NYC Comedy Picks for Monday 7/23/07
Billy Merritt Wine Tip: When taking a woman out to a restaurant,
bring a classy, but empty, wine bottle and a funnel.
When your date goes to the bathroom to check her face (you know she will),
order two glasses of the house red and pour them in.
After she comes back it will look like you ordered a very expensive bottle of wine.
That way if the date doesn't turn out well
you will have enough money for the strip club on the way home.
Billy Merritt, one of the founding members of the legendary improv group The Swarm, was recently hired by the TV wine show Uncorked to represent an average beer-drinking guy exposed to the finer things in life. Tonight Billy shows off what he's learned, hosting a dinner party on stage to demonstrate his now-refined knowledge of wine, food, travel, and living well.
And yes, select audience members will be fed.
8:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
Then again, if you'd prefer a sweet treat, check out...
Baby Wants Candy is a Chicago-based troupe that has 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. For brief scenes from previous shows, please click here.
8:00 pm at UCBT, The Hudson Theatre Guild, 441 West 26th Street (bet. 9th & 10th Avenues);
tickets are $10.90 online, $10 at the door
But if your sustenance is truth-seeking, consider instead...
Four funny people tell amazing stories. Three of the tales are absolutely true...but one of them is a pack of lies. The audience then asks questions to try and identify the fibber. Host by Andy Christie (The New York Times) welcomes tonight's stellar yarn-spinners (pictured from left to right): Martin Dockery (The Moth, Talking Stick, Mouthpiece, one-man show Wanderlust); Kimberlee Auerbach (former FOX News producer, one-woman show Tarot Reading at 2005 FringeNYC, author of just-released book The Devil, The Lovers & Me: My Life In Tarot); Cyndi Freeman (HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, award-winning one-woman show Greetings From Hollywood); and Richard Jones (who loves cats, and whose sketch group Gay Christ Figures In Cinema will be playing The PIT in August).
8:00 pm at The Peoples Improv Theater, 154 West 29th Street (off 7th Avenue); tickets are $5
After you get past the tough choices for 8:00 pm, the rest of the evening is easy...
My Sunny-Side Up: Improv for Kids! and Blackout: Improv in the Dark
It'll be tough to top the dark humor of last year's musical Oedipus for Kids, but it'll be fun to watch this talented cast try. The "Sunny-Side Up Players" are Amey Goerlich, Don P. Hooper, Angie Martin, DC Pierson, Katie Schorr, Ari Scott, Nathan Shelkey, and Michael Short.
And speaking of dark, the second half of this double-bill is improvisation set during a NYC blackout. You'll be hearing the voices of Cory Cavin, Kirk Damato, Michael Martin, Pam Murphy, Beth Newell, Craig Rowin, Anna Rubanova, and Kristy Webb.
9:30 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
Normally hosted by Aziz Ansari (one of the best stand-up comics on the planet); but Aziz will be in LA for a while with Paul and Rob shooting the second season of Human Giant. Substituting will be stellar hosts such as John Mulaney; while the guests are superb comedians trying out new material. This is often one of the funniest shows in New York.
11:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); free
NYC Comedy Picks for Tuesday 7/24/07
UCBT's Very Best, Together For Harold Night
Wow. Mother, Reuben Williams, The Stepfathers, and Death by Roo Roo are UCBT's finest improv groups—which means they're among the very best improvisors in the country. And they'll all be performing the long form improv known as Harold from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm...with the price of admission a mere five bucks. (I run my screenwriter's workshop tonight, so can't attend; but otherwise nothing would keep me away...) This special event is one of the precursors to the upcoming magical Del Close Improv Marathon.
8:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
Baby Wants Candy is a Chicago-based troupe that has 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. Playing in NYC through Friday. For brief scenes from previous shows, please click here. (And if you go to this, please keep in mind you can walk over to UCBT afterwards and catch the last two hours of Harold Night for $5...)
8:00 pm at UCBT, The Hudson Theatre Guild, 441 West 26th Street (bet. 9th & 10th Avenues);
tickets are $10.90 online, $10 at the door
Hosted by the sharp & witty Seth Herzog (VH1's Best Week Ever).
Tonight's stellar guests are John Oliver (news correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), Ted Greenberg (Emmy Award winner & writer for seven seasons of Late Night with David Letterman; for a stand-up sample, please click here), Pete Holmes (VH1's Best Week Ever and All Access, Comedy Central's Premium Blend; for a video sample, please click here), and Giulia Rozzi (VH1's Best Night Ever podcasts, Stripped Stories; for a video sample, please click here).
8:30 pm at The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street (corner of Stanton Street); tickets are $5
Jessica St. Clair & James Eason
A showcase for comedy twosomes.
Scheduled performers are Jessica St. Clair (Mother, VH1's Best Week Ever, Smoking Gun TV, The IT Crowd) & James Eason (Mother, Neutrino); Bob Acevedo & Nick Ross; Adam Nowak & Sarah Nowak; and Sara McGowan & Sonia Ulrich..
9:30 pm at The Magnet Theatre, 254 West 29th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
NYC Comedy Picks for Wednesday 7/25/07
Matt Besser's Magical Sack of Dump
Matt Besser, one of the four members of the acclaimed Upright Citizens Brigade—
and co-owner of UCBT—shares selections from five years worth of his comedy material. These include Matt's hilarious parody of MySpace Tom; Q&As with the Pope, and with Mark Dunn ("King of the Three-Way"); highlights from Matt's TV show Crossballs; excerpts from his parody of Last Comic Standing that include Jason Yellow, the blind, deaf, armless comedian; and bits from Matt's first one-man show How Much I Lied, which theater critic Chris Jones deemed "one of the five worst stage shows of 1994."
8:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $8.90 online, $8 at the door
Baby Wants Candy is a Chicago-based troupe that has 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. For brief scenes from previous shows, please click here.
Playing in NYC through Friday.
8:00 pm at The Hudson Theatre Guild, 441 West 26th Street (bet. 9th & 10th Avenues);
tickets are $10.90 online, $10 at the door
Kristen Schaal, John Mulaney, and Lang Fisher
Hosted by comedy greats Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale.
Tonight's stellar lineup includes the lovely and brilliantly funny Kristen Schaal (co-star of HBO's Flight of the Conchords, and co-host of the wonderful Hot Tub Variety Show every other Monday at 8:00 pm at Pianos); John Mulaney (razor-sharp and hilarious stand-up comic; please check out his recent triumphant Late Night with Conan O'Brien appearances by clicking here and here); and Lang Fisher (writer and performer of funny videos for The Onion News Network, Comedy Central, etc.; for samples, please click here and here).
8:45ish pm at Rififi, 332 East 11th Street (between 1st & 2nd Avenues); tickets are $5
Jeremiah Smallchild and Gideon Lamb are on a mission from God
God's Pottery Saves The World!
While visiting NYC last summer, Gideon Lamb and Jeremiah Smallchild got lost on the subway and ended up in Harlem, where they met a small boy named LaVert Washington who informed them he had cancer. They quickly moved to raise money for the lad with their now-famed The Concert for LaVert. It later turned out the boy was healthy and had lied through his teeth; but the incident made Gideon and Jeremiah appreciate the impact they almost had on his life...and the impact they could have on literally millions of more lives if they saved the entire world. Therefore, the duo have created this new show, in which they tackle global issues such as adoption, drug addiction, and Africa in an effort to rescue all mankind through the power of song, true belief, and a PowerPoint" presentation.
According to their Web site,"God's Pottery is a Christian acoustic duo formed to spread the Word (using) their unique blend of music, people-skills and Biblical know-how to inspire all who are willing to listen with open hearts." Some in the secular world have called them Wilson Hall and Krister Johnson; others have called them harsher things. But most have called them very funny.
9:30 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
Host Justin Purnell provides a mix of guests who perform stand-up, improv, music,
and occasionally acts that defy categorization. The level of talent varies wildly—
but for some (like me), that's part of the laid-back fun.
Come to support the experimentation, and periodic delightful surprises,
that this free show makes possible.
11:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); free
NYC Comedy Picks for Thursday 7/26/07
Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Ian Roberts are...
The Upright Citizens Brigade at Inside Joke
Host Carl Arnheiter interviews Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh: three of the most brilliant improvisors alive, and guys who (with the help of stellar UCBT artistic director Anthony King) are changing the face of comedy in New York in wonderful and magical ways. Don't miss this terrific event, a precursor to tomorrow's opening night of the Del Close Improv Marathon.
8:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $8
Baby Wants Candy is a Chicago-based troupe that has 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. For brief scenes from previous shows, please click here.
Playing in NYC through Friday.
8:00 pm at The Hudson Theatre Guild, 441 West 26th Street (bet. 9th & 10th Avenues);
tickets are $10.90 online, $10 at the door
Rob Riggle: Operation Smell the Heat
Rob Riggle (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, The Office, co-host with Horatio Sanz of last week's UCBT at Central Park SummerStage) performs stand-up comedy, including an unforgettably hilarious routine about a typical male having sex.
9:30 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $8
Indie Team Cagematch Tournament
This Monday through Wednesday, 12 relatively new improv teams
have competed for audience approval.
Tonight, the survivors of those tough bouts face off.
The victorious troupe will win a time slot at this weekend's fabulous Del Close Improv Marathon.
9:30 pm at The Hudson Theatre Guild, 441 West 26th Street (bet. 9th & 10th Avenues); $5
Adira Amram is a brilliantly funny and sexy writer/singer, and a rising star not to be missed. Adira hosts this monthly variety show while blowing the roof off with her own performances.
Tonight's scheduled guests are Leo Allen (writer for Saturday Night Live 2002-2005; Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central Presents, Ed, Sex and the City); Larry Murphy (stellar voiceover actor who performs all the key characters on Adult Swim's Assy McGee; other TV series include Home Movies, O'Grady, Cheapseats, Computer Lab, Puppets N Such; for an animated VO reel, please click here); Michelle Collins (VH1's Best Week Ever and All Access, MTV U, YouCantMakeItUp.org; for a memorable chat about the power of penises over vaginas, please click here); Hayes Hargrove (This Is Spinal Tap, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Larry Sanders Show, The Muppets, The Office (UK), gobeyondthepale.com); Rob Lathan (Human Giant 24: Live From Times Square, Adira's co-host Lanny Lathan on their weekly Get Psyched! show); and Baron Vaughn (VH1's Awesomely Oversexed and Best Week Ever, Manhattan Theatre Club play Drowning Crow; for a radio interview, please click here).
Note: Tickets are normally $12. However, you can buy them for just $6.50 by mentioning code BB4BLKR at the door; or buy online for $7.50 (including service charge) by clicking here.
10:30 pm at The Green Room, 45 Bleecker Street (off Lafayette); $6.50 with code BB4BLKR
Improvisers from all over the country (in NYC for, yep, you guessed it, this weekend's Del Close Improv Marathon) compete for audience approval. The winning team holds the stage against all comers until deemed not as funny anymore and replaced by a competitor. Because of the number of talented groups involved, this show might go on for hours. Hosted by Anthony King and Ben Schwartz.
11:00 pm at UCBT, 307 West 26th Street (off 8th Avenue); tickets are $5
NYC Comedy Picks for Friday 7/27/07-Sunday 7/29/07
One of the most magical events in NYC, the annual Del Close Improv Marathon will run continuously from Friday at 4:30 pm until after midnight on Sunday. Groups from all around the US and Canada—New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Phoenix, Austin, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Ontario, Toronto—will perform more than 150 shows, typically in 15 minute or 30 minute blocks, for over 55 hours.
To get a feel for why I love this festival so much, please read my write-ups of the 2005 and 2006 marathons by clicking here and here.
Tickets are a mere $20 for the entire weekend—an incredible bargain. Paul Scheer remarked last year the appropriate charge would be around $600, and he mostly wasn't kidding.
The down side in the past has been way more patrons than available space, causing long waits to get into UCBT (which seats about 150). However, the hope is that this year will be a bit smoother because of the rental of the two additional venues just a couple of blocks from UCBT: the Hudson Theatre Guild, which seats 99; and the FIT Auditorium, which seats 280.
Nonetheless, if you want to increase your odds of not waiting hours on line, arrive before 4:00 pm and stay put as long as you can. You'll beat the crowds who tend to show up in the evening (many of the hottest acts come on between 9:00 pm and 4:00 am).
Friday was a fabulous opening night, with dynamic and hilarious shows from brilliant improv troupes. Some highlights:
Death
by Roo Roo
interviewed an audience member whose mom died in a car accident while
his dad was driving, and who described the personality of his dad's new
girlfriend as "Jewish." The group then used this grimness to
craft bold and incredibly funny scenes that had the audience alternately
gasping in shock and laughing uncontrollably.
The
Stepfathers played a breathtaking range of scenes that included teens
who refused to dance with the "very ugly girl," played by Bobby
Moynihan, driving her to a memorable suicide attempt...and then an even
more memorable makeout
scene with Billy Merritt.
Wicked
F*ckin' Queeyah
consists of some of UCBT's best as pseudo-Bostonians who hate gays and
the New York Yankees and whose every other word is f*ckin'...and
who create a parody of an improv
group with enough manic energy to power a city. The heart of Friday's
bits was a broken relationship between characters played with genius by
Jackie Clarke and Jason Mantzoukas, involving numerous sprays of beer
thrown in the face and knock-down, drag-out fights—and
which Jason proclaimed at the end "my favorite show ever."
Code
Duello: Hamilton
& Burr is a duo portraying "two of Americas angriest founders:
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr" and the events leading up to their
historic duel. Wearing wigs and waistcoats, Neil
Reynolds and Matt Tucker evoked colonial times while crafting deliciously
silly scenes. For example, Burr proposed a law declaring US land as "international
waters" so he'd have more freedom to sleep with married women. When
Hamilton thwarted him, the villain seceded and declared his body
his own country, "the United State of Burr."
A close runner-up
for the Silliness Award was CosbyProv,
a group of over a dozen performers impersonating Bill Cosby simultaneously.
Topics ranged from Cosby's patronizing preachiness to the tragic death
of his son to—needless
to say—Jell-0
Pudding.
Flat-out odd
was Uniprov, which consisted of four guys attempting
to perform scenes while balancing on unicycles. None of them was able
to stay on his cycle for more than a few seconds, though, causing numerous
loud and painful-looking falls. This didn't result in particularly layered
acting; but it did create a metaphor for the high-wire act undertaken
by all improvisors, and how easy it is to lose one's balance and crash.
Working Girls are Susannah Becket, Marcy Jarreau, Pam Murphy, Silvija Ozols, Amber Petty, and Jamie Skinner as New Jersey secretaries who just recently learned "the art of improvisation." Friday night's show ended up focusing on one of the characters pregnant with a child she doesn't want. These shrewd artists seamlessly turned the darkness into comedy—while creating a gentle and hysterically funny parody of an improv troupe.
As for individuals, Jackie Clarke, Jason Mantzoukas, Billy Merritt, Michael Delaney, Chris Gethard, Bobby Moynihan, John Gemberling, Lennon Parham, Neil Reynolds, Matt Tucker, and Brett Gelman (playing "Andrew Dice Hitler") were among the stars who shined especially brightly; but there were dozens of wonderful performers.
There were also frequent appearances from such comedy celebs as Matt Besser (playing both shrill-voiced MySpace Tom and affable Jimmy Stewart to perfection); Ian Roberts (as an unforgettable cunning retarded person), Matt Walsh (acting as an easy-going pedophile), Horatio Sanz (portraying a brother of Dr. Phil with a robotic beard), Paul Scheer (as a prosecutor of evil), and Rob Riggle (carrying a baseball bat with a top that pops off to display a disturbing sexual device).
As for Saturday, highlights included Paul Scheer & Jack McBrayer delivering virtuoso improv that was both gracefully artful and terrifically funny; Ian Roberts performing two brilliant improvised one-man shows; all four members of the Upright Citizens Brigade spending a relaxed hour poking gentle fun at each other; and over a dozen celebrity characters, including Leonard Nimoy, Bea Arthur, and Flipper, participating in a dream-like game show. (Details will follow post-festival.)
Today is the finale of this wonderful NYC event that comes but once a year.
Hope to see you at the marathon.
The UCB Theatre, 307 West 26th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)
The Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
Fashion Institute of Technology Auditorium, West 27th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues)
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Copyright © 2007 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
