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Morning Debriefing 12/31/11

December 31, 2011
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) It is Dec. 31st, 2011, which means tomorrow will be Jan. 1st, 2012, WHICH MEANS it is the end of the year, WHICH REALLY MEANS we can most fairly judge what The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To In No Particular Order of 2011. That’s our year end comedy list that we’ll be posting today.

2) In the mean time, you can check LiterallyUnbelievable.org’s top responses to Onion articles of 2011 in parts one and two. That’s right, Literally Unbelievable has been pointing out how aloof people who think the Onion is reporting real news for several months and people still haven’t figured it out.

3) Todd Barry has some Twitter suggestions for episodes of Season 3 of “Louie”/Season 1 of the show Todd Barry would rather see “Todd”, a Todd Barry desired spin-off of the hit series Louie.

4) Another 2011 comedy list that’s one you should pay attention to while we stall to get ours posted is Mary Van Note’s Best Comics of 2011 You Probably Don’t Know. We know most of them and she’s right. Ron Lynch, Sean Patton, and more are pretty much the best.

5) We’re not big on New Year’s Resolution, but let’s join Jim Hamilton in punching billionaires in the face.

6) Some of you were asking for another Saturday open mic and your wishes we heard. Next Saturday at 5PM, the Daily Grind in Pasadena will be starting a brand new open mic where everyone gets 5 minutes. Not bad, 2012.

7) ON THE HORIZON
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret w/David Cross in person @ Cinefamily Mon. Jan. 9 8PM $10

8) COMEDY CRAWL
The Not Inappropriate Show @ UCB Theatre 4PM $12
Ha: Unstuffed & Unstrung @ Irvine Barclay Theatre 7PM $45-$55
Michael Rayner @ Flappers Claremont 8PM/10PM $40

9) Though there are plenty of people ringing in 2012 at comedy clubs, we’re assuming that most comedy open mics aren’t running tonight. If we’re wrong about that, please e-mail us at thecomedybureau@gmail.com or Tweet us @thecomedybureau.

10) Sincerely thank you to all who have been following my posts, articles, retweets, tweets, and more over 2011. Hopefully, you can clone all of yourselves several times over in 2012 and, at least, quadruple the number of readers I have here. 

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The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To In No Particular Order of 2011

January 1, 2012
Uncategorized
best of 2011, comedy lists

There have been 2011 comedy lists throughout the last two months telling people what the funniest album was, who was the funniest on Twitter, etc. We have a problem with those lists in that entire days of 2011 had yet to pass leaving time for funny things to fall through the cracks. Also, we don’t want to have bickering over ranking or forget to make a list about memes or web videos, and more. So, we just piled 100 in no order of any kind (that’s an ill advised number to shoot for, if you’re wondering) of the most hilarious things together that we had the chance to witness throughout the entirety of 2011. 

It’s a long, exhaustive list that probably many of you won’t read all the way through, but, at least, it’s better than this meta-horseshit we did last year with “Best of ‘Best of Comedy List’ List”. 

1. Neil Hamburger tweeting down “The Man”-Through @NeilHamburger alone, he rivals Tyler Durden in making pop culture (Britney Spears, AXE Body Spray, etc.) look really stupid.

2. Lizzy Cooperman banging her keyboard and telling jokes-Lizzy has jokes and a keyboard that she hits when she does stand-up. We’ve seen it several times and hurt from laughing so hard every time we see it.

3. Jon Dore & Rory Scovel performing simultaneously on Conan–This is one of the best late night TV performances of the year. That’s all you need to know.

4. Louis CK chasing George Carlin’s record-Many people are unaware of the fact that both his specials Hilarious and Live From the Beacon Theatre were both released in 2011, even though he said he’d stick to a 1-special-a-year pace. Combine that with the brilliance of his show Louie and there are grounds for the constant praise he gets.

5. Eddie Pepitone in anything he’s been in-2011 has been a banner year for Pepitone and rightfully so. Along with his spectacular album “A Great Stillness”, @EddiePepitone, Puddin’, being a heckler on Conan, Runyon: Just Above Sunset, and more have proved Pepitone to be a comedic force to be reckoned with.

6. Kurt Braunohler miseducating the world with the World Wild of Animals-As one of the funniest web series we saw this year, we learned the most interesting facts, that might possibly be true, about Dolphins, Wolves, and Parakeets from a non-animal expert, Kurt Braunohler.

7. Patton Oswalt expands his comedy empire-His book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland and his album Finest Hour more than make him deserving to be guest editor of Spin Magazine’s Comedy Issue as well a spot on this list.

8. Sean Patton doing a spin move on Conan-Yes! One of the funniest people we know does a spin move while coming on stage on Conan. That’s only the tip of the iceberg of how hilarious he is.

9. Jesse Case’s joke about the supposed rule of waiting to call someone after you get their number-For our money, granted we don’t have a lot of it, it’s one of the best jokes of the year. Ask him about it @jessecase.

10. The only people that can Humblebrag are the ones most unaware they’re doing it-the poking fun game at over-entitled celebrities and rich people just got a lot more fierce with Harris Wittels and Humblebrag.

11. The Walsh Brothers Go Planking-Yes, the Walsh Brothers pretty much introduced “planking” into the U.S. earlier this year before everyone got so judgmental for how cool they made it.

12. Rory Scovel kills in complete darkness-Not only is it amazing that Scovel just pulls doing stand-up in the pitch black darkness with ease, he also insults the band, and, most importantly, does this all off the cuff.

13. Brent Weinbach touching an live TV audience member’s face-Brent does plenty of funny things that makes us question the foundations of comedy. One of them is limping in the creepiest way possible towards an real person and touching their face.

14. Andrés Du Bouchet does more than write for Conan-Hopefully, Du Bouchet gets way more notoriety in 2012 than him being a staff writer on Conan for his amazing comedy album of just character monlogues, Naked Trampoline Hamlet, and his delightful Twitter feed @dubouchet where he RT’s boners for kids.

15. Nerdist Industries takes more podcast under their wing-Taking in Todd Glass, Pop My Culture, The Indoor Kids with Kumail Nanjiani, Making It with Riki Lindhome, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, and more, the Nerdist family of podcasts sounds more like a formidable comedy army.

16. Joe Mande vs. Gilbert Arenas-Not that he would take a cue from Ron Artest (yeah, we’re still calling him that) not to mess with comedy, but Arenas gets “taken to school” by Joe Mande on Twitter and his blog. 

17. Nick Vatterott gets absurd-Showing how prop comedy is done on Conan and winning this year’s Andy Kaufman Award, Nick Vatterott makes the absurd no less absurd, but definitely very funny.

18. People start to find out about Jerrod Carmichael-Making “who to watch” lists throughout 2011 and going to JFL Montreal, Jerrod is rising fast and deservedly through the stand-up ranks.

19. Henry Phillips anti-cooks food on Henry’s Kitchen-Who cares if what he makes isn’t edible to probably any living thing? It’s all about the process that Henry Phillips goes through to cook it that makes it worth a good gut laugh.

20. Marc Maron masters his neuroses, maybe-His album This Has To Be Funny and theWTF! Podcast and how much acclaim they’ve both received are just proof that Maron is calming down, though not too much.

21. The Rise and (Still Rising) of James Adomian-Some of you might have gotten to see his face and his hilarious jokes on the last season of Last Comic Standing and Lopez Tonight, but more folks know him from his appearances (earning him Splitsider’s Paul F. Tompkins Award for Best Guest) on podcasts like the one on the Todd Glass Show.

22. The Muppets movie met the ridiculous expecatations it set for itself-For us, at least, we expected a lot from the new Muppets movie with Jason Segel and it delivered, despite cutting Eddie Pepitone out. 

23. Eric Andre and Duh Air Ache On Dre Shoe-Eric Andre crushes it as a stand-up comedian with making fun of the theme to Cops. See where such ideas come from the Duh Air Ache On Dre Shoe.

24. Pete Holmes reminds us to have fun-Holmes reminds us that being silly isn’t uncool with his appearances on Conan, his live album “Impregnated With Wonder”, his new podcast You Made It Weird, and even playing Batman.

25. The Comics Sans font gets a defender in the Comic Sans Project-We had no idea that people were trying to exterminate the Comic Sans font, but now it has been brought out in the funniest, best way possible with the Comic Sans Project.

Thanks  to Robert Urquhart, Clif Dickens, Nico Hähnlein, Siim Teller, Camille Greatorex, Chris Weachock, Jonty Levine, Shayna Daitch, Douglas Montgomery, Lira Kim, Josef van der Faust, Ed Benson, Christine Self, François Bertrand, Timothé Buguet, Psy Oc, Samuel Blum, Romain Stievenard, Florent Molinier, Felipe Esteves, Alexandar Mechev, Colin Smith, Felipe Francisco, Merlin Mason, Saul Costa, Jan Andreas Knudsen, Kees Huyser, Arn Anderson, Heather Elsa, Aale van der Veen, Jamie Lewis, Brice Soulivong, Arnaud Bonnard, David Little … And from our Twitter account ; @depointzero, @Pulpalomita, @rchdly, @ZoomWolf, @BigRenoski, @Jovigun, @Eindacor_DS, @IknowScott, @dawashington, @danoprey, @SarahGraham1982, @Greensize Our special thanks go to Michael Fowler and Craig Winslow.

26. A marriage proposal at Holy Fuck, the live comedy show–Reed Hallstrom sincerely proposed to Jessica Ruiz at the wonderful weekly comedy show Holy Fuck! and it was beautiful, funny, and touching.

27. People believe in comedy at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival-At the start of This Is Not Happening, a storytelling show, at Portland’s fantastic annual comedy festival, there was a technical miscue when the show started without any lights. Audience members combined their cell phone lights to make host Ari Shaffir visible until the SNAFU was fixed.

28. Paul F. Tompkins doing anything-Tompkins showcased his Midas touch in comedy with continuing his live show at Largo running strong, recapping American Idol for Vulture, recording his 1-hr Comedy Central special of stories of shitty jobs he had, producing his oft-honored podcast the Pod F. Tompcast, and, of course, his impression of the Cake Boss.

29. @MeganAmram is just a hobby of Megan Amram’s-Megan is brilliant at Twitter, but has made her comedic presence known in longer forms as well as an “audition” for Glee.

30. Aubrey Plaza being interviewed on TV-Following in the footsteps of the late night talk show appearances of Harland Williams, Plaza makes for the one of the most intriguing, hilarious people to interview.

31. Lee Camp does stand-up at Occupy Wall St.-Firebrand of a comedian Lee Camp does five solid minutes with no mic, mic stand, or stage to the Occupy Wall St. crowd.

32. @blaudiablogan is, as they say, “criminally underfollowed”-Claudia Cogan is very funny in person as well as on Twitter, constantly and consistently: “How much does anal virginity go for? Preparing my financial outlook for 2012.”

33. Ryan Stout’s “Touché” is a perfect example of joke craftsmanship-Stout bucks today’s trend in comedy with his live album “Touché” by telling very concise and to-the-point jokes. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that especially when you can pull off talking about rape as a form of exercise without cursing and making it funny.

34. Drew Droege being a better Chloe Sevigny than Chloe Sevigny-Drew Droege is so funny cross-dressing and playing actress and fashionista Chloe Sevigny that he gets invited to host parties as Chloe and not himself. There’s a reason for that.

35. Mike Mills’ Beginners is what every romantic comedy should be from now on-We might regret that wish actually coming true, but Beginners was such a wondrous and funny look at how most of us have no idea what we’re doing in love even if it’s going well that we don’t regret saying it.

36. Jon Stewart Ranting about NY Pizza on the Daily Show–Stewart ranting about NYC’s pride in its pizza is one of the best clips this year on the Daily Show and it’s pretty much non-partisan.

37. Tom Scharpling revives the medium of music videos with funny friends-Simply, Tom Scharpling, host of the Best Show on WFMU, knows good music and really funny people and puts the two together in music videos he directs.

38. NY Mag’s Oral History of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre shows us the origin of many funny people currently on television-Talking to many of the folks involved in the early years of the UCB Theatre in NYC, NY Magazine provides a necessary and very entertaining comedy history lesson.

39. Rob Delaney takes the title of Twitter King, but that’s not all-Delaney was crowned Twitter King by National Lampoon, but that’s only one facet of his burgeoning comedy career with his Comedy Central pilot @RobDelaney, his Vice column, Take A Stroll with Rob Delaney, and more funny things with his name on it.

40. Hal Rudnick visiting inappropriate places-The Midnight Show & The Daily Habit’s Hal Rudnick is really great at visiting “adults only” places like a porn set or Adult Con and not being there for any of the sex.

41. NTSF:SD:SUV still comes short of being as ridiculous as what it’s parodying–Paul Scheer premiered his hilarious Adult Swim series in an attempt to show how crazy TV police procedurals have gotten with the President of Navy being kidnapped, only to be outdone, as Scheer admits, by the “real” thing.

42. John Hodgman shares his world knowledge with That is All-In preparing for the end of the world next year, John Hodgman gives us something all to enjoy reading while waiting for our impending doom.

43. Asterios Kokkinos does the world’s 1st stand-up set in 3D-Asterios Kokkinos would be an evil genius of comedy, however he’s pretty much the opposite of evil as evidenced by telling 3D jokes in 3D.

44. Jesse Miller straight-up kicked comedy in 2011 in the face–Andre Hyland’s hilarious character Jesse Miller who comes off as white trash, but has an amazing depth of pop culture knowledge brought his exuberance to the Daily Habit, live audiences, and straight-up to some bitch-ass ghost of Christmas.

45. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris brings us back to the Woody Allen we used to know-Allen has restored faith (and gotten several award nominations for doing so) in those thought that the old Woody Allen with the splendid absurdist romp that is Midnight in Paris.

46. CNN Comedy, thankfully, isn’t what you think it is-CNN did not produce an original comedy series and, instead, did produce an intriguing video profile series that captured the essence of many today’s leading comedians such as Maria Bamford, Marc Maron, and Andy Kindler.

47. RE:COM Magazine keeps the dreams of a print magazine about comedy alive-Keying in on where comedy is going, it’s great to see something just about comedy in RE:COM Magazine rather than Rolling Stone’s occasional nod to comedy.

48. @Aparnapkin is yet another victim of being “criminally underfollowed”-Aparna Nancherla has charmed all the audiences she has performed for live and does so daily with her tweets to a following that should be much larger. “Guys, I just finished the Internet! So good. Couldn’t put it down. Oops brb my eyes are bleeding.-The Future of Our Species”

49. The Super Serious Show proves Field of Dreams adage works in comedy-Not located at Largo or the UCB Theatre in Hollywood, The Super Serious Show has built a loyal, paying fanbase of their monthly comedy variety show that makes Culver City cool even if you thought it was stuck-up. 

50. Bridesmaids proves that isn’t funny without attaching the “female Hangover” label to it–Bridesmaids had so much funny in it from people that were just hysterical like Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, or even director Paul Feig that it really should stopped only be discussed as a comedy that should be nominated for an Oscar.

51. Danger 5 is the funniest web series that should be in America, but isn’t-Produced by a network in Australia, Danger 5 is what Inglorious Basterds should have been, especially if it was in the form of an Adult Swim show.

52. Jackie Kashian delved really deep into The Dork Forest–Jackie Kashian’s podcast The Dork Forest really took off this year and rightfully so with how funny Jackie is and her true appreciation of being a dork/nerd.

53. Bill Cosby doing the late night talk show circuit-Bill Cosby gave us a nice reminder this year on the late night circuit that he still knows how to do comedy.

54. The Sklar Brothers keep up their comedy duo dominance-Their album Hendersons & Daughters and their Earwolf podcast Sklarbro Country have left us wanting more Sklar Brothers for 2012.

55. The Superego Podcast ushered in the future of comedy podcasts-While podcasts can arguably be pointed to as where comedy is headed, The Superego Podcast has made a podcast of hilarious improvised segments or a “future of the future”, if you will.

56. The Beards of Comedy do plenty of good to the name of touring groups of comedians-Many touring stand-up groups identify themselves with a socio-economic or ethnic classification, but the Beards of Comedy, as evidenced by their album Cardio Mix, are together just because they’re funny (one of them had to grow a beard, if you were wondering).

57. Peter Atencio directs amazing sketches all year long-From the Midnight Show to Comedy Central’s upcoming sketch comedy series Key & Peele, Peter Atencio is a go-to as far as sketch comedy directors are concerned as can be seen in this PSA about driving.

58. Lost Moon Radio makes a comedy Christmas album to remember–“It Had To Be Yule” might be the perfect combination of comedy and Christmas to undo all the harm “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” has done.

59. The Comedy Garage finally gets documented-Many people are unaware of how great comedy in a garage can be, especially with the likes of Sean Green, Cornell Reid, Paul Danke, Casey Feigh, and more at the helm. Thankfully, there’s a documentary showing exactly that.

60. The Imaginary Radio Program with Drennon Davis shames real radio-People that will catch this at the 2012 SF Sketchfest will be amazed at Drennon Davis musical and comedy virtuosity at work in this live sketch-radio program hybrid.

61. The Tommy-Wi Show features the one and only Tommy Wiseau playing video games-Tommy Wiseau + video games that he doesn’t understand + aliens = comedy gold.

62. Nerdist Theater has more than lived up to its name–Featuring all live things Nerdist, some of the best and most innovative comedy in LA has been coming out of the back of Meltdown Comics in Hollywood.

My Hymen Grew Back

63. Jim Hamilton speaks and writes funny things all year-@Jim_Hamilton is really funny on Twitter, awesome on The Daily Flailure on Tumblr, and just plain hilarious live. Find all three of these things in 2012.

64. Demorge Brown wins a Channel 101 Channy Award for one performance in Gumbel-As part of the amazing monthly TV series competition Channel 101, Demorge dazzled everyone with one episode of Gumbel as Gumbel. Just watch and you’ll understand.

65. Greg Proops still doing as much as he can in comedy and killing it–The Smartest Man in the World, stand-up, Improv-a-Ganza, Chelsea Lately regular, headlining Set List on the road, and more, Proops still got “it”.

66. Reggie Watts “does” the theme to Charles in Charge-Live at the Super Serious Show, Reggie Watts does what he does best by doing whatever he feels like doing like the theme to Charles in Charge, sort of.

67. Persona shows the many hilarious faces of Tony Sam and more-A monthly show at the Hollywood Improv Lab, Persona is a comedy show created by Tony Sam where everyone on the show plays a character in full costume. With the likes of Andy Daly, James Adomian, and more it’s certainly a stand-out show.

69. The Meltdown with Jonah Ray and Kumail Nanjiani makes the back room of a comic book store a go to destination-Every Wednesday, The Meltdown Show at the Nerdist Theater brings dozens of folks to watch the best in the LA stand-up scene and hasn’t failed us the several times we’ve gone.

71. Ted and Gracie is one of the best web series about getting married–Jena Friedman shows how funny it can be when you really don’t know who you’re about to marry with Ben Kronberg.

72. Everything ended and now needs to become a real show-The virtual Channel 101 institution of the video art compilation show Everything came to an end this year as it did not finish high enough in the results for Channel 101 on one month, but now Jason Whetzell and Danny Jelinek need to curate such a show on a bigger scale.

73. Paul Scheer memes Oprah–Paul Scheer is great at many things like comedy, TV, as well as spotting and making memes.

74. Marc Maron’s gives the Just for Laughs Keynote Address–This address should be the Gettysburg Address for stand-up comedians.

75. The Midnight Show makes some of the funniest videos on any side of the Internet-Web videos for School of French Kissing for Dogs, The producer behind Rebecca Black’s Friday, and a great Muppets parody have all come from a stellar 2011 of the Midnight Show.

76. Ron Lynch killing without saying one intelligible word–Ron Lynch is one of the most under-appreciated comedians of our time because of this. See him wherever he’s performing and you might be lucky to catch him pull such a feat off once again without him saying much at all and not understanding him when he does.

77. Shelby Fero makes comedians wish they had started comedy earlier-The comedy prodigy already has a big following on Twitter and has figured viral videos out and she’s still in college. Maybe the takeover comedy isn’t the next logical step, but it’s only a few away, right?

78. Brody Stevens is still killing it-Even after his explosion on Twitter, Brody is still bringing the heat in his stand-up wherever he goes.

79. Hampton Yount finally giving George Washington his comeuppance-Hampton Yount has plenty of funny jokes and this is only one of them that we got to laugh over and over again this year. Download his CD Unbearable for however much you want to donate to get even more Hampton.

80. Dan Harmon can’t be knocked down-Despite Community being tabled by NBC, Harmon has some of the most loyal fans that voted Community #1 in TV Guide, will flash mob for him and certainly go to his live show, Harmontown. Also, Harmon still has his Channel 101.

81. American: The Bill Hicks Story gives the clearest picture of Bill Hicks to date–this documentary explores the early life of Hicks in such vivid detail that it is a must see for any comedy fan.

82. Katt Williams does not apologize for his comedy-In our opinion, there’s been too much apologizing for comedy in 2011 and, thankfully, Katt Williams stuck by what he said on stage when offending a Hispanic man during a live show.

83. Set List shows that improvised stand-up can not only be done, but done exquisitely-The improvised stand-up show, Set List, from the mind of Troy Conrad has proven to be a hit worldwide with some of the world’s best trying to make up jokes on the spot. Put this on the Definitely Do Not Miss of 2012. 

84. Liezl Was Here is a necessary book for all comedy nerds-Prolific comedy photographer Liezl Estipona made a book of all the great comedy she’s seen at all over the country and everyone who is into comedy should have it. 

Click to preview book

85. Comedian Dave Ross Tried to Get Sponsored by Vans-This is literally a thing that Dave Ross tried to do and for how funny and DIY he is, he should get Vans’ blessing and a bunch of free shoes.

86. Portlandia shows that pointing out how weird “Keep Portland Weird” as a city motto is-IFC Channel’s Portlandia with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein shows that hipness can be successfully made fun of in a postmodern context without confusing anyone too much

87. Erin Gibson playing despicable women for Funny or Die–Erin Gibson has a knack for playing the roles of some of the most across-the-board despised women in comedy sketches like Michelle Bachmann or Megyn Kelly

88. @EveryTweet_Ever makes us all laugh while showing us how stupid our tweets are-No message of 140 characters or less is safe from funny ridicule thanks to @EveryTweet_Ever.

89. Comedy Royal gives a preview of what a comedy museum exhibit should look like-The good folks at The Comedy Royal know how the lexicon of comedy, whenever it’s compiled, should be presented.

90. Tig Notaro pushing a stool on TV-It may be oversimplifying it, but Tig pushing a stool across a stage is really f’n funny.

91. The Revitalization of the Hollywood Improv Lab-With Jamie Flam managing the reigns to the side room of the world famous Hollywood Improv, we got to see things we wouldn’t see anywhere else like Todd Barry making fun of a live jazz band.

92. Ron Babcock makes the theme blog everyone is thinking of, but aren’t funny enough to realize with Concocted Conversations-Ron sees things that are funny in real life and imagines the conversations had behind their creation, then shares the hilarity with the rest of us. 

93. Louis CK on the late night talk circuit-We tried to avoid as much repeating on this list as possible, but CK making fun of Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and explaining charities on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon deserves their own spot.

94. Matt Walsh has his directorial debut with High Road-A completely improvised movie with some of UCB’s funniest, both past and present in James Pumphrey, Abby Elliot, Lizzy Caplan, Horatio Sanz Ed Helms, Rich Fulcher, High Road made for a romantic buddy road ensemble comedy that hopefully more will get to see in 2012.

95. I Remain Champagne by Matt Champagne-Comedian Matt Champagne blogged everyday for an entire year to the joy of many in writing about such things as Red Neck Hipsters.

96. Dave Kloc gives an indie rock mythos to comedy shows with his posters-Designer of the posters for Meltdown and the Super Serious Show, Dave Kloc really goes out his way to give live comedy the amazing posters it deserves.

97. The Green Room w/Paul Provenza aired its second season-Seeing the comedic minds of Garry Shandling, Bo Burnham, and Marc Maron go head to head on the Green Room moderated by Paul Provenza is something no other show did this year and was exceptional for doing so and more.

98. MitchHedberg.Net launched-It’s the best way to remember the legendary Mitch Hedberg. 

99. The Pardo Patrol goes on the prowl of unsuspecting guests on Conan-Never Not Funny’s Jimmy Pardo has a show within, between, and in & around the actual taping of Conan and it has been an absolute delight even as Pardo barges into dressing rooms and kicks people out.

100. Katie Crown being nothing but Katie Crown–Katie Crown is a rare combination of quirky and absurd the likes of which will instantly hook you the first time you see her perform. I mean how could you not love a joke that has Scooby Doo at an OB/GYN? 

Morning Debriefing 1/1/12

January 1, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) We vastly underestimated how long it would take make a list of 100 things, much less a list of 100 of the funniest things we were lucky enough to see last year, so please do enjoy for our sake The 100 Best Things in Comedy That We Were Witness To In No Particular Order of 2011.

2) HBO is unveiling a new comedy series today from Chris Lilley (Summer Heights High) called Angry Boys at 10PM. Hopefully, HBO will be rolling out more comedies very soon after cancelling three of them.

3) Megan Amram gives an extremely accurate prediction of what New Year’s Resolutions in the year 3012 will be like

4) The Just for Laughs Montreal showcases in LA are just around the corner…. just sayin’. More updates to come.

5) The Monday night open mic, Jake’s in Pasadena, will be shifting to Wed., starting this week. So Jan. 4th go to 38 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA at 8:30PM for sign-up and 9:30PM start/4 min./no purchase necessary. Not a bad addition for Eastside comics for 2012.

6) Once again, if you’re thinking of resolving to do stand-up as your New Year’s resolution or thinking about doing it in general, here’s a handy guide to making it more palatable (NOTE: we said more palatable, not palatable).

7) ON THE HORIZON
Sklar Brothers @ Hollywood Improv Sat. Jan. 14th 8PM/10PM $20/2 item min.
Jimmy Pardo @ Hollywood Improv Sat. Jan. 21st 8PM/10PM $20/2 item min.

8) COMEDY CRAWL
Ha: Stuffed & Unstrung @ Irvine Barclay Theatre 2PM/7PM $45-$55 

9) OPEN MIC RUN
SILVERLAKE LOUNGE 2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 5PM/No purchase necessary  
*IF THERE ARE ANY OTHER COMEDY OPENS MICS RUNNING TODAY that wish to be listed, please e-mail us at thecomedybureau@gmail.com

10) I know it is redundant, but I’d like to thank all who read, subscribe to, repost, RT, share, etc. what I post because it keeps all the work I do worth it. Also, a very special thanks to all the people that donated to the Comedy Bureau and helping sustaining our efforts. Oh, you didn’t know we took donations? Well, now you do.

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Morning Debriefing 1/2/12

January 2, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) From what we know, Comedy Central’s got a real good roster of specials coming up, starting with John Mulaney Jan. 28th 10PM.

2) Brent Weinbach will be live taping his next album at the UCB Theatre LA on Jan. 28th and we should all be in attendance because something hilarious in a way we never thought of ever is going to happen.

3) Finally, the late night talk show circuit resumes and tonight the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson has both Tim Meadows and Myq Kaplan (CBS 12:35AM)

4) A full episode of the new season of Portlandia? 2011 should be taking notes on how to start a year off.

5) Yes, though belated, A Drink With Dave delivered their Christmas special with Damien Fahey, Alie & Georgia, and more.

6) Who is Jake Fogelnest? Study up (it’s a short doc on Fogelnest trying to revive his show Squirt TV featuring Sarah Silverman, Andy Richter, and comedy faces/voices you’re probably familiar with) then follow his internet postings and never-ending fight against non-things/sea punks.

7) WordPress loses more ground to Tumblr as Paul F. Tompkins has taken the side of the Tumbls. Follow him now, even if you have to join Tumblr to do so.

8) Our 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To In No Particular Order of 2011 includes anything from Jon Stewart’s pizza rant to Aubrey Plaza being awkward on the late night talk circuit to Eddie Pepitone dominating to the World’s 1st 3D Stand-up Set to several other things that need to be on other comedy lists in 2012.

9) COMEDY CRAWL
The Not Inappropriate Show @ UCB Theatre 4PM $12
The Mixer @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8PM $5 

10) OPEN MIC RUN
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM/$4 min./first come, first served
RED ROCK 8782 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served
PALACE RESTAURANT 2112 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA (Los Feliz)/Sign-up 7:30PM/Starts 8PM/lottery
RAINBOW BAR & GRILL 9015 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up before 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/$2 cover/mixed mic
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
PETIE’S PLACE 6025 Reseda Blvd., Tarzana, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/one drink min./first come, first served
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee provided    

11) I saw Chipwrecked and couldn’t come up with one joke that I liked because that’s how jokes about bad movies usually work.

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Morning Debriefing 1/3/12

January 3, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) Someone named Troy Holm not only has the gumption to steal material from Doug Stanhope, but also has the, for the lack of a more vile word, daring to not bother changing any words or phrasing when posting on his blog, which has been taken down. That’s the type of thing that will screw your Wikipedia page over forever.

2) 2012 has barely started and already there are great comedy tapings a-plenty. Key & Peele are taping with a live audience and Jonah Ray is taping his next album both this month.

3) The LA Times included Ben Schwartz and Key & Peele in their Faces to Watch for 2012. Those are endorsements you should definitely listen to.

4) Chris Gethard has proclaimed himself the King of Authors as the release of his book A Bad Idea I’m About To Do is coming next week.

5) The Producers Guild Awards are out with nods to Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, Parks and Recreation, the Colbert Report, and more. Then, reality TV, as you’ll notice, now has its own categories.

6) Eddie Pepitone is everywhere (everywhere in this instance is Laughspin and the AV Club).

7) Anyone care to start a theme blog of Victoria Jackson being out of place?

8) Improv Everywhere’s Annual No Pants Subway Ride now has t-shirts to go with no pants.

9) The fifth episode of our This Better Be Funny Podcast asks the question: Can we write one truly original joke about Chipwrecked after watching it?

10) ON THE HORIZON
Fargo & The Big Lebowski Double Feature Drink-Along @ Downtown Independent Theater Sat. Jan. 7th 7PM $10 in adv, $15 at door

11) COMEDY CRAWL
This Is Not Happening @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $5/2 item min.
The BEATdown Los Angeles @ Nerdist Theater 8PM $10
The Good Luck Show @ Good Luck Bar 8PM FREE
This Is New… @ Lulu’s Beehive 8:30PM FREE
Comedy Bang Bang @ UCB Theatre 8:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Geekscape Presents: Tokyo Drift @ Michael’s Bar & Grill 9PM FREE
Holy Fuck @ Downtown Independent Theater 9PM FREE
JFL Montreal Showcase @ Hollywood Improv Lab 10PM $5 

12) THERE’S SOMETHING REALLY AMAZING THAT IS GOING TO GIVE COMEDY IN LA THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES AT HOLY FUCK TONIGHT THAT YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS, NECESSITATING OUR ANNOYINGLY TYPING IN ALL CAPS. 

13) OPEN MIC RUN
AMSTERDAM CAFE 10905 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, CA
WESTWOOD BREW CO 1097 Glendon Ave., Westwood, CA/Sign-up 7:30PM/Starts 8PM/lottery/first come, first served/no purchase necessary
COFFEE GALLERY 2029 Lake Ave., Altadena, CA/Sign-up 7:30PM/Starts 8PM
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Starts 8PM/mixed mic 
VINNY’S PIZZA 12740 Culver Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/first come, first served/no purchase necessary
WESTSIDE COMEDY THEATER 1323-A 3rd St., Santa Monica, CA (in alley between 3rd St. Promenade and 4th St.)/Sign-up 9:45PM/Starts 10PM/lottery/$1 cover
DAVE’S BAR 708 Broadway, Glendale, CA/Starts 10PM/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee provided   

14) HEY EVERYONE, LANA DEL REY LIKES BILL HICKS, SO CAN EVERYONE LIKE COMEDY NOW PLEASE?

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hey comedy bureau, i have a quick question. is there an NYC equivalent of LA’s comedy bureau?

January 3, 2012
Uncategorized

Currently, from what we know and what our good friends of ours in NYC tell us, the answer to that question is: not really.

Often, when this inquiry comes up in conversation, the Comic’s Comic and the Apiary are two blogs that get mentioned a lot. Also, the Laugh Button has started listing NYC shows on a semi-regular basis, but there hasn’t been, at least to our knowledge and please notify us if we’re mistaken, a NYC equivalent of the Comedy Bureau.

With that in mind, we’d love to have a NYC branch, but we have yet to find people/a person dedicated, trustworthy in taste, and patient enough to sift through all the shows, news, videos, etc. we sift through on a daily basis for NYC. At some point, hopefully this year, we’re planning to visit NYC and maybe gain some ground on this front.

So, there are plans… (cue Montgomery Burns’ “finger pyramid of evil”). 

January 4, 2012
Uncategorized

RIP Angelo Bowers. May no one forget your smile, or hilarious jokes, or the fact that you live in a really great part of Detroit called Denver, Colorado.

Photo by Megan Baker

Donate to Josh Adam Meyers’ Medical Expenses

January 4, 2012
Uncategorized

Donate to Josh Adam Meyers’ Medical Expenses

Comedian Scott Boxenbaum has set up a Pay Pal account to help with comedian Josh Adam Meyers medical expenses. 

In the passing of Angelo Bowers, the LA comedy community has shown much of a community it is. Let’s continue that with aiding Josh Adam Meyers through this difficult time.

The Full Story of What Happened to Angelo Bowers and Josh Adam Meyers

January 4, 2012
Uncategorized

The Full Story of What Happened to Angelo Bowers and Josh Adam Meyers

eliolsberg:

I offered him a guest drop-in spot at next Tuesday’s Performance Anxiety and it was to be his last set before he left Los Angeles for a little while. A few hours later, Josh and Angelo were driving and they were struck by a drunk driver. Josh is in the hospital and Angelo is no longer with us.

Morning Debriefing 1/4/12

January 4, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) Whether you know it or not, this is the moment LA comedy has been waiting for, so don’t let it pass you by AND CERTAINLY MAKE SURE IT HAPPENS. We’re talking about RIOT, the proposed LA alternative comedy festival by Abbey Londer, and if it reaches its goal, more things like its hilarious PSA video with Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Megan Mullally, Jimmy Pardo, Kumail Nanjiani, Dana Gould, Todd Glass, Thomas Lennon, Kyle Kinane, Pete Holmes, Eric Andre, and more will happen (and that’s a good thing, in case you were wondering).

2) As you might have saw from our posts yesterday, comedians Angelo Bowers and Josh Adam Meyers were involved in a severe car accident with a drunk driver from which Angelo, sadly, has passed away. Meyers suffered several injuries and is in (according to the last we heard) critical condition, but is talking and is currently at Cedars Sinai in the North Tower, Room 8020 with available visiting hours from 7AM to 9PM. Tonight, donations will be collected for Josh’s medical expenses at Beer in the Shower at the Dreams Bar & Cafe in Hollywood and Venice Underground in Venice, a show that Josh was booked to perform at, or, if you cannot attend and still want to donate, you can do through a Paypal link on Scott Boxenbaum’s website. The best way to remember Angelo is through his jokes and a Twitter account @AngeloJokes has been started for that very purpose. Please follow because he was incredibly funny like so: “If you’ve never been to a Cher concert then you’ve never lived… With your aunt and her lover.” –Angelo Bowers

3) Last night on late night, Chris Gethard claims he’ll basically fight anyone on Fallon and Will Arnett shows how bad at Twitter he is on Letterman. Tonight, Dave Attell will be on Conan and might possibly look less homeless than he did on the Tonight Show (TBS 11PM)

4) Something to really watch for: there’s going to be comedy content from IGN and the very funny Mike Drucker is going to be the head writer of it.

5) “Work It is a tightly written pilot. ABC, don’t you dare use that as a pull quote — please understand that "tightly written” does not mean well written.“-The Internet’s Jake Fogelnest recaps with no remorse the first episode of ABC’s "Work It”

6) Also on Twitter, Tommy Wiseau… 

7) Today’s Puddin w/Eddie Pepitone will make you think twice about what you’ll do with gift cards… 

8) ON THE HORIZON
Joke Lab @ Hollywood Improv Lab Wed. Jan. 18th 8:30PM $6
Reggie Watts @ Segerstrom Center for the Arts Sat. Jan 14th 9PM $20

9) COMEDY CRAWL
Just for Laughs Montreal Showcase @ Hollywood Improv Lab 7PM/8:30PM/10PM $5
A Kiss From Daddy/The Birthday Boys @ UCB Theatre 8PM $5
Meltdown @ Nerdist Theater 8:30PM $8
The Good Bits @ WitZend 9PM $5
Venice Underground @ Townhouse & the Del Monte 9PM FREE
Frolic! @ Far Bar 9PM FREE
A Very Special Bowser’s Castle @ Fenix 5-4 9PM FREE
Facebook @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Beer in the Shower @ Dreams Bar & Cafe 9:30PM FREE
Fresh Faces @ Laugh Factory 10PM $20-$30/2 drink min.
Matty’s Pizza Party @ Next Stage Theater 11PM $5 

10) OPEN MIC RUN
THE SPOT CAFE 4455 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA/Starts 7PM/lottery
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
GRINDHOUSE CAFE 1051 N. Havenhurst, West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM
BRONSON’S 5851 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/First come, first served/No purchase necessary
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/mixed mic
LIBRARY A COFFEE HOUSE 3418 Broadway, Long Beach, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM 
LIQUID ZOO 7214 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/7 min.
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available  
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT  

11) It’s really sad that no one really says, “Eh, you should really stick to comedy.”

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Morning Debriefing 1/5/12

January 5, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) It’s weird to say (when you think about it), but RIOT is definitely on pace and let’s keep it going. The proposed LA alternative comedy festival is at this moment $4,310 of $20,000 and was just mentioned on Vulture. Don’t you want RIOT? Let’s keep this going, please.

2) Dave Attell basked in the memories of his porn next to an attractive young lady again on Conan, Judy Greer also had great family stories also on Conan, Tracy Morgan got back to being Tracy Morgan on Leno. Can Tina Fey top all of this tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 11:35PM)?

3) Educated yourself today as the South Park documentary “Six Days to Air” is now on Netflix.

3) So, Grace Helbig of Daily Grace is moving to LA for two months… 

4) Hot dog puppets and the lesbian pool scene from Wild Things make for a great start to Thursday thanks to Annie Lederman and Abbey Luck.

5) Michelle Bachmann isn’t done until Erin Gibson’s Michelle Bachmann has the final say.

6) Funny or Die is doing 80’s TV intro parodies. Our favorite, Prairie Children. Why can’t we invent time travel and make these really happen back in the 80’s already?

7) One of our favorite blogs, Concocted Conversations, now, is taking submissions as illustrated by this concocted conversation.

9) ON THE HORIZON
Emo Phillips Narrating Peter & The Wolf @ Glendale Philharmonic Sun. Jan. 8th 4PM $7.50-$14

10) COMEDY CRAWL
Greg Proops: Smartest Man in the World LIVE @ Nerdist Theater 8PM $10
Harland Williams @ Irvine Improv 8PM $22/2 item min.
The Eddie Peptione Bloodbath w/special guest Patton Oswalt @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8:30PM $5 
The Josh & Josh Show @ Bar Lubitsch 8:30PM FREE
Odd Thursdays @ The Palace Restaurant 9PM FREE 
Stand-up Spotlight: Moshe Kasher @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 

11) OPEN MIC RUN
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
ZAPATA VIVE 101 S. First Ave., Arcadia, CA/Sign-up (lottery) 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/20 spots available/5 min.
SANDWICH SPOT 3101 Ocean Park Ave., Santa Monica, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/first come, first served
CAFE ON 2ND 7 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/first come, first served/10 min.
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/mixed mic
VINNY’S PIZZA 12740 Culver Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/first come, first served/No purchase necessary
CAFE UNURBAN 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA/Sign-up (lottery) 9PM/No purchase necessary 
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available   
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT  

12) Well, if anything that the last few days have proven, never ever believe comedians when they say they’re horrible people.

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Morning Debriefing 1/6/12

January 6, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) It’s just one those “drop everything you’re doing and watch this and forget about whether it’s fake or not” type of things: PLEASE WATCH Harrison Ford watching himself as Indiana Jones because he’s “never” done that before.

2) There have been many benefits for the recovering Josh Adam Meyers and late Angelo Bowers that have been popping up around LA. The Hollywood Improv is dedicating next week’s Comedy Juice, one of their stalwart main room shows, to both Josh and Angelo with Marc Maron, Harland Williams, and more. All sales will be donated. Also, Scott Boxenbaum’s PayPal link for donations has a new web address at DonateForJosh.com and stories, notes, etc. are being collected For Angelo’s mother. Lastly, do yourself a big favor and remember Angelo the best way possible by following on Twitter @AngeloJokes.

3) As the presidential candidates fall one by one, Funny or Die has thankfully partnered up with Yahoo to preserve their memory in hilarious parody debate form.

4) Unlike the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Writers’ Guild of America knows that comedies (as well as which ones) were pretty great in 2011.

5) LA JFL Montreal Showcase Schedule! Get ya LA JFL Montreal Showcase Schedule!

6) Totals for Riot-LA’s Alternative Comedy Festival after launching on Tuesday: $6,556. This is really happening and we couldn’t be happier. (Note: Total is probably higher when you’re reading this.)

7) According to these promos, Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and Adult Swim’s Delocated are coming back soon. That’s almost enough promos to loop on YouTube and watch over and over until their season premieres air. Also, NBC’s Community WILL BE coming back.

8) Pictures in the life of comedy that you will see posted everywhere on the Internet today: Bill Cosby sitting by himself amongst rows of seats with his face on it and Dan Harmon cleverly and hilariously channelling his rage.

9) Kate Micucci’s “Walking in Los Angeles” gets a wondrous music video.

10) COMEDY CRAWL
Dead Authors @ UCB Theatre 6:30PM $5
50 First Jokes LA @ Downtown Independent Theater 7PM $10 (stand by only)
Harland Williams @ Irvine Improv 8PM/10PM $22/2 item min.
Set List @ UCB Theatre 8PM $10
Eddie Pepitone @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $18/2 item min.
The 12 Shiny Nickels Show @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8:30PM $10
Really F*cking Great @ Fanatic Salon 9PM $10 

11) OPEN MIC RUN
SET LIST @ FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia, Burbank, CA/Sign-up 5PM/Starts 5:30PM/given “set list” of topics to do jokes off of/first come, first served/no purchase necessary
SILVERLAKE LOUNGE 2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (Silverlake)/Sign-up (lottery) 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/4 min./no purchase necessary
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
MAX BLOOM’S 200 N. Malden Ave., Fullerton, CA/Starts 7PM/booked show after/no purchase necessary
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
GLENDALE DAYS INN 450 N. Pioneer Dr., Glendale, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 8PM/No foul language/No purchase necessary/first come, first served   
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available  
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 10PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/lottery  

12) For future reference to any idiot making a Worst Comedians of [insert a period of time], anyone who has made groups of people laugh on a regular basis is not anywhere close to being the worst comedian.

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LA Weekly Names Top 10 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2012

January 6, 2012
Uncategorized

LA Weekly Names Top 10 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2012

We really like this list and think you should go out of your way to see them in LA or elsewhere.

(Yes, as you’ll see, we had a little something to do with this list…)

Morning Debriefing 1/7/12

January 7, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) The wildly popular comedy podcast that first rose to prominence as Comedy Death Ray, Comedy Bang Bang, is now going to be a show on IFC and now the world will know of its hilarity. (Hopefully, “the world” will be bigger than that of cable and Internet users that don’t generally watch comedy).

2) F’yeah! Eastbound and Down just dropped their promo for Season 3.

3) David Cross wore a giant sweatshirt on Kimmel (Parts One and Two).

4) Somewhat in the same vein, Andre Hyland, AKA Jesse Miller, eats old pizza on Channel 9 in Cincinnati. 

5) LA Weekly made one of the most solid comedy lists we’ve seen in the last several months with their 10 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2012 because some of the “most-in-the-know” people were consulted on it including us. Speaking of which, please take a look at our exhaustive list that basically tells you what comedy was in 2011.

6) Good job by the Oscars having Funny or Die help them with their first promo. It definitely works for us.

7) Alright, here’s a whole situation that we wished dearly didn’t happen:
–Patton Oswalt lashed out an audience member who was taping him from center 2nd row last Thursday at the Palace Restaurant consequently walking her and her two friends from the show that they just stopped into to see him.
-Upset at the degree of lashing out that occurred even after the audience member had left, comedienne Barbara Gray felt compelled to write about the event on her blog setting many in the comedy blogosphere to task writing about the virtue of not taping comedians working on material to make a living.
-Luckily, thankfully, and several other affirmative adverbs, Patton Oswalt wrote his own explanation and WILL continue to perform at the Palace Restaurant and other small venues “when he can”.
–Barbara Gray will continue to do stand-up, like she did wonderfully at last night’s 50 First Jokes, because being “blackballed” for writing something like that would be incredibly petty and unnecessary, especially for how talented (as Oswalt has said about her) she is.

9) So, Patton Oswalt, after his critically acclaimed Finest Hour, is already working on another album and Barbara Gray is going on tour. These are two things to definitely both be happy about and to watch for.

10) Another thing to be happy about: Riot LA’s Alternative Comedy Festival Total on Kickstarter: $6,879 of $20,000 with 27 days to go. 

11) ABC ran a story on Angelo Bowers and Josh Adam Meyers. It’s great to see that Angelo will be remembered on the LA local news. Maybe people in Cleveland will remember…

12) ON THE HORIZON
Herman Melville: A Whale of an Evening @ Hollywood Improv Lab Sun. Jan 15th 8PM $5
Portlandia @ Echoplex Mon. Jan 16th 8:30PM 

13) COMEDY CRAWL
Harland Williams @ Irvine Improv 7PM/9PM $22/2 item min.
Fargo & Big Lebowski Drink Along @ Downtown Independent Theater 7PM $10
Hutch’s Comedy BBQ & Laughs @ Hutch’s Barbecue 8PM FREE
Laurie Kilmartin @ Flappers Claremont 8PM/10PM $15
Two-Headed Beast: A Storytelling Show @ Stories, Books, & Cafe 8PM FREE
The Thrilling Adventure Hour @ Largo at the Coronet Theatre 8:30PM $25 (stand by only)
Magic Bag @ Underground Annex Theater 10PM $5
The Midnight Show w/TJ Miller @ UCB Theatre MIDNIGHT $5 (stand by only)
The Tomorrow Show @ Steve Allen Theater MIDNIGHT $8 

14) OPEN MIC RUN
SPOT CAFE 4455 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA/Starts 2PM/feedback given at end
ICE HOUSE 24 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA/Starts 4PM/Sign-up is lottery/No purchase necessary
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/coffee & water provided
THE DAILY GRIND 109 E. Union St., Pasadena, CA/Starts 5PM/5 min./No purchase necessary
WESTSIDE COMEDY THEATER 1323-A 3rd St. Promenade, Santa Monica, CA (in alley between 3rd and 4th St.)/Sign-up (lottery) 6PM/Starts 6:30PM/no purchase necessary/4 min. 
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 10PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/lottery  

15) One of the more uplifting things I’ve heard while going to an independently produced comedy show in 2012 thus far: As walking to a show, a man walking beside me turned and asked, “Do you have tickets to the show?” Surprised that strangers want to talk to me, I responded, “Yes.” Then, he said, “Do you have an extra ticket for me?” Random strangers want to see comedy. IT’S WORKING!!!

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LA Comedy Rundown 1/8/12

January 8, 2012
Uncategorized
show listings

ON THE HORIZON
Sad People Talking @ Royal/T Mon. Jan 16th 8PM $5
Saturday Showboat Open Mic @ The Coffee Fix
Sat. Jan 21st 8PM No purchase necessary/First come, first served

COMEDY CRAWL
Harland Williams @ Irvine Improv 7PM $22/2 item min.
ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 7:30PM FREE
You’re Invited @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8PM $5
French Toast @ Taix 8:30PM FREE
Top Story Weekly! @ iO West 9PM $5
Neal Brennan & Friends @ Westside Comedy Theater 9PM $5
Powerviolence @ The Complex Theater 9PM FREE
Gravid Water @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Shitty Jobs @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5 (stand by only) 

OPEN MIC RUN
NERDIST THEATER 7522 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (back room of Meltdown Comics)/Sign-up 7:15PM/Starts 7:30PM/lottery/30 spots available/no purchase necessary
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/mixed mic
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5/multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee available   

ONE TIME ONLY
-In honoring Angelo Bowers memory, there will be a special edition of the Comedy Store’s regularly scheduled potluck tonight at 7PM in the Original Room, then at 11PM in the Main Room.
-The Hollywood Improv will be having a benefit for both Josh Adam Meyers and Angelo Bowers during their regularly scheduled Comedy Juice this Wednesday Jan. 11th at 10PM with Marc Maron, Harland Williams, Aziz Ansari, Todd Glass, and more.
–The JFL Montreal Showcases in LA will be updated frequently here. 

Morning Debriefing 1/8/12

January 8, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) The Final(?) episode of Henry Phillips’ fantastic web series “Henry’s Kitchen” is finally here. Apparently there might be “lost episodes”…

2) Today is the Annual Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride. Just a reminder to Los Angelenos, we do have a subway to partake in this great tradition. In fact, Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere has captured the attention of so many with large scale pranks that a race driver wanted sponsorship from Improv Everywhere.

3) In case you were wondering why the LA Times was so excited about 50 First Jokes, here’s some fantastic pictures from Megan Baker, the Comedy Hipster.

4) Josh Adam Meyers, while still in recovery in Cedars Sinai, is standing and, finally, live Angelo Bowers’ performances are being uploaded such as this one at the Comedy Store.

5) In Parks and Recreation news, Carl Reiner will guest star and Amy Poehler will direct an episode.

6) Did you know Elizabeth Laime from the Totally Laime podcast on Earwolf writes poetry that’s pretty damn funny? We’re glad we know now.

7) Riot LA Kickstarter Total: $7,699 of $20,000 with 26 days to go.

8) Where are both the Comedy Crawl and Open Mic Run? Not to worry, here, now called the LA Comedy Rundown, they are. Seriously, calm down and click that hyperlink.

9) If I hear someone else tell me, “Hey, stand-up is hard. Keep it at.” I AM ABSOLUTELY GOING TO ponder for several more days than I should and tell the blogosphere about it, but never really resolving the issue at hand because that’s what comics usually do.

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LA Comedy Rundown 1/9/12

January 9, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, los angeles

ON THE HORIZON
Rob Delaney @ Hollywood Improv Fri. Jan. 20th 8PM $20/2 item min. 
The First Annual Wayne Federman International Film Festival @ Cinefamily Jan. 12th-Jan. 14th  

COMEDY CRAWL
Just For Laughs Showcase @ Hollywood Improv Lab 7PM $5
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret @ Cinefamily 8PM $10
What’s Up Tiger Lily? @ Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill 8PM FREE
Brunch @ The Park Restaurant 9PM FREE
Keep It Clean @ 1739 Public House 10PM FREE
Crash Test @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
CLUB 705 705 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA/Starts 7PM-ish/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
RED ROCK 8782 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served
PALACE RESTAURANT 2112 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA (Los Feliz)/Sign-up 7:30PM/Starts 8PM/lottery
RAINBOW BAR & GRILL 9015 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up before 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/$2 cover/mixed mic
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
PETIE’S PLACE 6025 Reseda Blvd., Tarzana, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/One drink min./First come, first served
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee provided    

Morning Debriefing 1/9/12

January 9, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) “FOX FORGES NEW UNIT TO CREATE ALTERNATIVE ANIMATED CONTENT” and many are interested in how this move is such a blatant copy of the development, production, and programming of Adult Swim. Well, we say, good for Fox because we like what Adult Swim is doing.

2) According to Megan Mullally, the Party Down movie is really happening. Your move Arrested Development.

3) Tonight, the late night talk show circuit will feature Seth Green and David Cross on Conan (TBS 11PM) and, this should be really interesting, George Lucas on The Daily Show (Comedy Central 11PM). If only there was a talk show crossover where Green and Lucas debate the fate of the Star Wars franchise in stop motion animation form.

4) Welcome your new favorite podcast that’s barely over 8 minutes long: The Songs We Sing from Greg Heller and Mike Henry. 

5) The finale of the absurdly brilliant Tommy-Wi Show is here and has a cliff-hanger (with guest iJustine) that doesn’t have to do with TW being stuck on a Start Menu. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

6) The Shorty Awards, awards exclusively for Twitter, are open for nominations. FYI, they do not accept #FF as votes..

7) BuzzFeed names 10 Hilarious Comedians You (Probably) Haven’t Heard Of and while we certainly have heard of every one of these indeed very funny people, we understand that there are several people that still know Patton Oswalt from Ratatouille before his stand-up, so check it out. 

9) Speaking of Patton Oswalt, want to see his tweets done up Star Wars style? Wait, did you think we’re kidding? Follow @PattonOswars and see exactly what we’re talking about.

10) On today’s Puddin’, keep Redi-whip away from Eddie Pepitone.

11) As Pabst Blue Ribbon and Dunkin’ Donuts are both coming to LA, there will be a whole new set of references that plenty of comics will use to bash hipsters that are completely baseless.

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The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is NOW accepting submissions.

January 9, 2012
Uncategorized

The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is NOW accepting submissions.

This is your chance to be part of one of our favorite comedy festivals as well as a chance to have more fun wondering why you’re up, outside, and waking across a bridge looking for breakfast at 3AM after seeing/being part of some of comedy’s best at their best than you ever have before.  

You’ve done that right?

LA Comedy Rundown 1/10/12

January 10, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, listings, live, los angeles

ON THE HORIZON
Key and Peele Live Taping @ Nate Holden Theater Jan. 10th-13th FREE
Comedy Open Mic @ Sabor y Cultura Fri. Jan. 13th 8PM/5625 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up is a lottery/No purchase necessary
(Guy Branum Presents) Talk Show: The Game Show @ Hollywood Improv Lab Sat. Jan. 28th 11PM $5

COMEDY CRAWL
Key and Peele Live Taping @ Nate Holden Theater 6PM/8PM FREE
Young Adult Screening with Patton Oswalt & Garry Shandling @ Arclight 7:35PM
Harland Williams @ Flappers Burbank
8PM $15/2 item min.
Innovative Showcase @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $14/2 item min.
Performance Anxiety @ The Pleasure Chest 8PM $7
The 4 & 20 @ All Star Lanes 8PM FREE
Comedy Bang Bang @ UCB Theatre 8:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Blamblamblam! @ R-Bar 9PM FREE
Holy Fuck! @ Downtown Independent Theater 9PM FREE
Live From LA 3 @ Moving Arts Theater 9PM $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
AMSTERDAM CAFE 10905 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 6:30PM
WESTWOOD BREW CO 1097 Glendon Ave., Westwood, CA/Sign-up 7:30PM/Starts 8PM/lottery/first come, first served/no purchase necessary
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Starts 8PM/mixed mic 
VINNY’S PIZZA 12740 Culver Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/first come, first served/No purchase necessary
WESTSIDE COMEDY THEATER 1323-A 3rd St., Santa Monica, CA (in alley between 3rd St. Promenade and 4th St.)/Sign-up 9:45PM/Starts 10PM/lottery/$1 cover
DAVE’S BAR 708 Broadway, Glendale, CA/Starts 10PM/first come, first served/no purchase necessary
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee provided  

Morning Debriefing 1/10/12

January 10, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) Tom Scharpling does it again (meaning make music videos worth watching again) with Real Estate’s “Easy” that features Chris Gethard roughing up Jake Fogelnest.

2) Last night, we found that no one will ever intro a clip on a talk show better than David Cross did on Conan. Tonight that claim will probably stay true (watch the clip to see what we’re talking about) Tina Fey will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM) and Billy Eichner will be on Conan (TBS 11PM).

3) The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is open for submissions and if you’re a comedian, you’ll want to spend your gas money for the next few days on this instead of drinks, unnecessary nostalgia, or anything else.

4) The bi-weekly stand-up show in Echo Park, Brunch at the Park Restaurant, sadly came to an end last night. Still, there are worst ways to end a show than have Sean Patton close it out.

It was a great show while it lasted… brunchcomedy:  Dear BRUNCHIES, Thank you so much for your support since we started the show on April 18, 2011. Our show grew from a small gathering of comedians supporting another comedy show to a real thriving comedy scene, with drop ins from Hannibal Burress to the Sklar Brothers and even Nick Kroll.  As my first self produced from the ground up comedy show, this show was very special to me. It was a place I could give the performers I loved a space to hone their craft.  Each show was unique, each show had its own flavor, and each show was an experience Ill remember forever.  If you were at tonights BRUNCH, you know that tonight was the last BRUNCH: A Comedy Show.  We had a great run. We never charged for BRUNCH. There was no drink or food minimum. We even started serving dinner when the demand became great enough. Plus, the food and drinks were all fancy and delicious.  As with many LA ALT comedy shows, something or other came up and BRUNCHs time had run out. But hopefully unlike most LA ALT shows, it will be gone but NOT forgotten.  I know this whole to-do may seem like a lot for a show that only lasted less than a year, but screw you, this was special to me and I will memorialize it and show off all the amazing performers that graced BRUNCH with their presence.  I want to thank the Park Restaurant for giving us a home. They let us turn their lovely dining establishment into a comedy club once a week, and their wonderfully Echo Park-y restaurant was the perfect environment for some good ol fashioned LA ALT comedy.  I want to thank Abbey for uniting me and Jake Weisman. Thanks to Abbey, two floating comedy spirits looking to do a show found each other and immaculately concepted a baby BRUNCH show.  I also want to thank Jamie Lee for helping start and shape this magical show. Jamie always thanked me on stage, she always delivered, and I really appreciated it.  This show was a big learning experience for me. There were packed houses and nights where only the most dedicated of fans were there to see their favorites. And there were the hecklers.  Through it all was my co-producer and host, Jake Weisman. Jake set the stage for a fantastic comedy show every time. Jake calmed me down when I had panic attacks about no one showing up and everyone hating me. Jake wore cat shows. Jake and I will do another show in the future, but nothing will replace our first.  So thanks to everyone who ever came to a BRUNCH show. Thanks to everyone who ever retweeted or reblogged or talked about our BRUNCH show. Thanks to everyone who bought drinks and food at BRUNCH and helped keep us alive. Please enjoy all the photos of past shows here. But in cased you missed it, above is the final BRUNCH: A Comedy Show headliner, the illustrious Sean Patton. Thanks again to everyone for their love and support. Ill see you at the next show. - Sam Varela

5) Another thing to submit to that you’ll enjoy: The LA Film Festival.

6) Never seen the late Angelo Bowers do a set to see what everyone was talking about? Laughspin fixed that. 

7) Two of comedy’s most prolific photographers Robyn Von Swank and Liezl Estipona are selling prints of their work here and here, respectively.

8) On Episode 6 of This Better Be Funny, the podcast we chose to not be about comedy news because we got that covered here, hosts Jake Kroeger and Jeremy Paul try to have comedian Joe Braza as a guest, but get (thankfully) interrupted by other comedians, car sales, and other comedians leaving.

9) Riot LA: $10,438 of $20,000 with 24 days to go. They even got mentioned in the Nerdist!

10) Every Coachella joke ever: COACHELLA! WHY DO I FORGET THAT YOU HAPPEN AROUND THE SAME TIME EVERY YEAR AND PLAN SOMETHING I CAN’T GET OUT OF?

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LA Comedy Rundown 1/11/12

January 11, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, listings, live, los angeles

ON THE HORIZON
Gallery 1988 x Adult Swim Opening Reception @ Gallery 1988 Melrose Fri. Jan. 13th 7PM
Paley Fest @ Saban Theatre Mar. 2-13

COMEDY CRAWL
Key & Peele Live Taping @ Nate Holden Theater 6PM/8PM FREE with RSVP
Smartest Man in the World LIVE w/Greg Proops @ Bar Lubitsch 7PM FREE
New Wave 2012 Showcase @ House of Blues 7:30PM
Persona! @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8PM $5
Meltdown @ Nerdist Theater 8:30PM $8
The Good Bits @ WitZend 9PM $5
Facebook @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Dot Comedy @ The Laugh Factory 10PM $20-$30/2 drink min.
Comedy Juice Benefit for Josh Adam Meyers & Angelo Bowers @ Hollywood Improv 10PM $20/2 item min. + donations
Roast the Week @ Hollywood Improv Lab 10:30PM $5
The Anna Lee Lawson Comedy Hour @ Next Stage Theater 11PM $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
REDWOOD BAR 316 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM/No purchase necessary
THE SPOT CAFE 4455 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA/Starts 7PM/lottery
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
GRINDHOUSE CAFE 1051 N. Havenhurst, West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/mixed mic
LIBRARY A COFFEE HOUSE 3418 Broadway, Long Beach, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM 
LIQUID ZOO 7214 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/7 min.
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available  
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT 

Morning Debriefing 1/11/12

January 11, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) Last night, Billy Eichner gave a subtle PSA about why you should hate Johnny Depp on Conan and Tina Fey has to outwit own her kid because of her show on Fallon. Tonight, Conan has the goods with both Jack McBrayer & Dwayne Perkins (TBS 11PM).

2) Tomorrow, The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards will roll the dice on incredibly funny people who host their own hilarious live show every two weeks with Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel (VH1 8PM). If the Crash Test duo do as they’re known to do, they’d probably take those dice and throw it aggressively at each other.

3) Congrats to Esther Povitsky for just being passed as a paid regular at the Comedy Store.

Esther Povitsky

4) We’re not a big fan of recaps, but you’ll be entertaining yourself as well as not giving ABC’s Work It ratings by following Jake Fogelnest’s hate recaps of the show.

5) Justine Barron wrote a hilarious story of how she had to sell her sex to get existence. We don’t need to say more other than read it and enjoy.

6) Improv Everywhere’s 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride appears more pants-less than ever…

7) Remember that NYTVF/Comedy Central Short Pilot Contest? Whether you do or don’t, this is just a friendly reminder that the deadline is at 12PM EST Jan. 27th, 2012.

8) YouTube.com/AzizAnsari just became official.

9) If you’re looking to move to NYC or already live there (and, we take it, interested in working in comedy as you’re reading this) College Humor is looking for an Assistant Editor for Jest.com. 

10) Riot LA totals for their Kickstarter: $10,850 of $20,000 with 23 days to go.

11) Today’s Puddin’ features jar opening as jar opening has never seen before with Eddie Pepitone, Weird Al Yankovic, and more.

12) Just hearing the phrase “happy checks” from Pete Holmes makes all self-help books, tapes, etc. seem like a complete and total waste.

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LA Comedy Rundown 1/12/12

January 12, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, live, los angeles

ON THE HORIZON
 

COMEDY CRAWL
Key & Peele Taping @ Nate Holden Theater 6PM/8PM FREE
Garry Shandling Presents the King of Comedy @ Cinefamily 7:30PM $10
Subversive Comedy with Jimmy Dore @ Flappers Burbank 8PM $12/2 item min.
Creepshow @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8:30PM $5
The Josh & Josh Show @ Bar Lubitsch 8:30PM FREE
Nick’s Big Talk Show @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5
The Comedy Palace @ The Palace Restaurant 9:30PM FREE
The Mo Show @ Hollywood Improv Lab 10:30PM $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/5 min./first come, first served/one drink min.
SANDWICH SPOT 3101 Ocean Park Ave., Santa Monica, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/first come, first served
CAFE ON 2ND 7 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/first come, first served/10 min.
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/mixed mic
VINNY’S PIZZA 12740 Culver Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM/first come, first served/No purchase necessary 
CAFE UNURBAN 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA/Sign-up (lottery) 9PM/No purchase necessary 
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available   |
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT 

Morning Debriefing 1/12/12

January 12, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy news, los angeles

1) A meltdown scene from a Hitler movie + Duncan Trussell redoing the subtitles as a hysterical PSA about comedians performing completely for free at SXSW = What you will be watching right now.

2) Crash Test’s Paul Scheer and Rob Hubel are hosting the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on VH1 at 8PM. With Billy Crystal back hosting the Oscars, maybe their should be an awards for awards show hosting that could have a race…

3) If you’re a comedian and dream of proposing to your significant other at a show you just killed at it, watch the hilarious Tyler Greene do exactly that at Nerdist Theater.


(via @MikeRosenstein)

4) In late night talk show news, both Dwayne Perkins & Tom Papa stay sharp on Conan while, tonight, Stephen Merchant on will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC 12AM) and his counterpart Ricky Gervais will be on Conan (TBS 11PM) and not not apologizing for something at least for 10 minutes. 

5) College Humor is going to make its first film with Ben Schwartz, Glenn Howerton, Steve Little, directed by Brad Copeland who has worked on Arrested Development. Again, we say, “Arrested Development movie rumors… your move.”

6) Articles on comedy by big time publications round-up: The NY Times reported that Eddie Brill is a comedy gatekeeper for Letterman and likes to female comedians that are assertive and Bill Cosby gets appreciated at the Paley Center while The Hollywood Reporter does a big feature piece on Funny or Die. I mean, when are they going to run a story about Twitter fights between comedians?

7) Our picks for the 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos this week for the Nerdist feature hot dog puppets and Indiana Jones going meta, so watch please.

8) KCET keeps finding the funniest people in Los Angeles and places they love to eat with Dave Ross and Jake Weisman at the Astro Family Restaurant.

9) Riot LA totals on their Kickstarter: $11,997 of $20,000 with 22 days to go.

10) Perhaps, if comedy was promoted as a “funny people talking while people watching do not talk and just laugh”, there wouldn’t be less problems with watching live comedy. Anyone have a catchy way to say that?

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