the elysian – The Comedy Bureau

Pick of the Day: Tomorrow Show 19 Yr Anniversary Spectacular 6/1

May 23, 2024

19th anniversary, los angeles comedy, ron lynch, the elysian, tomorrow show

Tomorrow! with Ron Lynch is going to mark its 19th year on Jun. 1st at The Elysian as one of the LA comedy’s bastions for the wonderfully weird, hysterically strange, and torchbearers for fun at the midnight hour.

Pretty much every Saturday at midnight, somewhere, somehow, Ron and company (mostly Davey Johnson) have shepherded some of the best, most original acts in and adjacent to comedy and, as far as we’re concerned, a legend in our books.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, for their 19th, Ron will have:

JACK BLACK

DANA GOULD

KATE MICUCCI

LAURA KIGHTLINGER

JACK DAGGER

JAMES ADOMIAN

JAY LONDON

and CHRISTINA CATHERINE MARTINEZ • CHAD DAMIANI • CAROLINE CUMMINGS • BRIANNA AHLMARK • BILL O’NEILL • ANTHONY DEVRIES • MAX BAUMGARTEN • BRIAN BARLOW • KIKI MAROON • NICK STARGU • TORI NOQUEZ • ITHAMAR ENRIQUEZ • KARL HERLINGER • DRENNON DAVIS • KRISTEN LUNDBERG • JEN LIV

It’s going to be one damn good celebration that will actually start at 9:30PM (then likely go into tomorrow). Tickets are currently sold out, but they are doing stand by for the show and you should make plans to try to squeeze yourself in.

Pick of the Day: Natalie Palamides: WEER (in LA) 11/13-11/15

November 7, 2023

News

los angeles comedy, natalie palamides, the elysian

After her undeniable groundbreaking shows of Laid and Nate, revered clown/comedian/performer/visionary Natalie Palamides is on to her next hour show. Called WEER, there are kind of no other details about it at the moment, but you can trust that Natalie has something mind-altering in store for all in attendance (as she has done for the last several years).

With that in mind, you can be one of the first three crowds to witness whatever brilliant comedy madness (with plenty of multi-layered social commentary thoroughly baked in) that Natalie has dreamt up starting next week at The Elysian, specifically Mon Nov. 11th-Wed. Nov. 15th, all at 9:30PM. Tickets are only $12 and still up for grabs. Do not miss out on being on the ground floor for Natalie’s brand new hour and get tix here:

Pick of the Day: Spaghetti Fest (in LA) 11/1-11/11

September 28, 2023

News

comedy festival, experimental theater, los angeles comedy, the elysian

Another day, another comedy festival. That’s a saying, right? Well, certainly this Fall is full of comedy festivals of all shapes and sizes including the daring, all original, all brand spankin’ new experiment Spaghetti Festival (FKA Forget About Spaghetti Festival).

10 nights of 10 freshly dreamt up and produced shows that span comedy to experimental performance from all corners of LA are set to take over the Elysian from Nov. 1st–Nov. 11th. There will be shows that imagine realities beyond a concession stand, a Kyle Mizono-ified world of Being John Malkovich, Nosferatu’s Sweet 16, the end of a cult, and an entire clown interpretation of the Zodiac. The first one was a beautiful fever dream and this one ought to pick up right where the last one last left off.

All shows are at 8PM each night and individual tickets are $18, but you can save yourself $30 if you wanna catch all 10 shows by being a Spaghetti Festival Pass for $150. Get all the info, specific schedule, and tickets/passes here. Do it right now. Seriously. It’ll be the best thing you spend money on November (and that includes whatever the hell you do for Thanksgiving).

TCB Debriefing 9/15/23: Joe Pera Special, Derrick Brown Album, Spaghetti Fest, Thank You For Coming, Conan on Trump, Hasan Minhaj

September 15, 2023

News

bollywood, comedy festival, conan o'brien, derrick brown, hasan minhaj, joe pera, spaghetti festival, thank you for coming, the elysian

1. The most gentle soul in comedy, Joe Pera, is releasing his very first special, self-produced and set to be released on YouTube on Fri Oct. 6th. True to his spirit, it’ll be called Slow & Steady and very likely be the sort of soothing and surprising glee with the way the world is these days. Please enjoy Joe’s announcement here.

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2. The multi-talented, multi-faceted, very funny and very evocative Derrick Brown has just come out with his first album, A Close Shave with Heaven, fresh off the presses from Pretty Good Friends. We’ll fill you in on Brown’s synchronous blend of comedy & poetry soon, but enjoy the record (and amazing cover) as it has dropped today (wherever you get your comedy albums).

3. The Elysian‘s Spaghetti Festival (AKA Forget About Spaghetti Fest) is set to return with completely original new, never before seen comedy productions come Nov. 1st-11th. Tickets, details, and line-up to come soon!

4. One of the gala films at TIFF is a Bollywood sex comedy that takes aim at the patriarchy cheekily called Thank You For Coming (Variety). A female empowerment comedy hailing from Bollywood is a pretty big deal and we hope Thank You For Coming finds its way to American theaters soon.

5. Preach, Conan O’Brien, preach.

6. Hasan Minhaj admitting to embellishing his stories in service of comedy is actually very much at the heart of the art form of comedy itself; artistic expressions that are, above all, in service of the joke.

Pick of the Day: The Simpsons Bailout: Rebooting an American Family (in LA) 9/11

August 31, 2023

News

experimental comedy, los angeles comedy, simpsons, the elysian

In its 34th season and having its very own theme park, The Simpsons has left its indelible stamp on civilization for several generations to come. That said, its latter years have been troubled with figuring its place in the ever-changing zeitgeist, especially with the emergence of other highly satirical adult animation shows such as BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty.

Also, they really let handled the controversy surrounding recurring character Apu (a caricature of an Indian man being voiced by Hank Azaria) pretty poorly, even after Azaria volunteered to step down.

With that in mind, Laura Jacoves has created a show, The Simpsons Bailout: Rebooting an American Family, centered on jolting The Simpsons back towards the irrefutable significance from its pitch perfect satire that it delivered for so many years. On Monday, 9/11, at 9:30PM at the Elysian, LA’s home of boundary pushing comedy, Laura and company will be doing their own bailout of The Simpsons.

Esteemed performances/art/etc. to come from:

David Brown
Colin Burgess
Brett Davis
Bridey Elliott
Mitra Jouhari
Kaye, Loggins
Molly Bounds
Maggie Brennen
Conor Donahue
Simeon Kondev
Katie Lane
Branson Reese

At the very least, your curiosity has to be peaked, even if you haven’t watched The Simpsons in years. That’s actually part of why you should spend $15 to see what everyone has up their sleeve at this show. Get tickets right here.

Pick of the Day: James Adomian Stand Up Comedy Special Taping (in LA) 9/14

August 17, 2023

News

800 pound gorilla, comedy album, james adomian, live taping, los angeles comedy, stand up comedy, the elysian

It has been well over a decade since the release of the brilliant comedy album Low Hanging Fruit from the always astounding James Adomian. Though we’d like to have a new hour from Adomian to binge and listen on repeat much sooner, James has been, over the last 11 years, a little busy touring as Bernie Sanders opposite Anthony Atamanuik’s Trump, and playing several voices on your favorite adult animated series, doing one of the best hidden gem podcasts The Underculture, amongst several other things.

Thankfully, this Adomian drought will come to an end as James is set to tape his very first stand-up comedy special and brand new hour next month for 800 Pound Gorilla Media. At The Elysian on Thurs. Sept. 14th, James will give those in attendance the meticulously honed collection of hysterical, incisive socio-political coupled with the most spot-on impressions you’ve ever heard or seen.

Tickets are only $15 right now for either 7:30PM or 9:30PM tapings and you best go get tickets here now.

TCB Debriefing 7/11/23: This Fool, Elysian AD, How to With John Wilson, Silverman Suing Against AI, Meta Zombie Comedy “Final Cut”

July 11, 2023

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final cut, how to with john wilson, sarah silverman, the elysian, this fool

We used to round comedy news up items as part of our singular daily post, The Comedy Bureau Morning Debriefing, at the very beginning of The Comedy Bureau. Since that post included all the info we wanted to share all at once (including shows and mics), it took too long to post (i.e. it would never be in the morning).

That said, the news cycle is even faster than it was 2010, and we’re doing a modified version of it to make sure you don’t miss any of the things that are happening at this very moment in comedy (that don’t need 500 words of analysis). So enjoy our recurring rundown, The Comedy Bureau Debriefing, once more, including a final bit of food for thought like we used to do in the early 2010s.

1. Hulu’s This Fool is only coming up to its second season with nothing but accolades (no surprise from the team behind Corporate plus Chris Estrada and Frankie Quiñones and Michael Imperioli), which means we’ve waited too long for its release. New season due Fri. Jul. 28th, but watch trailer for season 2 here.

2. LA comedy’s bright shining experimental comedy theater, The Elysian, has a new Artistic Director in Jacquelyn Landgraf (who has extensive experimental theater experience)and a brand new side room/mini theater called “The Skunk Room” right next door. Look forward to The Elysian to continue its trail blazing ways (and maybe even more so with a smaller room at its disposal).

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3. It has been such a lovely run for John Wilson and his bewitching docu-series, How To with John Wilson on HBO. We all do get treated to a final season of the most magically assembled b-roll of NYC that has ever been assembled, but that will all that John wrote for How To with John Wilson when all episodes aired on HBO/put up at Max. Watch and delight in the final season trailer here. Premiere is Fri. Jul. 28th.

4. Sarah Silverman is suing Meta and OpenAI for using her memoir to train AI language models w/o consent or compensation (Variety). This feel likes the tip of the iceberg in regards to problems we will run into with AI not only in comedy, but with any and all creative work.

5. 12 years after receiving the Oscar for Best Directing for The Artist (in addition to nabbing Best Picture Oscar too), Michel Hazanavicius is coming out with a daring new, genre-be-damned meta French zombie comedy that’s equal parts Why Don’t You Play in Hell? and Shaun of the Dead. Take a gander with the trailer here. Limited theatrical release begins Fri. Jul. 14th.

6. What is late night now with the Writers Strike continuing to stand strong? Just Hot Ones, YouTube clips of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, and whatever garbage is festering out of Greg Gutfeld’s mouth? If so, damn.

The Elysian Is Taking Pitches for Original Shows for Their Next Spaghetti Festival

June 23, 2023

News

open call, spaghetti festival, submissions, the elysian

Last year, The Elysian took on its very first festival, which is daring as is in a city with a veritable festival’s worth of comedy on a nightly basis, The Forget About Spaghetti Festival debuted so many amazing, original, never before seen shows that included some of the very best things that we saw on stage in 2022.

The Elysian is doing it all again with what their now calling The Spaghetti Festival and going through the whole beautiful process once more by opening submissions to any and all for shows that are, “…interactive, solo or group performances that are driven by an interesting or unique concept or story.”

They’ll be picking ten shows to make up this year’s Spaghetti Festival and all shows selected, “…will receive a performance slot, promotional support, creative development assistance from our committee of artists and producers, & more.” Also, if picked, your show will be part of what is pretty much still the ground floor of what could very well become a much needed lightning rod in the LA comedy scene.

Get more details and submit at elysiantheater.com/spaghetti. Oh yeah, the deadline is Jul. 9th at 11:59PM PT. Hopefully, if you don’t have an idea already, the fireworks on the 4th will kick your frontal cortex into high gear.

Pick of the Day: Gemma Soldati: The Poor Rich (in LA & NYC) 3/21 & 3/24

March 15, 2023

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ars nova, clowning, gemma soldati, solo show, the elysian

Gemma Soldati’s Poor Rich was one of our picks for 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness To in 2022 and for all the satirical revelry that Soldati engages in when picking apart late stage capitalism, it’s a show that as many folks as possible should see in 2023.

Soldati is putting on once again at the place we saw it, the beloved Elysian on Tues. Mar. 21st at 9:30PM PT (tickets on sale now at $16 a pop), but she is also putting up in NYC at forward thinking performance space, Ars Nova on Fri. Mar. 24th at 7PM ET, which might be the first time New Yorkers might get to see it. Lucky for you guys that the show is Pay What You Can and has a livestream available as well.

So, you kind of don’t have an excuse to see Gemma’s brilliant, hysterical work no matter where you live.

Pick of the Day: Hit That Track with Dylan Adler (in LA) 12/10

December 5, 2022

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Dylan Adler, los angeles comedy, musical comedy, stand up comedy, the elysian

One Dylan Adler, the newly minted Vulture Comedian You Should and Will Know and the newly added writer to Corden, has gotten plenty of ink from us and deservingly so. Once again, ever since we saw him do hard hitting jokes and songs about intersectional race issues and mental health and a backflip on the top of a parking garage, we’ve been smitten.

Adler has just moved to LA (b/c of Corden) and as such will be getting to debut his hour show for us Angelenos with (hopefully) better weather. Hit That Track with Dylan Adler is set for Sat. Dec. 10th at 7:30PM at The Elysian. Tickets are only $16 and you best go snag ’em right now here.

Pick of the Day: How to Poison an Audience with Kate Hollowell (in LA) 11/26

November 23, 2022

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kate hollowell, los angeles comedy, musical comedy, solo show, the elysian

Just off of title alone, comedy mult-hyphenate Kate Hollowell certainly knows how to hook one’s curiosity with her playfully, carefully “unhinged” stage show as pop star persona. When we first heard about it, the show was joyfully called “Number One Popstar Presents: A Sold Out Show *Plenty of Tickets …”, which we’re all in for. Now, it’s even more maniacally and splendidly called “How to Poison an Audience with Kate Hollowell”.

Hollowell does a magnificent and hysterical job sending up the idea of wanting to be a big time pop star and what a desire for fame can do to one’s psyche (on top of making genuine bops throughout the show). Also, Kate still goes the extra mile with having indelible backup dancers for many of her numbers and an actual child playing her very own inner child (that doesn’t take notes very well). Honestly, this does what Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping set out to do, but much better.

The next How to Poison the Audience with Kate Hollowell is set for this Sat. Nov. 26th at 7:30PM at The Elysian. Tickets are $12 and you very much can and should get them here.

Pick of the Day: Don’t Break (in LA) 9/10

September 2, 2022

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danny catlow, david brown, experimental comedy, los angeles comedy, the elysian

One of the hardest comedic skills to master is not breaking, laughing, giggling, snickering while on stage at someone else’s bit or your very own. For almost everyone, it’s such a hard feat that there are many SNL sketches that are pretty much just seeing when everyone in the scene will break and how hard they’ll do it.

That’s why Danny Catlow and David Brown are making a whole game show out of it, pitting comedians against each other to see who can commit to whatever is happening on stage the longest. Called DON’T BREAK, a $200 prize is on the line for 10 comedians.

For what will be an initial test run of DON’T BREAK, Brown and Catlow have recruited fierce competitors in:

Kate O’Connor
Izzy Gerasole
Scott Egleston
Anna Seregina
Luke Taylor
Camirin Farmer
Wyatt Fair
Carly Kane
Kendra Uncut
Kat Toledo

Oh, this will be a FREE rehearsal of what’s sure to be unhinged fun on Sat. Sept. 10th at 2PM PT at The Elysian.