The Definitive Guide to Comedy
From the makers of the documentary Certifiably Jonathan comes this petition, asking President Barack Obama to declare a National Jonathan Winters Day. It reads, in full: Jonathan Winters (1925-2013) was a truly great American, who should be forever remembered and celebrated. The inventor of improv comedy, Jonathan kept generations of …
It already has been a great 2014 for Amy Schumer. The 32-year-old comedian is enjoying her second season of the critically-acclaimed and popular Comedy Central series, Inside Amy Schumer, touring theaters across the country and earning an American Comedy Awards nomination as the top theater comic in the process, prepping …
The American Comedy Awards will return to network TV in May with one more big name to be feted, announcing late Monday the ceremony would give Bill Cosby the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence. It’s essentially a lifetime achievement award for the 76-year-old stand-up comedian and sitcom legend, who …
Keith Huang studied improvisation at The People’s Improv Theater and trained at New York City’s other two primary theatrical homes for improv comedy in the 21st century: The UCB and The Magnet. Huang later became an instructor at The PIT, house team performer there, and since 2012, served as The …
Otto Petersen, whose foul-mouthed ventriloquist dummy George made his act “Otto & George” a popular friend of the Opie & Anthony radio program, reportedly died in his sleep. He was 53. The sad news was reported this morning on SiriusXM’s The Opie & Anthony Show. Petersen almost died last year, …
Have you seen Jiwon Lee? Do you know where she is? UPDATED May 4, 2014: Sad news, everybody. Jiwon Lee has died. She was 29. Her body was found Saturday, May 3, in the Hudson River. Police told the New York Daily News that there were no apparent signs of …
Say it nay nay. Sad but true: Stand-up comedian John Pinette died Saturday from a pulmonary embolism. Pinette was 50. On Friday, Pinette was on Twitter telling fans to come see him next weekend at the Improv in Ontario, Calif. On Saturday, he was in Pittsburgh for a family wedding. …
I’m either a comedian who moonlights as a union organizer or a union organizer who moonlights as a comedian; I kind of can’t tell anymore. Consequently, other comedians often ask me how we can form a union. The question they’re really asking is not “How do I pay dues and …
For far too long, I’ve heard about the plight of comedians who don’t have health insurance because they’re not in a union such as SAG or the WGA that can subsidize the costs or offer a plan they can afford. I’ve shared far too many stories about benefit shows and …
Dave Chappelle set ticket-sales records last July at Just For Laughs in Montreal, then crossed the United States in a rollercoaster of an outdoor arena tour that put the oddballs in Oddball Fest. North America went crazy for Chappelle. As did Australia. For almost a decade, though, the only time …
