Please note that these listings are updated frequently. The best way to be instantly notified about new show postings is to subscribe to my BestNewYorkComedy.com blog and allow for email notifications, and/or to follow me on Twitter (@hybender) or Instagram (@hybenderny).
In addition, you can use the links below to explore the schedules of all the major comedy venues in NYC; and you can find excellent live comedy recommendations weekly via The New York Times.
That said, my top NYC comedy recommendations for September 2018 include:
Monday 9/3: Ace cartoonists Hilary Campbell (above) and Ellis Rosen share work that was rejected by The New Yorker, plus stand-up from Shane Torres (fresh, hilarious stand-up; Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents, IFC's Comedy Bang Bang, stand-up album Established 1981), and more hosted by Nat Towsen (VICE, College Humor), who will also be giving away prizes to audience members: Downtown Variety Hour (7:30 pm, $9, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)
Monday 9/3: Julio Torres (above; marvelously nuanced, outside-the-box stand-up; staff writer for Saturday Night Live; Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Billy on the Street, HBO's High Maintenance, Louis C.K.’s Horace and Pete), Emmy Blotnick (brilliant rising star stand-up who's performed on Stephen Colbert and stars in a Comedy Central Half Hour; writer for Stephen Colbert; Head Writer for Comedy Central's The President Show; former writer for Comedy Central's @midnight, Roast of Rob Lowe, and Not Safe with Nikki Glaser; MTV, VH1), Rob Cantrell (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, HBO, VHI, FX's Totally Biased, documentary Metaphysical Graffiti, High Times, comedy album Pure Uncut Joy), Jordan Carlos (cast member of Netflix's Friends From College; HBO's 2 Dope Queens and Girls, Comedy Central's Broad City and The Nightly Show, Showtime, MTV's Guy Code and Guy Court, VH1, Adult Swim), Sarah Tollemache (Adam Devine's House Party), and Norlex Belma perform stand-up for hosts Jo Firestone (staff writer for Jimmy Fallon, co-author of #1 bestselling Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers), Aparna Nancherla (one of the very finest stand-ups in the country; HBO's Crashing and 2 Dope Queens, Netflix's Master of None and The Standups, and Comedy Central's Corporate; former writer for Seth Meyers), and/or Maeve Higgins (Maeve in America, co-host of Nat Geo's Star Talk): Butterboy with Jo, Aparna, and Maeve (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Monday 9/3: The Reformed Whores (above; raunchy comedic singing duo Marie Cecile Anderson & Katy Frame; CBS, IFC; have opened for Weird Al Yankovic, Alice Cooper, and Lynyrd Skynyrd; albums Ladies Don't Spit and Don't Beat Around the Bush), Matt Rogers & Bowen Yang (hosts of acclaimed Las Culturistas stage show & podcast), Brett Davis (HBO's Animals; TruTv's Jon Glaser Loves Gear; creator/host of weekly Manhattan cable TV show The Special Without Brett Davis; co-host of The Macaulay Culkin Show; winner of the 2015 Andy Kaufman Award), Jay Malsky (highly talented, super-charged improvisor & character comic; host of This Live Show, co-host of DED Talks; UCB sketch group Pretty Boys; PIT improv group Peaches Galore; FringeNYC solo show Elaine Stritch: Still Here; Solocom & UCB solo show Jay Malsky Slept With My Boyfriend), and more perform for this free weekly show hosted just one last time by the multi-talented Morgan Miller (sharp improvisor, sketch comic, stand-up, and juggler), who is moving to LA to become super-famous: Dirty Laundry: Sadly, Last Morgan Miller Show! (11:00 pm, Free! (make reservation here), UCB Hell's Kitchen at 555 West 42nd Street)
Wednesday 9/5: A raucous monthly pun competition hosted by Fred Firestone (co-author with Jo Firestone of #1 bestselling Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers), with 18 audience members fiercely competing for wordplay dominance—and the chance to become an instant star based on verbal cleverness, and the ability to drum up the most applause from a packed and loudly cheering crowd: Punderdome 3000 (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street—take R subway to Union Street; show up early—doors open at 7:00—to nab a seat, or plan on standing)
Thursday 9/6: Ziwe Fumudoh (writer for The Rundown with Robin Thede; host of hilarious webseries Baited with Ziwe) invites comics to perform pop songs, preceded by comedic presentations, with tonight's guests Jo Firestone (one of the most relentlessly inventive comics in the biz; staff writer for Jimmy Fallon; star of Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents special; HBO's Crashing, Comedy Central's Broad City; radio host of WFMU's Dr. Gameshow, live-on-stage co-host of Butterball; co-author of #1 bestselling Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers), Matt Rogers (co-host of the GAYme Show and the acclaimed Las Culturistas podcast), Cole Escola (Jeffery & Cole Casserole, At Home with Amy Sedaris), Lorelei Ramirez (VICE; host of Not Dead Yet), Natalie Walker, and David Goldberg: Pop Show (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Thursday 9/6: Mike Drucker (hilarious stand-up and staff writer for TBS' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee; previously a staff writer for NBC's Jimmy Fallon and Comedy Central's The President Show, and contributing writer for Saturday Night Live) hosts comics reading obituaries they wrote for themselves, "honoring the lives they had and making fun of the lives they could have had," with the dying-as-we-speak guests Josh Gondelman (one of the sharpest comics in the country; Emmy & Peabody Award-winning writer/producer for HBO's phenom Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Conan O'Brien, The New Yorker; stand-up album Physical Whisper), Anthony Atamanuik (brilliantly innovative comic; star of Comedy Central hit The President Show; Trump vs. Bernie, 30 Rock, Conan O'Brien; recently wrote A Viewer's Guide to Donald Trump for The New York Times), Kristen Bartlett (writer for Saturday Night Live), Mike Brown (TBS' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TruTV, MTV, Adult Swim; co-host of Comedy Outliers), and Mehran Khaghani: My Obituary Show (7:30 pm, $7, Astoria Queens' QED: A Place to Show & Tell at 27-16 23rd Avenue)
Friday 9/7: Christi Chiello is a delightful stand-up, writer, and actress with infectiousness enthusiasm and a unique voice who's appeared on Comedy Central's Roast Battle, MTV's Girl Code, TruTV, and PBSKids, and is co-host of superb monthly comedy shows Battle of the Divas and White Chocolate. Tonight Christi performs a solo production that demonstrates she's one of the funniest and most talented comics in NYC. Kudos also go to director Randy Blair for helping Christi show off what a powerhouse she is at her confident best. If you like fun, I happily recommend you come enjoy Christi Chiello: It's Christi, B*tch! (8:00 pm, $17, Ars Nova at 511 West 54th Street between Tenth & Eleventh Avenues)
Saturday 9/15: A show celebrating the app that redefined online dating, with the lovely and quick-witted Lane Moore (right; HBO's Girls; Sex & Relationship Editor of Cosmo; writer for The Onion, McSweeney's; author of upcoming book How to be Alone) going on a live Tinder safari for guys while a packed audience watches her every choice with fascination. Offering comments and suggestions are star guest comics John Fugelsang (top right; host of Sirius XM talk show Tell Me Everything; former host of America's Funniest Home Videos), Laurie Kilmartin (left; dynamite stand-up; writer for Conan O'Brien; finalist on Last Comic Standing; Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central, VH1), and Patrick Monahan (bottom left; co-host of podcast What a Time to Be Alive). This show usually sells out, so I recommend nabbing tickets in advance online for Tinder Live (8:30 pm, $15, Brooklyn's Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Monday 9/17: Sara Schaefer (above; former co-star of MTV's The Nikki and Sara Show; twice Emmy-winning head blogger for Jimmy Fallon; Comedy Central's @Inside Amy Schumer and @midnight, VH1's Best Week Ever), Danielle Perez (a wheelchair-bound comic with no feet whose prize for winning The Price is Right was a treadmill; Jimmy Kimmel), Ramy Youssef (Stephen Colbert, MTV), Gary Anderson, Patrick Hastie, and Caitlin Peluffo perform stand-up for hosts Jo Firestone (staff writer for Jimmy Fallon, co-author of #1 bestselling Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers) and/or Maeve Higgins (Maeve in America, co-host of Nat Geo's Star Talk): Butterboy with Jo, Aparna, and Maeve (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Wednesday 9/19-Sunday 9/23: An annual week-long (it started Monday) festival celebrating the best of Brooklyn-based live comedy shows, NYC comics, and other comedy events featuring such talents as Chris Gethard, Jo Firestone, Josh Gondelman, Gary Gulman, Julio Torres, Myq Kaplan, Mark Normand, Liza Treyger, Kevin McDonald, Andy Blitz, and many more. Shows are individually priced Wednesday, and you can buy all-you-can-see-passes for just $11.42 for each of the last four days of the fest. For a complete lists of events, please click Brooklyn Comedy Festival 2018 (times & prices vary by show on Wednesday; buy an all-access pass online for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday for just $11.42 each—a great deal—using discount code CLOUDY10; nine Brooklyn venues, but most shows for what's left of the fest are at Brooklyn Bazaar)
Thursday 9/20-Sunday 9/23: An annual week-long (it started Monday) festival celebrating the best of Brooklyn-based live comedy shows, NYC comics, and other comedy events, with tonight's shows including the Kevin McDonald Show featuring guests Julie Klausner, Tom Green, and musical band Sister Sparrow 8:30 pm at Brooklyn Bazaar, and a character piece by Brett Davis titled John Gentle: A Lone-Man Show 10:00 pm at Brooklyn Bazaar. You can buy all-you-can-see-passes for just $11.42 for each of these last four days of the fest. For a complete lists of events, please click Brooklyn Comedy Festival 2018 (all-access pass for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday for just $11.42 each—a great deal—online using discount code CLOUDY10; nine Brooklyn venues, but most shows for what's left of the fest are at Brooklyn Bazaar)
Friday 9/21-Sunday 9/23: An annual week-long (it started Monday) festival celebrating the best of Brooklyn-based live comedy shows, NYC comics, and other comedy events, with tonight's shows including Chris Gethard, Clare O'Kane, Colin Burgess, Dan Chamberlain, Nick Naney, and more performing for The Special Without Brett Davis (hosted by Brett playing different characters) 10:00 pm at Brooklyn Bazaar. You can buy all-you-can-see-passes for just $11.42 for each of these last three days of the fest. For a complete list of events, please click Brooklyn Comedy Festival 2018 (all-access pass for Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday for just $11.42 each—a great deal—online using discount code CLOUDY10; nine Brooklyn venues, but most shows for what's left of the fest are at Brooklyn Bazaar)
Friday 9/21: Cool as Ice is a 1991 rap remake of The Wild One—with the freewheeling, motorcycle-riding Marlon Brando role played by Vanilla Ice in his feature film debut. It earned him that year's Razzie Award for "Worst New Star;" the movie cost $6 million to make and grossed $1.2 million; and it's rated only 2.9 stars (out of 10) on IMDB, so is in every notable way a colossal failure. Tonight it'll be screened and mercilessly skewered by comics Frank Conniff (TV's Frank on Mystery Science Theater 3000; Cinematic Titanic; author of How to Write Cheesy Movies and 25 MST3K Films That Changed My Life In No Way Whatsoever), Derek Humphrey (ABC, MTV, host of podcast Derek Mansplains It All), Erin Lynn O'Connor (Open Riff Night winner), and Freddy G (NPR). Their cruelty will be contrasted by exceptionally kind host Chris Gersbeck (co-host of Soft Core!, which is essentially a porn version of this show, Casual Sets, and Bunk Bed Time Open Mic): Movies R Dumb: Cool As Ice (11:00 pm, $10, Astoria Queens' QED: A Place to Show & Tell at 27-16 23rd Avenue)
Monday 9/24: Myq Kaplan (one of the quickest minds in comedy; finalist on Last Comic Standing, semi-finalist on America's Got Talent; David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Seth Meyers, Jay Leno, Comedy Central Presents; comedy albums No Kidding, Small, Dork, and Handsome, Vegan Mind Meld, and Meat Robot; podcasts Broccoli and Ice Cream), Shane Torres (fresh, hilarious stand-up; Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents, IFC's Comedy Bang Bang, stand-up album Established 1981), Eman El Husseini (opens for Patton Oswalt), Jourdain Fisher (writer for BET's 50 Central), Melissa Stokoski (TruTV, cast member of John Fugelsang's Tell Me Everything, host of Bitches' Brew, co-writer & co-star of Handmaid's Tale: The Musical), and Deanna Ortiz (member of Lincoln Lodge) perform stand-up for hosts Jo Firestone (staff writer for Jimmy Fallon, co-author of #1 bestselling Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers) and Maeve Higgins (Maeve in America, co-host of Nat Geo's Star Talk): Butterboy with Jo, Aparna, and Maeve (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Monday 9/24: In a sort of comedic appetizer for Thursday's Brett Kavanaugh hearing, Alise Morales (News & Politics Editor of Betches; Reductress, Above Average) hosts Michael Cruz Kayne, Dave Mizzoni, Jesse Roth, Jes Tom, and Larry Owens in making fun of themselves when they were in high school using old photos, diary entries, and more, but without any corroborating witnesses or results from a thorough FBI investigation: The Roast Of Your 15-Year-Old Self (8:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn's Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)
Copyright © 2018 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
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