wanda sykes – The Comedy Bureau

The Daily Show Announces Schedule for First Round of Fill-In Hosts for Trevor Noah

January 5, 2023

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Trevor Noah had indeed bid adieu to The Daily Show and the search for his replacement is well underway. As announced late last year, Comedy Central has opted to take their time with finding the next successor to The Daily Show mantle and, in the mean time, have a stable of hosts to take on hosting duties (potentially auditioning themselves for the role, perhaps?).

The first round of these hosts will go as follows

Leslie Jones 1/17-1/19
Wanda Sykes 1/23-1/26
DL Hughley 1/30-2/2
Chelsea Handler 2/6-2/9
Sarah Silverman 2/13-2/16

That very well could be a wide expanse of The Daily Show could and will feel like over the next month and a half as Leslie Jones’ Daily Show is probably going to be a tad different from Sarah Silverman’s. One should note that Handler has enthusiastically expressed interest in returning to late night and having a more socio-political bent on top of covering pop culture and Silverman ostensibly had her own version of The Daily Show with the amazing I Love You, America on Hulu.

Also, don’t be surprised if Comedy Central sneaks in some experimentation with the format itself. We personally hope they sneak the panel debate that The Nightly Show used to have back into this sort of show.

In any case, if you’d like to see this up close and personal for yourself and you happen to be in the NYC area, you can get free tickets from 1iota here.

New York Comedy Festival Announces Headliners for 2022

August 15, 2022

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Not too too far from now, The NY Comedy Festival will take over NYC’s 5 boroughs to bring NYC even more comedy than the cornucopia it already has on a nightly basis. One of the real perks of NY Comedy Fest is the headliners they assemble, which, for this year will include the likes of Conan O’Brien, John Mulaney, Wanda Sykes, Jenny Slate, Ms. Pat, Mo Amer, Bassem Youssef, Jimmy O. Yang, and Tracy Morgan.

Of course, this is just a tiny sliver of what the entire line-up of the festival will be come Nov. 7th-Nov. 13th. If you want to get your tickets as soon as possible, you can use the presale code “NYCF” starting at 12PM ET on Fri. Aug. 19th at nycomedyfestival.com.

Netflix Is A Joke Fest Is Back (and Even Bigger?) for 2022

One of the first major comedy festivals to get postponed indefinitely because of COVID-19 was Netflix’s gigantic celebration of comedy that brought out all their biggest stars and their accompanying constellations, Netflix Is a Joke Fest. It was also going to be the first big comedy festival in LA in years (since Riot LA in DTLA ended its run).

For 2020, Netflix seemingly spared no expense to make the biggest comedy festival they could in Los Angeles and it was heartbreaking to see none of that happen in 2020 and have no idea if and when it would happen again.

Well, on this side of the pandemic, Netflix Is a Joke Fest was just announced to be back on, running from Thurs. Apr. 28th-Sun. May 8th, and Netflix is making sure to make it even bigger it would appear. Their stable of venues includes LA’s biggest (which wasn’t planned for 2020) including Dodger Stadium, Staples Center (now known as Crypto.com Arena), The Forum, and The Hollywood Bowl on top of beloved LA comedy haunts, old and new, The Comedy Store, The Hollywood Improv, Dynasty Typewriter, and The Elysian.

The top billing for the line-up is also more robust than we remember. On the schedule, the streamer has David Letterman, Tina Fey/Amy Poehler, Ali Wong, Eddie Izzard, Larry David, Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll, Seth Rogen’s Table Reads, Marc Maron, Jane Fonda/Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Colin Quinn, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Ilana Glazer, Jimmy Carr, Taylor Tomlinson, Margaret Cho, Ben Schwartz, and Kevin Smith.

Oh yeah, there’s Dave Chappelle too as well as Aziz Ansari who are two of Netflix’s biggest gets within their talent pool, but have had the “cancellation” treatment. We have no doubt that their shows will sell out.

As they are billing it as the “biggest comedy event in history*, *probably” (SF Sketchfest does have way more programming and the Edinburgh Fringe is bigger than most festivals, period.), they’ve also filled out their line-up with plenty of folks (including many of our absolute favorites) that you shouldn’t miss if you’re putting the money down for Netflix Is a Joke Fest. That includes Todd Glass, Melissa Villaseñor, Guy Branum, Natalie Palamides doing Laid, Beth Stelling, James Adomian, Robin Tran, Mae Martin, and Sam Jay.

You can take a gander at the schedule here, then go get tickets starting this Fri. Dec. 10th at NetflixIsAJokeFest.com.

Mel Brooks Will Finally Get to Make History of the World Part 2 (as a Series on Hulu)

October 18, 2021

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Almost more unbelievable than 1981 being 40 years ago, Mel Brooks is going to finally have the follow up to his History Part of the World Part 1 and it’s going to be a series on Hulu.

Says Mel Brooks, “I can’t wait to once more tell the real truth about all the phony baloney stories the world has been conned into believing are History!” We wonder how he’ll cover the rise of disinformation in the 2010s.

We’ll be throughly curious to see what Brooks’ sense of humor, which is so thankfully intact at his advanced age of 95, will be like in 2022. The first movie got mixed reviews, but, perhaps, something as ponderous as the history of the world, even in parody form, will be better presented as a series. Also, the mix of creatives involved should prove for a fascinating blend of generations of comedy. Including on the producing/writing team are such comedy luminaries as Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, and Ike Barinholtz to name a few and, with that in mind, we wonder if the series can go even bluer than the original movie.

We’ll just have to wait until later in 2022 as production starts in spring next year.

In case you are unfamiliar with Brooks’ History of the World Part 1, here’s the trailer.

Pick of the Day: Padma Puts On a Virtual Comedy Show 12/17

We told you that there would be plenty of big time comedy benefit shows for the Georgia Runoffs and, lordy lordy, there sure are. This latest one is being put up by the one and only Padma Lakshmi that’s very explicit in this regard by being called, “Padma Puts on a Virtual Comedy Show for the Georgia Runoff Elections: An Evening to Benefit FairFight”.

Stacey Abrams’ FairFight was instrumental in registering voters and contributing to Biden’s 2020 Election win and will undoubtedly be crucial in the upcoming special Georgia Senate Runoffs.

So, they tapped Padma for a live benefit show and she, in turn, got one hell of a line-up that includes:

Hasan Minhaj, Phoebe Robinson, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Peretti, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, Benito Skinner, Mike Birbiglia, John Early, Roy Wood Jr., Julio Torres, Michelle Buteau, Patton Oswalt, Aparna Nancherla, Caleb Hearon, Wanda Sykes, Joel Kim Booster, Tituss Burgess, Meg Stalter, Patti Harrison, Nikki Glaser, Ayo Edebiri, Jo Firestone, Amber Ruffin, Dulce Sloan, Naomi Ekperigin, W. Kamau Bell, Mitra Jouhari, Sydnee Washington, Marie Faustin, and Andy Cohen.

There will also be music from King Princess, Perfume Genius, Waxahatchee, Brittany Howard, Local Natives, Aloe Blacc, and Cautious Clay.

Lastly, the evening’s virtual festivities will be hosted by none other than the Las Culturistas themselves, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

Reads like a festival line-up, doesn’t it? Well, we still can’t do that in person right now, but you can enjoy this gigantic Padma Puts on a Virtual Comedy Show comedy live-stream on Thurs. Dec. 17th at 6PM PT/9PM ET at youtube.com/padmalakshmi and donate to FairFight here.

If You Haven’t Already, Please Enjoy Wanda Sykes’ Latest Special “Not Normal”

May 27, 2019

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This special “Not Normal” is a great reminder that Wanda can still have audience rolling with laughs and applause for a whole damn hour and that she’s, without a doubt, one of the best comics working today.

It has been a few years (2016 to be exact) since Wanda Skyes put out a special. So, in that time between then and now, as the U.S. and the world has gotten a little crazy (if not really crazy), the title for this latest special, Not Normal, seems very apt. It also should clue you in to the political bent of the special. In fact, Wanda, almost seeming to get it out of the way, shares her firebrand feelings on Trump.

Even though audiences are fatigued with Trump material these days, Sykes’ panache shines through and is instantly charming. Wanda transitions the rest of the hour from politics to less divisive topics with her take on The Bachelor and the inner workings of her family as Wanda is married to a French woman. It’s a great, classic hour of stand-up from the inimitable voice of Wanda Sykes and you should definitely watch Not Normal (or watch it again).

Epix Orders Upcoming Stand-Up Comic Showcase Series ‘Unprotected Sets’

August 16, 2018

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Epix Orders Upcoming Stand-Up Comic Showcase Series ‘Unprotected Sets’

As Netflix has spent much of their cache in stand-up comedy on the biggest names around and stand-up seems to unfortunately be mostly an afterthought in late night, there is a growing window for other folks to tap into comedians that have yet to get their first break.

Epix is going in on this opportunity with 12 episodes of a stand-up showcase series called Unprotected Sets with Page Hurwitz showrunning and Wanda Sykes EP’ing focusing on comics on the rise.

It’s interesting to note that they won’t be shooting in America’s comedy hubs of LA, NYC, or even Chicago, but, instead, in Portland, San Diego, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Minneapolis.

No word on who is on the show as of yet, but you’ll definitely know when the show premieres on Friday, October 5th on Epix.

April 21, 2018

Uncategorized

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Karen Kilgariff will take another “lovely” stroll down memory lane with Wanda Sykes and Sue Murphy as they watch and riff off of old sets of theirs from decades ago for another round of Throwback.

Normally in the Lab, this edition will be in the Main Room at The Hollywood Improv and should be a damn good time. Tickets are $18 (w/2 item min.). Get them here.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, screenings, open mics, maps, and more can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.

Talk Show the Game Show with Guy Branum Returns with More Late Night Chaos on Feb. 1st

December 28, 2017

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See a bit of what Guy and company have in store in this promo and look forward to Talk Show the Game Show’s return on Thursday, February 1st on TruTV.