Recent News

2 Days Into The Del Close Marathon

We always hear the Del Close Marathon, non-stop improv marathon happening right now in several theaters across NYC, is absolutely amazing. Well, take a look at a recap of Day 1/the first 24 hours and Day 2 get a sense of the madness for yourself.

Rory Scovel Is Also A Great Band Manager

Helping out the band, The Winter Sounds, with their Kickstarter, Rory Scovel stars in their video as a new manager that’s just busy enough to listen to them while mostly avoiding eye contact.

Matt Besser’s ‘Inside the Master Class’ on Adding a Black Guy to an Improv Group

In Matt Besser’s mockumentary improv class web series, “Inside The Master Class” he’s been trying to add a black guy to the group in order to bring diversity. This proves to be difficult and awkward even when just talking about the meaning behind a wooden African statue. Also, all of the hilarious people are in it: Marshall Givens, Colton Dunn, Echo Kellum, Neil Campbell, Stephanie Allynne, Eva Anderson, Matt Besser, Mike Cassady, Paul Rust, Mookie Blaicklock, Monika Smith, and Armen Weitzman.

Pre-order Todd Barry’s Comedy Central 1-Hr Special ‘Super Crazy’

                           

It airs July 21st on Comedy Central, but why wait to wait after it airs and then buy it online? Avoid stepping into Best Buy and pre-order Todd Barry’s Super Crazy now.

Trailer for The Sessions Is a Darker, Possibly Just As Funny 40 Year Old Virgin

We’re pretty sure that the development of the story for 40 Year Old Virgin had no mention of Steve Carell wearing an iron lung the whole movie. The Sessions, however, written and directed by Ben Lewin, is based on a true story of a 38 year old virgin confined to an iron lung set on having sex for the first time. John Hawkes is starring with Helen Hunt and William H. Macy in what might be a great dark romantic comedy this fall.

Watch the trailer now. 

Mitch Hedberg Notebooks To Be Released

Lynn Shawcroft who survives Mitch Hedberg and curates MitchHedberg.net says, “I have over 30 Hedberg notebooks. I guess it’s about time to share.” However that happens, the world cannot wait. 

First TV Spot for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell

It’s an incredibly short promo and doesn’t reveal much, but nonetheless we’re excited to see W. Kamau Bell on FX on Aug. 9th 11PM with Totally Biased.

Check Out The Set of The Set List

Didn’t you hear? Set List, The Improvised Stand-Up Show is going to be a TV show in the UK on Sky Atlantic HD. This is the set that they built.

July Is Apparently Comedy Month at Cinefamily

Per usual, Cinefamily at The Silent Movie Theatre has Doug Benson’s Movie Interruption this Thursday interrupting Battleship, but their marquee will have The Duplass Brothers Do-Decapentathlon and highly anticipated Danish import Klown.

Cinefamily comedy events in July: 

The Do-Deca Pentathalon (playing 7/6-7/12)-25 event Olympic style event with two brothers as the only competitors from The Duplass Brothers. Trailer.

Klown (playing 7/20-7/26)-A Danish comedy that “plays like a superior, way grosser version of The Hangover.” Aaron Hills-The Village Voice. Red band trailer. 

Kumaré (playing 7/27-8/2)-a documentary of a man completely fabricating himself as a prophet and people feeling spiritual enlightenment anyway. Trailer.

as well as

TJ Miller’s Hangover Matinee featuring The Forbidden Zone Sun. Jul. 8th 11:30AM

Matt Kirshen and His Nerd Injuries on Ferguson

One of our favorite comics from across the pond, Matt Kirshen, puts on one our favorite sets on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this year.

The 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos 7/3

Before or after you get your fireworks fix today, check out our picks for The 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos This Week for The Nerdist. Channel 101 made our list twice!

Make It Christmas in July by Supporting These Kickstarters

Now’s the time you can make that wish for a summertime Christmas after you watched A Christmas Story in the summer or something to that effect come true. Here’s three Kickstarters you can donate to and spread the joy of Christmas six months early.

Drennon Davis’ The Imaginary Radio Program, one of the most innovative live comedy shows out there today, is trying to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 13 days left on their goal of $4,000.

Susan Burke, esteemed writer, funny stand-up, member of the amazing sketch group The Birds of Prey, is making a “…short mock-u-drama about a fictional female humorist in the spirit of Dorothy Parker… but raunchier,” with her Margot Rourke Story. 26 days to go on her $5,000 goal.

Intimate conversation web series with Dave Holmes, A Drink with Dave, still needs some help getting to their Kickstarter goal to bring you a wonderful season 2. 7 days to go on their $30,000 goal.

This 4th of July…

…celebrate the freedom to be offended, lashing out with a perfect sense of security with the wall of anonymity on the Internet to be completely non-sensical, baseless in your opinions and thoughts, even bigoted towards people who merely wasted 5 minutes of your time for a sketch/a set of stand-up/etc. or sharing their thoughts on said sketch/stand-up/etc. or even several degrees more removed and in return you called them something worst than 90% of all slurs, mostly due to the fact that you’re adding all of them together, or wrote a completely unnecessary diatribe on why their wrong even though this is such a infinitesimal concern or one that’s best to be ignored to fade away, letting your most deep-seated beliefs out to the world in the worst looking way possible, despite them not having really anything to do with the non-issue that you’re on your digital and/or real soapbox yelling/tweeting/updating/posting/blogging/reddit-ing  about including this very gratuitous post about our freedom of expression…

…and you still be able to freely eat BBQ and watch fireworks this 4th of July because there are currently places in this world where you can say a restaurant’s food is too salty in an online review and get arrested and detained for libel. 

Lost Moon Radio Showed What Really Happened with Lewis and Clark

The hilarious comedy collective Lost Moon Radio has been uncovering what really happened on Lewis & Clark’s famed expedition across America, especially during their down time/quiet moments.  

Soundcloud Goes for Their 2nd Community Fellowship/Here’s an Opportunity for the Comedy Podcast You Wanted to Start

We don’t know what side of the “too many/not enough comedy podcasts” debate you stand on. Hopefully, you’re on the not enough if you want to know how we feel about it. Either way, if you are looking to start a podcast and have a great angle besides comedians talking to other comedians talking about comedy, Soundcloud is having their second round of Community Fellowship looking for projects seeking to “cause a visceral reaction in their listeners” whether it be “laugh, cry, or think” through the medium of sound. If picked, Soundcloud will then support it in making it a reality.

Knowing that there’s podcasts about Phish, dead authors, comedian former scientists, and more, you better be really unique and original. 

Required Online Comedy Reading List 7/5

Here’s a whole set of “long reads” that span the comedy spectrum of Kyle Kinane pointedly defending not proliferating bad comedy all the way to a review of the long-running series we’re all a part of called “America” by Megan Amram. You have time for this because you’re still off work for the 4th, right?

“Just to set the record straight” by Kyle Kinane for his blog
“Radiohead wouldn’t exist without early major-label funding. The future won’t bring new Radioheads. All I want to say here, truly, is: let’s get used to it.” by Mike Doughty for his blog (don’t worry, there’s very prominent nod to comedy in this)
“America: A Review” by Megan Amram for her blog 
“Justine Barron’s Slow-Tracked Life Part 4: the mastermind” by Justine Barron for Slacklust
“American, Home of the Free to Make Fun of Ourselves” by Jake Kroeger for The Nerdist

The Nerdist’s Course of The Force ‘Origin Story’

Before the massive charity event where slews of people will run from Santa Monica to San Diego, light sabers in hand for Comic Con, Course of the Force, you have to know how all of this is coming to pass in a detailed, somewhat anachronistic origin story. Chris Hardwick had to bring the first light saber down from Skywalker Ranch, which proved difficult with shady Ewoks, Boba Fett in a van, and a vengeful The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman. Also, Moshe Kasher appears as an employee of Skywalker Ranch named Tom.

Who in the world is having more fun than Chris Hardwick right now?