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).
That said, my top NYC comedy recommendations for May 2019 included the following:
Wednesday 5/15: Emily Flake (brilliant writer/cartoonist; The New Yorker, The New York Times) & Kat Burdick (Moth Grandslam champion; webseries KCK) host this monthly show & podcast that features funny people sharing their nightmares, with tonight's guests Donwill (rap group Tanya Morgan; DJ for Butterboy; co-host with Wyatt Cenac of Shouting at the Screen), Julia Shiplett (The New Yorker, The New York Times, McSweeney's; co-host of Side Ponytail), Myla Goldberg, Chloe Radcliffe, Emma Allen, and Michele Carlo: Nightmares: The Best People Tell Their Worst Dreams (6:30 pm doors, 7:00 pm show; no cover but 2-drink min.; KGB Bar's upstairs Red Room at 85 East 4th Street off Second Avenue)
Thursday 5/16: A showcase for the comedic singing talents of Jay Malsky (above left; 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), with music from Taylor Ortega (above right; Shego in Disney Channel's live-action Kim Possible, HBO's Succession, TruTV) and stand-up from comic/singer Sophie Elizabeth Santos: Lady Jay: Live in Concert (7:00 pm, $10, The PIT Mainstage (Striker) at 123 East 24th Street)
Friday 5/17-Sunday 5/19: This annual comedic music event run by Jessica Delfino & Killy Dwyer (which began in 2012 as the New York Funny Songs Festival) this year hosts over 15 shows running Friday through Sunday. Highlights include 50 Funny Songs featuring 2-minute songs from 50 musical comics such as Stuckey & Murray, Rob Paravonian, Jay Malsky, Tim Ellis, Killy Dwyer, and Victor Varnado Friday at 9:30 pm at the Friars Club (57 East 55th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues); Night of Dirty Songs, which is exactly what it sounds like, Saturday at 8:00 pm at Club Cumming (505 East 6th Street, between Avenues A and B); and Chicks with Licks with superb female comedic musicians Erin and Her Cello, Jessica Delfino, show host Killy Dwyer, and more Saturday at 10:00 pm at Club Cumming: New York Comedy Music Festival 2019 (6:00 pm-11:30 pm Friday, 2:00 pm-1:00 am Saturday, and 1:00 pm-10:00 pm Sunday; $10 per show, or buy an all-you-can-see VIP pass for the whole weekend for just $35; happening at multiple venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens)
Friday 5/17: Comics TBA pitch the worst fantasy-themed TV series they can think of, only to have them nickle-and-dimed by a panel of TV exec judges, in this monthly show hosted by Ned Ehrbar: Bad Pitches: Fantasy Edition (8:30 pm, Free!, Crystal Lake Brooklyn at 647 Grand Street; take L subway to Brooklyn's Lorimer Street or Graham Avenue)
Friday 5/17-Sunday 5/19: It's Day #2 of this annual comedic music event run by Jessica Delfino & Killy Dwyer (which began in 2012 as the New York Funny Songs Festival). Today's highlights include Night of Dirty Songs, which is exactly what it sounds like, 8:00 pm at Club Cumming (505 East 6th Street, between Avenues A and B); and Chicks with Licks with superb female comedic musicians Erin and Her Cello (above middle), Jessica Delfino (above left), show host Killy Dwyer (above right), and more, 10:00 pm at Club Cumming: New York Comedy Music Festival 2019 (2:00 pm-1:00 am Saturday and 1:00 pm-10:00 pm Sunday; $10 per show, or buy an all-you-can-see VIP pass for the whole weekend for just $35; happening at multiple venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens)
Friday 5/17: The lovely Natalie Wall (above) hosts the best sexy storytelling show in NYC, which tonight features Dionne Thornton, Ian Goldstein, and Ayanna Dookie telling tales of erotic encounters gone awry: Awkward Sex...and the City (8:00 pm; $16.59 online or $20 at the door—which includes free beer and wine; The Pleasure Chest at 1150 Second Avenue between 60th & 61st Streets)
Saturday 5/18: World-class singing improvisors Rebecca Vigil & Evan Kaufman interview an audience couple about their love life and then turn it into a musical—with breathtaking skill (see my review of their award-winning FringeNYC 2015 shows here). Don't miss tonight's FIfth Year Anniversary event! I highly recommend the phenomenal Your Love, Our Musical (7:00 pm; $17 in advance online or $20 at the door; LES' Caveat at 21-A Clinton Street—take F/J/M/Z subway to Delancey Street/Essex Street)
Saturday 5/18: Christi Chiello is a delightful rising star stand-up, writer, and actress with an 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 directors Randy Blair and Giulia Rozzi for helping Christi show off what a powerhouse she is at her confident best. I gladly paid $18 twice to see this, so tonight's $12 tickets are real bargains. If you like fun, I happily recommend you come enjoy Christi Chiello: It's Christi, B*tch! (9:30 pm, $12, LES' Caveat at 21-A Clinton Street; take F/J/M/Z subway to Delancey Street/Essex Street)
Wednesday 5/22: This solo production, which debuted at last year's FringeNYC and is now enjoying a monthly revival at LES' Caveat, starts out pretending to be a scientific lecture about and demonstration of chaos theory.
But it's really a highly interactive show that uses comedy and thoughtfully structured game-play for nudging audiences to explore their wishes and desires, push past boundaries, connect with everyone around them, and be open to anything.
It's all courtesy of writer/performer Jessica Ellen Creane, who cycles between faux-shyly giving illustrated talks about such things as fractals, love, and velociraptors, making herself fearlessly vulnerable, and improvising quick-witted responses to audience choices. For example, when Creane asked me to name a goal, I replied, "writing and selling a movie." She immediately gave me the best pep talk I've ever had, stating beyond doubt that I'd succeed. In gratitude, I added, "I'll cast you in it." Without missing a beat, and fully committing to her scientist character (wearing thick black-frame glasses with no lenses), Creane tossed off, "I'm not good at acting" before moving on to help someone else. That she even thought of that line demonstrates what a superb actress Creane is...and how completely she performs in the moment.
Because this show relies so deeply on interaction, each edition will be different based on the decisions made by you and your fellow audience members. Along the same lines, how much you enjoy it, and genuinely get out of it, will depend heavily on what you bring to it.
For me, it was a **** (out of 4) show. If you come experience this—and you should—I hope you have a wonderful time too; and that it moves you closer to your dreams.
Chaos Theory (9:30, $27.63 in advance online or $30 at the door, LES' Caveat at 21-A Clinton Street; take F/J/M/Z subway to Delancey Street/Essex Street)
Friday 5/24: Ace comics Aparna Nancherla (above; one of the very finest stand-ups in the country; co-star of Super Bowl 2019 commercial, Comedy Central's Corporate, and HBO's Crashing; also performed on HBO's 2 Dope Queens, Netflix's Master of None and The Standups, TBS' Conan O'Brien, and Comedy Central's @Midnight and Half Hour; former writer for Seth Meyers; comedy album Just Putting It Out There), Shalewa Sharpe (Comedy Central's The New Negroes; Keith and the Girl; comedy album Stay Eating Cookies), and Jon Bershad (writer for MTV, TruTV, The Onion; UCBT's Harold Night and Maude Night) each try to improvise a coherent presentation based on a set of Powerpoint slides they've never seen before. All slides are taken from actual presentations given at business meetings and classrooms, but put together in bizarre arrangements: "How do you move from a slide depicting the annual increase in fertilizer production in Turkmenistan to a slide analyzing gender dynamics in Frasier? We don’t know either, but we intend to find out. Plus an actual scientist will have his or her actual, legit presentation 'improved' by one of our guest improvisers." Hosted by Nat Towsen (Esquire, VICE, College Humor, host of Downtown Variety) and Darren Solomon (In Bb 2.0; Creative Director of Quiet City Music+Sound), with musical guest Loren Berí: Powerpoint Roulette (7:00 pm, $12, LES' Caveat at 21-A Clinton Street; take F/J/M/Z subway to Delancey Street/Essex Street)
Friday 5/24: Highly talented hip-hop improv group North Coast attempts to create a Hamilton on the spot by making up a musical based on an audience suggestion of a famous historical figure: Anybody: An Improvised Historical Hip-Hopera (9:30 pm, $17 online or $20 at the door, LES' Caveat at 21-A Clinton Street; take F/J/M/Z subway to Delancey Street/Essex Street)
Copyright © 2019 Hy Bender
Email: hy@hyreviews.com
