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nick skardarasy

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Pick of the Day: Arts & Crafts Comedy (in LA) 8/22

July 29, 2021
News
charlie hankin, ever mainard, jon zucker, la comedy, langston kerman, laurie kilmartin, mike mulloy, nick skardarasy, stand up comedy, will miles

Though you might have seen a lot of shows get postponed or outright cancelled this week in LA due to the rise in COVID-19 cases (and breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated people), there is plenty of stuff to look forward to next month as LA’s wide swath of shows continue to return, step-by-step.

One of the latest shows to announce its return is Arts & Crafts Comedy, which has delightfully been marrying the visual arts with stand-up comedy for years around LA. Hosts Nick Skardarasy and Jon Zucker set a splendid tone for the evening where stand-ups will get some sort of artistic interpretation of their stand-up in a drawing, sculpture, artistic creation of some kind from an esteemed artist.

This first show back since lockdown will feature seasoned illustrator Charlie Hankin (half of the great sketch group Good Cop Great Cop) who has gotten plenty of work featured in The New Yorker. Hankin will be making art inspired a lovely handful of great stand-ups (Laurie Kilmartin, Will Miles, Ever Mainard, Langston Kerman, Savannah Manhattan, and Mike Mulloy).

The first of Arts & Crafts Comedy of 2021 is set for Sun. Aug. 22nd at 8PM PT at Rita House. Tickets are $10 and you can (and very much should) get them here.

Pick of the Day: The Comedy Roof 6/2

May 31, 2021
News
ahmed al-kadri, brian simpson, dtla, grand central market, jenny jennings, joe mande, la comedy, nick skardarasy
If you’ve followed for us any of our 10 year and a half run, you very likely know and enjoy LA comedy’s penchant and expertise for doing comedy outdoors. Having had years of comedy taking advantage of the postcard quality weather that we’re privileged to have in LA, doing comedy outdoors due to the pandemic wasn’t such a huge sweat around here.
Shows such as The Comedy Roof popped up on the roof of the parking garage next to Grand Central Market in DTLA to keep this facet of the scene going. Also, they observed as much COVID-19 protocols as they could (including mask policy, very socially distant tables/chairs, separate entrances and exits, etc.). On top of that, you literally get a pretty gorgeous view of DTLA’s skyline.
So, The Comedy Roof folks are back at it with their latest show coming this Wed. Jun. 2nd at 8PM PT (Doors 7:30PM PT) with a stacked line-up of:
Joe Mande (Comedy Cental, NBC)
Brian Simpson (Comedy Central, BS with Brian Simpson)
Nick Skardarasy (CollegeHumor, The A.V. Club)
Jenny Jennings (ROM-COMedians)
Ahmed Al-Kadri
+ Jeff Buck, Vee Bentley, Kate Mason, & Mikel Albagdadi
Tickets are only $15 and you can (and very much should before they sell out) get them here.

Nick Skardarasy Pulls Off Doing a Charming Live Stand-Up Special, “Thin Walls” by Taping It With His Neighbors in His Apartment Building

September 23, 2020
News
comedy special, nick skardarasy, stand up comedy, thin walls

Taking a cue from the NBA’s bubble, a clever Nick Skardarasy made his very first comedy special by making the crowd and venue his apartment building. As such, he performed stand-up for a real crowd, gave all of his neighbors in his building a free live show to watch both in person and from the comfort of their own home, and, on top of all of that, got to tape his very first half hour stand-up comedy special, Thin Walls: An evening with my neighbors.

Skardarasy had been climbing up the ranks in LA comedy before lockdown took place. With such uncertainty of when normal stand-up comedy can be done in its traditional manner (packed in a dark room with low ceilings), all of comedy, not just stand-up, has tried so many different things. There is the plethora of live-stream comedy online, but there has also been plenty of drive-ins, doing stand-up on the other side of a glass window, shows in parks, etc. done all over the country. Seeing the layout of his building and growing very close with his neighbors, Nick got the idea that he could attempt performing in front of a very specific live crowd (you’ll notice that his neighbors are still socially distanced and masked) and maybe, just maybe, get his very first special out of it.

He had already been working on putting an extended set together of his acute observations, smartly written into jokes and bits and call backs, juxtaposed with glimpses into his personal life and history. While in quarantine, Nick worked on it as much as he could by structuring it, acknowledging the world before and after the pandemic hit, and rehearsing it with the grace of his girlfriend between the walls of his apartment (hence the title). Taking the stage for the special, Nick appeared as if he indeed been working the set out at clubs and bars and got it pretty damn tight.

There is also a genuine layer of sweetness (in addition to Nick’s very sweet demeanor in general) that’s dabbed throughout the special with director Jon Zucker cutting in talking head interviews with Nick’s neighbors speaking earnestly about their quarantine and how they’ve been getting through it. It’s the sort of thing that you might have seen in HBO’s last several conceptual comedy specials.

The result ends up being an effervescent vision of that normalcy we all crave right now via a well-crafted half hour of classic stand-up that’s also very aware of the precarious times that it’s being performed in. Essentially, this special almost makes you forget that it was happening during a time of a global pandemic and uprising.

Nick Skardarasy’s Thin Walls: An evening with my neighbors is streaming right now, for free, on YouTube, for your absolute convenience here.

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