The Definitive Guide to Comedy
You don’t need to be from Boston to appreciate When Stand Up Stood Out, the film by comedian Fran Solomita about the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Boston was, in fact, the Hub of the comedy world (or so it seemed). Think of Boston comedy in that era as …
Jay Mohr is out and Anthony Clark is in. Ponder that for a moment. Now let’s move on to a new season of Last Comic Standing. The first two hours aired last Tuesday. There’s an hourlong recap tonight at 8 p.m., but while you wait, here are some things you …
Greg Giraldo should be a lot more famous than he is. Of all of the stand-up comedians working the circuit and talking topical, few know how to tell it like it is like Giraldo can. My interview with him ran on Friday, and I went to see his show Saturday …
The political satirist often faces a paradox: The best of times for the satirist may be the worst of times for others. Which brings us to Barry Crimmins. Crimmins — former booker for the legendary Ding Ho comedy club in Cambridge and Stitches in Boston, now writer for Air America …
Yes, really. That’s one thing to take away from last night’s talk by David Sedaris at Symphony Hall. Sure, there were the amusing essay readings. About an hour’s worth of Sedaris. But then…the monkey. (Cue the flashback) The supposedly sold-out appearance by essayist David Sedaris at Boston’s Symphony Hall on …
Docucomedy or mockumentary? Either way, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story is an amusing look at the people who play paintball — and Rob Corddry is at the center of it all as the movie’s comeback kid. The film starts a weeklong run at Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre. Corddry, 35, said filming …
I’d interviewed Dane Cook in 2005 upon the release of his breakthrough CD/DVD "Retaliation," but hadn’t really talked to him in-depth in person until April 15, 2006, the night he’d tape two sold-out shows at Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden for HBO’s "Vicious Circle." Cook took some time in his dressing …
Don’t know why I thought New York City open mics would be somehow different (read: better) than open mics in every other city, but they are, if anything, worse (read: soul-suckingly worse). I returned to the Big Apple to take part in a reunion of sorts of the "Funniest Reporters …
When several radio stations across the country decided to adopt the "Mike," "Jack" and "Wolf" formats, they turned to comedian Eugene Mirman to be their on-air face to promote the song-shuffle concept on TV ads. The ads showed Mirman, who went to Hampshire College and began comedy in Cambridge, Mass., …
Comedian Mike Birbiglia has been performing to packed college auditoriums this spring. Which made his return to Georgetown University, his alma mater, all the more triumphant. Or not. "It was one of the smaller shows, actually," Birbiglia told me. "I don’t want to downgrade their experience like they didn’t have …