The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Michael Showalter hosts tonight’s special Comedy Central Presents: My First Time, which explores the early jokey jokes and stand-up starts of Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Mike Birbiglia and Bonnie McFarlane. Here, let Showalter explain it. During the taping back in August, Showalter explained to the audience that this show wouldn’t …
Callbacks continue today in New York City for NBC’s Last Comic Standing, with stand-ups getting interviewed and getting seen multiple times before tonight’s final performances at Gotham Comedy Club. There’s another round set for 2 p.m. In the meantime, last year’s fourth-place finisher, Amy Schumer, took a few moments last …
Jerry Seinfeld dropped in Thursday night for a surprise 25-minute set at the Comedy Cellar during the early show, didn’t stay long afterward. Just in case you were curious about such things.
The Funny or Die comedy tour, with Will Ferrell presenting Zach Galifianakis, Nick Swardson and Demetri Martin, played to a sold-out crowd last night at Ohio State University. Then, for reasons not entirely explained in this photo (nor even on her Tumblr), Martin flew back to New York City on …
Based on the past couple of Human Giant appearances outside of their UCB-NY home (well, OK, not that far outside their home, in separate visits to Rififi), I’ve borne witness to some funny stuff in the making, both for their upcoming live stage tour and their second season on MTV. …
NBC’s Last Comic Standing rolled its circus into New York City this morning, and I boycotted it. Sort of. If you read my Feb. 1 post, you’d already know that this "reality" "contest" has no intention of really helping elevate the public’s opinions and attitudes about the art of stand-up …
Comedy Central officially makes this weekend Mike Birbiglia Weekend, airing a special Comedy Central Presents My First Time (in which Birbiglia, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and Bonnie McFarlane talk about their earliest forays in stand-up) on Friday night (10:30 p.m. Eastern), followed by the debut at midnight Saturday of …
Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert wasted everyone’s viewing time last night with a pre-arranged sketch of sorts that didn’t really go anywhere but did manage to 1) get yelps of approval from the audiences at all three shows, and more importantly, 2) sucked a lot of time out …
Rooftop Comedy celebrates the life and comedy of Mitch Hedberg by posting video clips from a May 1999 performance at Go Bananas in Cincinnati. They’ll post a new clip each Monday until they run out, honoring the late comedian who would’ve turned 40 on Feb. 24. I’ve noted my Hedberg …
As WGA-AMPTP discussions continue, the late-night TV chatters continue with only David Letterman and Craig Ferguson’s shows having Writers Guild approval. With that, who’s on this week? David Letterman…Tuesday: Gary Mule Deer; Wednesday: Vince Vaughn (promoting his Wild West Comedy Show movie) Craig Ferguson…Tuesday: Sebastian Maniscalco; Friday: Mo’Nique