Natasha Mercado – The Comedy Bureau

Lyric Hyperion Is Swinging Big with Debut Comedy Specials from Emily Browning and Joey Greer at New Production Arm, Spesh!

August 29, 2025

ahmed bharoocha, alyssa sabo, babs gray, comedy special, emily browning, harper rose drummond, joey greer, kat bird, lyric hyperion, Natasha Mercado, spesh, uriah wesman, veronica osorio

While there are many a multi-national media conglomerate that are interested in the world of putting out comedy specials and content, do not count out smaller outfits being able to come to the table and play with the “big boys”.

Case in point, the mighty Lyric Hyperion, the long-beloved, forward thinking comedy theatre and performance space (and cafe) has just officially launched their very own production arm, Spesh!, in order to take some big swings and give the networks and streamers alike a run for their money (even with their very deep pockets). This team has taken a long gander at the comedy special landscape and seen a lot of the very same uploaded to everywhere and wanted to shake things up/break the mold with their spirit of “alt comedy 4 all”. Headed up by LH’s very own Sean Casey, Mike Bridenstine, and Jake Kroeger*, Spesh! “…will focus on producing trailblazing specials direct to YouTube alongside short vertical content across socials.”

Their very first specials will be a wild and great start for Spesh! with the debut hours from Emily Browning and Joey Greer, two very treasured voices in the vast and expansive LA comedy scene. Browning’s Temporary, Beautiful, due out Sept. 4th exclusively on YouTube, is equally splendid parts comedy, balloons, songs, and an “elevated deconstruction of crowd work” and Greer is seeking to redefine the entirety of what a comedy can (and should) be with Teeny Tiny, due out on Sept. 12th.

Following that, Spesh! is already on to lining up their next set of comedy luminaries that they’re looking to develop specials/hours with including: Ahmed Bharoocha (The Late Show, Dream Corp LLC), Kat Bird (Comedy Store Door Guy), Harper-Rose Drummond (Parallel Play), Babs Gray (Toxic: The Britney Spears Story, Lady to Lady), Natasha Mercado (The Joe Schmo Show), Veronica Osorio (Hail, Caesar!), Alyssa Sabo (120K+ followers), and Uriah Wesman (Three Cults Walk into a Bar).

From the looks of it, Spesh! could very well be a torch bearer for the future of alt comedy and we’re absolutely here for it.

*yes, that’s TCB’s very own Jake Kroeger.

The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 200: Natasha Mercado & The Clowning Life

January 24, 2024

News, The Comedy Bureau Field Report

clowning, Natasha Mercado

There’s way more that goes into being a clown than just doing something wild on stage with only a few things planned and messing with the audience, especially if you want to make a legitimately living as a clown. Rising star in LA comedy’s clown scene, Natasha Mercado, is not only working on her latest solo show to tour, but is also juggling teaching clown classes and guiding incarcerated youth into the world of clown and doing several other clown shows including a completely G-rated, family friendly one, and directing multiple other solo shows.

It’s all in a days work for a clown and we talk to her all about it on this week’s TCB Field Report.

Follow Natasha @champagnetashi and get tix to #1 Son from 1/30-2/1 here.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Pick of the Day: Clean Eats (in LA) 12/29

December 27, 2023

News

clowning, family friendly, los angeles, lyric hyperion, Natasha Mercado

If you’ve bore witness to clowning in LA over the last several years, you might have seen some of the most hysterical absurd performances that hinged on a celebrating the human experience (often via embracing failure in the face of the impossible). Also, if you’ve seen that, you’ve probably seen your fair share of nudity, things being stuck in several different holes, and other not so G, PG, or PG-13 rated things.

So, for one night, we are (yes, our very own Jake Kroeger is involved in devising this) challenging some of these oft-raunchy LA clowns to be innocent and not resort to ditching clothing or their “normal” and very funny graphic acts (and still funny for adults like Pixar does). Thanks to the clowning expertise of Natasha Mercado, she’ll live direct and make sure everything is family friendly, but not in the cheesy, corny, stereotypical “family friendly” way.

This Friday isn’t a school night, so take the whole family out (or see if they’ll be able to not go blue) for a clowning journey unlike any other aat 9:30PM at Lyric Hyperion, especially since it’ll be G-rated as all H-E-Double-Hockeysticks. Tickets are $15 right now and you best go get them here.

Pick of the Day: Protected Under Parody: An Alamo Drafthouse Sketch Show (in LA) 8/6

With the continued absence of ArcLight, the impending opening of Vidiots, and more folks needing to know about Brain Dead Studios, the swath of very cool, indie movie theaters that did just more than just show movies.

The Alamo Drafthouse in DTLA is actually one such theater, especially because, this Saturday, they’ll be doing a very, very, very special, exclusive sketch comedy show with many of LA’s finest from all corners of sketch, clowning, etc. to do a mash-up of cult movie darlings, Empire Records and Donnie Darko.

The likes of Ekeme Ekanem, Eli Leonard, Elijah Taylor, Ian Abramson, Ian Farley, Jon Barnett, Matt Catanzano, Luke Rampersad, Natasha Mercado, Nikki Black, and Victor Torres will be putting up this wild show at, arguably, the perfect venue to have it at.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jonathan Lipnicki will be joining in on the mash-up extravaganza AND the show itself will be free attend (after you find out where to park downtown).

Called Protected Under Parody: An Alamo Drafthouse Sketch Show, it’ll be all going up at Sat. Aug. 6th at 7:30PM PT at The Video Vortex inside of Alamo Drafthouse. Get more details here and then set a reminder on your calendar.