One of the hands-down, best sketch groups in town, The Midnight Show, for several years now, will be celebrating their 9th Anniversary this Saturday, August 5th at UCB Franklin at, of course, Midnight.
Get tickets for $5 as soon as you can before they sell out.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
One of our all time favorite sketch groups, The Midnight Show, returns this Saturday at midnight for their long standing monthly residency at UCB Franklin.
Their very dark and very fast style just always hits the right nerve with us.
Tickets are $5 and still available, so get them right now, right here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Get more details and tickets here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows/events as well as open mics and maps are embedded at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Tickets are $5 and you can (and should) get them here.
The rest of our listings from comedy shows/events as well as open mics and maps are embedded at www.thecomedybureau.com.
Don’t miss out on this.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows/events as well as open mics and maps are embedded at www.thecomedybureau.com.
One of the best and longest running sketch shows at UCB here in LA is The Midnight Show. We just love how consistently dark and fast paced all of their sketches are and any of show of theirs is always worth catching.
Speaking of which, their May 2016 edition, May 7th, this Saturday at midnight, will have Chris Fairbanks hosting at UCB Franklin.
Get your tickets for $5 here.
The Midnight Show is written/performed by:
Heather Anne Campbell (FOX ADHD, Adult Swim, SNL)
Joe Chandler (American Dad, Napoleon Dynamite)
Stephen Hale (One Too Many Mornings, Californication)
Jeff Kauffmann (Welcome to The Jungle, American Dad)
Eric Moneypenny (FOX ADHD, Adult Swim)
Curtis Rainsberry (Key & Peele, Tosh.0, Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Hal Rudnick (Screenjunkies, Community)
Jeff Sloniker (Silicon Valley, Parks & Rec, TripTank)
Nic Wegener (American Dad, Napoleon Dynamite)
Executive Produced by The Midnight Show, LLC
Directed by Joe Wagner
Executive Assistant for Production/Announcer: Frank Howley
The rest of our listings for comedy shows/events and open mics along with corresponding maps are embedded at www.thecomedybureau.com.
The short of the long of it is that not that “we’re” vastly understaffed.
On Oct. 25th, 2014, The Comedy Bureau turned 4 years old. Most of you don’t know that because “we” really didn’t say anything. So, almost half a year later, “we’re” making up for that by throwing a belated anniversary show.
So, on Fri. Apr. 3rd, The Comedy Bureau we’ll be approximately 4 and 5/12th years old and we’ll be celebrating that exact time in our history at one of our favorite venues, Echoes Under Sunset.
With special guests:
Maria Bamford
Baron Vaughn
Joe Wagner
James Austin Johnson
Candice Thompson
Drennon Davis
Presented by Jake Kroeger and Brad Silnutzer
Doors 10PM
Starts 10:30PM
Echoes Under Sunset
1310 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Donations graciously accepted
The Comedy Bureau “Tips Its Hat” this week to JOE WAGNER:
“@joeywags Twitter is like sending messages in a bottle. In a public pool.”
If you’ve ingratiated yourself into the Los Angeles comedy scene to any degree, chances are that you’ve seen Joe Wagner much like he’s depicted above, passing through, seemingly coming and going everywhere. This phenomenon has much to do with the fact that Joe has made himself an integral part of LA comedy through writing, producing, directing and performing sketch and stand-up for almost 20 years (working with the likes of Comedy Central, MTV, Spike, and E!).
Thus, you can catch Joe in Zach Galifianakis’ “Live at the Purple Onion” as well as spouting brilliance from off the top of his head (upon which there is a torn red ladies’ sun hat) on the second floor of strip mall in a theatre that can seat about 30 people maximum on a late Tuesday night. Both experiences are equally worthy of your attention as Joe is both incredibly aware and committed to such a degree that has kept me in awe-struck surprise whilst laughing at every turn.
Even when he is making fun of my little sister, which I asked him not to do, I laughed until it hurt.
Currently, Joe Wagner directs the fantastic monthly sketch show at the UCB LA Theatre “The Midnight Show” as well as the brilliant sketch group, The Birds of Prey (2010 Punchlist Best Sketch Group), and performs stand up when he feels like gracing us with his comedic prowess. If you’re not following him on Twitter (@joeywags) or Facebook, fix that as soon as you reach the end of this sentence.
1) The Midnight Show @ UCB Theatre is actually the first pure sketch show to be reviewed here at the Comedy Bureau and I’d be hard pressed to find a better one to start off with. Interestingly enough, as the consistently hilarious host Brody Stevens left the stage after warming up the packed-to-standing-room-only UCB Theatre, I realized that I had not seen a sketch-only comedy show in quite some time, which, after last night’s Midnight Show, is something I am hoping to correct if it all possible. The collection of furiously swift sketches had this great absurdity about them that, as the show progressed, made me drawn in even further as an audience member to where exactly they were headed. One of my favorite sketches of the night that illustrates this perfectly was a fake TV spot for a futon store where sensational Hal Rudnick started off yelling why you would need to buy futon with a voiceover saying, “Futon!” at the end of each sentence, but quickly devolved into Hal making increasingly disturbing suggestions of not going “missionary” on a “Futon!” as that will break her pelvic bone “Futon!” With a fantastic cast of Nic Wegener, Hal Rudnick, James Pumphrey, Stephanie Allynne, Jeff Sloniker, Curtis Rainsberry, and Cale Hartmann, the Midnight Show startles and jolts in the best way possible on a very late Saturday night/early Sunday morning with sketches and video clips with the deft producing of Michael Busch and Megan Reeves and the superb, discerning direction of Joe Wagner. The Midnight Show is on the first Saturday of every month at the UCB Theatre (5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, CA) at Midnight and only costs $5.
2) If you’re not watching Tangled this weekend, you should go on tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL. However, if you are watching Tangled this weekend, you DEFINITELY need to go on tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL. Start off with Eban Schletter’s Cosmic Christmas @ Glendale Planetarium 5PM/7PM $10/$5 for under 12, then Jeff Garlin’s Combo Platter @ UCB Theatre 6PM $2, then ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 7:30PM FREE, then French Toast: MC Mr. Napkins CD Release Party @ Taix 8:30PM FREE, then The Thrilling Adventure Hour @ Largo 8:30PM $25, then Top Story Weekly @ iO West 9PM $5, and be glad that you didn’t support 3D.
3) OPEN MIC RUN: HAHA CAFE 5010 N. Lankershim Blvd., N. Hollywood, CA/Sign-up 5PM/Starts 6PM, PALMS 8572 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM, SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM, 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
4) STOP BEING A F’N SHUT IN AND GO SEE AMAZING WORLD OF ITS OWN THAT LA IS!!!! OK, if that didn’t work, you can watch Comedy Central’s Hot List at 10PM on Comedy Central featuring their top breakout comedians of this year which includes plenty of good folks featured regularly at the Comedy Bureau including Kyle Kinane, Reggie Watts, and Chelsea Peretti, that is, if you still insist on being a shut-in.
5) How about that? Merrill Davis in LA Weekly. That’s MERRILL DAVIS in LA WEEKLY! (Look, I typed it out twice so click the link and read it, OK?)
6) The Comedy Bureau “Tips Its Hat” today to RYAN STOUT-“@stoutryan I’ve been sexually harassing this woman and I’m worried because I don’t think she knows about it. #LayingItOnThin #TooSubtle” Forget about his Comedy Central Presents special, his frequent appearances on Chelsea Lately, and other spots on TV, Ryan is one of the sharpest writers I know throughout all of LA and just “crushes” audiences wherever he goes (got an applause break at my open mic) all in a very dapper suit. Here’s his website and please follow him on Twitter here.
7) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Henny Youngman heckles Milton Berle 1966
8) “Reason #3,212 to DONATE the Comedy Bureau: (imagine you being hypnotized) Because you wanted to.” Just tweeted this right here.
9) People wonder why I’m so positive and upbeat in this blog for the majority of it. To those people, I say, “You should see my act sometime.”
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1) Meltdown @ Meltdown Comics IS simply what people should expect out of a good comedy show. Packed house and a great line-up (free beer also helps). Unfortunately, a large segment of the population, not only in LA, but around the whole country have a different idea of what a live comedy show actually is. Hilarious comedienne Chelsea Peretti pointed it out so poignantly during the evening when she mentioned how she would rather be a fat guy and THEN the audience would understand that “comedy was happening” and shout, “WE GET IT! WE GET IT!” The stereotype of an overweight vulgar man making fun of audience members then hitting on their date when they go to the bathroom has been reinforced by far too many comedy clubs. Meltdown has the potential to prove this stereotype FALSE of live comedy as I sat right in front as part of a crowd of about 100 for the entire show and was not made fun of once AND had a fantastic time. Host Jonah Ray, after thanking people for not watching Gallagher at Club Nokia, let Meltdown rip with awesome performances from Ali Wong, Jerrod Carmichael, Randy Liedtke, Nick Kroll as force of nature Fabrice Fabrice, Seth Morris, Steve Agee, and Chelsea Peretti THEN Kumail Nanjiani apologized for not being there by texting a joke. Again, this is what people should expect from a live comedy show. Meltdown is every Wednesday 8:30PM $8 @ Meltdown Comics, 7522 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA.
2) The Jesse Miller Talk Show @ The Next Stage Theatre is the FUTURE of a live comedy show. Andre Hyland, as his absurdly fast-on-his-feet character Jesse Miller, hosts an off-air late night talk show that because of its brilliance, as sensational guest Joe Wagner commented, should be on TV. With completely dead-pan and completely hilarious musical sidekick Daryl and princess/straight-up girl/Jesse Miller Talk Show dancer Tanya, Jesse Miller takes absurdity in comedy to another level as he might seem like an unassuming yokel from Norwood, OH, but can rattle off quips, comebacks, and obscure Sonic Youth references with the best of them. Formatted with four amazing performers, a video of Jesse Miller (this edition included him in Cincinnati showing his Bengals Superbowl tattoo to people on game day), a heartfelt, bone-crushing song from Daryl, gut-busting interviews of all the guests, and an EATING CONTEST, there is no way you can beat entertainment like that for $5 on a late Tuesday night. “Straight-up hell yeah props” to Nicholas Rutherford, Melinda Hill, Joe Wagner, and Chris Fairbanks as last night’s line-up. The Jesse Miller Talk Show is on one Tuesday a month 11PM $5/one free beer @ The Next Stage Theatre, 1523 N. La Brea, Hollywood, CA (2nd Floor).
3) For all of you in the LA comedy community, the entire Comedy Bureau watched over 5 hours of live comedy yesterday.
4) For tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL, you need to discover instant cloning to not miss anyone of these shows. Seriously, get on it. Start off with Comedy Speakeasy @ TSR Loft 8PM (call 323-568-1616 to be audience member), then send your clone to Wil Anderson w/Brent Weinbach @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $14/2 item minimum, then “original you” go to The Josh & Josh Show @ Bar Lubitsch 8:30PM FREE, then your clone should go to Holy Fuck! @ Downtown Independent 9PM FREE, then you go to Facepush @ Flappers-Burbank 9:30PM $10/2 item min. Make sure to kill your clone at the end of the night, mostly to prevent any bad reality show being made from your lives.
5) Brand spanking new Comedy Bureau feature, as promised, OPEN MIC RUN. For all you comics trying the impossible by getting up more than once in LA try this: Go to SANDWICH SPOT 7PM, 3101 Ocean Park Ave, Santa Monica, CA, TKO SHOW @ 212 Cafe 9PM, 212 Pier Ave., Venice, CA, CAFE ON 2ND 7:30PM 7 S. 2nd St./$3 cover/10 min. at least., MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 5PM-11PM, 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA $5 cover/free coffee & bottled water/go up as many times as you want. Just do it (and maybe get some laughs).
6) The Comedy Bureau will be live tweeting throughout tonight’s comedy odyssey. Follow here.
7) Announcing another new feature in the works: The Comedy Bureau will tip its proverbial hat, because we can’t afford a real one, to a single tweet a day from all the amazing LA based comedians it tracks on Twitter. Not only will they be retweeted, but they will be mentioned here and if its popular enough, maybe will have contest with a TBD prize.
8) The Comedy Bureau needs your support both in the way of hugs AND donations. Please donate here.
8) With Veteran’s Day here, please honor all the men and women serving our country and keeping us safe so we can stay out until 3AM talking about how we hate dick jokes/dick jokes.
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