Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Season 9 Kicks Off with Kristen Wiig
Jerry Seinfeld returns with his award winning comedian hang out series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, now in its ninth season.
The first round is with Kristen Wiig and they do get into what drives Kristen comedically. Also, Jerry wanders around Silverlake and Los Feliz pondering the hipster-ness of it all.
Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele team up once more for their Obama and Anger Translator Luther sketch that just might sum up how you’re feeling with less than two weeks before Trump’s inauguration. It actually might sum up your feelings more loudly than you could have imagined.
Hot Tub with Kurt [Braunohler] and Kristen [Schaal] is back for their first show of 2017. Per usual, they have a stacked line-up with Wil Anderson, Ramon Rivas II, Andy Peters, Kate Berlant, Andrew Michaan, and Jonathan Burns. Also, per usual, you shouldn’t miss it.
Tickets are $5 in advance and $8 at the door. Get your advance tickets here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Poster by Nolan Fabricius
One of America’s favorite comedians and dads has his brand new hour special coming up next week.
Tuesday, January 10th is actually when Cinco, the new special, starts streaming on Netflix.
Until then, you can enjoy the trailer for Cinco here.
Jen Kirkman is on the talk show circuit in promotion of her new Netflix special, Just Keep Livin’?, and is making it damn fun while doing so.
Watch her interview on last night’s Colbert and you’ll see why.
Key & Peele’s Obama and Anger Translator Luther Appearing on Daily Show Tonight
11PM on Comedy Central, one of the most memorable parts of both Key & Peele and the Obama Administration will go for one last ride.
Those Who Can’t Renewed for Season 3 at TruTV
Congratulations to all the students and faculty of Smoot High as well as TruTV taking advantage of what Amazon missed out on.
Deadpool Nominated for a WGA Award
Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick’s adapted screenplay for Deadpool has gotten a WGA nomination next to the likes of the normal, critically acclaimed dramatic fare such as Arrival, Fences, and Moonlight.
For an R-rated, big budget action comedy to get recognized here is kind of a big deal as action, comedy, and a R-rating on top of either of those usually don’t garner attention from the various academies and guilds of the entertainment industry.
Try thinking of the last time an R-rated comedy got a nomination for this kind of award. Keep in mind that Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop, which made waves during its awards season, was ‘Not Rated’. Perhaps, this will pave the way for more comedy, if it is award worthy, to get nominated in the years to come.
There are few specifics on this reveal from Turner CEO John Martin other than Turner is retooling Conan based off of the successes of Conan O’Brien going to different places like South Korea, Cuba, Berlin, Armenia and doing special episodes of the show from there. There’s no word as to when this will happen or what exactly a newly formatted Conan show will be like
So, this could very well mean getting one night of Conan a week, but him going out of the studio much more often, perhaps like an Anthony Bourdain style show.
We love the idea of him being out in “the elements” as that’s where he has every other late night talk show host beat, but we’d be curious to see if and how other parts of his show like the amazing absurdist sketches will figure into whatever this new format ends up being.
UPDATE: Kevin Reilly, Turner’s Entertainment Chief, in speaking to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety cleared up the notion that TBS would be making Conan go weekly. The format switch has been discussed, but Reilly says nothing is changing right now.
That being said, they’re developing Conan’s very popular segment, Clueless Gamer, as a spin-off show. Given the existence of Lip Sync Battle and various spin-offs of segments on Corden, this move could TBS’ show born out of a viral late night segment.
Coming from The Goddamn Comedy Jam created by Josh Adam Meyers, the upcoming Comedy Central series The Comedy Jam has comedians and actors rock out to their favorite songs after sharing a story of what that song means to them.
Tapings are happening this weekend and next week at the beautiful Fonda Theatre featuring the likes of Hasan Minhaj, Chris Hardwick, Fortune Feimster, Mark Duplass, Idina Menzel, Busy Philipps, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Roy Wood Jr., and more.
There are tapings on 1/7, 1/8, 1/11, and 1/12 and tickets are free. Get them here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
All Time UCB Cagematch Champs Hebecky Drysbell Will End Their 78-0 Run Undefeated
Before you get worried about catching Hebecky Drysbell once more, know that they’re getting their own recurring show at UCB here in LA.
For 78 weeks, Heather Anne Campbell and Rebecca Drysdale, otherwise known as Hebecky Drysbell, put on a clinic of long form improv that was consistently brilliant and innovative with a dash of the right bit of mischief. It’s why they made our year end lists.
In that time, beat all of their opponents including the previous Cagematch champion record holding team Heather & Miles that Heather was also a part of.
The UCB Cagematch tonight will feature two new challengers that will face off against each other and a special Cagematch farewell performance from Hebecky Drysbell. It should come as no surprise that tickets to the show are sold out.
Like we said earlier though, you’ll have another chance to see Heather and Rebecca together again as they’ll have a regularly scheduled show at UCB. We’ll be sure to let you know when that gets going.
Here’s another comedy festival that you might want to get in on if doing stand-up is your thing.
The 2017 Laughing Skull Comedy Festival is now accepting submissions until February 14th. 72 comedians will be accepted for one of the South’s most popular comedy festivals.
The regular submission fee is $45, but if you’re reading this, you can use an exclusive Comedy Bureau discount for $30 until Sunday, February 5th. Just use the following promo code “Bureau2017” when submitting.
You’ll find out whether you made it in or not on or before Wednesday, March 1, 2017 and the actual festival will happen on the week of May 1st in Atlanta, GA.
Get more details and submit here.
ICYMI: The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016
Our 2016 best of comedy list includes stand-up, sketch, improv, short film, podcasts, poetry, art installations, books, feature films, web series, musical comedy, individual performances, late night, and anything else that falls under the umbrella of comedy that we loved.
Some things you may know like Reggie Watts or Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and others, like Chris Estrada or Killer, you may not. In any case, we hope you enjoy it all as we did.
Fun fact: the list has items that happened on January 1st, 2016 and also December 30th, 2016.
Just a friendly reminder that on FXx tonight:
Season 12 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premieres at 10PM
Season 3 of Man Seeking Woman premieres right after at 10:30PM
There is still no premiere date for season 3 of Rick & Morty, but at least there is this leaked scene of animatics that you can hold on to and obsess over until then.
At the beginning of every year, 50 or so of LA comedy’s favorites gather to share their new favorite joke(s) that have been born in the new year at 50 First Jokes LA.
Kyle Kinane, Brent Weinbach, Brody Stevens, Adam Conover, Eliza Skinner, Emily Heller, Byron Bowers, Cameron Esposito, Caitlin Gill, Dave Ross, James Fritz, Matt McCarthy, Sam Jay, Solomon Georgio, and so many more will convene at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel this Saturday and show you what they’ve got so far in 2017.
Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at door and you can get them here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Jen Kirkman’s brand new hour special is now streaming at Netflix and you should go watch it ASAP.
We can’t think of a better way to kick off 2017 in comedy than watching Kirkman burn the patriarchy and be so damn funny while doing it.
In case you missed it, here’s the trailer.
Nick Kroll and John Mulaney To Co-Host 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards
Kroll and Mulaney have made their mark on Brud-waye. Now, they’re going to take over the awards season circuit.
Catch them preside over the Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 25th at 2PM PST.
Now that the holidays are officially over and everything is back, you can return to going to comedy shows that are supporting important causes like I Stand with Planned as presented by Lindsay Adams and Ever Mainaird, a comedy benefit for Planned Parenthood.
This latest edition for this week has Sarah Silverman, Sam Jay, Sabrina Jalees, and some surprise guests.
Tickets are $15 and you can (and should) get them here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
2016 is officially, finally, thankfully over (as long as you don’t think about time largely being a human construct, a new number of year doesn’t make things automatically better, and Trump becoming POTUS).
So, it’s time for our year end list, The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016.
For reference of how we do our year-end, best of lists, which is a far cry from most other comedy best of lists anywhere else, check out our lists from past years: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Got it? Great.
Here’s 2016′s edition:
1. Jake Weisman’s Send Up of Peter Travers Reviews-Rolling Stone has gone through so much recently, you might have forgot this amazing NSFW parody that Weisman made of Travers movie reviews.
2. Rory Scovel’s set on Conan Where He Went Into the Crowd-Rory Scovel pushes the envelope in stand-up in the best ways imaginable and this latest Conan set is evidence of his juggling of being fearless and silly at the same time.
3. Conan Without Borders-Conan O’Brien’s trips overseas to Berlin and South Korea highlight every single comedy gear that Conan can shift into and proves that he can almost make any situation hilarious.
4. “Killer” by Matt Kazman-Kazman achieves one of the best comedic payoffs on screen in 2016, including film and TV, with this incredibly crafted short film.
5. The Jackie and Laurie Show-Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin found a way to make a podcast where comedians talk comedy and have it be original, damn funny, and crucial.
6 Hebecky Drysbell-Reigning all time UCB Cagematch champions Heather Anne Campbell and Rebecca Drysdale showcase such virtuosity as an improv duo that is as hilarious as it is, when we think about it, beautiful.
7. Chris Estrada-If you’re looking for diamonds in the rough right now, we’d say catch Estrada’s next set and you’ll see how great his jokes are drawing from his life growing up in LA.
8. Cool Sh*t/Weird Sh*t’s Neighborhood Walking Tour-the LA outfit of the experimental comedy show brilliantly took its audience, one night, around the block and staged such moments as a couple fake fighting in a real Food 4 Less, a woman crying trying to explain the plot of a movie in a Walgreens, and running into an adult orphan waiting to be adopted off the street.
9. Womanhood with Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone-Nancherla and Firestone compliment each other so well in being goofy on this show that goes through absurd explanations of “womanhood” that it should be the next web series that gets made into a full fledged TV show.
10. Fleabag-Phoebe Waller Bridge has the UK’s fantastic, epic answer to You’re The Worst.
11. Giulia Rozzi’s True Love-Rozzi’s hour achieves what a good rom com achieves by skewering love and all of its faults as much as it celebrates it.
12. Mike Leffingwell’s 12 Angry Men: The One Man Show-The concept of a single man doing a solo show adaptation of the classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men is funny enough, but Mike Leffingwell then pulled off performing it perfectly.
13. Josh Sharp doing an hour while dipping in and out of singing D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel?) with a live band-Sharp’s stories are wonderfully crafted and told, and then, accentuated by his lovely voice singing D’Angelo’s most well known song like there’s no tomorrow.
14. Not Safe with Nikki Glaser’s Remote Segments–Glaser fed porn stars lines for scenes, visited a foot fetish convention, and highlighted sex in such a fun way that wasn’t attempted by any other TV show.
15. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s Make Donald Drumpf Again-Oliver and company’s take down of Trump was one of the best researched, strategized, written, executed pieces on Trump during this whole election cycle.
16. Disengaged-Jen Tullock and Hannah Utt’s web series following a lesbian couple rushing into marriage was one of the best pieces of romantic comedy we saw in 2016
17. [F*ck This] Late Night Show with David Brown-In a way, David Brown sees Eric Andre’s rebellion against the traditional late night format and raises it some more chaos. He has a separate creative team ruining his talk show as it happens via flashmobs, waterboarding, etc.
18. Baron Vaughn’s Blaxisential Crisis-Baron Vaughn’s latest album oscillates perfectly between deep and crucial issues of race, class, purpose and flights of imaginative fancy putting Vaughn almost in a class by himself.
19. Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill-the odd couple pairing of Goldthwait and Gill is unlike anything comedy has seen before. Because it lives in truth (they really are roommates), it’s one of the best hosting duos in comedy today.
20. Megan Gailey-Gailey, with her stand-up, is simultaneously an undeniable delight and a force to be reckoned with, which only doubles up how delightful she is to watch.
21. Liartown USA-When it comes to parodying covers for books, magazines, Netflix menus, etc., Sean Tejaratchi might just do it better than anyone as you can see above.
22. This Bill Burr joke: “How many Toyota Camrys do you have to see before you realize most people’s dreams don’t come true?”-We usually refrain from transcribing jokes out of context and in print, but we haven’t stopped laughing at this searingly honest joke from Burr since we first saw him work on it several months ago and felt it imperative that it be on this list.
23. Sing Street-The 80s, Ireland, young love, and diegetic musicals get married perfectly in this film by John Carney that spent far too little time in theaters.
24. Derek Sheen’s Tiny Idiot-This album made it clear that Sheen could be an heir apparent to Patton Oswalt, bu very clearly has his own, unique comedic take on the world today.
25. Stephen Colbert’s Close to His Election 2016 Live Special-For once, the world got to see the real Stephen Colbert who is so intelligent, well spoken, caring, and one of the only people that could pull of dealing with immediate aftermath of an impending Trump win on TV.
26. Will Hines’ A Soundly Defeated Man-Hines, in a series of sketch vignettes, takes the comedic self-deprecation to a new level of artistry by showing how defeated one man really can be.
27. The Lobster-Yorgos Lanthimos might have made the best dystopian rom com in recent memory and, possibly, for several years to come.
28. Jena Friedman’s American C*nt-Friedman is unrelenting in her dismantling of the patriarchy amongst other several other controversial issues. She handily deals with them in this special, placing her in a very important position in comedy going forward in 2017.
29. Jamie Loftus-Loftus is that amazing rare breed of comedian that blends dark, absurdist humor with genuine vulnerability and she can do so in her stand-up or through own self-styled animation (ex. doing her own animations for old tapes of how to tell children about someone dying).
30. Chris Duffy’s You Get a Spoon-Duffy’s NYC based, curated variety show is filled with so much positivity from celebrating the favorite things of his favorite performers that you almost can’t leave the show without a smile on your face (or winning a prize).
31. Bear Supply-The quick, music fueled scenes of Mike Castle, Shaun Boylan, Joey Greer, Jordan Bull, Morgan Christensen and James Heaney is impeccable improvisational comedy.
32. The Cooties-Musical comedy is alive and well with the satirical power pop songs of The Cooties.
33. Aparna Nancherla’s Just Putting It Out There-Aparna’s album is proof positive that her wondrous version of self-deprecation can be ultimately uplifting.
34. Hunt for the Wilderpeople-Taika Waititi continues his film streak with a charming-as-can-be film about a troubled youth surviving in the wilds of New Zealand.
35. Don’t Think Twice-Mike Birbiglia gets really close to hitting too close to home for some people in comedy, but that draws out one of the best depictions of life in comedy (or attempting to do so) that has ever been put into a movie.
36. The Opening of The Pack Theater-The DIY, punk rock, spirit that runs in the veins of much of LA comedy got a new, wonderful outlet at The Pack Theater.
37. Jetzo-Chad Damiani and Juzo Yoshida mash-up improv, clowning, kimonos, dramatic live musical accompaniment, and breaking the fourth wall to make the marvelous whirlwind known as Jetzo.
38. DJ Real (Nick Stargu)-SF comedian Nick Stargu’s alias DJ Real mixes an uncanny command of musicianship with an über-clever style of comedy that dazzled and had us doubling over laughing at the same time.
39. Daniel Webb-Hailing from Austin, TX, stand-up comedian Daniel Webb is a splendid rush of charisma that probably has a better Obama story than almost anyone you know.
40. Laurie Kilmartin’s 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad-Kilmartin’s special, born out of jokes she tweeted while her dad was passing away, is so darkly funny and has an unmistakable humanity, which has us rethinking that maxim of comedy equals tragedy plus time.
41. Kristin Rand-LA got a brief glimpse of the unstoppable charm of Rand when she moved here from Denver and was all the better for it.
42. James Fritz’s Still Together-The way Fritz exquisitely channels rage and bleakness into this debut album is magnificent.
43. Roast Battle-What started as two open mic’ers fighting in a parking lot has now earned its way to a March Madness style tournament shown on Comedy Central and we’re betting that Roast Battle still has much more potential ahead of them.
44. Josh Fadem-Fadem made a return to performing more regularly in 2016 and his magnetic positivity and pure, unabashed goofiness (complete with impromptu costumes) definitely got us through the whole of last year.
45. Sam Jay-Jay moved to LA from Boston and took her insightful, brash, unfiltered comedy (that happens to come through the lens of being a newly married lesbian) and has become a the LA scene favorite almost instantly.
46. Dave Waite’s Dead Waite-Dave Waite’s latest hour takes being a goofball to new heights of brilliance.
47. Of Oz The Wizard by Matt Bucy-Absurdity doesn’t get more pure than Bucy’s re-editing the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz and alphabetizing the entire thing, start to finish.
48. This Friday Forty-Most other quiz shows can’t compare to Scott Gimple and Dave Holmes’ This Friday Forty that not only has topical trivia, but fantastic sketch characters to introduce said trivia.
49. Jay Larson’s Human Math-Few comedians so deftly explore the minutia of human nature like Larson does on this album.
50. Josh Gondelman’s Physical Whisper-Gondelman’s craftsmanship in observational humor is exceptional on this album and accentuated nicely by his sunny stage persona.
51. Kyle Mizono right after the election-There was a lot of raw nerves exposed in comedians right after Trump’s win and few did it so purely and well as Mizono. For a whole set, she screamed her jokes with legitimate fury, but without being off-putting (well, if you’re not a Trump supporter that is).
52. Lady Dynamite-Maria Bamford’s truth and Mitch Hurwitz’s wildly imaginative way of making episodic television combine for a comedy series that is blazing its own trail at a time where that gets harder and harder to do in a show about the life of a comedian.
53. Hail, Caesar!-The Coen Brothers’ latest comedy set in Hollywood’s Golden Age is one of their sharpest and most beautiful works that has plenty of scenes that could be amazing short films on their own.
54. Moses Storm’s Sweater-Moses Storm never ceases to amaze us as he, this time, wore a sweater that had several strings attached to it for audience members to grab so they could literally be connected to him while he’s telling a story.
55. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee-Samantha Bee has cemented a legacy in her short time on the air with her take-no-prisoners-and-then-some style of satirical news coverage.
56. Gene Wilder and Fidel Castro’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (in Limbo)-UCB’s Beth Appel and Rose Marziale put a hell of a show to end 2016 with as they used the whole of the UCB Sunset complex to have an immersive comedy show (a la Sleep No More) that included karaoke with dead celebrities, a fake newsroom, and the woods where Hillary Clinton is living.
57. Morris From America-Chad Hartigan’s refreshing coming-of-age story following an American black kid trying to grow up in Germany with his single father hit a very sweet, feel-good note that everyone needs to see (especially since it had a short theatrical run).
58. Britanick’s “The Foul Line”-Though BriTANick had gone a few years without a new video, this absurdist folly makes up for all that time lost.
59. 20th Century Women-Mike Mills’ latest is a great follow up to Beginners and is an award worthy comedy that might actually be able to compete with heavily favored dramas this year.
60. Three Busy Debras-The comedy trio of Three Busy Debras got to play Carnegie Hall through this devilishly fun crowdfunding campaign.
61. Paul F. Tompkins’ on Political Correctness-One of comedy’s best gave one of the best explanations of political correctness’ necessary role in comedy.
62. The Dollop-Shining a light on the dark corners in American history is as important as it has ever been and Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds do so with a devilish laugh and their effortless riffing up comedy gold.
63. Floor Knobs-This AOK sketch from Heather Anne Campbell is one of our absolute favorites and, rather than spoiling anything, we’ll just leave it at that.
64. David Gborie’s Late Night Stand Up Debut-Gborie takes an unexpected move in his opening to this performances that sets up a truly wonderful late night stand-up debut.
65. Cholofit-Frankie Quinones’ cholo exercise guru is done so well that it leaves you wanting it to be a real exercise program.
66. Oh, Hello-John Mulaney and Nick Kroll took two characters from just being a small bit to the heights of Broadway. George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon are just so fully realized and funny that it doesn’t matter if you miss one of their references or not.
67. Chris Garcia’s Laughing and Crying at the Same Time-Garcia meshes deeply personal stories and utter silliness that do the album title justice.
68. Cole Escola-Escola’s solo show follows him playing several outrageous characters (switching wigs and costumes while on stage) allowing for another fun layer in between the cavalcade of delightful, short monologues.
69. Catastrophe season 2-Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney have kept their devastatingly funny look into an unplanned family up to the very high standard they set in season 1.
70. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s Election Watch 2016-Robert Smigel might have not known that having a dog puppet on his hand roasting people to their face for years would be the perfect preparation for covering the 2016 election (on both sides of the aisle), but, as the handful of Hulu specials prove, it really was.
71. Joel Kim Booster’s set on Conan-Just telling the story of being adopted by a Midwestern white family from Korea and being gay is fascinating enough, but Joel Kim Booster made that story blisteringly funny on late night.
72. Angie Tribeca-Physical comedy and sight gags would almost seem out-of-turn in comedy these days, but the proudly silly Angie Tribeca on TBS is thankfully changing all of that.
73. Trump vs. Bernie-While ‘Trump vs. Bernie’ will probably be a presidential candidate match-up that more people will long for than ever, Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian’s Trump vs. Bernie will go down as one of the best bits (that includes the live tour, the Fusion series, and album) of comedy to come out of one of the worst elections in U.S. history.
74. Joe Pera’s Set on Seth Meyers-Pera’s weirdness is one-of-a-kind in comedy as it’s very warm and inviting. He got to share that with the world with his set on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
75. Vice Prinicpals-When Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ diabolical teachers one-up, in the best way, any other teachers in any other comedies that go off-the-deep-end in this HBO series.
76. Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio-Neely’s latest creations seems to offer up bits from the weirdest corners of Neely’s mind and this animated sketch show is all the better for it.
77. Hari Kondabolu’s Mainstream American Comic-Much is deservingly said about Kondabolu’s expertise in talking politics, class, race, etc. in his comedy, but this album also shows that his comedy is stellar no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.
78. Jon Glaser Loves Gear-Glaser does meta comedy better than almost anybody else working right now and his new show on TruTV is proof of that.
79. How to Win at Feminism by Reductress-This whip-smart manifesto about feminism solidifies Reductress’ place in modern satire next to The Onion and Clickhole.
80. Great Minds with Dan Harmon-Harmon getting to spend time with some of history’s most notable figures ended up being one of the best shows that the History Channel has done in years.
81. Derrick Brown-Very few poets can reach the point of being laugh out loud funny and still deeply emotive quite like Brown, both on stage and in his book, Uh-Oh.
82. Natalie Palamides’ solo show Laid-Palamides makes a solo show that’s so absurd and funny, it might almost be in a unique category of its own.
83. W. Kamau Bell’s Semi-Prominent Negro–Bell explores all of today’s hot button issues (racial inequality, transgender identity, gentrification, etc.) comedically, as he is very skilled at doing, but does it in such a jovial way that they don’t seem so controversial anymore.
84. Other People–Chris Kelly’s hilarious and heartbreaking movie based on his own life in dealing with the passing of his mother from cancer is one of Kelly’s finest work, which is even more impressive as his first feature done while being an SNL writer.
85. Emo Philips improvising with Jason Van Glass-Emo’s comedic prowess is so great that he can improvise with Van Glass like they’re a veteran improv duo.
86. Return of MST3K-Of the things from our childhoods that are being brought back, Mystery Science Theater 3000 returning with a sweeping mandate in the form of a record breaking Kickstarter campaign is one that deserves to be revived.
87. Wyatt Cenac’s An Angry Night in November-Cenac’s EP captures lightning in a bottle (it’s his set from his weekly Night Train show) of immediate post-election comedy that is pure, raw, and biting.
88. Justin Sayre’s Gay Agenda-Sayre makes a compilation of his “meetings” as ‘Chairman of the International Order of Sodomites’ that give a hysterical look into the many great, complex layers of LGBTQ life.
89. Ahamed Weinberg-Both as a stand-up and a filmmaker (watch Rasberries), Weinberg is on a path to being another great modern comedy multi-hyphenate.
90. Jon Dore Gets a Bad Backstory-Dore once again shows how to toe the line when entering the darkest territories of comedic material and do so successfully while being utterly absurd.
91. Ron Babcock videos-A dying reel and an ad for his old CRV really showcase the cleverness and ingenuity of comedy’s Ron Babcock.
92. Reggie Watts’ Spatial-Watts’ latest special is his best and most ambitious one yet as it includes his beatboxing, a faux sitcom, tap dancing, and way more.
93. Alex & Jude–Alex Hanpeter and Jude Tedmori have figured out how to give slapstick, physical comedy the proper twist for 2016 audiences, which includes a literal bit of audience participation of making Jude a target.
94. Conner O’Malley-O’Malley takes satirical field pieces to a whole new level as he plays and wholeheartedly commits to dark, fully realized characters inspired by vaping, Alex Jones, and Cubs fans. He interacts with real people at Trump rallies, vape conventions and outside of Wrigley Field and goes along with whatever happens.
95. Doug Stanhope’s No Place Like Home-Stanhope has an amazing take on mental illness in this special and opted to shoot it in his own hometown of Bisbee, AZ. Overall, No Place Like Home ranks high up in Stanhope’s extensive catalog of stand-up.
96. “Tond” by Kelly Hudson-Hudson’s short film is one of our favorite bits of existential absurdity of 2016, a year seemingly saturated in nothing but questioning ‘what it all means’.
97. Brett Gelman’s Dinner in America-Gelman’s last special on Adult Swim is one to remember, especially for how searing the satirical commentary on race relations are in it.
98. Miguel Marquez-Marquez bridges a gap, almost literally, between art and comedy as his wry art installations are way funnier (intentionally that is) than nearly anything you’d see in an art museum.
99. Chris Fleming’s Silver Lining–The week following the election seemed as hopeless can be if you voted for Hillary and Fleming offered up a powerful, albeit one with a bit of tomfoolery, message of hope.
100. Norm MacDonald on Conan-Not only is there the expected long, winding roads of Norm’s jokes and stories in this particular appearance, but Conan does an impression of Norm out of frustration that’s spot on.
2017’s Limestone Comedy Festival Is Now Accepting Submissions
Bloomington, IN’s annual Limestone Comedy Festival has just opened up their submissions for this year to find new stand-up comedians to highlight.
If you’re looking to make your way into the circuit of comedy festivals as a stand-up, you might want to start with Limestone, especially if you live in or around Indiana.
The earlybird fee is $25 until Sunday, February 19th, the regular submission fee is $40 until the final deadline of Sunday, March 12th.
Get more details and submit here.
The Riot LA Comedy Festival, one of the annual comedy events in LA that you shouldn’t miss, is only a few weeks away. Just look at the poster above to see the big, stacked line-up that’s in store for later this month.
Passes are on sale for $159.50 or $349.50 for VIP. Tickets for individual shows are also available.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Open Mic Run All Updated for First Week of 2017
Whether your New Year’s resolution is to start stand-up or to not quit, we got the most up-to-date listings of where to try your hand at/hone your comedy.
Kicking off the year with carefully crafted, vicious sh*t talking seems to be somehow appropriate for 2017.
In that spirit, Roast Battle II headed to NYC for its first set of regional rounds and you can see what went down tonight at Comedy Central at 11PM.
Get a taste of it with this clip of Yamaneika Saunders vs. J.P. McDade.
Tonight, Kaitlin Olson will go from playing Sweet Dee to starring in her own show, The Mick, where she plays Mickey.
There seem to be some parallels between the characters in terms of being brash and unapologetic, so It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans should might want to catch the premiere.