The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Jackie Mason, a Tony and Emmy-winning stand-up comedian so identified with Yiddish humor he named his YouTube channel, “TheUltimateJew,” died on Saturday at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Mason was 93. Mason won a Special Tony Award in 1987 for his first one-man show on Broadway, The World According to …
This is really happening. Fran Drescher, who starred as The Nanny for 146 episodes from 1993-99, is developing the sitcom into a Broadway musical, co-writing the book with her series co-creator, Peter Marc Jacobson, with music and lyrics from Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger. Bloom and Schlesinger, of course, won an …
The hip-hop improv comedy group now known famously for featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda as its frontman used to play for audiences at Ars Nova more than a decade ago. They moved on to dates at Comix and Joe’s Pub, performed at Super Bowl Week for ESPN, and a TV series on …
Dave Chappelle already is winning the Mark Twain Prize this year. Why not also make his Broadway debut? Chappelle will perform five nights this July at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on West 46th Street (capacity just over 1,500). He has previously sold out lengthier runs at the larger Radio City Music …
Timing may remain the key to comedy, but knowing your audience and connecting with it continues to rank right up there with it. To see Mike Birbiglia in his Broadway debut of The New One, I brought a comedian who not only has performed with Birbiglia, but also is a …
Celebrity Autobiography, the long-running Off Broadway show that’s also played around the world for a decade, will get limited Broadway engagement over four Mondays this fall, starting the week after Thanksgiving. The show, which features celebs reading aloud and acting out the memoirs of other celebs, will have stars such …
Mike Birbiglia is taking his newest comedy act to Broadway this fall. “The New One,” which Birbiglia toured across the country this past year, and recently wrapped an off-Broadway run, will enjoy at least 12 weeks at the Cort Theatre, with previews starting Oct. 25. I’m so excited to be …
Mean Girls, Amy Schumer and John Leguizamo are among the comedic stars getting feted this year by the Tony Awards for their work on Broadway. Mean Girls, the musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s 2004 movie, is up for 12 Tonys, including Best Musical. Fey (who wrote the book) and her …
Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for impersonating President Donald J. Trump on Saturday Night Live for the past year, wants to bring the parody to Broadway. “We may take the book and make it into a one-man show on Broadway,” Baldwin told Howard Stern this week. “Like Will Ferrell …
Bill Murray, comedy legend and star of the 1993 now-classic film, Groundhog Day, attended the Broadway performance Tuesday night of Groundhog Day: The Musical. Murray sat with his brother, Brian Doyle-Murray (who played a Punxsutawney official) and Danny Rubin (who co-wrote the screenplay as well as the Broadway adaptation), and …
