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A Documentary Tribute For Patrice O’Neal Now on YouTube

December 27, 2012
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A Documentary Tribute For Patrice O’Neal Now on YouTube

For those of you that can’t get enough of the groundbreaking Patrice O’Neal, especially since albums of his have been posthumously released to critical acclaim, there was a documentary that was made awhile ago that’s now available to watch on YouTube. Click the link to read more and watch.

Wes Anderson Using Much of ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ Cast for His Next Project ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’

December 27, 2012
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Wes Anderson Using Much of ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ Cast for His Next Project ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’

It’s not a surprise that Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson will be in Wes Anderson next film. However, it is both surprise and great to hear that more of the cast from ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ will also be part of the ’Grand Budapest Hotel’ cast including Edward Norton.

Look for more Wes Anderson jokes from comedians who secretly (or openly) enjoy Wes Anderson come, hopefully, sometime next year. 

Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake Gives a Glimpse of What a Kid President Would Be Like

December 27, 2012
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Rainn Wilson’s Soulpancake has really started churning out some cool stuff over at their YouTube channel, namely a web series called Kid President. Whatever your stance on issues, you have to admit that the stance of a little more dancing and better grammar definitely would help.

Watch and be delighted now.

LA Weekly’s “12 Comedy Acts To Watch in 2013” Is On Our Good List of Lists

December 27, 2012
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LA Weekly’s “12 Comedy Acts To Watch in 2013” Is On Our Good List of Lists

There is a lot of great talent in this list that we’ve had the privilege of watching perform here in LA that hopefully you will get a chance to see more of next year. Namely, Hampton Yount, Dead Kevin, Byron Bowers, Cameron Esposito (our contribution to this list), Beth Stelling, and more make this list by the wonderful Julie Seabough that we’re fully in support of.

Please bookmark this list for what comedy you should look for in 2013.

LA Comedy Rundown 12/28/12

December 28, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, los angeles, open mics

ON THE HORIZON
Big Money: A Year End Stand-Up Comedy Bonanza @ UCB Theatre Sat. Dec. 29th MIDNIGHT $5 
New Year’s Eve with Rob Delaney @ Hollywood Improv Mon. Dec. 31st 10PM $35-$70 

COMEDY CRAWL
Cristela Alonzo @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $18/2 item min. 
Peachy Keen @ Bar Lubitsch 8PM FREE 
The End of the World Show @ Lyric Hyperion Theatre & Cafe 10PM FREE 
Set List @ Westside Comedy Theater 11PM FREE 
Guy Branum Presents: Talk Show: The Game Show/Guy’s Going Away Party @ Hollywood Improv MIDNIGHT $5/1 drink min. 

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
ROCKPAPER COFFEE CO 7509 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 6:30PM/5 min./One item min.
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM-ish/5 min./First come, first served/No purchase necessary
SILVERLAKE LOUNGE 2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (Silverlake)/Sign-up (lottery) 6PM/Starts 6:30PM/4 min./no purchase necessary
MAX BLOOM’S 200 N. Malden Ave., Fullerton, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 6:30PM/booked show after/no purchase necessary
SABOR Y CULTURA 5625 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 8PM/Sign-up is a lottery/5 min. with 3 min. work-in’s/No purchase necessary
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 10PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/lottery        

Podcasting to Possibly Get Easier with BOSScaster

December 28, 2012
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Podcasting to Possibly Get Easier with BOSScaster

Winner of a the Angelfest Hackathon, an intensive software development competition, BOSScaster is set to make podcasting easier by streamlining the process of hosting and uploading. It’s still in it’s Beta version, which you can get access to, but we do like to see the words “free” next to “no file limit”.

A Note on Comedy for 2013 From Mike Lawrence

December 28, 2012
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A Note on Comedy for 2013 From Mike Lawrence

Mike Lawrence is hilarious, if you don’t know or didn’t catch him on Conan earlier this year. At the link, Mike has a simple, but great missive for all comedy types going into 2013 that we should read, share, and hopefully follow.

The Akumal Comedy Festival Comes Back to Mexico For a 2nd Time

December 28, 2012
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Stand Up! Records is bringing comedy in English yet again to Mexico next year. This time they have Glenn Wool, Alysia Wood, Brendon Burns, and more in tow. We’ll keep you posted for more details as they come along.

So, We’re Doing Our ‘100 Best Things In Comedy’ List Again

December 28, 2012
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After much deliberation over how many man hours, lists we would have to cross reference, funny videos and podcasts we’d have to watch/listen to again, moments we’d have to meditate and remember, we here at The Comedy Bureau have decided to do our 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To In No Particular Order for 2012. 

If you have no idea what were talking about, check out our list from last year, then check again on Jan. 1st, 2013 (because we make a true year end list and, all kidding aside, it takes a lot of time to compile).

LA Comedy Rundown 12/29/12

December 29, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, los angeles, open mics

ON THE HORIZON
Neil Hamburger with Special Guests @ Satellite LA Sun. Dec. 30th 8PM $8 
SuperEgo Live @ UCB Theatre Fri. Jan. 4th 8PM $10 

COMEDY CRAWL
It Happened One Night/Holiday @ Aero Theatre 7:30PM $11 
Andy Kindler & Friends @ Hollywood Improv 8PM/10PM $20/2 item min. 
OBV: A Variety Show @ Westside Comedy Theater 8PM $10 
ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 8PM $10 (stand by only) 
The Armando Show @ iO West 9PM $10 
BIG MONEY: A Year End Stand-Up Comedy Bonanza @ UCB Theatre MIDNIGHT $5 

OPEN MIC RUN
DANGERFIELD’S 3 2524 1/2 James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM/Lottery/3-5min./$2 cover
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM-ish/5 min./First come, first served/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    

Brody Stevens Now Has Merch Available Online

December 29, 2012
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Brody Stevens Now Has Merch Available Online

Twitter machine/warm-up legend Brody Stevens has finally got some brand merchandise online that you might want to pick up if you got some nice money filled Christmas cards.

Don’t you want at t-shirt that says “Enjoy It!” or “Positive Energy”? 

Cameron Esposito and AST Records Set to Start Live Show Podcast

December 29, 2012
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The upcoming arrival of Put Your Hands Together at the UCB Theatre in LA, a new weekly live show from the efforts of the wonderful and funny Cameron Esposito, as we’re sure you’ve read in LA Weekly recently, and A Special Thing Records is great news for more than a couple reasons. 

1) If you’ve been missing stand-up at the UCB at 8PM (i.e. Comedy Bang Bang/Comedy Death Ray), then this will fill in that emptiness.

2) Cameron Esposito will be hosting every week and that in of itself will be a highlight/reason you should go.

3) It will be released as a regular podcast, which shouldn’t detract you from going because you could listen to it later, but rather, go because you could be witness to something special like at a live TV taping.

4) We’ve seen the line-ups for the first four weeks and let’s just say they are all very Comedy Bureau approved.

LA Comedy Rundown 12/30/12

December 30, 2012
Uncategorized
comedy shows, los angeles, open mics

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ON THE HORIZON
Duck Soup/Monkey Business @ Aero Theatre Tues. Jan. 1st 5PM $11
The Super Serious Show w/Jimmy Pardo @ Club Fais-Do-Do
Thurs. Jan. 17th 8PM $10 in adv., $15 at door 

COMEDY CRAWL
LBC Playhouse Searches for the Greatest Storyteller w/special guests Wayne Federman & Paul Williams @ Long Beach Playhouse 7PM $10 
Trouble in Paradise/Cluny @ Aero Theatre 7:30PM $11
ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 7:30PM FREE 
Twas’ the Night with Pete Holmes & Marc Maron @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $14/2 item min. 
Neil Hamburger & Special Guests @ Satellite LA 8:30PM $8 
Small and Tall Tales @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 
Shitty Jobs @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5 (stand by only) 

OPEN MIC RUN
ROCKPAPER COFFEE CO 7509 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 5PM/Ends 7PM/5 min./First come, first served/1 item min.
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/mixed mic
LIQUID ZOO 7214 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/First come, first served/7 min./One drink min.
FLAPPERS CLAREMONT 532 W. 1st St., Claremont, CA/Starts 9PM/First come, first served/No purchase necessary    

Dan Harmon’s Live Show/Podcast Harmontown Being Made Into a Documentary

December 30, 2012
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Dan Harmon’s Live Show/Podcast Harmontown Being Made Into a Documentary

Ever since Dan Harmon was relieved from the position of showrunner for Community on NBC, he has been on a creative tear with developing shows, movies, and doing his live show/podcast Harmontown, which is literally an hour of whatever wants to do.

Harmontown is currently on tour across America, which will be made into a documentary, hopefully educating more of the general public on the state of comedy today and what a podcast is. Whether going for a session of Harmontown in LA or across the country or just the finished documentary, you should definitely go see one or all of them for how simultaneously silly and thought provoking Harmon can be.

…and yes, tickets for the tour are still on sale. 

A Preview of Eric Andre’s Anything-But-Your-Typical New Year’s Eve TV Special

December 30, 2012
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This won’t be your father’s New Year’s Eve TV special. In fact, it won’t be your mother’s, sister’s, cousin’s, uncle’s, grandpa & grandma’s New Year’s Eve TV special either (unless they’re into Adult Swim or Eric Andre).

Eric Andre’s New Year’s Eve Spooktacular seems like it’s going to mash-up Christmas, Halloween, and whatever else Eric Andre is feeling like mashing up according to this clip of a vagrant zombie Santa Claus.

It’s on tomorrow, 11:30PM on Adult Swim.

LA Comedy Rundown 12/31/12

December 31, 2012
Uncategorized

ON THE HORIZON
Dead Authors @ UCB Theatre Fri. Jan. 4th 6:30PM $5
50 First Jokes LA @ Downtown Independent Theater
Sun. Jan. 6th 7PM $10 in adv., $12 at door 
Bill Burr @ Flappers Burbank Thurs. Jan. 10th 8PM/10PM $25/2 item min. 
Dave Attell @ Comedy & Magic Club Sat. Jan. 12th 6:45PM/9:30PM $27.50/2 item min. 

COMEDY CRAWL
The Not So Inappropriate Show @ UCB Theatre 4PM $12 (stand by only) 
New Year’s Eve Spectacular @ Groundlings 9PM $100
New Year’s Eve with Rob Delaney @ Hollywood Improv 10PM $35-$70 

OPEN MIC RUN
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM-ish/5 min./First come, first served/No purchase necessary 

Happy New Year’s Wishes From Paul F. Tompkins

December 31, 2012
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Happy New Year’s Wishes From Paul F. Tompkins

Paul F. Tompkins wrote a nice little note to tie 2012 off on his blog promising that we’ll see more of The Paul F. Tompkins Show at Largo online in the coming year.

Also, there’s a video attached where he sings an amazing cover that could be the closer at any New Year’s Eve show/party you’ll be attending tonight.

Top 5 On Camera Comedy Interviews That Weren’t So Much Interviews

December 31, 2012
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Top 5 On Camera Comedy Interviews That Weren’t So Much Interviews

As a contributor to The Nerdist, we were asked for a Top 5 something for 2012. We decided to something incredibly specific, bordering on esoteric, but had enough choices to pick from so it wasn’t. That’s how we came up with “On Camera Comedy Interviews That Weren’t So Much Interviews” like Maurice Sendak and Stephen Colbert or Shelby Fero and Mike Birbiglia & Ira Glass. It’s just past the middle of the page amongst all the other Nerdist contributors picks that you should give a look to as well.

Required Online Comedy Reading List 12/31

December 31, 2012
Uncategorized

First, we should mention this isn’t a year end list. Our really big year end list will be coming sometime tomorrow when, that’s right, 2012 is actually over. However, that shouldn’t stop you from sipping some champagne early and reading all these fantastic articles, interviews, blog posts, lists, features, etc. about, for, or on comedy from the likes of David Rees, Chris Gethard, Jason Woliner, Conan O’Brien, John Roy, Sara Schaefer, and more.

Enjoy and happy next week, everyone.

“Place Your Bits” by Matt Champagne
“Best of 2012” by David Rees 
“Jack & Diane” for Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction by Jim Hamilton
The Je Shirt Saga: A Letter From Our CEO & Company Update by Jason Woliner 
Paul Gilmartin on the finances of getting basic-cable big, losing it all, and what happened next for The AV Club by Nathan Rabin
“The Art of the Interview: Dick Cavett on How to Elevate a Q&A” for Fast Co.Create by Joe Berkowitz
L.A.’s ‘Comedy Church’ Tries to Make Religion Funny, Even in the Face of Financial Hardship for LA Weekly by Michael Ciriaco 
Why Johnny Carson ‘Never Ever Spoke to Me Again’ for The Hollywood Reporter by Joan Rivers 
“2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten: An Oral History of Freaks and Geeks” for Vanity Fair by Robert Lloyd 
“An Aural History of the Inception Horn” for Vulture by Margaret Lyons and Amanda Dobbins
“The United States of Comedy: 2035” for Vanity Fair by Conan O’Brien 
“On Sports and Comedy” by Adam Cayton-Holland 
“Inside the Greatest Writers’ Room You’ve Never Heard Of” for Splitsider by Nell Scovell 
“The 47 Stages of Grief” by Paul Isakson
“Lost in the Desert” by John Roy 
“Ten Sacred Cows Destroyed by Doug Stanhope” for IFC’s blog by Andy Hunsaker
“Run the Light with Scott Moran” for Stand Up Talk by Ari Mannis
Proust Questionnaire for Vanity Fair by Louis C.K.
“Things to Consider When Submitting to Write For a Late Night Show” by Sara Schaefer
“Jerry Seinfeld Intends to Die Standing Up” for NY Times by Jonah Weiner
Talking to Ted Alexandro About Stand Up and Why Comedy Shouldn’t Be a Competition for Splitsider by Phil Davidson 
“Top Ten Ways to Misspell Ingebretson in 2012” by Matt Ingebretson 
Mel Brooks on how to play Hitler, and how he almost died making Spaceballs for The AV Club by Steve Heisler 
How do I stop trying to be funny, and start being actually funny? by Chris Gethard 
“Friends First, Talk Show Hosts Later: Nikki Glaser & Sara Schaefer Get Ready for MTV” for NY Times by Megan Angelo
“That’s A Thing: How Eugene Mirman Cut His Own Path in Comedy” for Splitsider by Robert Schoon

This Better Be Funny Ep. 55 with Kyle Kinane

January 1, 2013
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This Better Be Funny Ep. 55 with Kyle Kinane

This week’s This Better Be Funny is with Kyle Kinane!

It’s New Year’s Eve and while there are plenty of overpriced options to welcome in 2013, there’s plenty of entertainment value to be had with this free podcast featuring a great chat between Jake and Jeremy and the one and only Kyle Kinane (Comedy Central, Conan). Not only did they discuss on Kyle’s disdain for unchecked city pride in food, specifically Geno’s in Philadelphia, but dug through Jeremy’s brick of business cards that he carries with him (i.e. a Costanza wallet minus the wallet and money).

LA Comedy Rundown 1/1/13

January 1, 2013
Uncategorized

ON THE HORIZON
The Midnight Show @ UCB Theatre Sat. Jan. 5th MIDNIGHT $5 
The Show Where TREVOR MOORE Does a Talk Show Thing & JOSH FADEM Does Some Other Stuff Too @ Steve Allen Theater Tues. Jan. 8th 8PM $10 
An Evening with Tim Robbins in Conversation with Marc Maron @ Aero Theatre 8PM $20 
Bobcat Goldthwait @ Brea Improv 8PM $20/2 item min. 

COMEDY CRAWL
Duck Soup/Monkey Business @ Aero Theatre 5PM $11
Patrick Keane @ Irvine Improv 8PM $17/2 item min. 

OPEN MIC RUN
FLAPPERS BURBANK 102 E. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, CA/Starts 5:30PM/Stand-up, sketch, improv welcome/5 min.
PALMS BAR 8572 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 6:15PM/Starts 6:30PM/Ends 7:55PM/First come, first served/One drink min./5-7 min.
DAVE’S BAR 708 Broadway, Glendale, CA/Starts 9PM/First come, first served/One drink min./8-10 min.
WESTSIDE COMEDY THEATER 1323-A 3rd St., Santa Monica, CA/Sign-up 9:45PM/Starts 10PM/lottery/3-5 min./$1 cover 

Kumail Nanjiani Visits Portland Tattoo & Piercing Shop While You Wait for Portlandia Premiere

January 1, 2013
Uncategorized

We only count 3 days (or 4 if you’re obsessive and counting today) until the season premiere of Portlandia on IFC, Fri, Jan. 4th 10PM. In the meantime, the behind-the-Portlandia web series where Kumail Nanjiani visits real life inspirations for the show continues as Kumail visits Black Hole Body Piercing & Tattoo and discusses Academy Award tattoos and genitalia piercings with a geriatric woman.

Hopefully, this will tide you over (click through picture above to watch).

See Concept Art For Next Three Disney Pixar Films, One of Which Will Be About Dinosaurs

January 1, 2013
Uncategorized

See Concept Art For Next Three Disney Pixar Films, One of Which Will Be About Dinosaurs

Pixar’s upcoming slate of films is set and, while we are always excited for what Pixar is coming out with, it’s especially intriguing that they’re next three films will be about going inside the mind, Dia De Los Muertos, and dinosaurs (called “The Good Dinosaur”). 

Hopefully, there will be a trailer for one of these sometime this year.

The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To in No Particular Order of 2012

January 2, 2013
Uncategorized

It’s January 1st, 2013, which means 2012 is officially over. That means that we can finally and assuredly post our 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To In No Particular Order in 2012 without worrying if we were going to miss a really great joke at some New Year’s Eve Party (full disclosure: we worked on New Year’s Eve instead of partying in order to get this list ready). There are some repeats because some people like Louis C.K. and Kyle Kinane are probably going to make our list for something every year, but plenty of new things that you might have overlooked here at The Comedy Bureau.

So, now enjoy our favorite comedians, albums, specials, sketches, podcasts, tweets, shows, festivals, moments, etc. from the past year.

1. Jon Dore and Rory Scovel make a tradition out of doing something amazing on Conan with their latest appearance/interruption.

2. Chris Gethard not only has one of the best shows being broadcasted despite its public access format, but he also got adopted by IFC, hitchhiked to Bonnaroo, and has kept an amazing Tumblr answering almost any question asked of him whether it be about comedy or feeling better about life in general.

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3. Sarah Beattie/@nachosarah was one of our favorite Twitter accounts this year with biting self-deprecating humor “I just dropped a steak on the floor and declared that it was ground beef why the fuck am I single”

4. Modern Comedian by Scott Moran is hands down one of the best looks into the process of comedy, especially since they’re looking into the comedic processes of Kurt Braunohler, Ben Kronberg, Todd Glass, Rory Scovel, and more.

5. Todd Glass had one of the most amazing episodes of WTF! w/Marc Maron by coming out as gay as well as making his podcast The Todd Glass Show one of the funnest experiences to listen to and also had one of our favorite moments of the year with handling a heckler by saying, “I believe in you. You’re better than this.”

6. We got to see Jim Jefferies do an hour of brilliant stand-up comedy, which, to our surprise, he opened up and made himself vulnerable when talking about relationships after saying cunt a bunch and doing anti-religion material. Basically, we can’t wait for Legit on FX this year.

7. This year, Louis C.K. makes this list for revolutionizing the business of comedy yet again by selling tickets tickets independently for his tour, hosted a very memorable episode of SNL, and earned his self-improsed hiatus from his critically acclaimed series Louie until 2014.

8. Sketch group Goatface (Aristotle Athiras, Hasan Minhaj, Asif Ali, and Fahim Anwar) shows what happens when a “man on the street” bit goes awry.

9. Andrés du Bouchet returns to our list for writing, in our opinion, the funniest sketch about drawing penises on foreheads ever.

10. Will Weldon got to be a Fresh Face at JFL Montreal this year as well as kill it on Twitter @oldmanweldon with both original material and RT people who tweet about taking meetings, not to mention being one hell of a stand-up.

11. Keith Apicary (Nathan Barnatt) is a dancing fiend no matter his retro sweater, hair, and glasses as shown in his audition for a Kimberly Cole music video.

12. In promotion of This Is 40, Albert Brooks showed us all how to be the perfect late night guest on Leno and Letterman.

13. Joe Pera’s submission video for The Andy Kaufman Award this year is deserving of an award for best submission video in quite sometime.

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14. Stephen Colbert had a banner 2012 with chatting with Maurice Sendak and creating “I Am Pole (and So Can You)” (that Tom Hanks did the audiobook version for) as well as his unbelievable Colbert Super PAC during the election.

15. James Adomian’s debut stand-up album “Low Hanging Fruit” is proof positive that he’s you should be trying to see live wherever he is playing. 

16. The long awaited hour comedy special, Whiskey Icarus, from Kyle Kinane was well worth the wait and it was our privilege to see Kinane work it all out.

17. The Bitter Buddha is not only a documentary about one of our favorite comedians, Eddie Pepitone, but a wonderful documentary of its own accord by director Steve Feinartz. It’s still making the rounds on the festival circuit, but will hopefully play in a theater near you soon.

18. While at JFL Montreal this year, one of the names we had never heard, but we were so glad to learn was Joe Machi. See why with his Fallon set.

19. David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook deserves all the accolades it’s getting for pulling off being a dark romantic comedy about both sports betting and mental illness.

20. Please give Bill Burr a travel show. Just a camcorder and him walking around taking shit about everything is hilarious. 

21. Amidst the thick field of podcasts, one of the new ones we were excited to see get started was Call Chelsea Peretti where Peretti basically deals with the Internet calling her.

22. Maria Bamford’s Special Special Special is not only a fine hour of a comedy special, but it’s also a great reassurance from Bamford that life is going to be alright no matter what happens (like accidentally killing your dog).

23. Comedy Central’s Mash-Up hosted by TJ Miller and created, directed, and produced by Jordan Vogt Roberts might have been several years in the making with its original iteration as The Blerds, but we’re glad the sketch/stand-up mix finally made it to televisions across the country in 2012.

24. Martin McDonagh’s 7 Psychopaths might be one of the most underrated comedies of 2012 with how brilliant all of it’s layers were and how fantastically dark the humor was, as is the style of McDonagh.

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25. Los Angeles finally got the live comedy festival that it could be proud of thanks to Abbey Londer in Riot LA. 

26. Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction, a previously Seattle based show, relocated here to LA along with its creator Bryan Cook, thankfully, as comedians doing fan fiction about the Geico gecko, Diners Drive-ins & Dives, and Occupy Wall St./Black people has proven to be hysterical.

27. Tig Notaro’s unplanned album “Live” that was an impromptu set about her cancer, pneumonia, mother dying, and break-up is absolutely amazing and deserving of it selling enough copies that it would have made the non-comedy Billboard charts.

28. Getting to see him perform several times to roaring laughter and applause (always at the end of a show because no one , be part of his taping of his album Standard Operating Procedure and even just casually chatting with Sean Patton has made for some our best times in comedy in 2012.

29. Jen Kirkman has a great book coming out this year “I Can Barely Take Care of Myself”, has brought a fresh comedic perspective in working on her material about her divorce, and started off a show the way we should always start off a show by singing a holiday song and hugging people in the audience.

30. It is tragic that Dan Harmon was ousted from his own show, Community, on NBC last year. Yet, that has made Harmon channel his creativity and spirit towards wonderful things like Harmontown, Anomalisa, and a project developing at Adult Swim and Fox.

31. The first ever LA Podcast Festival was a hit as several non-Californians who seemingly listen to every episode of every comedy podcast and we’ll be looking forward to the next one.

32. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained might be one of finest films, but certainly is one of his funniest (even with the violence and language that people seem to always complain about with Quentin). 

33. Rory Scovel had one hell of a 2012 in making this list again with his awesome Comedy Central half hour, appearances on Conan and Ferguson, a great car commercial, and having a show being developed around him at ABC.

34. Armando Iannucci’s political comedy genius is finally getting some appreciation with the HBO series Veep.

35. The legend of Patrice O’Neal and his comedy lived on in one spectacular album called, Mr. P.

36. Set List, The Improvised Stand-Up Show, finally got made into a TV show. While it’s only in the UK for now, we were at some of the tapings to see the likes of Maria Bamford, Paul F. Tompkins, Fred Willard, Hannibal Buress, and more pull off the feat of making up comedy in front of a TV audience.

37. Kurt Braunohler has been rewriting messages in greeting cards with something way funnier and better than what was originally written and placing them back. We hope that we’ll stumble on one at some Rite-Aid in LA this year. 

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38. Dave Hill compiled a great book in Tasteful Nudes, covered the Olympics in spectacular fashion for the BBC, and wrote some great erotic short stories on his Twitter. Just a typically awesome year for the awesome Dave Hill.

39. This sketch on Wits APM with John Moe featuring the voices of Rifftrax Live and Maria Bamford, and more,  written by Alison Agosti & Lauren McGuire was one of the funniest takes on Wizard of Oz we’ve ever seen.

40. Jerry Seinfeld’s web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee gave us all the inside look into what hanging out, as a comedian, with Brian Regan, Larry David, Michael Richards, and more is like, hopefully giving you an idea of the inner workings of really successful comedians.

41. Along with his fantastic memoir of his turbulent teenage years Kasher in the Rye, Moshe Kasher and his stand-up has gotten to a whole new level that’s enthralling, aggressive, and yet so eloquent. Please see him whenever and wherever you can.

42. Katie Crown tries to interview Nathan Fielder in a tree for Treeterviews. The only other thing we’ll say is just watch.

43. Jim Hamilton made our list again from going from his still really funny Twitter account, releasing his first stand-up album Poems About the Ocean, and being himself and great on Fallon. 

44. John Hodgman’s trilogy of Complete World Knowledge was completed and released as a box set, even though the world didn’t end like Hodgman had suggested.

45. Yassir Lester’s Twitter account @yassir_lester has been one of the funniest of 2012 almost, by Yassir’s own admission, trying to tweet things in order to lose followers.

46. Thing X, just launched this year gathering the left over writers from The Onion, had a great web series in having Xpert Matt Beacon (attempt to) explain how to do things while being clinically depressed.

47. Jim Gaffigan’s Mr. Universe is just out and out hilarious, but also densely filled with plenty of stuff to find for multiple listens/watches. Please get it or listen/watch again ASAP.

48. Guy Branum’s competitive talk show: Talk Show: The Game Show has been one of the most innovative and funny things we’ve seen all year. Talk show guests/comedians actually compete to have the best interview and can get points and/or yellow/red cards, so we got on board with it immediately. 

49. Cameron Esposito moved to LA this year and has quickly made her way as one of the most delightful people to watch in stage. You might have read our thoughts about her in The LA Weekly recently.

50. Though it was a fake promotion that Bill Murray was going on a party tour, he literally has been doing just that around the country including his appearance on Letterman last month.

51. TJ Miller’s Gorburger, RVC, Cashing In with TJ Miller with Cash Levy, his riffing on the stage lights and an off comment from a Marriott employee about Marriott Hotels into comedic magnificence, as well as hosting Mash Up only make us ponder what TJ will pull off in 2013.  

imagephoto by Rebecca Adler Rotenberg

52. The Nerdist YouTube Channel has made for some well produced, really funny online programming showing that the separation between great TV and the Internet isn’t that big.

53. Jason Woliner, the man behind the camera, for Human Giant and Eagleheart spent a good deal of his fortunes on making novelty t-shirts and cataloged what happened on a blog.

54. The Sessions is a beautiful, heartwarming, and emotionally gratifying movie about a poet in an iron lung trying to have sex. Definitely underrated for how little has been written about it this year. 

55. Thanks to Grant Lyon, Andy Peters, Matt Knudsen, and Jarrod Harris for a probably accurate reenactment of why John Hancock signature is so big on the Declaration of Independence. 

56. Eugene Mirman should give more commencement speeches as evidenced by this one at his alma mater this year.

57. Jon Daly absurdly merged the identities of himself and famous golfer John Daly to the point where ESPN took notice.

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58. It was only a matter of time before Dana Gould figured out on his own way to do a podcast and make the wondrous Dana Gould Hour. That and impersonating Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius as Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain were great enough and yet Gould gave way more great comedy in 2012.

59. More undeniable feel good-ery/hilarity came from Reggie Watts: A Live At Central Park. 

60. Independent podcast collective Feral Audio started this year by the efforts of Dustin Marshall with shows from the likes of Chelsea Peretti, Duncan Trussell, Brody Stevens, Esther Povitsky, Sean Conroy, and more really funny people that should have a podcast.

61. Kevin Avery’s short film Thugs the Musical toured the film festival circuit to plenty of deserving accolades for being a mockumentary about black actors learning to be more black to get black roles.

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62. John Mulaney’s 1-hr Comedy Central Special “New in Town” was such a delight that it could have been 2 hours and we would barely notice.

63. Bobcat Goldthwait not only made another great film, God Bless America, in his ever burgeoning film career, but has made quite a few live appearances that have reshaped our perceptions of his live act (i.e. he dropped the voice and has been telling some really hilarious stories)

64. As The Grawlix (Adam Cayton Holland, Ben Roy, and Andrew Orvedahl) and individually, it’s been great to see them touring at festivals (JFL Montreal, Riot LA, Bridgetown) and get a deal with Amazon Studios.

65. Hannibal Buress’ latest hour of stand-up, Animal Furnace, shows a Hannibal Buress with a little fire in him, which is a Hannibal that’s as funny as ever 

66. Sketch group Dead Kevin (Ahmed Bharoocha, Ryan O’Flanagan, Jack Roubichaud) has managed to reinvent the dynamic of three twentysomething guy roommates into something we looked forward to every Monday when there’s a new episode.

67. It’s rare that we get to see veteran writer, director, comedian Joe Wagner do stand-up, but whenever we do, it’s magical. Ex: getting an applause break from having an “intimate moment” with a female audience member by simply maintaining eye contact and trying to not touch hands.

68. David Wain’s Wanderlust is yet another underrated comedy featuring many members of The State in 2012 that you should pay no mind to its rating on IMDB.

69. Both Andy Sanford and Jimmy Fallon with the aide of Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, and more put a modern spin on the classic Abbott & Costello bit “Who’s on First?”

70. Byron Bowers had one of our favorite jokes in 2012, that should be even greater as as we only saw it in its formative stages. It starts out, “I like slavery,” and ends in an applause break and isn’t completely about the shock value of a slavery joke. Watch for the polished version this year.

71. The storytelling of Dave Ross has been exceptional in 2012, running one of our favorite storytelling shows, Two Headed Beast, as well as notching in two wins at The Moth.

72. Arrested Development was officially put in production for a whole season at Netflix. 

73. Oh Shit!, a Channel 101 series from Mike McCafferty and Mike Manasewitsch, broke nearly any and every rule of linear storytelling that we could think of and we couldn’t be more thankful for how funny it was.  

74. In seeing fantastic Irish comedian Dylan Moran do over an hour at Largo, he took a break in the middle to eat wine and chocolate on stage while grumbling that Americans don’t do intermissions at their stand-up shows. It was hilarious as was the other 80 or so minutes of fast paced, hard hitting material.

75. Eric Andre pitted himself in a battle against the talk show in 2012. Whether it be on The Eric Andre Show or doing something unplanned on Fallon, Conan, or Attack of The Show, Eric threw talk show conventions out the door for some of the biggest laughs we’ve had in 2012.

76. Front Page Films’ parodying of Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman with Pete Holmes, Matt McCarthy, and Oren Brimer almost makes want there to be more Nolan Batman movies.

77. Jake Weisman, for our money, made one of the best election jokes in starting the Romney Ryan 1840 meme.

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78. Underbelly, a Cincinnati & NYC based show where stand-up comedians do anything but stand-up comedy, had a wonderful LA debut thanks to Ryan Singer and Chris Garcia. Watch for the next one at Echoes Under Sunset sometime this year. 

79. A time travel romantic comedy with Mark Duplass and Aubrey Plaza sounds great on paper. Turns out that Safety Not Guaranteed made very good on what that paper said.

80. Paul F. Tompkins’ hour special of stories about bad jobs he has had, Laboring Under Delusions, was plenty to make the list again for this year, but Paul F. Tompkins: The Video Game w/Jon Dore cemented his spot for sure.

81. Burning Love was beyond a pitch perfect parody of The Bachelor with Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, and more. There’s a season 2 that is set to appropriately be a parody of The Bachelorette we’re highly anticipating.

82. Mike Birbiglia’s film adaptation of Sleepwalk With Me in of itself is a terrific film all around. But, it should be noted that all the promotions of it with Joss Whedon calling for its downfall and Shelby Fero doing a role playing interview were also really damn funny.

83. Myq Kaplan has continued to be a perfect wordsmith, keeping it tight on his late night appearances on Letterman, Conan, and Ferguson.

84. Gungan Style from Funny or Die’s Nick Wiger perfectly, succinctly, and darkly summarizes our thoughts about Internet trends and their accompanying coattail chasers.

85. Seattle’s own Barbara Holm charmed us with her humor when she won a round of Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction with a decidedly cute, albeit still erotic, Spider Man story where she ends up living happily ever after and defending being quirky like every comedian defends being an actual nerd.

86. British comedian Simon Amstell’s new show he’s touring with, Numb, is comedy of a higher order. It makes you double over in laughter, feel good about yourself, but, most importantly enlightens you in a way that isn’t confounding.

87. We’re not going to say whether Key & Peele on Comedy Central hit its stride or not in its second season, but there were so many really funny sketches like this one or this one or this one or this one.

88. Thanks to Josh Fadem, we got to see Ron Lynch, Hannibal Buress, Wendy Liebman, Sean Patton, Brent Weinbach and The Whitest Kids U Know perform live for free with free cupcakes at Cinefile Video, that’s right a video rental store, in West LA. 

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89. Brian Regan grossed over $1,000,000 in less than 10 shows in Salt Lake City, UT. We’re glad to see people still see live comedy in droves.

90. In response to having to pay airfare and hotel and not getting paid at SXSW as a comedian, Duncan Trussell redid the subtitles a scene from the film ‘Downfall’ so Hitler is responding to this predicament.

91. Conan O’Brien’s remote segments (reviewing video games, Triumph letting loose at Weiner’s Circle, visiting a costume shop with a mask of his face) have really been proof that he needed the breathing room of cable to still be the Conan we knew from Late Night and be on at 11PM. 

92. Though Nick Turner moved back to NYC and we miss getting to see him perform regularly, he had some of the funniest sets we saw all year like this one where he locked himself out of his car as well as a great web series in King Temp. 

93. Joe DeRosa made quite an impression with us this year with his truthful, incredibly personal stand-up as shown in this episode of Modern Comedian and his Official Comedy web series We Should Break Up.

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via The Comic’s Comic

94. Andy Kindler’s State of the Industry Address is always a highlight at JFL Montreal, but was especially so as James Adomian opened as Andy Kindler, then Kindler closed with a 5 minute rant as a robot about Louis C.K.

95. Last year, Jackie Kashian made the list because of her podcast The Dork Forest, but this year we’re giving her a slot because of her sensational stand-up, especially the material dealing with the passing of family. Go see her when you can (she tours quite a bit).

96. Brent Weinbach’s Mostly Live off AST Records is what you have all been waiting for even if you didn’t know it or know who Brent Weinbach is; absurdist comedy at its finest

97. Brody Stevens is well on his way for his comeback from a Twitter meltdown with one hell of a set on Conan.

98. Tim Heidecker absolutely nailed an impression of a bad stand up whenever we saw him live this year to the point where it’s hilarious and, hopefully, people trying comedy won’t try to copy it.

99. Gallery 1988 had a slew of wonderful art tributes to comedy this year-Adult Swim, Arrested Development, Judd Apatow, and more.

100. Garfunkel & Oates really upped their comedy this year with just these two songs: The College Try and 29/31.

LA Comedy Rundown 1/2/13

January 2, 2013
Uncategorized
comedy shows, los angeles, open mics

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ON THE HORIZON
Put Your Hands Together with Cameron Esposito @ UCB Theatre Tues. Jan. 8th 8PM $5 
Marc Maron @ Ice House Sun. Jan. 13th 7PM $22.50/2 item min. 

COMEDY CRAWL
The Not So Inappropriate Show @ UCB Theatre 4PM $12 (stand by only) 
A Kiss From Daddy/Birthday Boys @ UCB Theatre 8PM $5 
Meltdown @ Nerdmelt Showroom 8:30PM $8 
The Parlor Comedy Show @ Echoes Under Sunset 9PM FREE 

OPEN MIC RUN
DANGERFIELD’S 3 2524 1/2 James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM/Lottery/3-5min./$2 cover
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM/Ends 8PM/5 min./First come, first served/No purchase necessary
FLAPPERS BURBANK 102 E. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, CA/Starts 6PM/3 min./No purchase necessary
ROCKPAPER COFFEE CO. 7509 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 6:30PM/lottery/One item min.
REDWOOD BAR & GRILL 316 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA (Downtown)/Starts 6:30PM/No purchase necessary
DAVE’S CHILLIN’ AND GRILLIN’ 2152 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM/First come, first served/Women sign-up only/No purchase necessary
THE MOTH @ ZANZIBAR 1301 5th St., Santa Monica, CA/Doors open 7PM/Starts 7:30PM sharp/Storytelling only/must be on theme of “outgrown”/5 min./10 spots only/$8 cover
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM/mixed mic
LIQUID ZOO 7214 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/7 min.
FLAPPERS BAR 102 E. Magnolia Ave., Burbank, CA/Sign-up 11PM/Starts MIDNIGHT/First come, first served   

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