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Go Binge “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” If You Haven’t Already

i think you should leave, netflix, tim robinson

If you’re like us and have been pondering the state and direction of sketch comedy right now, you might want to do yourself a favor and spend just around two hours watching the wonderfully daft, absurdist box-of-treasures that is Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave on Netflix.

It’s only six episodes at less than twenty minutes a piece and it’s a much needed shot in the arm (and might just make up for Detroiters going off the air) in terms of pure, concentrated silliness that is meticulously crafted and performed at the highest level.

The title is apt as every sketch acts in a way that prompts an exit for a character that they don’t take when they really should. The simple formula and Tim’s penchant for ridiculousness makes for one of our favorite shows thus far in 2019.

In fact, there’s only one issue: there’s nearly not enough of I Think You Should Leave.

Dave Chappelle To Receive Mark Twain Prize for Humor

dave chappelle, mark twain prize, mark twain prize for humor

Dave Chappelle To Receive Mark Twain Prize for Humor

Often, people overlook what specifically the Mark Twain Prize for Humor is given out for and just end up thinking it goes to living legends in comedy. Specifically, the award honors that have a significant cultural impact, perhaps changing the way we think about things, via humor.

Dave Chappelle, arguably better than many other recent recipients, fits this bill perfectly. No matter what you think of Chappelle, both now and then, he has left an indelible mark on the country (and the world for that matter) with his comedy and has, for many, changed how they see things. Certainly, his acceptance speech will be watched closely (maybe more closely than most of these Mark Twain Prize speeches save for Will Ferrell’s).

His ceremony is set for Oct. 27th at the Kennedy Center and will air likely weeks later. Already, we’re wondering what the odds are that they’ll do a bit where he no shows and hides on another continent.

Please Enjoy Phil Hanley’s Latest Late Night Set on Fallon

late night, phil hanley, stand up comedy

Phil Hanley is the sort of clever writer and smooth operator that makes him kind of perfect for doing late night sets. Already he’s racked up sets on Late Night and The Late Late Show.

Last night, he added The Tonight Show to his resume and definitely delivered (there are so many applause breaks in this set).

Watch and see what we’re talking about here.

Three Busy Debras Is Going to Series at Adult Swim Comedy Produced By Amy Poehler

alyssa stonoha, mitra jouhari, sandy honig, three busy debras

Three Busy Debras Is Going to Series at Adult Swim Comedy Produced By Amy Poehler

Sandy Honig, Alyssa Stonoha, and Mitra Jouhari AKA Three Busy Debras are going to get their own, live action, quarter hour show at Adult Swim.

Those in the know have enjoyed their high absurdity both in shorts they’ve released and their special, pop-up engagement at Carnegie Hall.

Very soon, we’ll get to see their world of “Connecticut deranged housewives” unfold. Also, take note that this is Amy Poehler is going from EP’ing Broad City to EP’ing Three Busy Debras.

Personally, we can’t wait for this to give Adult Swim a bit of a fresh, new look.

altadena, arcadia, comedy show, comedy special, los angeles, pasadena, stand up comedy, taping, tv taping

Photo by Adam Smith

Billy Wayne Davis is one of our favorite comedians working today with his sly comic sensibilities masked by his welcoming voice (as well as being one of the rare comedians to record an album at Jack White’s Third Man Records).

He’ll be taping his brand new special this Wednesday at an old chapel at Mountain View Mortuary & Cemetery in Altadena, CA.

That’s right, you’ll get to see Billy tape his hour at a funeral home’s chapel.

There are two tapings, 7:30PM and 10:30PM, and they aiming to start on time. Admission is free so long as you RSVP at BookingBWD@gmail.com. We’re going to say that this will be worth the trek to Altadena if you’re not close.

James Adomian to Launch His Own Podcast The Underculture This Week

comedy podcasts, forever dog, james adomian, premiere, the underculture

If you are a comedy podcast fan, the chances that you’ve enjoy James Adomian’s characters and voices are very high. Between Comedy Bang! Bang!, Chapo Trap House, and a plethora of other shows, Adomian has been part of some of the best bits of comedy podcasting ever for several years.

So, it stands to reason that Adomian should have his very own podcast where he can do his characters and feature his personal favorite comedians with their characters and otherwise.

That time has finally come as The Underculture, which is such a podcast as described, is set to premiere on Forever Dog this Thurs. May 9th. Get a taste with a trailer here, then go ahead and subscribe like you know you want to.

Evan Shapiro Tasked with Reviving National Lampoon

atsuko okatsuka, evan shapiro, national lampoon

Evan Shapiro Tasked with Reviving National Lampoon

The former head of Seeso, Evan Shapiro, has been appointed with the gargantuan task of reviving National Lampoon. The once heralded brand has switched several hands over the last few years and attempts to revive it to even some of its former glory have fallen short.

Shapiro curated quite the catalog of content, both originals and acquired, over at Seeso despite it being ultimately shuddered by NBC. Already, the adaptation of Let’s Go Atsuko (a woke Japanese game show) with Atsuko Okatsuka) into a series shows a bit of promise.

It’s yet another curious turn in the history of this brand and we’ll just have to wait and see what else Shapiro has up his sleeve that will hopefully reboot National Lampoon entirely.

beverly hills, comedy show, experimental comedy, largo, los angeles, paul scheer, rob huebel, stand up, weho

Once upon a time, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer used to take the stage together at UCB to do something called Crash Test. It was a live show where Paul and Rob got to do whatever the hell they wanted (i.e. an aggro-version of musical chairs, accidentally talking to celebrity assistants in the crowd, going over Vin Diesel’s real FB page, etc.) in between great stand-ups. Eventually, that led to an entire comedy special that they did on a glass bus.

It has been more than couple of a years since Huebel and Scheer have dove into this wondrous chaos, but that’s all changing as they will be reprising Crash Test again at Largo Thurs. May 30th at 8:30PM. Go get your tickets now as we have no doubt that this will be something special.

A Musical Based On Sarah Silverman’s Memoir ‘The Bedwetter’ To Open Within Year

bedwetter, musical, sarah silverman

A Musical Based On Sarah Silverman’s Memoir ‘The Bedwetter’ To Open Within Year

Sarah Silverman won’t be in it, but it is a part of her life story that focuses on, well, being a long time bedwetter. We are deeply curious to see her specific comedic sensibilities, which have gotten more personal and vulnerable over the years, translate into an Off-Broadway musical.

Also, this has us wondering if this is the start, whether intentional or not, to Silverman scoring an EGOT.

barbara gray, brodie reed, luke mcgarry, mike hollingsworth, mike mayfield, nick rutherford, paul danke, picture this

First off, there’s a National Cartoonist Society Festival happening down in Huntington Beach this month. Already, that’s something that should highly peak your interest as it will be a big shindig for comics and cartoons (plus a zombie walk).

On top of that, there will be one of our favorite concept shows, Picture This!, down in the OC for a special free, pop-up show in, perhaps, the perfect setting

They’ve got many of their favorites and stalwarts of the show coming down from LA to Huntington Beach and it’s your chance to see if you’ve avoided making the trek to The Virgil in Silverlake over the last few years.

Get more details here.

Please Enjoy Chad Daniels Breaking Down Society’s Daddy Issues on Corden

chad daniels, corden, daddy issues, late late show, stand up comedy

The pervasiveness of “daddy issues” these days prompted a great set from Chad Daniels, who seems like a pretty swell dad (not to mention that he looks the part too).

Please enjoy it from this week’s Late Late Show with James Corden here.

bachelor the musical, musical parody, the bachelor

Love it or hate it, The Bachelor will stand as a reality TV institution that has forever affected the landscape of television. Thus, an unauthorized parody musical of it is inevitable and writer Richelle Meiss and director John Flynn do a smash up job delivering such an offering.

Bachelor The Musical nails all the tropes in a fully realized musical and is even delightful to those who actively don’t watch the show and might be slightly unfamiliar with its canon. We got to see it on the intimate stage of UCB Franklin, but it will be lovely to see it on a much bigger stage at Dynasty Typewriter.

Get your tickets now ($20 in adv., $25 at door) here.

The Del Close Marathon Is Finally Arriving in LA Jun. 28th-30th

dcm, del close marathon, improv comedy, improvisational comedy, long form improv, ucb, upright citizens brigade

The renowned all-day, all-night, and all-weekend long improv festival known as Del Close Marathon or DCM is landing in Los Angeles after its long, celebrated run in NYC.

From Friday, June 28th to Sunday, June 30th, the best improv teams around will gather to play through all hours of this weekend. The schedule and line-up are TBD, but all shows will happen at UCB’s 3 venues (UCB Franklin, UCB Sunset, and UCB Inner Sanctum).

Get more details and watch for announcement here.

Hulu Renews Both PEN15 and Ramy for Second Seasons

hulu, pen15, ramy, renewal

Hulu’s latest string of comedies seem to be working quite well for them. The critical praise that has been thrown at both PEN15 and Ramy shows that Hulu might be on to something with their original comedy productions.

So, with that in mind, both PEN15 and Ramy just got orders for a second season and we can only hope that Hulu keeps this new wave of their comedy that they’ve got going.

brendon walsh, comedy show, echo park, karl hess, lizzy cooperman, los angeles, stand up comedy, tess barker

It has been a minute (well, it has been quite a few figurative minutes) since legendary garage comedy trio of Paul Danke, Cornell Reid, and Sean Green as The Comedy Garage (there’s a whole doc about it) have assembled to put on around great round of underground comedy.

Lucky for all of us, they’ll be coming back together again this Friday with a classic line-up and putting on a show that’s legitimately underground. Get more details here.

Hollywood Golden Boys Phil Lord and Chris Miller Move to Sony Pictures TV with Nine Figure Overall Deal

chris miller, phil lord, sony pictures tv

Hollywood Golden Boys Phil Lord and Chris Miller Move to Sony Pictures TV with Nine Figure Overall Deal

With their contract at 20th Century Fox TV coming to a close, Phil Lord and Chris Miller who are responsible for launching the LEGO Movie franchise and the critical and commercial success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse just landed a massive deal at Sony Pictures TV to develop series, both live action and animated, including a focus on the Marvel characters that Sony still owns (guess there will still be two MCUs for quite some time, huh?).

We can’t wait to see what this means for Lord and Miller and maybe Sony perhaps rallying back into the ever-crowded race of content. If there were a duo to make something great, funny, and self-aware out of the complicated dichotomy between Sony’s Marvel characters and the actual Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’d be Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

We’ll just have to wait and see how they dazzle us beyond our expectations yet again.

action civics ca, benefit show, chelsea peretti, comedy show, dtla, joe mande, langston kerman, minnie driver, paul scheer, sarah silverman, tig notaro

Action Civics CA, an organization to educating the youth into being informed, responsible citizens of the world, is throwing another huge comedy benefit at DTLA’s Theatre at Ace Hotel that features many of your favorite comedy folks (really, just look at that line-up that will probably have more huge names added as they get closer to the day of).

It’s best to get your tickets for Let’s Save the Future now (they’re going for $40-$100) right now. Go get them here.

‘Desus & Mero’ Expands to Two Episodes a Week at Showtime for the Summer

desus and mero, desus nice, kid mero, showtime

We’re thrilled to hear that the one late night show that really stands up from all the rest is getting to go to two nights a week for the summer.

Desus & Mero have apparently made their higher-ups at Showtime happy enough to take on Monday and Thursday nights starting next week until the beginning of August.

Desus Nice and Kid Mero’s voices are very refreshing, legitimate shake-up to the late night landscape. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see what the duo’s up to over at Showtime, may we suggest binging through their official YouTube Channel.

Pardcast-a-Thon ‘19 Is Happening This Saturday

comedy marathon, jimmy pardo, matt belknap, pardcastathon, pcat19

Over the course a decade, Jimmy Pardo has raised over a million dollars for the amazing organization known as Smile Train helping kids around the world that are in desperate need of cleft repair surgery.

Pardo has been able to do so by annually putting on a 12 hour marathon of comedy that has become one of the biggest LA comedy events to look forward to every year.

We’ll let Jimmy tell you about it himself.

So, mark your calendar for this Sat. May 4th from noon to midnight PST to enjoy streaming it right here (tickets to see it live at Flappers Burbank sold out a long time ago unfortunately).

If you’d like to go ahead and support Smile Train right now, you can do so here.

bang bang luna, ben moss, comedy show, dynasty typewriter, john early, k town, los angeles, macarthur park, patti harrison, variety show, westlake

Normally dazzling the folks of NYC, Peter Smith and Sandy Honig (perhaps you’ve seen her as part of Three Busy Debras?) are bringing their comedy-striptease-music-variety extravaganza The Bongo Hour for a pop-in at Dynasty Typewriter along with Ben Moss and Bang Bang Luna.

See what we’ve been missing out on this coast (not to mention that you’ll get to enjoy the likes of John Early and Patti Harrison)

The Bongo Hour will be happening at 10PM on Fri., May 10th and tickets are $10 now and $15 on day of. Go get ‘em here (we hear they’re closing to selling out FYI).

This Year’s Not The White House Correspondents Dinner Is Happening This Saturday Night

2019, full frontal sam bee, not the whcd

This year’s White House Correspondents Dinner will not only see Trump absent yet again because he’s a thin skinned wimp, but will feature a historian in place of a comedian who, we would bet, won’t attempt a comedic roast, per the well established tradition of the White House Press Association’s WHCD.

So, Samantha Bee and her team at Full Frontal will continue their tradition of the Not The White House Correspondents Dinner this Sat. night, Apr. 27th at 10PM on TBS, which will make up for the WHCD likely being reduced to a TED talk. In fact, Bee even assembled some historians and had them roast Trump because, well, it seems as though history is not of huge fan of Trump either.

Julio Torres Is Getting an HBO Special

comedy special, hbo, julio torres, my favorite shapes, stand up comedy

We’re really digging HBO’s pick for their next comedy special with Julio Torres and his current hour entitled “My Favorite Shapes”. Everything about Torres (his presence, timing, writing, etc.) is so wonderfully unique and hysterical that an hour special will definitely be worth setting a reminder to watch.

Here’s a refresher, in case you need it, to show you why we’re excited for the arrival of My Favorite Shapes on HBO.

anna seregina, comedy show, solo show

As we’ve only gotten to be enthralled by the brilliant Anna Seregina 10-15 min. at a time for the past few years (we put her on our album from a couple of years ago), we can’t wait to see her very own solo show. Her combo of silliness, vulnerability, self-reflexivity, and command of the stage is something not to be missed.

That just so happens to be coming soon in the form of Woman Factory at the Lyric Hyperion next month and we love it being described as “an evening of romance and intrigue”.

So, please, without further adieu, get your tickets, $8 in advance and $10 at the door, here.

My Favorite Murder Is Coming Out With a Memoir “Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered” (That Will Feature Paul Giamatti in the Audiobook)

audiobook, georgia hardstark, karen kilgariff, memoir, my favorite murder, paul giamatti, preorder

Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered has undoubtedly become one of the maxims to live by in these times thanks to the efforts of Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark and their great, hit comedy-true crime podcast My Favorite Murder.

Naturally, after touring all over the globe and starting their own podcast network, Karen and Georgia have moved on to writing a memoir titled with their aforementioned podcast sign-off, Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered, set for hardcover release on May 28th (pre-order here). They’ll essentially be sharing a book’s worth of “hometown murders” (i.e. life stories that have led a life of SSGDM) and we have no doubt that it’ll be some of their best tales.

Oh yeah, the audiobook will not only be read by them, but, as briefly mentioned in their latest episode, none other than Paul Giamatti joined Karen and Georgia in recording it.

So, with all of that said, go pre-order Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered here if you haven’t done so already.

beth stelling, hail mary pizza, karl hess, max silvestri, pop up restaurant, reggie watts, yelling about pate

When going out to one of LA’s many stellar comedy shows, you might often wonder what, where, and when you should eat (especially some great indie shows take place in weird parts of town and there just so happens to be no food truck present).

Well, Amuse Bouche will be an evening next month that gracefully fixes that issue by offering up an exclusive, delicious dinner from Otoño, Hail Mary, and Melody as well as a very, very, very delectable line-up of comedy (just look at the flyer and you’ll know). You can thank CleftClips and the podcast Yelling About Pâté for such presenting such a night for epicures/comedy aficionados.

Tickets are $35 (includes show + dinner, drinks sold separately). Go get ‘em here before they sell out.