NYC Comedy Picks for Monday 5/10/10
TV stars Donald Glover (Whiplash) and Wyatt Cenac (It Is It)
6:30 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 John Morrison's Ochi's Motel
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[FREE] 7:30 pm: NYC stand-ups Louis Katz, Kevin Barnett, Brian Jian, Joe List, and Max Fox performing at a free weekly show in the Manchester Pub hosted by Phoebe Robinson: Case of the Mondays Comedy
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00 pm: Comedy star Wyatt Cenac (correspondent for The Daily Show), plus Rory Scovel, Sunah Bilsted, and Willy Appelman performing stand-up at a free weekly LES show at Pianos hosted by Daily Show producer Adam Lowitt: It Is It
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): John Fugelsang, Barry Rothbart, Rob Cantrell, Jordan Levinson, and David Cope—plus musical guest Jordan Levinson—performing in the Lolita Bar at Liam McEneaney's Tell Your Friends
8:00 pm ($5): Two of UCBT's fine house sketch comedy troupes, Thunder Gulch and Gramps', trying out new bits at Maude Night
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): 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; and two of the funniest and most loveable sketch comics alive, Katherine Bryant and Chris O'Connor (half of sketch troupe Fearsome) team up with also hilarious sketch comics Mike Still (sketch troupe A Week of Kindness) and John Phillips (sketch troupe Trophy Dad) to perform a comedic play about a college buddy returning after 10 years to ruin his friend's life, all in the double-bill Prison Freaks: A Talent Show and Mace Bacon: The Worst Guy Ever
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest stand-up comics in the country—tonight including Donald Glover (co-star of NBC's Community and feature film Mystery Team; Derrick) , Rachel Feinstein, Mike O'Connell, Adam Cayton-Holland, and Greg Barris—hosted by the wonderful Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Conan O'Brien, HBO, Comedy Central) at Whiplash
NYC Comedy Picks for Tuesday 5/11/10
YouTube sensation Mike O'Connell (Punch Up Your Life and Sweet) and comedy treasure Kristen Schaal (Punch Up Your Life)
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
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[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
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00 pm: Superb NYC stand-ups Baron Vaughn, Ben Lerman, Giulia Rozzi, Baratunde Thurston, and David Lee Nelson performing at Cellar 58 (58 Second Avenue) alongside delightful host Abbi Crutchfield and comedic rapster Andrew Singer: Positively Awesome
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm to midnight ($5): Four full hours of improv for only five bucks—tonight featuring UCBT house troupes Robber Baron, Bastian, Badman, Ragnaröck, and The Opera; and at 11:00 pm a double-bill with improv genius troupes Outlook of the Poet (Gavin Speiller of Death By Roo Roo, Ben Rodgers of Reuben Williams, and Jonathan Gabrus of The Law Firm) and The Two-Man Movie (Neil Casey & Anthony Atamanuik make up an entire feature film)—all at Harold Night
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 9:30 pm ($3): TV & movie star Kristen Schaal (one of the funniest women alive; shining star correspondent on The Daily Show; co-star of HBO's Flight of the Conchords; Comedy Central Presents half-hour special; AMC's Mad Men; star of UK TV series Penelope: Princess of Pets), Mike O'Connell (hilarious YouTube star), Mike Drucker, Rory Scovel, Sean O'Connor, and Ethan Berlin performing at the Housingworks Bookstore Cafe for an almost-free weekly show hosted by brilliant stand-up Pete Holmes (Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central Presents, The Daily Show, John Oliver and Friends, VH1's Best Week Ever, The New Yorker): Punch Up Your Life
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($5): Mike O'Connell (hilarious YouTube star), Donald Glover (co-star of NBC's Community and feature film Mystery Team; Derrick), Leo Allen (former writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central Presents, Conan O'Brien, HBO's Funny or Die, host of top NYC comedy show Whiplash), and John Viener (writer and voice artist for Family Guy) performing at The Slipper Room for the LES weekly show hosted by the wonderful Seth Herzog (Jimmy Fallon, VH1): Sweet
9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): Delightful stand-ups Leah Dubie and Amy Beckerman hosting a gay-themed stand-up show in Ochi's Lounge: Dykes on Mics
[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 5/12/10
"What's It Gonna Be?" YouTube star Mike O'Connell (Big Terrific) and Colin Quinn (Rent Party)
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
[FREE] 7:00 pm to midnight: Five free hours of improvisation in The PIT's Super Free Wednesday
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Star stand-up Colin Quinn and Morgan Murphy (staff writer for Jimmy Fallon) performing at the debut of a new monthly comedy show at The Bowery Poetry Club hosted by Liam McEneaney: Rent Party
8:00 pm ($5): A large cast of talented comics performing very silly stage acts at Eliot & Ilana Glazer's High School Talent Show
[FREE] 8:30: NYC stand-ups Jena Friedman, Keith Alberstadt, Nick Zimmerman, Brian Longwell, Emmy Rivera, and Kat Herskovic performing at this free weekly show hosted by Sharon Spell: Shrink
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:30 pm: Mike O'Connell (hilarious YouTube star, Jimmy Kimmel), Jon Glaser (Conan O'Brien, 30 Rock, star of Adult Swim's Delocated), Hari Kondabolu (Comedy Central), and Rory Scovel performing at this free weekly comedy show at Brooklyn's Cameo (behind Lovin' Cup) hosted by Gabe Liedman and Max Silvestri: Big Terrific
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Theatrical scenes made up on the spot with breathtaking skill by brilliant and passionate improvisors who have become one of the best comedy duos in the biz—Scott Adsit (30 Rock, Moral Orel) and Christina Gausas (Conan O'Brien, The Colbert Report), a.k.a. Adsit & Gausas
[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 5/13/10
Hip-hop comedy rules tonight, both at The PIT with Freestyle Love Supreme and at Comix with Ted Alexandro
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
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[$] [DISCOUNTED] 7:30 pm ($33.48 online if you use code VIPMAY, plus 2-item minimum): A stand-up who's performed frequently on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, and who's performed a Comedy Central Presents half-hour special and numerous Comedy Central Roasts, headlining tonight through Saturday at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Greg Geraldo
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): The wonderful Jon Friedman performing a smart & silly one-man show, and Deborah Gross recreating absurd and amusing conversations she's experienced through her sharp storyteller's perspective, in the double-bill Bear with Me and Conversations with Deb
8:00 pm ($8): Elizabeth Blue performing a new one-woman show: Am I Blue
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 9:30 pm ($12.89 online if you use code VIPMAY, plus 2-item minimum): Wonderful comics Ted Alexandro, Carolyn Castiglia, Snakes, Mara Herron, and Rob Cantrell join host Tom McCaffrey for "a comedy/hip-hop show featuring some of New York's top comedians like you've never seen them before" at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Joke Life
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Brilliant singer/songwriter Shayna Ferm tops off tonight's show in which Pat Dixon and Brad Lawrence tell sexual tales revolving around tonight's theme "Calling It Quits" at the best sexy storytelling comedy show in NYC: Margot Leitman's & Giulia Rozzi's Stripped Stories
[$] 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
[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): Vibrant improv troupes Reuben Williams and Bastian compete for audience laughs and votes at the raucous Cage Match
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: An amazing comedic freestyle hip-hop group, using audience suggestions as a springboard for creating improvised music inspired by jazz, rap, and comedy: Freestyle Love Supreme
NYC Comedy Picks for Friday 5/14/10
Genius comics Kate McKinnon, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Rodgers, and more perform sketch at midnight's Beneath Gristedes
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
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[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): "The most fabulous show on Earth," hosted by Tim Gunn (John Flynn) and Tim Gunn (Michael Hartney), featuring such superb comedic performers (both straight and gay) as Claudia Cogan, Megan Neuringer, Sue Galloway, and Lou Perez, plus two audience members who'll be selected to compete in a design challenge, at The Same Sex-Tacular
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): A groundbreaking and surreal improv/sketch troupe performing with new guests each Friday and making a valid complaint: Centralia: We Were Supposed To Have Flying Cars By Now
[$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($33.48 online if you use code VIPMAY, plus 2-item minimum): A stand-up who's performed frequently on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, and who's performed a Comedy Central Presents half-hour special and numerous Comedy Central Roasts, headlining tonight through Saturday at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Greg Geraldo
[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): In this new show, 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
11:00 pm ($5): Dan Hodapp & Natasha Rothwell, champions of the Magnet Theater's 2009 Improv Duo Tournament, bring nearly five years of improv collaboration to stage "for an evening of bold, committed characters and truthful, grounded scenework" at Hodapp & Rothwell
[TOP PICK] Midnight ($5): Top UCBT talents—tonight featuring Matt Fisher, Nate Lang, Kate McKinnon, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Rodgers, and Andree Vermeulen as the performers, and Adam Conover, John Frusciante, Kevin Hines, Anthony King, Shannon O'Neill, Craig Rowin, Jim Santangeli, Eric Scott, Nate Smith, Gavin Speiller, Erik Tanouye, Caitlin Tegart, and Greg Tuculescu as the writers—creating a one-night-only sketch comedy show directed by comedy genius Gavin Speiller, with musical guest Cavalier Rose: Beneath Gristedes
[$] 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 5/15/10
Stellar stand-ups Kumail Nanjiani, Sean Patton, and many more celebrate Sean Donnelly's birthday at Lil' Seany Boy
Recommendations for the best in New York City comedy tonight
(in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
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[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($10): A musical about "a pious Pope framed for a crime he didn't commit...betrayal, Holy War, foot-stompin' musical numbers" and everything else it takes "to entertain the Hell right out of you" in Pope: The Musical
[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): Genius improvisor Christina Gausas and friends she originally made in Chicago—which include writers & performers from 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show—plus a rotating cast of stellar visitors, all joyously declaring Let's Have a Ball
7:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): A small army of superb stand-ups celebrating host Sean Donnelly's birthday—Sean Patton (red-hot rising star; killer set on Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, VH1), Kumail Nanjiani (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central), Matt McCarthy (Comedy Central, AMC, Verizon FIOS guy, Front Page Films), Blaine Perry & Pat Stango, Phoebe Robinson, Nick Turner, Steve Bossous, Rory Scovel, and Nick Cobb—performing in Ochi's Lounge at Lil' Seany Boy
[$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($33.48 online if you use code VIPMAY, plus 2-item minimum): A stand-up who's performed frequently on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, and who's performed a Comedy Central Presents half-hour special and numerous Comedy Central Roasts, headlining tonight through Saturday at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Greg Geraldo
8:00 pm ($5): Will Nunziata and Jerry Miller performing a two-man sketch show designed as a love letter to the dystopian films of the 70s, 80s, and 90s:" Dystopia Gardens
[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 ($5): Organic & energetic improv by the four guys of 4 Track!
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 10:30 pm ($15 both online and at the door using discount code PISANO, otherwise $20): A Chicago-based troupe that's wowed audiences around the world with their skill at creating a completely improvised hour-long musical. The plot and characters, the musical accompaniment; even the song lyrics and the "choreography" are made up on the spot, with no pre-planned structure. Come see why BWC won a FringeNYC Award last August for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Event at the magical Baby Wants Candy
[TOP PICK] [$] 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
Midnight ($5): John Flynn, Jon Gabrus, Pam Murphy, Bill Grandberg, and more risk seeing a whole lot of dicks as they interact with the newest Web sensation at Chatroulette Live!
NYC Comedy Picks for Sunday 5/16/10
Timmy Williams does stand-up at Beauty Bar Comedy, and a slew of puppets perform at Punch
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] 7:00 pm ($10): "NYC's most consistent puppet slam bringing you the most amazing puppet theater around. There will be puppet mayhem—everything from humanette wackiness to toy theater to Greek myth to a comic tapeworm therapist—from Wonderspark Puppets, Evolve Company, Kate Brehm, James Walton, Susan Beauregard, and Aidan Koehler" performing at Brooklyn's Brick Theatre for one night only: Punch
[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10) and 9:30 pm [FREE]: UCBT's signature improv comedy extravaganza, which typically includes stars in the improv world, and sometimes even TV & movie stars such as Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz: ASSSCAT 3000
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($7): Wyatt Cenac (correspondent for The Daily Show), Kumail Nanjiani (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central), and more performing at Brooklyn's Union Hall with comedy giant Eugene Mirman: Tearing the Veil of Maya
[FREE] 8:00 pm: Andrea Rosen, Rob Cantrell, Myq Kaplan, Colin Jost, Mad Dog Mattern, and Chesley Calloway performing at RG Daniels' free weekly show at the Three of Cups East Village lounge: Sunday Night Stand-Up
[FREE] 9:00 pm: Unannounced stand-ups performing at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan) probably hosted by the wonderful Hannibal Buress: Comedy Night
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 9:00 pm: Timmy Williams, Kurt Braunohler, Rob Cantrell, and Zach Sims performing in the East Village's Beauty Bar at Vince Averill's & Jesse Popp's free weekly show Beauty Bar Comedy
[FREE] 10:00 pm: An all-gal lineup of stand-ups—Helen Hong, Susan Alexander, and Dana Lovecchio—performing at a free weekly gay-themed show at Therapy hosted by Brad Loekle: Electro Shock Therapy Comedy Hour
Copyright © 2010 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
