Even though Cameron Esposito went through a lot of hurt last year with her divorce, the warmth and charisma are everlasting as evidenced in her latest late night set.
Esposito spoke so eloquently about her divorce and the LGBTQ perspective during her performance on Conan last night and cleverly highlighted just how new “gay divorce” is.
With that in mind, enjoy Cameron Esposito’s return to Conan here.
Pretty, Pretty Pony is and has been, hands down, one of our favorite improv groups amidst the ever-multiplying number of improv teams in and throughout LA. You should always catch their monthly residency where they do improv based off of a monologist’s stories at the Westside Comedy Theater for their high-level, yet subversive long form improv done exquisitely by a cast of Cole Stratton, Joey Greer, Vanessa Ragland, Ed Roe, Atul Singh, Chris Alvarado.
This edition of Pretty, Pretty Pony is especially special as their guest monologist is none other than David X. Cohen who has brought us one of the more fun visions of the future with Futurama. Undoubtedly, his stories of his own past ought to be something pretty special too.
Tickets are only $6 and you can (and should) get them here.
The wild and mind-bending short form collection that FX is calling Cake is set to return for another round this week.
That’s another whole season of insane live action and animated bits from all sorts of comedy folks from all around the globe. Just take a glimpse for yourself in this preview/teaser here, then look for the premiere this Thurs. Mar. 5th on FX.
Throwing a comedy festival in Los Angeles is a very, very, VERY daunting prospect. There’s virtually a festival’s worth of comedy every night of the week (a notion you’ve probably had yourself as a reader/follower of the site).
The resources of entertainment titan like Netflix does afford plenty of resources, access to talent and venues as you can clearly see in the star-studded and internationally stacked line-up above (or in this slick announcement video) that spans dozens of shows and venues.
The last truly great LA comedy festival, in our opinion, was Riot LA (bringing a damn fine comedy extravaganza to DTLA for a few years) and we’re very excited to know that Riot LA’s founder Abbey Londer is spearheading this new festival (as she is someone who can definitely pull it off and pull it off so well).
So, with all of that in mind, look to the end of April/beginning of May for Netflix Is a Joke Fest to take over LA comedy.
Let’s Go Atsuko Picked Up at Quibi as Series via National Lampoon
For quite some time, we’ve been hoping that the charming, whip-smart Atsuko Okatsuka would get to host her own show on TV.
She has more proven her mettle as a host of a viable TV series format with Let’s Go Atsuko!, a “woke Japanese game show”, both as a podcast and a live stage show. The trivia series explores the complexities of social cues in this day and facing fears all while being as silly as possible.
So, since partnering up with the new and improved National Lampoon, Atsuko has gotten a series order at Quibi for Let’s Go Atsuko, which is probably the perfect thing for the 10 minutes or less, mobile only format.
Again, we’re mostly excited that Atsuko is getting her own TV (albeit, non-traditional) show.
Robby Hoffman is at it again.
“It” being commandeering beloved and retired The Chris Gethard Show to do her own version of the show, which is arguably a very on-brand TCGS to continue to the show.
Hoffman’s version of the show gets into similar beautiful and hilarious chaos that Gethard did, but does so with her own cheeky alpha energy. Also, special guests could range from comedians, actors, etc. all the way to real estate agents making for a truly unpredictable, but downright hysterical night.
Tickets usually sell out for this, so best go get them for $12 right now (even though the show is a month away).
So, here’s just a slightly bigger taste than we’ve given you over the past months of what the brand new TCB will look like (shout out to our web designer Andrew Delman) with it’s high powered maps, more intuitive navigation, custom searches, etc. etc.
Like we said, it’s going to be so much better and it’s coming very, very, very, very, very soon. (it’d be really great if you backed Patreon or Venmo @jakekroeger as this has been a massive overhaul and we need to cover costs; there might even need to be a GoFundMe as we’re not actually a government funded bureau).
Since the departure of Harmontown, it has been quite a few minutes since Dynasty Typewriter had a big time weekly podcast recording within its wonderful walls.
However, that’s all about change with the one and only comedy/artist/producer/purveyor of wonderfully terrible things Rob Schrab (Channel 101, Monster House, Scud: The Disposable Assassin). A podcast called Schrab Home Video will take residence at Dynasty Typewriter at Hayworth Theater starting Mar. 15th and it’ll be “part clip-show, part talk show, and still more parts A/V installation and basement hang”. Of course, Schrab will talk to his vast, wide web of cool comedy, horror, animation folks that he is connected to and it should be a damn good time every Sunday early evening at 5PM.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 on the day of and you really ought to go get yours for the very first show here.
For as much as the hysterical Jim Tews is self-deprecating about himself, his generation, his generation of men, etc., Tews shows that masculinity and being a millennial can be more complex and evolved these days than some stereotypes might suggest and still be so damn funny.
For his latest album, Oatmeal, Tews really digs deep into himself, his fears, anxieties, peculiarities, but does so with charm and self-assuredness that it makes for several truly great bits and stories throughout the hour. It’s a great balance of absolute honesty, but not in a stark, take-it-or-leave-it way. Jim maintains a quietly playful spirit throughout whether he’s talking about getting hit by a car or getting out a relationship or owning cats as a guy. This record ought to stand as a testament to how great it can be when men truly get in touch with their feelings.
Oatmeal is out this Fri. Feb. 28th, fresh off the presses from Blonde Medicine. You can (and very much shouuld) get it off of Apple Music here or Amazon here.
When it comes to the realm of the truly absurd and wonderfully demented comedies in film, Quentin Dupieux is one of our favorites leading the charge with pretty much everything he does. His previous work including Wrong and Wrong Cops are so hysterically bonkers and yet, so stylized that we’ll never forget how much we were enraptured and tilting our head back from laughing so hard.
Dupieux’s latest Deerskin features two of France’s most revered actors in Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Adele Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) embarking on a movie where a man gets kind of possessed by this super stylish jacket and driven to do some truly wild and bizarre things. The stature of the cast juxtaposed with Deerskin’s premise really has us on board to see it as soon as we can.
See for yourself in the Deerskin trailer here, then look for it to start hitting theaters on Mar. 20th.
Perhaps a ticket to the current run of Book of Mormon at The Ahmanson (starts at $45) is a little too steep for you right now? Maybe you’ve seen the national touring cast of Book of Mormon in tip top form, but would like to see what else they have up their sleeve outside of the groundbreaking musical?
In either case, there’s something that’s perfect on the horizon for both sorts of folks next month. That national touring cast of Book of Mormon and many of UCB’s very best will be going head-to-head in a show that runs them through the gauntlet of improv, bits, musical comedy, and more!
You’ll get the best of so many worlds in one show and all for the nice price of $14. Book of Mormon vs. UCB @ UCB Sunset is set for Mon. Mar. 9th at 8PM and you best get your tickets real quick right here.
If you’ve been tracking HBO’s progression with comedy specials over the last two years like we have, you might have noticed that they’re taking a lot of chances. They’re going bolder, more vulnerable, personal, even into unprecedented/uncharted territory (see Julio Torres’ My Favorite Shapes or Drew Michael).
In the vein of getting incredibly and deeply personal, HBO has gotten quite the enrapturing special in The Golden One from Whitmer Thomas. They’ve gone to this territory before with Chris Gethard’s Career Suicide and Gary Gulman’s The Great Depresh, but there’s a parallel arc of documentary footage that follows Whitmer reconnecting with estranged family members that arguably brings us as close to the emotional bone as you might have seen in a comedy special. On top of that, Whitmer crafts a quilt of sorts from charming, funny, genuine, heartfelt music and stand-up, switching between the two at his beloved hometown venue, the Flora Bama.
We were lucky enough to see Whitmer develop this in LA at one of Silverlake’s favorite haunts, The Satellite (this cocktail napkin pictured on the bar at The Satellite FYI). We were already blown away by the songs and stand-ups and the juxtaposing of it all. Then, the gritty feel of Whitmer being back in his hometown added a whole other rich layer and depth to The Golden One.
The Golden One already premiered on HBO this past weekend, but can (and should) be streamed on HBO GO or HBO Now.
While Marc Maron has been very successfully pushing forward on the fronts of being an actor and one of podcasting’s biggest icons, Maron has thankfully, during all that time, kept to one of the things he does best, stand-up.
His dissection of his own anxieties as well as those of the world over his last several hours are real comedy gems. This latest special End Times Fun seems to promise that streak will keep going.
See for yourself in the trailer for End Times Fun right here, then look for it to drop on Netflix on Tues. Mar. 10th.
Not only is this an exclusive live read of the trippy existential rom com Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it will be such a live read with a stellar cast of Tessa Thompson, Adam Scott, Kiersey Clemons, Kelly Marie Tran, and Bridget Regan under the direction of Brett Haley (Hearts Beat Loud, The Hero, All the Bright Places).
It’s a modern classic and this one night only event will be held at the Directors Guild of America next week on Wed. Mar. 4th thanks to Film Independent (the folks behind the Spirit Awards). Tickets are $50 for GA (and will very likely sell out very quickly). Go get tickets ASAP here.
Thank goodness, The Dress Up Gang, the TV show, will actually see the light of day.
To call the prospect of making a television “daunting” is a vast understatement. The fact that any TV show gets made and then makes it to air is nothing short of a miracle. The development process, often and aptly referred to “development hell’ is where so many scripts and pilots stay put and never progress. Past that, the odds of getting a pilot shot for a TV network are so minuscule and then, getting an actual premiere date and air time is a whole other level of rarefied air.
After all of that, one would hope that their show is received well, which often isn’t the case.
Knowing all of that, sketch group The Dress Up Gang not only jumped through all of those hopes, defying the odds at every turn to bring their absurdist, nuanced, low key, yet very silly humor into a full-fledged TV, but they had an entire season shot, edited, and in the can, ready to go, ready to premiere at TBS. Unfortunately, there was a change in network brass and that sort of transition can get quite territorial resulting in an unfair and unnecessary pulling of the plug on a truly great series like The Dress Up Gang.
Fortunately, we got to a super secret special sneak peek a couple years ago and Cory Loykasek, Frankie Quinones, and Donny Divanian along with DeMorge Brown, Kirk Fox, Christian DuGuay, Brent Weinbach, Kevin Camia, Chase Bernstein, and Andie MacDowell made one of the most uniquely funny comedies we’ve seen in quite some time with the TV series. In so many ways, The Dress Up Gang is more “about nothing” than Seinfeld and yet, takes bigger comedic risks always pay off for them. Everyone seems to be on the same subtle, yet offbeat wavelength in their own individual way and it’s such a damn delight.
The fate of The Dress Up Gang, for awhile, seemed, unsure at best. Yet, the will of the show and its creators seem to deem that it needs to be seen.
So, now you can (and very, very, very much should) watch the episodes of The Dress Up Gang ASAP. Do so at http://thedressupgang.com/.
This Thursday, it will have been a year since Peacock started prancing around Club Tee Gee over in the lovely part of LA known as Atwater Village. In that time, it has quickly grown into a neatly packed and produced, tight stand-up show that has become a neighborhood (and LA) favorite on Thursday nights. Going for an entire year, especially when you’re maintaining a high quality show every week is incredibly difficult and deserves a nod of admiration (in person at this week’s show preferably)
So, join host Kiran Deol and a very, very special, extra stacked line-up all for the always nice price of a $5 suggested donation to celebrate Peacock’s One Year Anniversary.
To all of the TCB loyal:
We’ve bandied quite awhile about this mysterious update of our site for months and months and months now (you might have seen us post this streamlined version of our logo before). Some of you might have been lucky enough to run into us in real life (it happens) and see a sneak preview of what’s to come (spoiler alert: it’s pretty damn great).
Well, it looks like it’ll be launching, as suggested above, very (x5) soon (maybe even this week perhaps).
Coming with the TCB 3.0 is a high powered map, ways to find comedy shows and open mics by cost (yes, you’ll be able to find free mics), neighborhood, time of day, type of comedy, etc. etc.
Also, it’ll have a slick new look on both desktop and mobile that will show you’ve the full breadth of our services (tours, consulting, databases, etc.). On that note, we’re eternally grateful for our web designer Andrew Delman (who’s also a wonderful comedian) for being an absolutely crucial part to the new Bureau.
We hope you’ll dig it (and help us cover the cost of doing it all as we’ve been working on this since the end of summer last year).
-TCB’s Jake Kroeger
Annie Murphy from Schitt’s Creek To Star in Meta AMC Comedy Series ‘Kevin Can F*** Himself’
For a show that follows the multi-layered life of a sitcom wife from a poorly wrought and executed multi cam sitcom, series creator Valerie Armstrong and EPs Rashida Jones and Will McCormack might have just perfectly cast their star for Kevin Can F*** Himself.
We were already excited for an AMC series to satirically examine the three-dimensional life of what has historically been an unrealistic one-dimensional character archetype, the sitcom wife. Annie Murphy already stole hearts with Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek and, we think, she might have another landmark role here.
One of the crazier things you’ll ever see live on stage is the dating odyssey that Lane Moore embarks on as she displays a live feed from her Tinder on her phone and narrates her twists and turns through any and all swipes, matches, threads, etc. and letting the audience even somewhat sway what happens. Moore is so open and warm and so damn fun that the chaos is pretty damn fun.
Moore has been touring with this one of a kind, insanely bold social experiment/comedy show as it’s truly unforgettable
The latest edition of Tinder Live with Lane Moore is set for Sat. May 16th at 9PM at The Bootleg Theater. Tickets are $25 and you best get them now as we won’t be surprised at all if they sell out.
The charisma and warmth of Beth Stelling is undeniable (see her recent Kimmel set for proof) and has been for years. That’s part of why she is getting to tape an hour special for HBO Max coming up very soon.
So, next month, Thurs. Mar. 5th at 9:30PM at UCB Franklin, you’ll not only get a chance to see the oh-so-wondrous Beth get to do an hour, (a rarity for any comic in LA), but you’ll get to see her run that hour for said special.
We highly encourage you to be in attendance for this at the hallowed comedy grounds that are UCB Franklin. It’s very likely that this will be the most intimate space you’ll get to see Beth’s new hour in. Tickets are $9 and you can and very much should get them here.
Even in the best/worst of times that Charles Dickens wrote about, the razor sharp writing/directing team of Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell (In The Loop) still manage to weave their dark, playful, quick-as-a-whip humor into something decidedly less political than The Thick of It, In The Loop, and Veep.
Without knowing too much about the movie other than following around Dickens’ David Copperfield, there’s a chance that Tilda Swinton might steal a scene or two.
See for yourself in the trailer for The Personal History of David Copperfield here.
Taika Waititi Horror Comedy “The Auteur” Starring Jude Law in Development at Showtime
After JoJo Rabbit, it seems as though Taika Waititi will be given an infinite sandbox to play with (as it should be). This latest project (adapted from the eponymous graphic novel from Rick Spears, James Callahan, and Luigi Anderson) will star Jude Law, but also follow a production of horror movie gone gonzo as the cast and crew get stuck with a serial killer on the backlot where they’re shooting. With Waititi’s touch, we’re sure that, if this gets a series order, it’ll be some truly twisted fun (maybe a bit like Sion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell? where a filmmaker makes a mob movie during a real mob war).
Truly, we would love to see what Waititi gets to do with a potentially even darker than What We Do In The Shadows horror comedy.
Better Half with Jared Logan and Kara Klenk were the successors to LA’s beloved, long-running Thursday stand-up show The Josh & Josh Show. They opted to relocate to a different day and a different part of town, but we’re happy that they’re back as Jared and Kara are probably one of the funniest comedian power couples that we know.
The new Better Half will now happen on Tuesday’s at Echo Park’s dark, chic (and even a little sexy?) Bar Bandini. This first line-up for their new night/venue is pretty stellar (as was always the case with Better Half).
Swing on by to Bar Bandini next Tuesday for this new Better Half and keep up to date with line-ups here.
Tom Segura Set For Two Netflix Comedy Specials, One in English and One in Spanish
Arguably, doing comedy in another language other than your native tongue could be the highest mark of fluency in that language. Not only do you have to understand speech, grammar, pronunciation, slang, idioms, etc., but you have to be able to play with them in a way that’s particularly obtuse for comedy (oh yeah, you already have to be funny too).
This is happening more and more these days with the likes of Gad Emaleh, Rafi Bastos, Carmen Lynch, and, of course, Eddie Izzard (he’s done some of his hours in at least three different languages if not more)
Tom Segura is indeed already one of the funniest comedians working today and has been bilingual for pretty much his whole life. So, it stands to reason that, in addition to a brand new English language stand-up special, that he would eventually do one in Spanish, which he is currently crafting right at this very moment.
The English special is set for Netflix streaming on Mar. 24th and the Spanish one will come out later this year. We’re so curious as to what that might be, sound like, feel like (though we’re sure Segura’s cutting observational humor will still shine through).
The duo of Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, often known better as BriTANick have produced some of the best, most ridiculous sketches/short films (see 2011′s Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses) over the years. Their success has led them to being quite busy writing at SNL, performing all over the place, etc.
Thus, morsels from BriTANick only come around every now and again, but they are sure delectably funny whenever they come around. So, with all of that in mind, please enjoy BriTANick’s latest Dating App Writers Room here.