The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Comedian Justin Silver didn’t quit his day job, and he earned primetime network TV exposure because of it. While stand-up comedians have racked up TV credits as snarking talking heads, contestants on “reality” shows or competitions, or hosts of series for which they had no other previous qualifications, Silver proved …
Marc Maron has benefited greatly in the past couple of years since he began his WTF podcast and earned not only much-deserved respect but a newfound audience, and in the comedy issue of Paste magazine, Maron is paying it forward with his five comedians to watch in 2012. And they …
Nate Bargatze had gotten bumped recently from Conan when the other segments ran long. This week, they brought him back and had him tape his stand-up comedy in advance, and made sure to fit it into the program last night. Among other things, you’ll learn how to deal with marriage, …
People think that the funny guy in the office would make a great stand-up comedian, but that humor does not always translate from the workplace to the stage. Ditch Films has produced a series of online shorts that puts a reverse spin on this, taking stand-up comedians and having them …
If you were to ask me at the start of the 2008 New York’s Funniest Stand-Up contest, who I thought would win, well, someone did, and before I could say "John Mulaney" (whoops, he’s not even in the contest? wait, what? oh, right, Mulaney is headlining at the Punchline in …
One of my newspaper alma maters, the New York Daily News, devoted much of its Sunday features section to comedy, thanks in part to this week’s New York Comedy Festival, but also to how much comedy has impacted politics this campaign season. There’s a story from Caroline Waxler about how …
A reliable source informed me that these are your first five comedians advancing to the finals of the 2008 New York’s Funniest Stand-Up contest: Nate Bargatze, Esther Ku, Julian McCullough, Stone & Stone, Reese Waters They’ll join five others who advance from tonight’s semifinal competition at Stand-Up NY. Finals Nov. …
The folks at Montreal’s Just For Laughs uploaded videos last week from its 2008 collection of comedians participating in the New Faces and Masters showcases, so you can finally see what I saw this summer. Rather than bombard you with two dozen embedded video clips, I’m going to embed one …
Is it possible for the host of New Faces to bomb? If your name is Dana Gould and the show in question happened Saturday night, then yes, very much so. Word on the street had it that both groups of New Faces felt more at ease in their second go-arounds …
It’s the second week of the 2008 Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, which means we finally learn the identities of this year’s crop of New Faces and Masters to perform later this week. Much more to come, as I’ll be reporting from Montreal starting on Wednesday. For now, though, …
