Mitch Hedberg, calling from Big Bear

Life is funnier when you hear about it from Mitch Hedberg. A lot of comedians say performing stand-up is the closest they can get to being a rock star. Hedberg comes closer to that ideal than most. When I caught up with him at his Southern California home, Hedberg was …

Caroline Rhea balances TV with stand-up

Caroline Rhea has fond memories of Arizona. The Montreal native’s father lives in Tucson, and Rhea spent some of her proverbial formative years there attending the University of Arizona in the mid-1980s. She had yet to learn about "those giant cardboard sunglasses you put in the front of the car," …

Jerry Seinfeld, at the Dodge Theatre

Two things might have caught the eye of patrons to comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s show Friday night at the new Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz. On a nearby sidewalk, people were scalping tickets (Seinfeld has two more sold-out shows tonight, four in all) while country station KNIX-FM (102.5) was broadcasting live …

Doug Stanhope, on embracing outrageousness

When the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival put together a "Sick & Twisted" show for its annual gathering this month in Aspen, Colo., there really was only one stand-up comedian who could headline the gig: Doug Stanhope. This is a guy who was planning his birthday bash earlier this week with …

Marc Maron and his Jerusalem Syndrome

"People always criticize one-man shows for being self-indulgent," comedian Marc Maron says during a phone interview from his home in New York City. "So I took it to a level of grandiosity never before seen." That’s Maron for you. The cultural critic, storyteller and frequent guest of Late Night With …