Recent News

IFC’s hit series Portlandia has its second season now available to buy on Blu Ray and DVD complete with both specials ‘Brunch Village’ and an ‘Introduction to Portlandia’. Get it now and you can show people why you aren’t crazy for putting birds on things.

It’s definitely a big milestone in comedy when someone will do an impression of you on their late night talk show, but also be embarrassed to do it and take notes just like Jimmy Fallon did last night with Jerry Seinfeld on Late Night.

Though there’s plenty of really funny ranting about how baseball has gone too soft, Bill Burr’s panel interview appearance on Conan last night, for us, was highlighted by his joke about how neither political party is right and who we should vote for.

Pretty much everything Tom Segura does is hysterical including one of the best sets we’ve seen on Conan. That should go to encourage you all the more to just pick up his new album that was just released White Girls With Cornrows and enjoy life with less worry.

Photo by Robyn Von Swank

Last week on Conan, Tig Notaro announced their her set at her latest show at Largo at the Coronet Theatre would be released through Louis CK’s website. CK tweeted about the set describing it as “masterful” and now the buzzed about set where she opened with announcing having cancer will be available as “Tig Notaro Live” (not LIVE the adjective for Tig’s amusement) for purchase on LouisCK.net on Oct. 5th.  

We have a feeling that this might be a landmark comedy album, so you might want to mark your calendars.

Recently, IFC announced that it’s canceling “the anti game show” show Bunk with Kurt Braunohler and won’t be bringing it back for another season. That is really unfortunate as we really enjoyed Braunohler’s hosting barefoot and the absurdist system of points and prizes like “your real parents”, but much of America apparently thought otherwise. 

However, not to fret, the Christopher Guest project at HBO, Family Tree, will now have the usual Guest suspects of Fred Willard, MJ McKean, and Ed Begley Jr.

So, there is balance in the television comedy universe, at least, for this week.

The delightful and sharp Jamie Lee finally made her stamp on the late night talk show world with her stand-up debut on Conan last night and she had us give up an applause break while watching this online this morning.

Give it a watch and some hardy laughs here.

Bad music, the wrong music, not knowing how to take off clothes, not wanting to take off clothes, crying, and more are staples of the first time you have sex. Jesse Case and Courtney Kocak’s web series Normal gives us a really reminder of funny that time was, especially since it happened awhile ago and not to us.

For the final episode of this season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld called upon one of his oldest friends and co-stars Michael Richards. No surprise that it’s the longest episode (17 min.) of the web series and one of the most wild ones, especially since there is a warning at the beginning that claims nothing is set up here. 

One of the most bizarrely funny things ever created, R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet, is keeping the adultery laden saga alive now at IFC this fall. We’re not sure whether Kelly means it to be funny or he’s just being sincere like Tommy Wiseau, but it’s engrossing and we can’t help but laugh.

Fun fact: Michael K. Williams/Omar from The Wire played a cop in one of the first chapters.

AST Records keeps going around the country finding great comedians, having them record albums, and releasing to the general public. This next round is from NYC’s Greg Barris & Chicago’s Adam Burke, two distinct, unique voices in comedy that the rest of the country should hear. 

Pre-order Barris’ “Shame Wave” and Burke’s “Universal Squirrel Theory” now and it will be released Oct. 9th & 2nd, respectively. 

Jon Dore and Rory Scovel as two rednecks, one of which is coming out as gay to the other.

The first outing of the Riot LA Comedy Festival came to a close this past Sunday and we’re so thrilled at what took place. One block, four venues, some of the funniest people on the planet performing essentially in their backyard, some of the funniest people on the planet coming to that backyard, and wonderful beer from Angel City-it was a riot with the only connotation of people lining up up and down the South end of Main St. between 2nd and 3rd in downtown LA ready to bust their guts laughing.

Here are some highlights (we couldn’t see everything, but we heard it was all really great) from this past weekend with some accompanying pictures taken by our on-the-ball staff.

–Jackie Kashian told some of the most wondrous and hilarious stories at both the special Riot LA edition of The Moth and KCRW’s Storytime for Grown Ups. Her tales of her family were some of the best, heartfelt moments for us during the festival that we urge you to see her live wherever and whenever possible.

-The hysterical Jon Dore, because there was a couch on stage at the Downtown Independent Theater, brought three audience members up and instead of going through a normal set, pitched jokes to them specifically while the audience of hundreds looked on and couldn’t help but laugh.

–IFC previewed that there were reviving R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet, as we reported earlier this morning, and gave a preview of Marc Maron’s upcoming series that we can’t for.

-One of our favorites, Jerrod Carmichael did what he did best: riff between his razor sharp jokes with a persona that would be a slow burn if he wasn’t so damn affable while simultaneously looking like he’s posing for an album cover.

–The Jordan, Jesse, Go podcast had a special live edition at the Five Star Bar and held the first ever Jordan Jesse Go Riot LA Comedy Festival Mispronunciation Contest.

–Marc Maron related his latest trip to going Hawaii as only Marc Maron can only go to Hawaii, neurotically knit-picking every detail about the trip including himself in a hilarious way at KCRW’s Storytime for Grown Ups.

-There were a non-stop flow of people stretching across, for all three days from Five Stars Bar to The Smell excited for Riot LA, making it feel like a legitimately like a festival though we’ve been on the block for comedy so many times before

-Sponsor Angel City Brewery provided a steady flow of free beer in “The Lot”, a wonderful bonus to the fact that you’re on the same block and don’t have to get in your car to get to another show. 

-LA’s top monthly show, The Super Serious Show, packed out The Smell so much that audience members spilled out into the hallway to have such a good time leading into the venue. For perspective, the picture above is the clearest one we could get of host/headliner James Adomian.

-Adomian then popped over to the LA premiere of the great Eddie Pepitone documentary, The Bitter Buddha, to heckle as Pepitone’s brother, Freddie Pepitone.

-Denver and NYC represented with some of their best local shows The Grawlix and Kabin/CSL.

–Bil Dwyer’s comedian game show Stardumb was a whole load of chaotic fun with Bil almost being unable to start the show with Karen Kilgariff, Jon Dore, Maria Bamford, Jimmy Dore, and more riffing so much and ended with a cry-off between Dore and Bamford.

-The Riot LA live edition of You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes wasn’t as awkward as the infamous Outside Lands episode, but still incredibly fun and weird with Pete’s mirth filled laugh acting as a whole other guest on the show.

-Also, that episode will feature James Adomian doing an impression of him, which might be hard for listeners to distinguish cause Adomian is that good and Harris Wittels reading Pete his own Humblebrag. 

–Eric Dadourian here with Megan Koester on the snare drum and a guitarist (not pictured) brought even more of a laugh riot, so to speak, to The Lot with spoken word/rap/hardcore comedy.*

–Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction, a wonderful show down from Seattle thanks to Bryan Cook, took a turn for the hysterically absurd as wild and steamy stories sourced Cesar Millan: The Dog Whisperer, WTF! w/Marc Maron, Good Times, Elijah Wood, and more.

-Riot LA had so much comedy bursting out of that block in downtown LA that there was even an impromptu show out on the sidewalk between Todd Glass, Eddie Pepitone, and James Adomian.

*NOTE: Eric Dadourian is pictured with Megan Koester as part of the band known as Phantom Bangs and the guitarist not pictured is Allen Strickland Williams. Also, Phantom Bangs would like to note that they are “not now nor have they ever been ½ SPOKEN WORD”

Next weekend, music purveyor Filter Magazine is putting on their big music and arts festival, Culture Collide, in Echo Park and will now feature comedy in partnering with The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre here in LA. Oct. 5th and Oct. 6th Matt Braunger, Howard Kremer, Matt Besser, Dominic Dierkes, Natasha Leggero, Nick Thune, Lauren Lapkus, The Birthday Boys, and more.

All you need is a festival wristband, which is $20 the whole festival which sounds like a good deal for just the comedy, then there’s dozens of amazing bands. 

That’s right folks, Stephen Colbert has got another book coming out “America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t” . It’s available for pre-order right now so round out your Colbert Book collection of his children’s book and first release, I Am America (and So Can You), which this seems like a sequel to. 

We’re not sure if these three books would be released as a box set, but when America Again ships Oct. 2nd, we’re sure you can make your star and striped cover box that would fit all three even though they’re all different sizes not to mention the lack of 3-D glasses with the other books.