The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Jackie Fabulous made it to the semifinals of AGT Season 14, and that earned her an invite back this January for AGT All-Stars. She didn’t advance this time, though so far, no comedy acts have garnered enough audience votes. But a primetime network TV stand-up appearance still is worth plenty …
He’s only 13, but Jamie Leahey already made the finals of Britain’s Got Talent last year and got invited to AGT: All-Stars. Jamie says he decided to teach himself ventriloquism during lockdown. And you made banana bread…?
Kelly Monteith died on New Year’s Day at his home in California. Monteith was 80, and has suffered two strokes in early 2021 that left him unable to perform due to aphasia. But long before that, Monteith established the idea that American comedians could enjoy successful careers across the pond …
Lioz Shem Tov has gotten around. Since performing on Season 13 of AGT, the comedy mentalist has gone on to compete in the Got Talent universe formats for Australia, Britain, France and Israel. And now he’s back for AGT All-Stars, though he will not win this time, either.
NBC kicked off 2023 with an all-star competition edition of America’s Got Talent, and AGT season 2 winner Terry Fator — who has made major bank headlining Vegas casinos since his win in 2007 — performed on the debut episode. Fator didn’t advance to the next round this time, but …
Let’s do better in 2023, comedy industry! Please?!?! Read my last weekly comedy news dispatch for 2022, which catches up with some of the most notorious men in comedy today.
It’s the end of 2022, which means it’s time once again for my annual year-end check-in with Jason Zinoman, critic at-large for The New York Times. Jason and I talk about the top trends we saw in comedy this year, the best up-and-comers in stand-up, the craziest ways comedy intersected …
Brandon Montrell, better known as the comedian Boogie B., died tragically Friday in a shooting outside of a New Orleans supermarket. Montrell was 43. Montrell was home for the holidays and not the intended victim in the shooting, according to New Orleans police. Anyone with information or can locate these …
Mike Bridenstine is based in Los Angeles, was raised in Iowa, but it was his time in between in Chicago that helped form him and his friendships as a comedian. Bridenstine has written a book about the rise of the alt-comedy scene in Chicago in the early 2000s, which included …
My weekly update on all the comedy news you need to know, now up on my Substack!
