Day: February 16, 2010

From 2007-2009, Carolines devoted one night per week in March to its own form of "March Madness" as 64 stand-up comedians paired off in timed competitions before a live audience. That's happening again this coming March, with one major difference. The guys who brought "March Comedy Madness" to Carolines — Bryan Kennedy and Josh Filipowski — have taken their act down from Broadway and Times Square to Comix comedy club in the Meatpacking District. But that's not stopping Carolines, who announced dates for its own "Final Four" competition next month. One part comedy nerd drama, one part good old fashioned business war! It's on. March Comedy Madness at Comix starts on March 10 and winnows its field from 64 down to four over the course of four Wednesdays. Last year's "Elite Eight" finalists got automatic invites to return (for reference, Myq Kaplan won this contest in 2009 at Carolines, with Reese Waters and Julian McCullough its previous winners), and online votes at Like2Laugh help determine the rest of the field. Host/referee Bryan Kennedy talked a little bit about it after an open call at Comix last month: As for the Carolines "Final Four," it starts on March 2 and takes place over five consecutive Tuesdays. It'll be hosted by Josh Spear, and its field of 64 also was collected via open call auditions. Here's a quote from the Carolines press release...

Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can take a step forward. OK, now take a step back. Now take a step forward. Now take a step back. Take a step forward. And we're doing the cha-cha. I'm a Real Genius, this kid. You don't have to be a real genius, however, look out segues, to realize that it was a long and kind of weird holiday weekend, when it starts with the TV news showing you a guy die horrifically over and over again, then have a very Canadian Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the NBA All-Star weekend, Daytona 500, Valentine's Day, President's Day, and then realize that the only thing sillier than having big-idea rocket scientists like TED complain about having Sarah Silverman entertain them with her sassafras after they've hired her — the only thing sillier — would be to have a famous Hollywood filmmaker fly coach on a discount airline and complain about it, and have that make national news. That's when you know you picked the right weekend to take a step back from the Internet. So. What did we miss? Here are some links to other things that happened in comedy while I was asleep at the wheel last week… Vanity Fair interviewed Brian Posehn and Steve Agee from Sarah Silverman's Comedy Central program. (Vanity Fair) If you'd like to learn...