Day: November 11, 2008

It might be easy to forget that B.J. Novak is a stand-up comedian, because he’s still in his 20s and pretty much everyone knows him as the writer/producer/actor from NBC’s The Office. At Sunday night’s "B.J. Novak and friends" show at Town Hall to close out the 2008 New York Comedy Festival, the biggest applause from the audience came for mere mentions of the sitcom, Novak or his friend from the show, Mindy Kaling. When Paul Rust opened the show with his "solo performance piece," aka "Salvation Through the Ring," aka his mimed tribute to a popular morning children’s television program, then promptly disappeared, the crowd didn’t quite know what to expect on this night. Not to worry, though, as Novak’s friends also included college chum Dan Mintz, who seemed more at ease in his 15-minutes of absurd one-liners than I’d seen him in a while (perhaps New York City is growing on him), and John Mulaney, who hosted the show and provided more than a half-hour of funny at the start and also in between acts. This could have just as easily had been this year’s "Young Comedians" special, if HBO still was in that business. I wish Rust had done more to showcase his talents, and wonder why Simon Rich only performed for a New York minute by reading a very short tale about firehouse dogs. Kaling...