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ON THE HORIZON
Fancy and Enchanting: A Benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society @ The Hayworth Theater Tues. Mar. 20th 8PM $30-$100

Comedy at Cinefile: Whitest Kids U Know @ Cinefile Wed. Mar. 21 8:30PM FREE 
 

COMEDY CRAWL
Greg Fitzsimmons @ Hollywood Improv 8PM/10PM $20/2 item min.
Kyle Dunnigan @ Flappers Burbank 8PM/10PM $17/2 item min.
The Anytime Show @ Little Modern 8PM $5
ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 8PM $10 (stand by only)
Matt Knudsen @ Hooters on Hollywood Blvd. 8PM FREE 
Giggle N’ Grind Burlesque Show @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8:30PM $10
Hour of Power: Presented by Devestator @ Hollywood Improv Lab 10PM $10
The Tomorrow Show w/Ron Lynch Presents Crapshoot! @ Steve Allen Theater MIDNIGHT $8
Tournament of Nerds @ UCB Theatre MIDNIGHT $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
SPOT CAFE 4455 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA/Starts 2PM/feedback given at end
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/coffee & water provided
DAILY GRIND 109 E. Union St., Pasadena, CA/Starts 5PM/First come, first served/No purchase necessary/5 min.
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/One drink min./First come, first served
THE LITTLE MODERN 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 6:30PM/Sign-up 6:15PM/lottery/10 spots only/5 min. each/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. 
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 10PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/lottery  

1) IFC gives the Marc Maron series the go-ahead. IFC might start to edge out FX in comedy…

2) Though this probably is no surprise to many given the hype surrounding the current release, Sony is giving 21 Jump Street a sequel.

3) Weird Al Yankovic got a “cabaret tribute tryout” that he didn’t want from Brett Gelman, Tom Lennon, Josh Fadem, Drew Droege, Garfunkel & Oates, and more.

4) Um, The San Francisco Comedy and Burrito Festival only has half their funding. Let’s fix that.

5) An improviser is going to run the LA Marathon this weekend with a blindfold.

6) Ricky Carmona provided us with some names for some “niche” (ethnic, gay, ugly) comedy nights that might, unfortunately, already exist.

7) Slate puts the spotlight on the 2nd most prominent character in Louie, Pamela Adlon.

8) Possibly a new hyper-realistic title card for the Eric Andre Show?

9) Anyone make a Perfect Storm reference in regards to rain, the LA Marathon, and St. Patrick’s Day all happening at the same time? If not, then good, because don’t.

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1) Chris Hardwick just announced the line-up for the upcoming Nerdist Channel, WHICH INCLUDES:
an interview show with Weird Al Yankovic
Revisiting the Kids in the Hall
Neil Patrick Harris with puppets
The Tournament of Nerds
and much, much more. 

2) SXSW Comedy round-up:
Day 7 recap from Laughspin
HuffPo Comedy on Mike Birbiglia’s film adaptation of Sleepwalk with Me
Catch Funny Shits at the Liberty tonight  

3) Tonight, after the 7:30PM screening of Casa De Mi Padre at The Landmark on Pico Blvd. in LA, Will Ferrell will be doing a Q&A.

4) The next Lost Moon Radio show on Apr. 18th, the sketch-variety-musical-comedy extravaganza, is taking requests for your favorite songs and sketches.

5) The Creek and the Cave got into the NY Times!

6) For our readers/followers in San Francisco, make sure to catch “LA-based musical comedian and Twitter sensation” Eli Braden next month at the 50 Social Mason House. Only $5.

7) The WFMU Beware of the Blog visted stand-up comedy’s past meddling with the Mob as part of your education in comedy history.

8) Kurt Metzger had a fascinating chat with FearNet.com about Ugly Americans and how he would get censored on TV based on sponsors getting angry rather than people being offended.

9) The San Francisco Comedy & Burrito Festival Kickstarter: $2,987 of $5,000.

10) For any filmmakers trying to capture the experience of performing comedy on stage, it can often best be described as staring out into a black abyss that you must appease every minute.

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1) How to End A Date In 30 Seconds Or Less. It’s educational and funny, so watch.

2) Tonight on late night:
Dana Gould on Conan (TBS 11PM)
Geoff Tate on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS 12:35AM)
Jeffrey Tambor on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM)

3) Nick Turner got “Harry Nilson’d” on the latest episode of King Temp.

4) Hey America! Catch Rob Delaney touring around you!

5) Here’s a small snippet of why you should listen to James Adomian on any podcast.

6) So there’s a Women vs. Doug Stanhope Twitter account…

7) Don’t forget the Fancy and Enchanting: Benefit for Leukemia & Lymphoma is tomorrow night. Great line-up. Great cause.

8) If you had faith in the American movie going masses, there’s this Rotten Tomatoes chart…

9) The San Francisco Comedy & Burrito Festival Kickstarter: $3,233 of $5,000.

10) I’m not the only one writing comedy while Adagio for Strings is playing, am I?

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1) Aziz Ansari joined the likes of Louis CK and Jim Gaffigan by streaming his special online for $5. It’s all going according to plan…

2) Dana Gould on Conan.

3) Eddie Izzard reviving the Munsters on NBC. OK, now we’re on board.

4) Wanna know what happens in the UCB green room? The brand new A Funny Thing Podcast just might be for you, especially since they’re first guest is one of our favorite storytellers, Margot Leitman.

5) Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love will open June 22nd with the folks in these stills (via enternechoplex) that you may recognize…

6) Steve Heisler, on the Spit Take, found that Lewis Black is, basically, still the Lewis Black we all have come to know and love on In God We Rust.

7) Dan Aykroyd set to make a movie with Chevy Chase, despite Bill Murray holding up Ghostbusters sequel.

8) Last night at Set List: the Improvised Stand-Up Show, Roseanne performed and reaffirmed her candidacy for President of the United States.

9) Serial Optimist chatted with the always delightful Wendy Liebman who more folks should know about considering how influential she has become in the way jokes are written and told.

10) 2012 has been a great year for comedy. The world isn’t going to end this year, but even the idea of it, I think, makes people want to laugh so much more.

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1) THE perfect way to start off this Wednesday morning is an animated clip of Dana Gould handling a heckler that’s incredibly NSFW.

2) IFC just gave a preview of their new “game show” Bunk where Kurt Braunohler makes some of his favorite comedians like Kumail Nanjiani engage in wonderful non-sense.

3) Two comedy albums from Stand-Up Records that came out yesterday that you should pick up:

Alysia Wood “Princess”
Rick Shapiro “Catalyst for Change”

4) Tonight on late night:
Will Ferrell on Conan (TBS 11PM) 
Don Rickles on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC 12AM) 
Wendy Liebman on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM) 

5) As far as the “industry” is concerned…
Rob Corddry will be in Hell Baby from Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant
Tom Papa’s pilot for TBS will have Bill Burr
A synopsis of “Maron” (working title) coming out on IFC

6) The Midnight Show is now part of the Machinima Network! Let Hal Rudnick explain in great detail…

7) Black Book is coming out with their comedy issue…

8) Key & Peele chatted with Jesse Thorn for the A.V. Club.

9) The Red Hot Chili Peppers should be thankful that they will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Chris Rock and not Jim Hamilton (arguably the creator of the best RHCP joke to date)

10) Because of comedy, I came really close to updating my resume yesterday with “beyond proficient in ‘doing coffee’ daily” as a special skill.

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1) Dave Chappelle is back on Twitter @ChappelleDavidK (though the account is still not officially verified) and Bill Corbett (MST3K) has joined Tumblr, so maybe you can not hate social networking for a week. 

2) Last night on late night:
–Wendy Liebman on Fallon
-Will Ferrell wore women’s sunglasses, discussed butt sex, and showed his passion for training dogs on Conan  
-Don Rickles on Kimmel Parts One, Two, and Three

3) Remember that time on The Office when Michael Scott ran out first when Ryan burnt a cheesy pita? The Office, as a whole show seems to be doing that in real life as they are looking for new showrunner and Ed Helms has joined Mindy Kaling’s Fox pilot. Along the same lines, The Onion News Network has went “Stamford”.

4) Watch Goatface comedy “do” a “man on the street” “sketch”. (There’s a reason for the quotation marks, so watch)

5) The very funny Candice Thompson and Brenda Colonna are starting their own wonderful web series, Creepy Caress, that needs your help on Kickstarter. 

6) The LA Comedy scene’s, specifically open mics, way of making fun of both the Oscars and itself, The Scoomies, are coming next Tues. Mar. 27th at Westwood Brew Co. Vote for a myriad of ultra-specific categories that only comics would ever come up with…

17th Annual Official SCOOMIE Ballot 2012

1. Least Dysfunctional
2. Best Newcomer
3. Most Prolific 
4. The Ethnic Award
5. Best Beard
6. Meltdown: It Just Got Too Real Award
7. You Don’t Know How Attractive You Are
8. Would Make the Best Guest Star on Downton Abbey
9. Best Hypothetical Couple ___and___
10. The Patience Award: Stays in Room and Actually Watches
11. Most Likely to Sign-Up Other People
12. Comic You Secretly Wish Was Your Best Friend
13. Most Ambitious
14. The TweetBook/Face-ter Award
15. If I Don’t Get an Early Set, I’m Out of Here Award
16. Comedian Who’s Material Would Make the Best Adele Song
17. Smartest Use of Stupidity
18. Best Attitude Despite Still Being Here
19. Most Likely to Have an Eponymous Sitcom on NBC: The “Whitney” Award
20. Best Writer 
21. Always Makes Me Laugh Guy ( Vote for 3)
1. _________________________________________
2._________________________________________
3._________________________________________
22. Always makes me laugh Lady( Vote for 3)
1. _________________________________________
2._________________________________________
3._________________________________________
23. Favorite Joke or Routine( Vote for 3)
1. _________________________________________
2._________________________________________
3._________________________________________

7) It really is wonderful to see Ron Lynch at the Laugh Factory (i.e. one of LA’s most innovative acts at one of the most mainstream venues in town)

8) Robin Williams to be honored at the Comedy Awards as a stand-up icon… 

9) Todd Barry’s touring ‘round the country just as he got a great profile in the NY Times.

10) We’ll just say this about this latest hysterical Midnight Show video: The Midnight Show knows how to educate the general public on everything.

11) It’s a real breakthrough in comedy, in whatever capacity you chose to do it in, when you delve head first into the stupidest thing you’ve ever thought of.

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1) Welcome Nerdist Industries newest podcast, Cashing In with TJ Miller, with Cash Levy and TJ Miller as the podcast’s only host and guest ever…

2) Geoff Tate on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

3) Perhaps now that Bill Maher has said “stop apologizing” in the NY Times for saying things that may be insensitive and/or offensive, a few more people will listen…

4) Statler and Waldorf took over The Soup!

5) The Spit Take went in-depth on Aziz Ansari’s Dangerously Delicious and what it could mean for comedy in the future.

6) Hangover 3 is in the news again, which we only bring up because Eddie Pepitone will probably do a bit about it that EVERYONE should see.

7) For any readers that happen to be in St. Louis, MO tonight, please catch the wonderfully absurd Nick Vatterott.

8) Comedy Kickstarter round-up:
Creepy Caress: $780 of $6,000  
The San Francisco Comedy and Burrito Festival: $4,349 of $5,000

9) Mind you, this is a .gif from the Fancy & Enchanting-Certainly a Night for Remembering: A Benefit for Leukemia & Lymphoma…

10) If someone is planning to do a joke about the long lines to see the Hunger Games  tonight and how people can enjoy themselves more by waiting in a line at In N’ Out, please don’t.

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1) FX might adapt the Coen Brothers’ Fargo into a series. What would come of it has yet to be decided, but we would definitely want a woodchipper used violently in every episode.

2) So, the Chris Gethard Show now has sweet merch…

3) Comedy tapings in less than two weeks:
Tom Papa’s Naked Truth for TBS
Mash-Up with TJ Miller for Comedy Central

4) Following a second heart attack, Gallagher announced his retirement from comedy. Upon hearing that, thousands of comedians cracked the same joke about Gallagher that has been made for the last 5 years.

5) Jenny Slate might be set to be on TV regularly again, as she is set to co-star in CBS’ comedy pilot Super Fun Night…

6) Live comedy recaps that are worth your time:
For Shame at the Hollywood Improv Lab in LA Weekly
Maria Bamford at the Laughing Skull in the Spit Take

7) Josh Fadem “promotes” a film on Kickstarter while challenging its star (i.e. Fadem being a goofy badass at Cinefile Video) 

8) And now, an important message on making top ten lists online… 

9) Jeremy Paul possibly channeled John McLaughlin’s Shakti in his latest Naked Declarative Statement or just wanted to play a stringed instrument while disrobed.

10) It’s only a matter of time before there is a completely fake news comedy show on TV where absolutely nothing is true, yet people will believe it wholeheartedly. Even if it’s called “¡SO THE INTERNET SEZ!”, it would probably still work.

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1) Eric Moneypenny, the man who started a Kickstarter to buy Kickstarter, gave insight to Vice as to his motives and why Kickstarter shouldn’t have rejected his idea.

2) Huffington Post made their picks of the most memorable comedy happenings at SXSW…

3) A new episode of Ted and Gracie is here and it yet again proves that Discovery Channel’s Who the Bleep Did I Marry? has nothing on Jena Friedman and Ben Kronberg.

4) If you’re still wondering about @Sketch_A_Tweet, then here’s a great video explanation/promo…

5) The Moth is having their next LA Storytelling Grandslam this Tues. Mar. 27th, this time with Eban Schletter playing his theremin, which no one should ever miss.

6) Jeremy Martin, a name some of you might not be familiar with that we think is funny, just wrote a book of short stories, Don’t Bother, that only costs $0.99 on Amazon, so maybe you should get into it because books by funny people are a precious commodity these days.

7) This is Jamie Kilstein performing, and according to Paul Provenza, during the day, outside, while it’s raining at the Reason Rally, which, as inconsequential as it may sound, is near impossible to pull off.

8) Bringing this particular Morning Debriefing full circle, both the San Francisco Comedy & Burrito Festival & The Creepy Caress Kickstarters still need your help.

9) Several comedians, whether they know it or not, will debate with themselves whether they should live tweet the season premiere of Mad Men.

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1) Jimmy Kimmel is set to host the Emmys and hopefully, with whatever he does, he’ll be allowed to top Movie: The Movie.

2) Tonight on late night:
Moshe Kasher on Conan (TBS 11PM)
Casey Wilson on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM)

3) Paul F. Tompkins will be live tweeting the season premiere of Game of Thrones, which will undoubtedly get him trending on Twitter just like he did when he live-tweeted one Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

4) Chris Gethard and Lena Dunham’s Girls get two very nice features in NY Magazine.

5) Interviews worth your time:
Jon Dore in the Smoking Jacket
Gillian Jacobs in the AV Club

6) If you can play PAL DVDs, you can buy Danger 5 on DVD, which is something you should totally invest it because the show is “that” worth it.

7) Check out the new flood of videos at the Peter Atencio, director of Key & Peele, Vimeo Page.

8) The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival just posted their line-up and schedule. 

9) Internet prankster and Sirius XM’s Jake Fogelnest wants you to know in every way that you can no longer call him at 646-484-5323.

10) Comedy nerds nerded out last night as Dominic Dierkes was on the season premiere Mad Men.

11) Now that there’s a new light rail line to Culver City, it will take people less time to say “Ugh, that’s on the West side.” (My attempt to make the NY/LA comedy lines jump the shark by making an LA subway joke).

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1) Tenacious D is motherfuckin’ back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) We’re glad this exists: Adam Cayton Holland interviewed Mitch Hedberg before he died.

3) The Comedy Awards is giving a whole bunch more categories (Podcast, Twitter account,  viral video, and more) over to the voters!

4) Apparently, the entire Mash-Up pilot for Comedy Central has been online for almost a month. Don’t forget to check out to RSVP for any of the tapings next week.

5) Moshe Kasher on Conan. 

6) Another awesome preview of what’s coming at the Nerdist YouTube channel….

7) So, Former Senator Arlen Specter is still doing stand-up…

8) Judd Apatow is reading Chris Gethard’s book. We sincerely hope something big comes of this.

9) No matter what you saw on the promos, Eric Andre is indeed in Don’t Trust the B**** in Apt. 23 and is great. The pilot is up on Hulu now.

10) Two comedy essays worth your time:
Turn Left? The Lack of Right-Wing Comedians by Alf Lamont for Huffington Post Comedy
Comedy in Context for the Nerdist written by us

11) So the folks over at Funny or Die are having a whole lot of goofy fun with the Zou Bisou Bisou scene from Mad Men. Watch Danny Jelinek add lasers and elephants to it…

12) Not too long from now, in this very galaxy, Star Wars references will unfortunately be lost on people.

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