Watch Caleb Synan’s Conan Debut
LA transplant, via Georgia, Caleb Synan got to perform his first stand-up set on Conan last night.
His polished, well crafted, bits played quite well in this first outing.
Watch Caleb’s set here.
Nate Bargatze Marks His 5th Set on Fallon in Late Night
As of last night, Nate Bargatze has been on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon twice and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon three times.
Undoubtedly, one of Fallon’s favorites, Bargatze served up another great, homespun yet, deft insight about his everyman sort of life.
Watch it here and see why Jimmy has made him a regular stand-up on his show.
Watch Andrew Sleighter Make His Conan Stand-Up Debut
Comedian and breakfast thief Andrew Sleighter did quite well in notching in his first stand-up set on Conan last night.
Watch his set (as well get some helpful breakfast tips if you know what we mean) here.
Watch Ian Karmel’s Set on “The Late Late Show with James Corden”
It’s been far too long (over a year at this point) since we’ve seen the delightful Ian Karmel do stand-up on late night.
Luckily, that wait ended when Karmel got to perform on The Late Late Show with James Corden last night and gave us our Karmel fix (pun intended).
Enjoy his set right here right now.
Sheng Wang’s Debut Album “Cornucopias Are Actually Horrible Containers” Out Now
You might have recently seen Sheng Wang as one of the top 10 comics on the latest season of Last Comic Standing, but we would hope that you’ve come to know him from his various late night performances over the years and followed his stand-up very closely afterwards like we have.
If you have done so, you’d know that Sheng Wang exudes pure fun in his jokes as if you’re hearing the most clever DJ on the radio that doesn’t need to play music because his jokes are so good.
Wang’s debut album Cornucopias Are Actually Horrible Containers is a great example of what we’re talking about.
You can and should get it off of All Things Comedy here.
Clayton English Just Won This Season of Last Comic Standing and Then Performed on “Late Night with Seth Meyers”
Not only was Clayton English determined the winner of season 9 of Last Comic Standing last night, joining the ranks of Rodman, Felipe Esparza, Iliza Shlesinger, Josh Blue, and more, but he also got to perform a stand-up set as a sort of victory lap, free of judges, on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Congratulations go to Clayton and you should watch his set from last night here.
Here’s the Trailer for Amy Schumer: Live at The Apollo
Now that the initial excitement of Amy Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence writing a movie together has probably settled, you can raise your anticipation again for Schumer for her upcoming HBO special, Live At The Apollo, directed by Chris Rock.
Here’s a trailer to help you do that.
Watch Amy Schumer: Live At The Apollo on Sat. Oct. 17th at 10PM on HBO.
Guy Branum on The Experience of Seeing Himself on TV
Guy Branum is one of our favorite comedians and you can see why in how he dissects the memory of him watching himself perform comedy on TV.
Watch this clip recorded at one of our favorite shows here in town, The Super Serious Show.
We’re Really Glad We Stopped by Denver’s High Plains Comedy Festival and Comedy Scene
From what we saw, Denver has a good thing going in its comedy scene.
As you might imagine, we don’t get out of LA often or, really at all since there is so much to cover around the scene.
However, last month, we found our way to Denver, Colorado for the 3rd Annual High Plains Comedy Festival and we sure didn’t regret taking a week to explore the ins and outs of comedy in Denver. The Grawlix, which created the upcoming truTV series Those Who Can’t, rose to their current station from Denver and following in their stead is a great bunch of comics operating in what seems to be a well-balanced eco-system of comedy.
With the bureau’s budget, we could only send one person to Denver, so here’s the highlights of what they were physically able to catch at High Plains as well as bit of the local scene on the eve of the festival:
-Everything we’ve heard about Comedy Works in Downtown Denver being one of the best comedy clubs in the entire country, which comes from so many respected people that we and everyone know, is absolutely true. The set up of low ceilings and no tables and stadium seating eliminated any possible distraction from the person on stage. We got to see Ron Funches warm up for his album taping and it was electric.
–The Fine Gentlemen’s Club has established as another solid, rising grouping of stand-ups in Denver. Chris Charpentier, Sam Tallent, Bobby Crane, and Nathan Lund made quite the showing at their own weekly show at The Deer Pile as well as their High Plains show at Three Kings Tavern.
-The storytelling showcase The Narrators, created by The Grawlix’s own Andrew Orvedahl, ran the gamut of emotions from hysterical to sobering to hysterical again. They just branched out to San Diego FYI.
-The three primary venues for High Plains were The Hi-Dive, 3 Kings Tavern, and Mutiny Information Cafe, which were all about two blocks from each other. That’s always a big plus at any comedy festival.
Sean Patton, photo by Carlos Madrid
–Sean Patton got to headline several shows throughout the festival, which is a real treat to see his rich and deeply colorful comedy for both fans and first timers alike.
Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl, and Ben Roy, photos by Emily Coates
-Hometown heroes The Grawlix (Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl, and Ben Roy) got a rousing, rollicking homecoming when they headlined at 3 Kings. At one point, Roy lead almost half the crowd, pied piper like, up on stage and through the green room just for the hell of it.
-Recent LA transplants via Denver, Kristin Rand and Haley Driscoll put on a display of how spirited and charming they are several times at High Plains as well as at a few shows we caught before the festival.
Kristin Rand, photo by Carlos Madrid
–Mara Wiles and The Funky Brunch was one of our favorite shows at High Plains. It pitted stand-ups to do sets that had to finish with a funk/soul-inspired obstacle/restriction like literally being tied up with rope as a silky smooth love song is playing.
-One of the after parties featured German rock “group” Total Ghost where The Nix Brothers, highly regarded directing duo from Denver, pretending to play their instruments during a crazy multimedia light extravaganza. It was a pretty solid way to kick off an after party of a comedy festival.
–Ian Abramson’s 7 Minutes in Purgatory made yet another great festival appearance that took its concept of isolating performers from the audience with sound proof headphones and made them perform on the street with a whole other random crowd watching. The sheer number of levels of which of which you could enjoy the show on were pretty great.
Ian Abramson, photo by Carlos Madrid
-High Plains’ marquee show The Paramount Theater was a real sight to see with a near 2000 people in attendance to see Anthony Jeselnik headline. As Anthony himself noted, it was nice to see that he didn’t get too high like some folks have gotten at past years of High Plains.
-Denver’s own Aaron Urist was also on that big show at The Paramount and killed with his dark observational humor.
Aaron Urist, photo by Emily Coates
-On a live recording of Kevin O’Brien and Taylor Gonda’s These Things Matter podcast, we really enjoyed Jay Larson not having seen a good majority of the favorite movies and TV of the hosts and guests Ron Funches, Jonah Ray, and Karen Kilgariff, which each guest has to defend why it’s their favorite.
-Hailing from Portland, Wisconsin, and NYC respectively, Sean Jordan, Sammy Arechar, and Noah Gardenswartz gave Denver a great taste of their comedy brand with Sean and Sammy on the more silly side of the comedy spectrum and Noah on the sharper, precise side.
–Guy Branum proved why he’s an exquisite comedy force over the course of several shows on the festival as well as why he deserves to be on way more stages doing comedy than the many he is doing currently.
-The edgy competitive Madlibs adjacent game of Uncalled Four, birthed and grown in Denver, showed why it could become a game show for those looking for something a little darker/more blue/more fun than Steve Harvey’s reactions to answers on Family Feud.
Kurt Braunohler, Matt Braunger, Beth Stelling, Byron Graham, and Guy Branum at Uncalled Four, photo by Emily Coates
-The absurdists Ron Lynch and Andrés du Bouchet had a ball at High Plains, making people double over while probably redefining their entire perception of the art form of comedy.
Ron Lynch, photo by Carlos Madrid
-Recently formed comedy music duo Drennon Davis and Karen Kilgariff have been making a case to rethink you possible prejudices against musical comedy so you can enjoy some of the funniest and best crafted songs, often made up almost entirely from Drennon’s loop pedal, to come along in the last several years. Their performances at the festival furthered that notion.
Drennon Davis and Karen Kilgariff, photo by Emily Coates
-We have to give a big hand to Andy Juett for being at the helm of High Plains as well as Sexpot Comedy, which he co-founded, being a big driving force behind the festival and making something that should become an institution in Denver comedy if it already isn’t one.
Andy Juett, photo by Carlos Madrid
Michelle Buteau and Barry Rothbart’s Half Hour Specials Premiere Tonight
It starts midnight tonight on Comedy Central.
Don’t miss out the latest editions of Comedy Central’s The Half Hour featuring half-hour stand-up specials from both Michelle Buteau, who just came out with an album, and Barry Rothbart.
Michelle’s airs at 12AM and Barry’s airs right after at 12:30AM. Set a reminder or your DVR accordingly.
Watch Marina Franklin’s First Conan Set
NYC’s Marina Franklin has done more than a few rounds on the late night circuit, but she just marked her first set on Conan last night. It’s subtle, but her perfectly paced, cruise-like timing and cadence is pretty great to watch.
Comedy Specials From Tig Notaro, Natasha Leggero, Liza Treyger, and Hampton Yount All Premiere Tonight
As none of these conflict with their time slots, it looks like you should be watching a whole lot of great stand-up tonight.
8PM on Comedy Central–Natasha Leggero: Live at Bimbo’s
10PM on HBO–Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted
Midnight on Comedy Central–The Half Hour: Liza Treyger and Hampton Yount
Don’t miss out on any of this.
Watch Sam Morril Return to Conan
Looks like NYC’s Sam Morril is on his way to being one of the regularly featured stand-ups on Conan.
He made his debut on the show last year and then notched in a fine set this week with his well crafted cleverness.
Watch Joe Mande’s Extended and Uncensored Set at “The Meltdown”
So few comics are brining the rap game into stand-up the way Joe Mande is.
Let his set from The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail be all the proof you need.
Watch it uncensored and extended here.
Watch Monroe Martin’s First “Tonight Show” Set
NYC’s Monroe Martin notched his very first appearance, a very good one at that, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this past week.
Watch his set here and mark down his name somewhere as you’ll probably want to keep tabs on him.
Watch Extended and Uncensored Hannibal Buress Set From “The Meltdown”
Get as close a sense of what it was like to catch Hannibal Buress live in the back of a comic book store while he was wearing sunglasses and a “loud-ass shirt” with this nice, long, uncensored set from The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
Watch Maggie Maye on Conan
NYC’s Maggie Maye made her first stand-up appearance on Conan last night and made a very good first impression with jokes about her look to the secret behind the word “sassy”, and more.
Watch Tom Papa’s Return to Conan
Tom Papa got to do both stand-up and panel for his latest appearance on Conan, which really just made it a nicely done two-part stand-up set.
Watch parts one and “two” here.
Watch Russell Howard’s First Set on “The Tonight Show”
The exuberant Russell Howard finally made a return from the UK to do stand-up on U.S. television after doing Conan a few years ago.
Last night, he made yet another good case on The Tonight Show for why you should know his name on this side of the pond.
Watch his set here to see why.
Watch Uncensored, Extended ‘Meltdown’ Set from John Early
Please get acquainted, or reacquainted, with the comedic force that is John Early with his entire set from this week’s Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
“The Nightly Show” and Judd Apatow on “The Tonight Show” Torched Bill Cosby
As Hannibal Buress really brought to light the allegations of Bill Cosby’s rapes and sexual assaults, comedy was certainly going to keep that torch burning after that damning 2005 deposition was recently released in full.
So, The Nightly Show pretty much dedicated their entire show last night to taking down Cosby with a few, great incendiary bars rapped by The Nightly Show’s own Holly Walker…
…Larry’s opening segment going through the aforementioned 2005 deposition…
…and having a panel really break down why everyone needs to let go of their nostalgia of Bill Cosby.
Then, on The Tonight Show, a show that Bill Cosby has very memorably frequented over decades, let Judd Apatow do a stand-up set where he closed with a fine, scorching send-up of Cosby.
In case you weren’t aware, comedy isn’t going to let one of its former heroes have a mere fall from grace. Rather, it’s going to kick him all the way down and keep kicking.
Please Watch and Enjoy Brent Weinbach’s Full Set at “The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail”
Simply put, Brent Weinbach is one of the most original, innovative, and hilarious comedians around.
You don’t have to take our word for it.
Just watch his full set from The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
Get a Look at What Will Be the First in a Whole Row of Showtime Comedy Specials with “SXSW Comedy”
Looks like Showtime is gearing up to produce more comedy specials along with Audible’s Rooftop Comedy in the coming months. They have the two part SXSW Comedy with W. Kamau Bell special premiere part 1 on July 24th and are working on a Brian Posehn special that was apparently shot right before Comic-Con this weekend.
Here’s your first look at SXSW Comedy Part 1, which will have Matt Braunger, Mark Normand, Iliza Shlesinger, Beth Stelling, and Nate Bargatze.
Watch an Extended, Uncensored Set of Hampton Yount at “The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail”
More often than not, when you’re watching stand-up on TV, you’re seeing a very condensed version of what you would see live. That’s part of the reason watching comedy live is always better.
As a perfect example, watch the tour de force that is Hampton Yount do his full set from this season of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
Watch an Extended Set From Sean Patton on “The Meltdown”
Any chance you get to watch Sean Patton, you should absolutely take it.
So, from the latest episode of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, here’s an extended uncut Sean Patton set that really captures our advice above.