This comedy debate show, Straw Men, really pushes the envelope with how hilariously childish you can get in a debate and it’s all the more brilliant for it. The catharsis you’ll get from seeing adults resort to name calling in debates over the weirdest topics is just so damn fun.
So, don’t miss this latest edition of Straw Men, which has a killer line-up as well. Go get your tickets here.
If you both desire the superiority that comes with being a member of a book club AND also don’t want to really put in the work to actually be in a book club AND want to see a great comedy show with LA comedy’s best and brightest doing the work of a book club for you, then Drew Spears’ Cook Blub might just be for you.
For this debut at Blue Rooster Art Supplies, fantastic line-up will be breaking down Chris Kattan’s SNL memoir “Baby Don’t Hurt Me: Stories and Scars from Saturday Night Live” (you’re free to read the book or not by the way).
Also, you’ll get to be part of a book club that meets in the back of an art supplies store, so you definitely will feel intellectually superior after attending.
Go get your tickets here.
Already, the trailer for Los Espookys has us hooked for the possibilities of what weird horror comedy that creators Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega, and Fred Armisen all have up their sleeves.
The premiere will be on Jun. 14th, but you’ll get a chance to see Los Espookys up close and personal at The Regent downtown just a few days after. Go get your tickets now for $30 (they kick up to $37.50 day of).
Hailing from Brooklyn, Sam Taggart will be gracing us once again with his clever/silly wit, verve, characters, songs (he did, after all, do a whole wonderful show about being a comic for a dance club, i.e. a “club comic”) for his new show All 4 U. Joining him will be the wondrous Joel Kim Booster and Charles Gould.
All 4 U is coming to the Lyric Hyperion on May 20th at 10PM. Tickets are $8 and you can (and should) get them here.
The tragic loss of the brilliant Brody Stevens is still reverberating throughout comedy and will for quite some time. His passing makes the issue of mental health and its crucial importance in our lives.
With that in mind, Largo is holding a benefit in Brody’s memory for NAMI (National Association on Mental Illness) that will feature Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis, and more next Wednesday, May 22nd 8:30PM.
Tickets are $55.25 right now. Go get them here.
Atsuko Okatsuka (whose name we hope you’ve gotten acquainted with via Vulture’s Comedians You Should and Will Know list, her killing it on stages around town, and her recently announced development of her “woke Japanese game show” Let’s Go Atsuko) is recording a comedy album in town at Dynasty Typewriter at the end of the month.
Atsuko is definitely one of the comedians we’ve enjoyed see rise through the scene here over the years with her sharp observations, unique perspective, infectious charm.
So, please go to her album taping. Tickets are only $5 right now ($10 on day of) and you can get 7PM tickets here and 9PM tickets here.
GAYME SHOW!, your favorite trivia show that challenges straights on queer culture is back in town from NYC. Dave Mizzoni and Matt Rogers will be at the helm again to see if two chosen straight male comedians can survive in various challenges designed by and for queer culture experts.
Also, guests Patti Harrison and Brendan Scannell will be aiding contestants in their quest to be Queen of the Straights.
This next GAYME SHOW! is happening on May 28th at the Satellite at 7:30PM. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at door. Go get them here.
Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian, for our money, have the best Trump impression and Bernie Sanders impressions, respectively. The 2016 election cycle saw them bring their powers together to create the live show Trump vs. Bernie, which, went on a nationwide tour and got adapted for TV.
Leading up to the 2020 election, a real life match up between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders might happen yet again, which is a great excuse to revive Trump vs. Bernie for a tour, which is exactly what’s happening.
Join Ataamnuik and Adomian at the Lodge Room in Highland Park on July 17th at 7:30PM to see Trump vs. Bernie rise yet again. Tickets are $30 and you can (and very much should) get them here.
Truly, it’s a pure joy to see Naomi Ekperigin take any stage as she owns the room immediately (watch her late night sets and half hour special for proof). Her poise and shrewd takes on the world make the room pop with applause and laughter the whole way through.
So, you should go see her headline over at Dynasty Typewriter next week as it’ll be something to behold (FYI, the amazing Debra DiGiovanni is opening FYI). Go get your tickets here. Seriously, go get them right now.
Desus and Mero are definitely on the come up in the late night world (and we would hope you’re on board at this point). Moving from Viceland to Showtime, getting bumped up to two nights for the summer, and bringing a refreshing edge to late night has gotten them much deserved praise.
They’re based out of NYC, but come August, you’ll get a chance to see the duo live at The Theatre at Ace Hotel and see what the phenoms are all about in person. Tickets just went on sale and you can (and very much should) go get them here.
Lez Miz and Friends is so damn ambitious as a meta musical that viciously deconstructs the beloved, eternally running musical Les Miserables as well as work in puppets versus humans paradigm into the whole thing. It’s a tall order, but writers Nathan Makaryk and Geneviève Flati and the marvelous cast pull it off with precise abandon.
It’s such a rollicking dashing of convention that we’d wager you’d enjoy even if puppets, musicals, and Les Miserables weren’t really your thing.
Les Miz and Friends has running at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood for the last several weeks and will be finishing their run this weekend (Fri. 8PM/Sat. 3PM & 8PM). Don’t miss your chance to catch before it leaves. Go get your tickets (they’re $32 a piece) here right now.
Once upon a time, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer used to take the stage together at UCB to do something called Crash Test. It was a live show where Paul and Rob got to do whatever the hell they wanted (i.e. an aggro-version of musical chairs, accidentally talking to celebrity assistants in the crowd, going over Vin Diesel’s real FB page, etc.) in between great stand-ups. Eventually, that led to an entire comedy special that they did on a glass bus.
It has been more than couple of a years since Huebel and Scheer have dove into this wondrous chaos, but that’s all changing as they will be reprising Crash Test again at Largo Thurs. May 30th at 8:30PM. Go get your tickets now as we have no doubt that this will be something special.
First off, there’s a National Cartoonist Society Festival happening down in Huntington Beach this month. Already, that’s something that should highly peak your interest as it will be a big shindig for comics and cartoons (plus a zombie walk).
On top of that, there will be one of our favorite concept shows, Picture This!, down in the OC for a special free, pop-up show in, perhaps, the perfect setting
They’ve got many of their favorites and stalwarts of the show coming down from LA to Huntington Beach and it’s your chance to see if you’ve avoided making the trek to The Virgil in Silverlake over the last few years.
Get more details here.
Love it or hate it, The Bachelor will stand as a reality TV institution that has forever affected the landscape of television. Thus, an unauthorized parody musical of it is inevitable and writer Richelle Meiss and director John Flynn do a smash up job delivering such an offering.
Bachelor The Musical nails all the tropes in a fully realized musical and is even delightful to those who actively don’t watch the show and might be slightly unfamiliar with its canon. We got to see it on the intimate stage of UCB Franklin, but it will be lovely to see it on a much bigger stage at Dynasty Typewriter.
Get your tickets now ($20 in adv., $25 at door) here.
It has been a minute (well, it has been quite a few figurative minutes) since legendary garage comedy trio of Paul Danke, Cornell Reid, and Sean Green as The Comedy Garage (there’s a whole doc about it) have assembled to put on around great round of underground comedy.
Lucky for all of us, they’ll be coming back together again this Friday with a classic line-up and putting on a show that’s legitimately underground. Get more details here.
Action Civics CA, an organization to educating the youth into being informed, responsible citizens of the world, is throwing another huge comedy benefit at DTLA’s Theatre at Ace Hotel that features many of your favorite comedy folks (really, just look at that line-up that will probably have more huge names added as they get closer to the day of).
It’s best to get your tickets for Let’s Save the Future now (they’re going for $40-$100) right now. Go get them here.
Normally dazzling the folks of NYC, Peter Smith and Sandy Honig (perhaps you’ve seen her as part of Three Busy Debras?) are bringing their comedy-striptease-music-variety extravaganza The Bongo Hour for a pop-in at Dynasty Typewriter along with Ben Moss and Bang Bang Luna.
See what we’ve been missing out on this coast (not to mention that you’ll get to enjoy the likes of John Early and Patti Harrison)
The Bongo Hour will be happening at 10PM on Fri., May 10th and tickets are $10 now and $15 on day of. Go get ‘em here (we hear they’re closing to selling out FYI).
As we’ve only gotten to be enthralled by the brilliant Anna Seregina 10-15 min. at a time for the past few years (we put her on our album from a couple of years ago), we can’t wait to see her very own solo show. Her combo of silliness, vulnerability, self-reflexivity, and command of the stage is something not to be missed.
That just so happens to be coming soon in the form of Woman Factory at the Lyric Hyperion next month and we love it being described as “an evening of romance and intrigue”.
So, please, without further adieu, get your tickets, $8 in advance and $10 at the door, here.
When going out to one of LA’s many stellar comedy shows, you might often wonder what, where, and when you should eat (especially some great indie shows take place in weird parts of town and there just so happens to be no food truck present).
Well, Amuse Bouche will be an evening next month that gracefully fixes that issue by offering up an exclusive, delicious dinner from Otoño, Hail Mary, and Melody as well as a very, very, very delectable line-up of comedy (just look at the flyer and you’ll know). You can thank CleftClips and the podcast Yelling About Pâté for such presenting such a night for epicures/comedy aficionados.
Tickets are $35 (includes show + dinner, drinks sold separately). Go get ‘em here before they sell out.
One of the best comedians and humans other there, Maria Bamford, is doing another two afternoon shows this week at The Clubhouse in Los Feliz to hammer her new hour out.
Donations are suggested. This is your chance to see Maria probably in the most intimate space that you can (so long as you can swing going to a show on 2PM on a weekday).
While some folks spent way too much money to see and hear tech issues at Coachella, you can go see the best in musical comedy that UCB and Matt Apodaca has to offer (and do so for FREE).
The UCB Music Fest 2019 does have some truly great acts including:
The Sloppy Boys – Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Jeff Dutton
Doodie Mob – Carl Tart, Ronnie Adrian, Lamar Woods, Tim Neenan, Greg Smith, Joe Weber, Garrett Hanson
Will Hines’ Bad Guitar Solos – Will Hines, Mel Cowan, Joel Spence, Dana Wickens, Brett Morris, Jiavani Linayao
Age Against the Machine – Zach Olsen, Winston Carter, Alex Newman and Matt Apodaca
Hot Hot Fuss – Bryan Rainstein, Jeremy Olson, Cassi Jerkins, Tim Neumann
If anything, please don’t miss another chance to see Will Hines earnestly try to solo on the guitar while lacking the skill to do so.
Get more details here.
It’s no secret that we love Natalie Palamides here at The Comedy Bureau as she has made our 100 Best lists more than once.
Thus, we feel obligated to tell you that she is bringing her two critically acclaimed, award winning solo shows, LAID and NATE, back to the place where they were born, Lyric Hyperion Theatre & Cafe. Whether you’ve never seen it or seen it multiple times, you shouldn’t miss out on Natalie doing these encore performances.
NATE will go up on May 24th & May 25th.
LAID will go up on May 31st and Jun. 1st.
Tickets are $20 for every show and well worth it.
Demi Adejuyigbe and Miel Bredouw have made themselves into some of the best song parodists around via their hit podcast Punch Up The Jam. Just recently, their “punch-ups” of Enya’s Only Time, Lil’ Nas X’s Old Town Road, and Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much show how sharp, quick, and oh-so-damn-fun they are when it comes to re-engineering pop songs inside out.
That means you should absolutely go to their live taping at the Regent in DTLA near the end of May. TIckets are $15 right now and $20 on the day of. Go get those advance tickets here (do so quickly before they sell out).
First it was Steve Allen Theater, then it was Dynasty Typewriter, and now, The Lyric Hyperion Theatre & Cafe in Silverlake will be the home to the legendary midnight variety show Tomorrow! with Ron Lynch.
The show has been going for over 14 years and might coming to its most perfect home yet. The “re-return” show has a great collection of comedy from all corners of the art form and just so happens to be happening on 4/20.
Tickets are still only $10. Get more details here (and get hooked on this LA comedy institution already).
The fantastic Josh Gondelman is about to release his third album (we hope you’d know about his other two albums and his writing at Last Week Tonight and Desus and Mero because it’s great) Dancing on a Weeknight. The record is a delight (we’ll tell you more about that when it comes out, but you can pre-order it here until then).
Come and indeed “dance (well, enjoy a comedy show while seated, then maybe dance afterwards?) on a weeknight” and celebrate this album release at Dynasty Typewriter! Please go get tickets here.