Day: September 2, 2008

It can now truly be said that Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal are global comedy stars. They were toasts of the town in Montreal last summer at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival, won the biggest award earlier this year in Melbourne, Australia, and were the only Americans nominated for the top prize at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. New Yorkers, of course, have come to know and love the majestic weirdness of Kurt and Kristen for years now. They headline Comix this weekend (Sept. 5-6) with Gabe & Jenny hosting and Shayna Ferm as an opening act. The duo of Kurt and Kristen (he’s from New Jersey, she’s from Colorado) teamed up more than four years ago when both Braunohler and Schaal were improvisers at the Peoples Improv Theater looking to host their own variety shows. Though they hadn’t performed together before, the chemistry, Braunohler said, was "pretty immediate!" Their initial show, Hot Tub, was a hit at the PIT and eventually moved to Pianos, then to Comix. "It was kind of amazing," he said. "Obviously, when you first start doing stuff, we were feeling each other out, but I think we just fell in love with performing with each other." It didn’t take audiences long to feel the same kind of love for the quirky duo. Their current show, "Double Down Hearts," takes scenes from...