up to the title of her monthly show: Electric!
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:30 pm: Genius stand-up Anthony Jeselnik (writer for Jimmy Fallon; Conan O'Brien, HBO, Comedy Central Presents), brilliant stand-ups John Mulaney (Saturday Night Live, Conan O'Brien, VH1), Julian Mccullough (Comedy Central Presents), and Roger Hailes (Comedy Central) performing at this free weekly comedy show at Brooklyn's Cameo (behind Lovin' Cup) hosted by Jenny Slate, Gabe Liedman, and Max Silvestri: Big Terrific
[FREE] 8:30: NYC stand-ups Kendra Cunningham, Ray Devito, Rob O'Reilly, Toby Muresianu, Kat Herskovic, and Bamboo Silva performing at this free weekly show hosted by Sharon Spell: Shrink
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): One of the finest comedic storytelling shows in the country, in which brilliant writer/performers—who tonight are Anthony Atamanuik, Andrea Rosen, Adam Newman, Peter Aguero, and wonderful host David Martin—tell tales that are brutally honest and hilarious, with tonight's theme "Going Postal:" The Nights of Our Lives
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Host Justin Purnell (The Colbert Report) providing as many as a dozen guests packed into 75 minutes performing stand-up, improv, sketch, and occasionally acts that defy categorization. The level of talent can vary wildly, but for some (like me), that's part of the laid-back fun; and this is often one of the most amazing comedy shows in town. Come support the experimentation, and periodic magical surprises, that this uniquely organic rollercoaster of a show makes possible—and don't forget to toss $1 in the bucket on your way out: School Night
NYC Comedy Picks for Thursday 7/1/10
Comedy giants Dave Hill and Janeane Garofalo perform tonight at Comedy Below Canal
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $12 marked with $) include:
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[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($12): A news-based show with comedy games and funny conversation hosted by by Faith Salie (CBS Sunday Morning), tonight with writer/producer Gideon Evans (The Daily Show), writer/commentator Alison Rosen (McSweeney's, podcast Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend), and more: The News Distillery
7:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): "Some people have amazing stories of wild nights and daring feats. Others have to make it all up. Andy Ross hosts the city’s best stand-ups and storytellers, some presenting written characters, others just characters themselves" in Ochi's Lounge at Real Characters
7:30 pm ($5): Sharp improvisors directed by James Eason "take an audience suggestion and break it into a million funny pieces," and veteran improvisors play with "elements of monoscene, deconstruction, and La Ronde," in the double-bill The Deconstruction and Sleepover
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Comedy geniuses Gavin Speiller (Death by Roo Roo, Rogue Elephant), Ben Rodgers (Reuben Williams, co-host of Cage Match), and Jon Gabrus (Conan O'Brien, Best Week Ever, The Nights of Our Lives) perform as one of the most hilarious improv trios in NYC: Outlook of the Poet; and two more improv masters, Zach Woods (NBC's The Office, Reuben Williams) and luminous comedic chameleon Lennon Parham (CBS' Accidentally on Purpose, Reuben Williams) perform as duo Skinny Business
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm ($37.50 online or at the box office using discount code ALIEN): Sharp comics and 80 Henson puppets collaborating on a show that's partly scripted and partly improvised: Stuffed and Unstrung
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($12): A blowout lineup with movie & TV star Janeane Garofalo, comedy genius Dave Hill (one of the most original and hilariously sharp alternative comics in the country; HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, star of The King of Miami, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Salon, The Dave Hill Explosion), Joe Mande (Comedy Central, VH1; co-host of Totally J/K; author of new book Look at This F*cking Hipster), John Roberts (YouTube star), and Matt Goldich (David Letterman, Comedy Central) at 92Y Tribeca's Comedy Below Canal
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Wyatt Cenac (correspondent for The Daily Show), Todd Barry (HBO, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central Presents, The Sarah Silverman Program, Adult Swim, feature films The Wrestler and Pete Smalls is Dead), Tony Camin, and Amy Miles joining the fresh, sexy, and razor-sharp gals of comedy group Variety SHAC
[$] 10:00 pm ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who's written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle's Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney
11:00 pm ($5): Two vibrant troupe troupes, Doppelganger and Belgian Rattlesnake, competing for audience laughs and votes at the raucous Cage Match
NYC Comedy Picks for Friday 7/2/10
Hilarious razor-sharp stand-ups Dan St. Germain and Sean Patton perform tonight at the free East Village show Hot Soup
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $12 marked with $) include:
[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($5): In this fun show, 16 musical performers turn an audience member's suggestion into two musical fairy tales that tell what happened from the viewpoint of first the hero and then the villain, with "all the music and magic of a Disney flick...plus the darkness of the Brothers Grimm:" Once Upon a Time
7:00 pm ($10): Sketch troupe Gentlemen Caller (Emily Altman, Aaron Burdette, Kathy Salerno, and Evan Thompson) spoofs Dianetics and more in Diabetics
7:30 pm ($10): Jamie Kilstein (Comedy Central, BBC, Huffington Post, 236.com, McSweeney's) performs an hour of stand-up on politics and more: No War, No God, No Nickelback
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00:Sean Patton (red-hot rising star; killer set on Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, VH1), Dan St. Germain (hilarious stand-up always worth catching), Jared Logan (Comedy Central), and Scott Moran performing stand-up at O'Hanlon's (14th Street off 1st Avenue), co-produced by Matt Ruby: Hot Soup
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00 pm: Jessi Klein (fresh, unique, deliciously organic comic who's become one of the best stand-ups in the country; staff writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central, VH1, NBC, CNN, Adult Swim), Chesley Calloway, Andy Haynes (NBC's Last Comic Standing), Dustin D'Addato (NBC, VH1), and more performing at Brooklyn's Coco 66 for host Nick Turner's Too Cool for School
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): A groundbreaking and surreal improv/sketch troupe performing with new guests each Friday and making a valid complaint: Centralia: We Were Supposed To Have Flying Cars By Now
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm ($37.50 online or at the box office using discount code ALIEN): Sharp comics and 80 Henson puppets collaborating on a show that's partly scripted and partly improvised: Stuffed and Unstrung
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Some of the finest improv in NYC from the comedy genius members of The Stepfathers
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): Always fresh and imaginative world-class sketch troupe that uses song, movement, and clever scenarios to turn familiar rituals on their head (for a video about awkward goodbyes at the end of a party, please click here): The Harvard Sailing Team
10:00 pm ($7): Singing improvisors who use an interview with an audience member to craft The Made-Up Musical
[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): Thomas Middleditch, Jonathan Gabrus, Sue Galloway, and other superb improvisors make up scenes about an audience member's legal dispute at The Law Firm: Law & Disorder
[TOP PICK] Midnight ($5): A comedic freestyle rap contest featuring some of the funniest & sharpest comics in NYC—who tonight are brilliant improvisors Thomas Middleditch, Becky Drysdale, and Will Hines; and sketch comic Micah Sherman and voiceover actor Ben Rameaka—plus a volunteer from the audience!, hosted by genius comedic musical performers Chris "Shockwave" Sullivan (Freestyle Love Supreme) and Eliza Skinner (I Eat Pandas), all at The BEATdown
[$] 12:30 am ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who's written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle's Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney
NYC Comedy Picks for Saturday 7/3/10
The history of vampires in Colonial Pennsylvania is performed to the music of Paula Abdul tonight at Straight Up Vampire
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
7:30 pm ($10): A comedic one-act play about Disney's Hall of Presidents awaiting the installation of a new statue for Barack Obama, written by Caitlin Tegart and directed by Neil Casey; and Independence Day improv in which each character is a former President, in the double-bill Waiting for Obama: A Night at the Halls of Presidents and 4th of July Presidential Improv Jam
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm & 11:00 pm ($37.50 online or at the box office using discount code ALIEN): Sharp comics and 80 Henson puppets collaborating on a show that's partly scripted and partly improvised: Stuffed and Unstrung
8:00 pm ($10): In this unique monthly show, stand-up comics perform in the buff. A reviewer from The Boston Globe observed, "The dynamic of nude comedian and clothed audience added an extra dimension to self-deprecating material." For a New York Magazine review, please click here; or simply come see for yourself at The Naked Comedy Showcase
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): One of the gutsiest and most hilarious troupes in comedy history—and the Cage Match Champion for two years in a row!—genius improvisors Death by Roo Roo
9:00 pm ($5): Organic & energetic improv by the four guys of 4 Track!
[TOP PICK] [$] 9:30 pm ($15 ticket; plus $12 min. if you sit at a table): "The history of vampires in Colonial Pennsylvania as performed to the music of Paula Abdul,"the O'Debra Twins, Nick Jones, and Corn Mo as Benjamin Franklin: Straight Up Vampire
9:30 pm ($10): "A cabaret of darkly funny songs and topical sketch comedy about culture and politics," following sold out shows at Joe's Pub: Political Subversities
[TOP PICK] [$] 10:00 pm ($15): Ted Greenberg (Emmy-winning David Letterman writer) performing a fun, quick-paced theatrical comedy show—complete with audience rides home!—at The Complete Performer
[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): An all-star improv troupe led by brilliant UCBT artistic director Anthony King: Reuben Williams
10:30 pm ($5): Vibrant improv from Nick Kanellis & Peter McNerney (Statues of Liberty) and Leslie Korein as comedy trio Trike
[TOP PICK] Midnight ($5): Anthony Atamanuik (30 Rock, Death by Roo Roo, The Nights of Our Lives), John Flynn (The Nights of Our Lives), Will Hines (The Stepfathers), Cecilia Lederer (Seize the Mustard), Annie Lederman, The Calgary Whalers, and musical guest The Cowment "celebrate the seedy and urbane life in America; think of us as The Prairie Home Companion, just a little more fucked up" at Andy Rocco's Underground Americana
[$] 12:30 am ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who's written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle's Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney
NYC Comedy Picks for Sunday 7/4/10
Most of the usual suspects are closed tonight, but here are a couple of 4th of July comedy shows to consider post-fireworks:
[$] 10:00 pm ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who's written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle's Show and David Letterman, headlining at Carolines: Paul Mooney
[FREE] 10:00 pm: NYC stand-ups Allison Castillo (Just For Laughs Festival), Steven Guarino (Logo's Big Gay Sketch Show), and Scott Ryan (Here! TV's Hot Gay Comics) performing at a free weekly gay-themed show at Therapy hosted by Brad Loekle: Electro Shock Therapy Comedy Hour
Alternatively, consider seeing a funny and/or musical
Broadway, off-Broadway, or off-off-Broadway show.
To learn how theatre tickets can be purchased for around 50% off—
or, in some cases, for as little as $3.50 each—
please read Hy on Theatre Discounts.
Copyright © 2010 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
