NYC Comedy Picks for Monday 10/26/15
It's your last chance to catch this extended run of a top FringeNYC 2015 musical packed with Broadway performers and catchy songs penned by Adam Overett (for samples, please click here and here and here): Popesical: A Papal Musical Comedy (7:00 pm, $18, West Village's Soho Playhouse at 15 Vandam Street)...
...and Chris Gethard (comedy genius; Broad City, Conan O'Brien, The Office, IFC; star of Fusion's The Chris Gethard Show; author of A Bad Idea I'm About to Do and Weird New York, plus My Comedy Album) seamlessly blends stand-up and storytelling in a way that creates a deep, poignant, and hilarious experience. In this show Chris achieves a new maturity to his already stellar career with a beautifully honest look at his experiences with mental illness and suicide that reaches exceptional heights. And if all that's not enough, opening for Chris tonight is phenom Jo Firestone. It all happens at Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (8:00 pm, $8 at the door or $9.53 in advance online, Brooklyn's Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Tuesday 10/27/15
David Carl provides a sneak peek at the upcoming third Republican debate—playing all the candidates himself!—in this installment of his Road to the White House (7:00 pm, $5, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)...
...and if you're still hungry for impersonations after David Carl's show, head on over to a gameshow that challenges comics to top each other with off-the-cuff impressions of celebrities, fictional characters, and historical figures. Tonight's contestants are Henry Zebrowski (co-star of Heroes, Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell), Jermaine Fowler (Friends of the People), Eric Drysdale (writer for Late Show with Stephen Colbert), and Ariel Dumas (writer for Late Show with Stephen Colbert), with judge Morgan Miller (improv group Mermaids), and hosts Andy Beckerman & Ramsey Ess: Snap Impression Live (9:30 pm, $5, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Wednesday 10/28/15
Naomi Ekperigin (dynamite rising star stand-up; writer for Broad City and Hulu's Difficult People; MTV, VH1, FX; co-host of In Stereo) interviews odd characters on this takeoff of a late night TV show: Night Late (11:00 pm, $5, UCB Chelsea at 307 West 26th Street)...
...and storytellers Leslie Goshko, Anna Drezen, Cyndi Freeman, Louis Peitzman, and host Blaise Allysen Kearsley reveal How I Learned Everything is a Lie (8:00 pm, $10 at the door or $7.47 in advance online, Brooklyn's Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Thursday 10/29/15
The wonderful Margot Leitman (Conan O'Brien, VH1, Spike TV, co-host of sexy & funny Stripped Stories) celebrates the publication of her storytelling how-to book Long Story Short along with such stellar peers as Elna Baker, Dan Kennedy, Jeff Heller, and Caitlin Brodnick: Long Story Short Book Release Show (11:00 pm, $5, UCB Chelsea at 307 West 26th Street)...
...and Anthony Atamanuik, Connor Ratliff, Shannon O'Neill, and Morgan Grace Jarrett promise "ALL OF YOUR FEARS ARE INSIDE OF THIS HOUSE!" These top improvisors are putting on a semi-scripted interactive audience show for Halloween they're describing as a "Chamber of Modern Terrors and Social Anxieties that you will consume through an immersive theatre experience:" Fear Bazaar (2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm, 8:00 pm, 10:00 pm, and midnight; $5, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Friday 10/30/15
Improv group Gypsy Danger—which includes such stellar comics as Katie Hartman, Evan Kaufman, and Meredith Hackman—prepare you for Halloween by making up a terrifying movie on the spot based on an audience suggestion: The Improvised Horror Film (9:30 pm, $10, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)...
...and over a dozen comics—including Joe Pera, Christi Chiello, Joe Rumril, and Nate Fernald—perform and share their scary short films at free Halloween show Video Nightmares (8:00 pm, free, Over the Eight at 594 Union Ave)
NYC Comedy Picks for Saturday 10/31/15
An immersive comedy theatre experience designed to "thrill, surprise, and terrify you," plus post-show games, prizes, and shots at the Pioneers Bar (138 West 29th Street, which is also where you need to buy your tickets): Fear PIT (8:00 pm, 8:30pm, 9:00 pm, 9:30pm, 10:00 pm, 10:30pm, 11:00 pm, and 11:30pm. $5, The PIT Loft at 154 West 29th Street)...
...join Vincent Welles, Master of the Occult, who's forced by Satan to host a talk show for all eternity, plus his bizarre guests at Welcome to Hell (11:00 pm, $10, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)...
...and comics impersonate some of our most famous comics alive or dead at free show Invasion of the Baudy Snatchers (8:00 pm, free, The Creek and the Cave at Queens LIC's 10-93 Jackson Avenue)
NYC Comedy Picks for Sunday 11/1/15
A sharp musical comedy cast spearheaded by the hilarious Pat Swearingen as Freddy Krueger, with book & lyrics by Christopher W. Barnes and music by Ryan Mercy, is likely to be a memorable takeoff of Wes Craven's movie horror classic: Unauthorized: Bad Dream on Elm Street (7:00 pm, $20, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)
More 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] 6:00 pm: Sketches and other scripted comedy in 5-minute and 15-minute slots at The Magnet theatre: The Generator
6:30 pm ($5): Three NYC improv groups that are independent (i.e., not a house team of any particular improv school/theatre) compete for audience member laughs and votes at UCB East hosted by superb improvisors Amey Goerlich & Ryan Karels (half of revered improv group Krompf): Indie Cage Match
[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm-1:00 am ($14 per show, plus 2-item food/drink min.): Some of the finest stand-ups in the country spread among 3-4 shows, with all shows at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane): Comedy Cellar Sunday
7:00 pm ($5): Three scripted shows for the price of one at Brooklyn's The Annoyance Theatre (367 Bedford Avenue; take J/M/Z to Marcy Avenue or L to Lorimer Street): Triple Feature
[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10) and 9:30 pm [FREE]: UCB Chelsea's signature improv comedy extravaganza, which typically includes superstars in the improv world such as Shannon O'Neill and Anthony Atamanuik, and sometimes network TV & movie stars such as Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz: ASSSSCAT 3000
7:30 pm ($7): Sketch comedy from two sharp house groups at The Magnet theatre: Magnet Sketch Teams
[$] 7:30 pm ($26.75 & 2-drink min.): A famed stand-up headlines one last night at the Carolines Comedy Club: Jim Florentine
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Typically superb improvisors make up theatrical scenes at The PIT downstairs lounge for this weekly show produced by Sarah Nowak & Micah Sherman: People Improvising
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Music from The Reformed Whores (raunchy comedic singing duo Marie Cecile Anderson & Katy Frame; album Ladies Don't Spit; CBS' The Doctors), plus stand-ups Kevin McCaffrey, Missy Baker, and more performing at UCB East hosted by Kara Klenk (Comedy Central, Spike, Nickelodeon): If You Build It
8:30 pm ($5): "There are photos, there is improv, there are written pieces, there are monologues based on one person talking briefly, there are performances in the round kinda like circle in the square. They're all blended together into one giant show" at Brooklyn's The Annoyance Theatre (367 Bedford Avenue; take J/M/Z to Marcy Avenue or L to Lorimer Street): Cheese
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Duo improv from Louis Kornfeld & Rick Andrews at The Magnet theatre: Kornfeld & Andrews
9:00 pm ($7): Typically solid stand-ups perform at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan Avenue) hosted by Will Miles, Clark Jones, and/or Kenny DeForest: Comedy Night at the Knit
Sunday Open Mics & Open Stages
[FREE] 4:00 pm: An unusually early walk-in open-mic stand-up show (put your name in the bucket, drawings every half hour), providing 4 minutes per comic at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens' LIC (10-93 Jackson Avenue): Intestinal Fortitude
[TOP PICK] [ALMOST FREE] 5:00 pm ($1): The spectacular Tracy Mull loves short-form improv games with a passion, and so is the perfect host for this jam that lets audience members—including you—put their names in a bucket. Tracy will then repeatedly pull out a name and a game and facilitate improv magic at The PIT upstairs theatre: Sunday School Short-Form Jam
[ALMOST FREE] 5:00 pm ($1): Sign up at 4:30 pm to do improv with experienced PIT performers at The PIT downstairs lounge hosted by Sasha Capelli, Eitan Levine, and Shaina Stigler: 10K Jam Jam
5:15ish pm (no cover, 1 drink min.): Weekly open mic stand-up, with comics selected from names tossed into a bucket starting at 4:55 pm, at Brooklyn's Legion Bar (790 Metropolitan Avenue) hosted by Aaron Glaser, Irene Hartmann, and/or Carlos Delgado: Sunday Open Mic
9:30 pm ($3): Open-mic comedy, with 3-5 minutes per walk-in performer who signs up (first come, first serve) at The PIT downstairs lounge, hosted by Will Neville: Amateur Night At The Gemini
[FREE] 10:00 pm: An open-mic stand-up show (sign up is at 9:45 pm) providing 5 minutes for each comic whose name is pulled from the bucket at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens' LIC (10-93 Jackson Avenue) hosted by Ian Kitchen: The Grandstand
[FREE] 10:00 pm: The only open-stage show for entire groups of improvisors and sketch comics, running weekly at UCB East hosted by Austin Rodrigues: Bring Your Own Team: Improv/Sketch Team Jam
Copyright © 2015 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
