Recent Posts in comedy
July 2, 2009
John Wesley Harding - 2009 Tour Dates (more Cabinet of Wonders @ LPR, full band shows, Bell House & more)
by Andrew Frisicano
John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace) enjoying some cricket...
As you can see above, John Wesley Harding has been taking a vacation abroad (documented on both his Twitter and MySpace blog). It wasn't all fun though -- the trip included a set of overseas shows too. Actually, hopefully those are fun too.
Harding's next show will take place July 8th at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. After that, Harding has a few full band gigs scheduled. John and friends come to the NYC area for a show at the Bell House on July 25th. Tickets are on sale. No word on which friends he'll bring with him, though we're willing to bet one of them will be Eugene Mirman who is also performing at the Brooklyn venue less than a week earlier.
JWH will be starting up his "Cabinet of Wonders" shows again too. That monthly residency at (Le) Poisson Rouge runs September 16th, October 7th and November 18th. No lineups have been announced, but past event fixtures have always included Eugene Mirman, and other authors and musicians.
Before those dates, Harding jumps on another friend's revue -- "Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals?" hosted by Errollyn Wallen at LPR on Tuesday, July 14th. Others on that bill include Margaret Leng Tan, Rita Porfiris, David Grand and Djonque.
Tickets for all of the John Wesley Harding LPR shows are on sale.
Harding's Cabinet of Wonders revue last visited NYC on April 15th, after a national March/April tour. If you're wondering, What the hell actually happens at these Cabinet of Wonders things? You can check out our coverage of the event's February 11th, March 11th and April 15th performances at LPR. Or look at the performer/set list chart from one of the most recent CoW events in Pittsburgh, with all tour dates, below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 9:50 AM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2009
Jay Mundy returns with another Williamsburg rant (listen)
"In this monologue, conservative talk show host Jay Mundy lambastes New York City yuppies and hipsters, individuals that he assesses as self-loathing and who have been so psychologically disturbed by their earlier life experiences that they seek to become outcasts and start anew as "New Yorkers."" -Jay MundyJay Mundy, whose Wikipedia page was deleted for being "Clearly a self-penned vanity bio", obviously enjoyed all the attention and comments he got from his first round of delusional Williamsburg bashing. He enjoyed it so much, that he recorded a new one. In this one he mentions the "freaks who have been listening to the program lately", and claims, among other things, that he has "hundreds of thousands of listeners around the country". File under comedy, and listen below...
Continue reading "Jay Mundy returns with another Williamsburg rant (listen)"
Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:01 AM | Comments (45)
June 25, 2009
Dom DeLuise & Ed McMahon - RIP too
Belated RIP's for Dom and Ed, now in heaven with Farrah Fawcett.
Continue reading "Dom DeLuise & Ed McMahon - RIP too "
Posted by brooklynvegan at 4:36 PM | Comments (6)
June 18, 2009
Jay Mundy calls Williamsburg, Brooklyn the "sick, deranged mecca of far-left hipsters" on the radio (listen)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn (not Jay Mundy) on Sunday (photo by Ryan Muir)
"I've never seen so many sick weirdos gathered in one place. They're all doing drugs all day. They have their hair dyed and tattoos so they can't have a job so they're all living on public assistance...They love Obama and the leftists and hate police power. They're carefree people. If I lived there a day, I tell you I would be in jail for murder. Take the weirdest hippie you know, and multiply it by 1000, and that's Williamsburg." -Jay MundyFirst of all, that is NOT conservative talk show host Jay Mundy in the picture above, but it is a dude who was very upset with most people on Bedford this past Sunday (6/14).
Jay Mundy, quoted above, also doesn't like people on Bedford, but that can't be him in the picture because he's much younger. Listen to his whole rant by playing the two embedded videos below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:32 AM | Comments (106)
June 16, 2009
What It's like to be a VIP at Bonnaroo 2009 by Dave Hill
Comedian and musician Dave Hill was summoned to Bonnaroo this past weekend to be part of both the comedy and music going-ons at the four-day Tennessee festival. I asked if he'd mind sharing his experiences (and pictures) with BrooklynVegan.com. He agreed. I regretted it. He sent it anyway, so here it is (starting with some MP3's by his rock band Valley Lodge), but warning: this post is not for the squeamish (NSFTS)...
DOWNLOAD: Valley Lodge - All of My Lovin (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Valley Lodge - Hangin On (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Valley Lodge - The Door (MP3)
Dave Hill tests face-melting licks out on some chairs
I've just returned from four magical days and nights at Bonnaroo, where my rock band Valley Lodge was the house band for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's "Bonnapoo 2009" shows, which featured all sorts of awesomeness from Robert Smigel aka Triumph as well as sets from the great Todd Barry, Amy Schumer, and Kumail Nanjiani.
"Smigel performed four sets as Triumph at Bonnaroo, which annually hosts a comedy tent along with its smorgasbord of music acts, spread out over five main stages on a farm in rural Tennessee.The excitement started on Wednesday night when I got on a plane to Nashville with my close personal friend Janeane Garofalo, Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, and the rest of my rock band Valley Lodge. If you've ever wanted to be on a completely hilarious plane, you could do a lot worse than to have been on this plane. As you can probably imagine, all of us were running back and forth between our seats spraying each other with seltzer bottles and throwing pies in each others' faces. At one point, Pete Holmes came over to my seat to shake my hand and it turned out he had one of those joy buzzers on his finger. Man, was my face red. I got him back though by spraying him in the face with a prank flower I was wearing at the time. We both just laughed and laughed after this happened. He couldn't stay mad at me."My live act is a huge undertaking because Triumph kind of thrives on the immediate, discussing what everybody's thinking about," said Smigel while whisking past festival-goers in a golf cart, puppet on hand." [AP]
Once we got to Nashville, some unmarked vehicles took us all to Murfreesboro, the popular Tennessee town where we all stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, which is really classy. Because I snore and also like to get up to all sorts of hardcore banging in hotels, I had my own room. When I dropped off my bags, I looked around the room and got all excited about all the snoring and hardcore banging I would be doing in my room over the next few days and nights.
continued below...
Continue reading "What It's like to be a VIP at Bonnaroo 2009 by Dave Hill"
Posted by brooklynvegan at 9:20 PM | Comments (29)
June 8, 2009
Radio Happy Hour @ LPR w/ Norah Jones, Andrew W.K. & Michael Showalter (tix on sale)
Radio Happy Hour [at (Le) Poisson Rouge] is a live variety show featuring an old-time radio comedy/drama and your favorite guest stars from the worlds of film, music, and letters. Hosted by Sam Osterhout, the show engages its guests in a wildly right-angled conversation that careens between interviews, performances, and trivia. And at the center of it all is a short, old time radio comedy in which the guest stars as him or herself or, in some cases, as Nancy Drew. Audiences will see all of this--the interviews, the corny jokes, the guest performances, and the behind-the-scenes making of a radio drama--from 2 to 3 pm on the second Saturdays of June, July, and August. Radio Happy Hour is an updated, New York version of Hee Haw. With more drinking. And sound effects. Trust us, it'll make sense when you see it.The guests for the three scheduled Radio Happy Hours are Norah Jones, Michael Showalter, and Andrew W.K.. Tickets (only $5) are on sale now.
This summer, Norah Jones, who recently appeared on 30 Rock, is appearing in her second movie, Wah Do Dem, with Sean Bones. She also has a high profile gig with Rufus and Martha Wainwright scheduled for late August on the tip of Long Island, and probably some smaller ones scattered around too.
Andrew W.K. has a number of shows and projects coming up, including a Canadian tour, a gig at Santos Party House on Thursday, June 11th, and Cake Shop show June 12th.
Michael Showalter appears at Bonnaroo with Michael Ian Black this weekend (June 11-14). The pair will celebrate their new Comedy Central show, Michael and Michael Have Issues, at The Bell House with a comedy set and a screening of its premiere on July 15th. Tickets are on sale. Showalter will also be at All Points West on August 2nd.
More Radio Happy Hour info below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:35 PM | Comments (4)
Michael & Michael Have Issues - on TV & live in Brooklyn
Executive produced by Black, Showalter, Jim Biederman ("Whitest Kids U Know," "I'm With Busey") and Lou Wallach, "Michael and Michael Have Issues" stars Black and Showalter in a new twist on narrative and sketch comedies that features the long-time comedic partners as the hosts of their own fictitious sketch show. Sketches will be interspersed throughout the narrative thread of each episode."Michael and Michael is a new show that premieres on Comedy Central on July 15th. That same night, the State/Stella veterans "will perform comedy sets leading up to the live broadcast of the show" at The Bell House in Brooklyn! Tickets are on sale.
Last Thursday, M&M shot "a theater scene in front of a live audience". Videos below...
Continue reading "Michael & Michael Have Issues - on TV & live in Brooklyn"
Posted by brooklynvegan at 1:54 PM | Comments (18)
June 5, 2009
Lady Circus + Fuct = Cirque du Quoi?!? (last weekend)
More info on the Brooklyn show @ the websites of Lady Circus & Fuct.
Posted by brooklynvegan at 6:27 PM | Comments (5)
June 4, 2009
DAMN! - Girl Talk remixed Bad Brilliance (MP3s) who plays w/ Andrew WK others @ Santos courtesy of Adult Swim
by Andrew Frisicano
DOWNLOAD: Bad Brilliance - Non Tradition Ball Head (Girl Talk Remix) / It's So Fun (Andrew W.K. Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julia - Cocaine (The Knocks Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Aleister X - The Git (MP3)
Bad Brilliance & Andrew WK @ Terminal 5 in November (more by Zach Stern)
If you missed Andrew W.K.'s DAMN! The Mixtape release party at Santos on May 28th, don't worry. You'll have another chance to catch W.K. and his Skyscraper Music Maker friends at the club's first Adult Swim Presents Summer at Santos Series show on Thursday, June 11th.
The lineup for that free gig includes Andrew W.K. and special guests, plus opening sets by Cherie Lily, Aleister X, Bad Brilliance and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Video clips of what exactly went down on the 28th are posted below.
Cherie Lily, Aleister X, Bad Brilliance and that crew are all featured prominently on DAMN! The Mixtape -- a comp produced by Andrew WK and B-Roc of The Knocks. Check out three tracks from that album, above. Those include Bad Brilliance's Girl Talk & Andrew W.K. remixes together as one MP3. And speaking of Girl Talk, he has some shows of his own coming up this summer.
Cherie Lily and Andrew W.K. are also performing at the Street Meat show at Cake Shop the next night (Friday, June 12th). It's a free show that's billed as "Character Comedy with Special Guests." Also playing are Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Jon Glaser, Trevor Williams and more.
As previously discussed, Andrew W.K. has a bunch of projects debuting soon: a solo piano improv album coming in the fall, a Canadian tour in June with Nardwuar (who recently interviewed Vivian Girls) and his own Cartoon Network show called Destroy Build Destroy.
Well, he also contributed to the most recent Current 93 album, and at a July 7th Santos show...
Andrew will perform several pieces from his voice performance contribution to The Journal of Popular Noise. This will be Andrew's first ever performance of this type, and a special night of new sounds and styles. Featuring TV BABY, Walker & Cantrell, Jayson Green and DJ TK.Tickets for that gig are on sale now.
Flyers for the Santos and Cake Shop shows, with Bad Brilliance vids and live clips from the DAMN! The Mixtape release party, below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:34 PM | Comments (9)
May 28, 2009
Demetri Martin stars in 'Taking Woodstock', Prospect Park show status & other 40th Anniversary news
Kelli Garner, Demetri Martin & Paul Dano in Taking Woodstock
While [Woodstock Ventures'] most promising idea -- a one-day mini-Woodstock in Prospect Park in Brooklyn this August -- fizzled when they could not find sponsors, that doesn't mean others haven't coaxed a few more marketing miles from the creaky Woodstock bus.Taking Woodstock, a film whose cast also includes Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy (as Max Yasgur) and others, is set for summer release on August 14th -- one day before the Fest's official 40th on August 15th.Dozens of projects are planned to commemorate the August 1969 concert, including an Ang Lee movie called "Taking Woodstock" [starring Demetri Martin, trailer below], a Heroes of Woodstock concert tour (with Jefferson Starship and Melanie) and at least 13 books, including one for children co-authored by a second cousin of Max Yasgur, the farmer who lent his land in Bethel, N.Y., for the original event. Target is set to run a "Summer of Love" promotion featuring licensed Woodstock merchandise, like beach towels with the symbolic white dove perched on a guitar neck.
The operators of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, on the grounds of the original Woodstock concert, gave up trying to work with Woodstock Ventures and announced on May 4 that they were going ahead with their own commemorative concert Aug. 15, called the Bethel Woods Music Festival, which will include acts from the Heroes of Woodstock tour.
...[Woodstock promoter Michael Lang] has not given up hope that he can pull off another last-minute event. He said they were speaking with a potential sponsor and city officials for a free concert in Prospect Park in the fall. "We would have 150,000 ticketed and an overflow area for 150,000 more with video screens," he said, speaking more animatedly when the logistics of a show were being discussed than he was when the subject was finding sponsors and working out issues with Mr. Rosenman.
"It would be noon to 11 p.m., eight to 10 bands on the main stage," Mr. Lang continued. "On-site solar and wind power; biodiesel for generators; organic and local produce; recycled paper goods. We'd like to give away one-day free passes on city transit with a ticket." [NY Times]
As stated above, that's far from the only thing celebrating Woodstock this summer. Tickets are on sale for The Bethel Woods Center show. Levon Helm (who hosts regular jam sessions in his Woodstock, NY studio), Jefferson Starship, Canned Heat and others are on the bill.
And as stated above, many of the acts at that event will be traveling with the Heroes of Woodstock tour. That show has dates across the US, including a Wednesday, August 12th show at NYC's Nokia Theatre Times Square. Tickets are on sale.
NYC is also hosting its own set of Woodstock anniverary concerts at Castle Clinton, with four nights of free music planned. That kicks off with the Music of Sly & the Family Stone: "It's a Family Affair" on Thursday, July 16th.
Not actually related, but close enough... this weekend (May 29th-31st) in the Catskills, not too far from Woodstock, Mountain Jam is happening in Hunter, NY. Bands on the bill include the Gene Ween Band, The Hold Steady, Girl Talk, Coheed & Cambria, Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers Band and more. Tickets are still on sale.
One place that won't be having a "Woodstock" anniversary event is San Francisco, where its tribute concert organizers were recently served with a cease and desist order from Lang and Woodstock Venture for using the trademarked name.
Check out the trailer and poster for Taking Woodstock, with all Demetri Martin and Heroes of Woodstock dates, below...
Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:55 PM | Comments (14)