TOMORROW HAPPENING IS MANDATORY AND SO IS OUR MANDATORY HOLIDAY OFFICE PARTY.
Also, free popcorn, holiday gift pens, great comedy, dance party, suggestion box prize giveaway will be had.
There seems to be no excuse for you to not go… Did we mention that all of this is FREE?
Just RSVP here so your mandatory attendance is covered.
OK, how often are you going to great a comedy benefit show that’s supporting Planned Parenthood that will be in the back of a comic book store that will have Mandy Moore and Colin Hanks on the bill AND have a fun name like Feliz Navipod?
As far as we know, it’s just The Feliz Navipod Holiday Variety Show! happening next Monday at Nerdmelt Showroom.
Tickets are $15 and you can (and should) get them here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
This is just TWO DAYS AWAY.
Again, your attendance is pleasantly mandatory. RSVP here: http://dola.com/mandatoryholidayofficeparty
Honestly, it was only a matter of time before there was a great comedy podcast about suicide.
If you’re a fan of My Favorite Murder, Last Podcast on the Left, Dumb People Town, or The Dollop, Suicide Buddies, which just started on Feral Audio, draws on that same sort of historically comedic format with the focus pointed towards notable suicides throughout history (while riffing the whole way through).
Hosts Hampton Yount and Dave Ross (we’ve enjoyed both’s comedy so much throughout the years) take great care to bring their own comedic lens, empathy, and understanding to the topic while also making sure to note that they don’t take any of it lightly and encourage people to seek help, specifically at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255).
The subject matter is fascinating and yet so dark that it almost needs levity from comedians in order for you to get through it. In fact, this podcast succeeds in that regard as well as shining a light on suicidal thoughts that will probably make you feel, if you’re having suicidal thoughts, much less alone in the world.
Famous suicides they’ve covered thus far are famous poet/author Sylvia Plath and R Budd Dwyer who killed himself on TV, which, as these sort of podcasts go, are presented with so much intriguing details that you’re probably never knew.
So, if you want to hear a comedy podcast on suicide, give a listen to Suicide Buddies at Feral Audio here.
The UK’s Romesh Ranganathan, who we got to saw drop in at a local show several weeks ago and enjoy, is doing it up big by having his first big U.S. show at The Greek Theatre right before Christmas.
It’s also being a taping as part of a documentary series.
Tickets are $10-$57 (plus fees) and you can (and should) get them here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Like Trevor Noah says in this interview, Tiffany Haddish is the human equivalent of a sun shining light to us all.
She shares some stories with Noah that are all written down (and spoken in audiobook form) in her new book The Last Black Unicorn, which you can (and should) get here.
As you can clearly see (as well as hear on her episode of The Crabfeast), it’ll be one hell of a book.
Not that many Hot Tubs left before 2017 ends.
We, per usual, are giving tickets away to have you potentially enjoy the weekly Hot Tub comedy goodness for free.
Enter here: http://thecomedybureau.dola.com/giveaways
Powerviolence is always a fun show and this line-up, per usual, is great.
Also, the charity from comedy show to fire relief from the several fires around Southern California begins here.
Get tickets for $8 here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
On top of top notch FREE comedy, FREE mandatory holiday gift pens, there will be a PRIZE GIVEAWAY that includes 2 tickets to a future show at the Echoplex, a music gift bundle w/posters/CDs/vinyl, a TCB sticker, enamel pin, and our album Comedians of Interest Vol. 1.
To win, all you have to do is write a “suggestion for what to improve on in 2018″ (as you would at your day job) and place it into a “suggestion box” that we’ll have out before the show. The best suggestion wins it all.
ON TOP OF ALL OF THAT, you can get your recommended dose of dancing thanks to Ricky Carmona who will be “spinning tunes” following the show.
Really, we can’t think of anymore that to offer up you to make sure you go this “mandatory” event.
All you have to do is RSVP here.
There are a bunch of important judgments being handed down in various courts across the land these days.
One of those judgments is on whether a hot dog is a sandwich and the honorable Judge John Hodgman lays down his law (which should matter because of his Judge John Hodgman podcast) on the matter while debating with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.
Please enjoy it at 5:10 into this interview here.
It’s a tried and true formula in comedy of having a celebratory event with friends and family ruined by one thing. After that, the entire evening unravels into chaos.
Sally Potter’s The Party presents a rather high brow version of this sort of movie with a flair for sharp, quotable dialogue offered up in pristine black and white instead of physical comedy set pieces one right after the other (as is usually the case in with parties gone awry). Also, a very robust cast including Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Timothy Spall seem more than game for a darkly funny evening.
See for yourself in the trailer.
You’ve very likely enjoyed Josh Gondelman’s comedy via his writing on Last Week Tonight. Beyond that, you ought to know that Gondelman is a wonderful comedian that shows that you can be a positive, upbeat personality in comedy and still be really damn funny.
He’ll be headlining The Virgil in Silverlake/Los Feliz next week and we highly suggest that you go.
Tickets are $5 in advance here and $7 at the door.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
In order to be a more benevolent benevolent bureau, we’ve decided to make our MANDATORY HOLIDAY OFFICE PARTY a free event, which means you have zero excuses for not fulfilling your mandatory attendance.
Also, there will be free gift pens as you can see below (while supplies last-though we did order hundreds of them) for all of your hard work this year!
All you have to do is RSVP here and then come and have a good time (because you’re required to do so).
Well, leave it to a darkly satirical workplace comedy series from Jake Weisman, Matt Ingebretson, and Pat Bishop to make a brief teaser that really captures the zeitgeist of how people are very likely feeling all around the country.
It’s all the more reason to watch Corporate when it premieres on Wednesday, January 17th on Comedy Central.
2018 Writers Guild Awards Comedy Nominees
The 2018 Writers Guild Awards just announced their nominees, which, in looking at the comedy categories, should come as little surprise.
That being said, we’re delighted to see The President Show and Nathan For You get some love here amongst the perennials favorites of Veep, Last Week Tonight, and SNL.
Here are all the comedy nominees for 2018:
COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Written by Larry David, Jon Hayman, Justin Hurwitz, Jeff Schaffer; HBO
GLOW, Written by Kristoffer Diaz, Liz Flahive, Tara Herrmann, Nick Jones, Jenji Kohan, Carly Mensch, Emma Rathbone, Sascha Rothchild, Rachel Shukert; Netflix
Master of None, Written by Aziz Ansari, Andrew Blitz, Zoe Jarman, Cord Jefferson, Sarah Peters, Sarah Schneider, Michael Schur, Leila Strachan, Gene Stupnitsky, Lakshmi Sundaram, Lena Waithe, Jason Woliner, Alan Yang; Netflix
Silicon Valley, Written by Alec Berg, Donick Cary, Adam Countee, Jonathan Dotan, Mike Judge, Carrie Kemper, John Levenstein, Dan Lyons, Carson Mell, Dan O’Keefe, Clay Tarver; Aaron Zelman; HBO
Veep, Written by Rachel Axler, Sean Gray, Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck, Erik Kenward, Billy Kimball, Steve Koren, Dave Mandel, Jim Margolis, Lew Morton, Georgia Pritchett, Will Smith, Alexis Wilkinson; HBO
EPISODIC COMEDY
“The Burglary”-Grace and Frankie, Written by Brendan McCarthy & David Budin; Netflix
“Intervention”-The Carmichael Show, Written by Willie Hunter; NBC
“Judge”-Veep, Written by Ted Cohen; HBO
“Rosario’s Quinceanera”-Will & Grace, Written by Tracy Poust & Jon Kinnally; NBC
“The Verdict”-Trial & Error, Written by Jeff Astrof; NBC
COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES
Conan, Head Writer: Matt O’Brien, Writers: Jose Arroyo, Daniel Cronin, Andres du Bouchet, Jessie Gaskell, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Laurie Kilmartin, Leah Krinsky, Stephen Kutner, Todd Levin, Levi MacDougall, Conan O’Brien, Paul Richter, Frank Smiley, Mike Sweeney; TBS
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Writers: Samantha Bee, Ashley Nicole Black, Pat Cassels, Eric Drysdale, Mathan Erhardt, Travon Free, Joe Grossman, Jo Miller, Jason Reich, Melinda Taub; TBS
Jimmy Kimmel Live, Writers: Jimmy Kimmel, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Gonzalo Cordova, Devin Field, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Jesse Joyce, Bess Kalb, Jeff Loveness, Molly McNearney, CeCe Pleasants, Danny Ricker, Joe Strazzullo; ABC
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Writers: Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner, Ben Silva, Seena Vali; HBO
Late Night with Seth Meyers, Writers: Jermaine Affonso, Alex Baze, Bryan Donaldson, Sal Gentile, Matt Goldich, Dina Gusovsky, Jenny Hagel, Allison Hord, Mike Karnell, John Lutz, Seth Meyers, Ian Morgan, Seth Reiss, Amber Ruffin, Mike Scollins, Mike Shoemaker, Ben Warheit; NBC Universal
Real Time with Bill Maher, Writers: Scott Carter, Adam Felber, Matt Gunn, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Bob Oschack, Danny Vermont; HBO
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Writers: Dan Amira, David Angelo, Steve Bodow, Kashana Cauley, Devin Delliquanti, Zach DiLanzo, Hallie Haglund, David Kibuuka, Matt Koff, Adam Lowitt, Dan McCoy, Trevor Noah, Joseph Opio, Zhubin Parang, Owen Parsons, Daniel Radosh, Lauren Sarver-Means, Michelle Wolf; Comedy Central
The Jim Jefferies Show, Head Writer: Jason Reich, Writers: Jim Jefferies, Subhah Agarwal, Kevin Avery, Curtis Cook, Lucas Kavner, Matt Kirshen, Bryan Olsen, Laura Willcox, JJ Whitehead, Scott Y. Zabielski; Comedy CentralCOMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
Nathan For You, Writers: Leo Allen, Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Michael Koman, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola; Comedy Central
Portlandia, Writers: Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Karen Kilgariff, Jonathan Krisel, Graham Wagner; IFC
Saturday Night Live, Head Writers: Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider, Bryan Tucker, Writers: James Anderson, Kristen Bartlett, Jeremy Beiler, Neal Brennan, Zack Bornstein, Joanna Bradley, Megan Callahan, Michael Che, Anna Drezen, Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, Nick Kocher, Michael Koman, Dave McCary, Brian McElhaney, Dennis McNicholas, Drew Michael, Lorne Michaels, Josh Patten, Katie Rich, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, Will Stephen, Kent Sublette, Julio Torres; NBC Universal
The President Show, Writers: Emily Altman, Anthony Atamanuik, Emmy Blotnick, Neil Casey, Mike Drucker, Noah Garfinkel, John Gemberling, Peter Grosz, Mitra Jouhari, John Knefel, Alison Leiby, Christine Nangle, John Reynolds, Jason Ross, Rae Sanni, Evan Waite; Comedy Central
Weekend Update Summer Edition, Writers: Megan Callahan, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Dennis McNicholas, Josh Patten, Katie Rich, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, Kent Sublette, Brian Tucker; NBC Universal
COMEDY / VARIETY SPECIALS
39th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, Written by Dave Boone; CBS
89th Annual Academy Awards, Written by Billy Kimball, Jon Macks; Special Material Written by Jack Allison, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Gonzalo Cordova, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Bess Kalb, Jimmy Kimmel, Jeff Loveness, Molly McNearney, Danny Ricker, Joe Strazzullo; ABC
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Diane Keaton, Written by Bob Gazzale, Jon Macks; TNT
Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy, Valentine’s Day Special, Written by Scott Aukerman, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Joe Saunders, Akiva Schaffer; Additional Material Written by Zach Kanin, Claudia O’Doherty, Tim Robinson; Netflix
Nathan For You: A Celebration, Written by Leo Allen, Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Michael Koman, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola; Comedy Central
The winners will be announced when the Writers Guild Awards ceremony takes place in both LA and NYC on Wednesday, February 11th, 2018.
When it comes to bad movies, especially when you’re watching them ironically, there comes a time when you notice a difference between movies that were just half-assed, movies that were made with the intentions of greatness, and then, movies that are intentionally made to be bad.
For us, we really only enjoy the second kind as there is something special in an artistic vision that ignores pretty much all the rules and every voice of reason and logic at all times. Manos: The Hands of Fate and The Room serve as two of the best examples of that, which earns them that special label of “best/worst”.
While some debate the overarching vision of The Room (i.e. whether Wiseau was aware of what he was making something so bad it’s good), James Franco precisely hones in on Wiseau’s genuine obsession of making a legitimately great drama with The Disaster Artist. Franco also plays Tommy Wiseau so perfectly there are brief moments where you almost think it’s really Wiseau. He really makes such the cartoonish, impression-of-a-tortured-artist that embodies Tommy’s persona into something human and, for that, makes one damn fun movie.
Also, almost all the cameos are of comedians including appearances by Nathan Fielder, Hannibal Buress, and the How Did This Get Made? crew of Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas (who, of course, did an ep. on The Room).
So, go see The Disaster Artist as soon as you can before the rest of the big budget holiday fare takes over a theater near you.
Just a friendly reminder that some of your favorite podcasts are going downtown for what should one damn fun day of peecasting.
Tickets are $50-$125 and are still available here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com
Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero’s Another Period is returning for its third season next month to emphatically show that America is still making the mistakes that it did nearly 100 years in the past in the package of a highly enjoyable, over-the-top, 30 min period piece sitcom.
See for yourself in this trailer.
Patton Oswalt Returning To Host WGA Awards In L.A.
From coast to coast, the WGA Awards will have both Patton Oswalt and Amber Ruffin hosting and presiding over the evening’s ceremonies in LA and NYC respectively next year.
With both of them doing it, it might be worth considering doing more than just have some spare clips of it on YouTube.
The 8th and final season of Portlandia is set to arrive on Thursday, January 18th at 10PM on IFC, which we’re sure you’re making a reminder of right now.
In preparation of that, they released a whole sketch rather than a teaser or a trailer that’s as timely as can be as the trail of men brought down by their history of sexual harassment moves forward every single day. They do it in their own quirky Portlandia way of course.
See for yourself here.
Our favorite comedy show that gets in touch with the “unseen natural forces” all around us. Full Moon Comedy @ The Green Man Store, is back.
A stacked line-up of Nick Vatterott, Baron Vaughn, and Steph Tolev will be joining hosts Aaron Weaver and Lindsay Adams in presenting stand-up in a store where you can buy crystals, incense, etc. Also, there will be a crystal reader.
The show is FREE and you can get more details here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
15 years ago, John Moreno, Walter Replogle, Holden McNeely, Henry Zebrowski, Jackie Zebrowski, Amber Nelson, Ed Larson, Jared Warner, Kelan Maloney, and Adam Wirtz made a wonderfully unholy alliance as a sketch group that would be come to known and loved as Murderfist.
In that time, they made some of the funniest and darkest sketches that the NYC (and the Internet) has seen. Paste has a great oral history of the group that you should read if you’re unfamiliar with the group’s origins and rise.
The last few years have been kind of quiet for Murderfist leaving us all kind of jonesin’. However, a good portion of Murderfist now lives in LA and seems to having the wheels turning once again. There’s a bunch of new videos on their YouTube channel that you should obsess over here.
This “coming out” sketch is one of our favorites in particular from their latest batch.
Of the writers on Late Night with Seth Meyers, odds are that you’ve probably seen Amber Ruffin in sort of bit or segment on Late Night the most throughout 2017. She even has her own recurring solo segment where she lets loose because the Internet has responded to Ruffin so well.
That’s probably she has just been tapped to host the WGA Awards next year in NYC on February 11th.
This will be Ruffin’s first big hosting gig and we have no doubt that she’ll picked more often if all goes well.
