by Klaus Kinski

To call me an Anglophile would be politest way to appraise my absolute obsession and preference for all things British. My sad, dork-ass life revolves around Downton Abbey, Top Gear, Wheeler Dealers, The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Monty Python, Benny Hill, Pink Floyd, Peep Show, Mr. Bean, Matt Berry, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, british grindcore, Battersea Power Station, That Mitchell and Webb Look, annoyingly speaking with a cockney accent for hours at a time much to the annoyance of my fiance and, of course, the holy trinity of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. And here's you; "Why don't you just move there if you love it so much, dork?" Well, get me a flat with a lift and me and my knickers will be there before you can say "Blinkered".

Anyway, back to the holy trinity of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington... well, more specifically, Gervais/Merchant. The name Stephen Merchant has always been synonymous with the name Ricky Gervais as the pair has collaborated on several Bafta, Emmy, and Golden Globe winning projects like The Office (UK), The Office (US), as well as things like the show Extras, podcasts, radio shows, the animated series The Ricky Gervais Show (which gets its audio material from their audio comedy show of the same name), and more recently An Idiot Abroad. Gervais has always been the more prominent mouth-piece and face of these collaborations, leaving Merchant somewhat just hovering in the background of it all.

Merchant recently dragged his ample bones out from the shadows cast by Ricky Gervais' larger than life persona to embark on his first, large-scale, solo comedy tour. He spent the majority of September, October, and November 2011 bringing his show "Hello Ladies" to packed houses all over the UK. The US is being blessed with a mere 6 shows, four of which are in California, and two of which happen to be at Town Hall in NYC on Tuesday December 20th and Wednesday December 21st. Unfortunately the December 20th show is SOLD OUT, but there are a handful of tickets left for the December 21st show via Ticketmaster. Oh yeah, your old pal Klaus also has 5 PAIRS OF TICKETS TO GIVEAWAY for DECEMBER 21st. Whoa! Instructions on how to win are below. Good luck! You will NOT want to miss this!

Instructions on how to win, and a couple videos below....

Continue reading "Stephen Merchant playing 6 US shows, 2 in NYC (win a pair of tix or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5!)"

Though it doesn't say it on their website, Mike Birbiglia promises that he's performing "Sleepwalk With Me" at Comic Strip Live tonight (12/12).

UPDATE: Mike's show starts at 8:30 and tickets go on sale at noon.

I don't know what time it starts and ends, but if it's done early enough you can then head to UCB West for this week's edition of Whiplash with Leo Allen and guests.

Alternatively, you can spend your Monday night with Kurt and Kristen in Brooklyn at Littlefield. Their guests at Hot Tub this week include Michael Showalter.

Head back to UCB West on Wednesday after work for a live WFMU broadcast of "7 Second Delay" with guests Lou Reed and Suzanne Vega.

UPDATE: Lou Reed is also making an appearance at Book Court tonight.

In other "live" comedy news, tickets are on sale for Star Talk Live at The Bell House on Sunday, December 18th. The lineup includdes Neil de Grasse Tyson, Eugene Mirman, and John Hodgman.

One night after that is the Hot Tub Holiday edition at Littlefield with Kurt, Kristen, Jon Glaser, Hannibal Buress, Adam the Real Man, and musical guest River City Extension.

Speaking of Hannibal Buress, he opened two shows for Aziz Ansari at the Bell House on Saturday night. We posted pictures.

Speaking of the Bell House, Rocket from the Tombs plays there tonight!

photos by David Andrako

Aziz Ansari booked two last minute Saturday night shows at the Bell House to test out material for a new album he hopes to release next year. Hannibal Burress opened both the early and late shows. We've got some pictures from the the late one in this post.

Aziz's friend James Murphy wasn't in the audience (he was over at Terminal 5), but his other GQ friend David Chang was spotted.

Two days earlier Aziz got some major internet attention thanks to a post on his blog. As Gizmodo says:

Jay-Z and Kanye West's N*ggas in Paris is an epically hard, head bumping anthem that's ruled rap for the better part of the year. Aziz Ansari and Matthew Shawver just one upped it by translating it into a hilarious rendition filled with emojis from their iPhones. This is the best thing to happen to music all year.

More pictures from the Brooklyn show below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari played shows @ the Bell House w/ Hannibal Burress (pics), transcribed a Kanye/Jay-Z song in Emojis"

Aziz Ansari, David Chang & James Murphy

AZIZ ANSARI with Special Guest HANNIBAL BURESS
This Saturday, December 10th at The Bell House
21+ / $15
Two shows:
7pm: TICKETS
9:30pm: TICKETS

Both shows on-sale at noon

Fred Armisen @ NBC Experience Store in NYC - 12/4/2011 (photo by anthonyquintano)

Fred Armisen, who will be out on tour with Carrie Brownstein in January, has been making other promotional appearances lately including one in the NBC Store yesterday (12/4, one day after he was hanging with the Black Keys) and one during lunch, an autograph signing, at J&R today (12/5). On Sunday, 12/11, Fred will be at Other Music with his playlist, or something like that... Just check out the description below...

Continue reading "Fred Armisen out promoting Portlandia, playing (or something) at Other Music"

by Klaus Kinski

Reggie Watts, Lisa Delarios & Arden Myrin

And now for the good news that will hopefully serve as an antidote for the terrible news. Have you been one of the lucky and smart mofos who has managed to catch The Party Machine at one of its many appearances at Brooklyn's Union Hall? Those shows, hosted by Lisa Delarios and Arden Myrin, are always off the f-ing chain and always rife with incredible guests. RIFE I tells ya. Structurally, Union Hall can barely withstand the ruckus the Party Machine inflicts on the place, so on Thursday December 8th, The Party Machine will test The Bell House's mettle with The Party Machine Holiday Benefit for The Stiller Foundation.

The Stiller Foundation is a philanthropic effort led by Ben Stiller (never heard of him) whose aim is "to support children around the world by providing educational opportunities to help them realize their full potential." The line-up for this show is EPIC to say the least. Like, so epic that if you suffer from incontinence or heart murmurs, you might want to take some meds before reading on. So far, the published line-up includes Colin Quinn, Michael Showalter, Eleanor Friedberger, Ana Gasteyer, the gorgeous Bobby Tisdale, Seth Herzog (no relation to my nemesis), Andy Kindler (!) and Adira Amram and the Experience. And that's just the talent I am allowed to tell you about. I've heard whispers of special guests what would knock the socks off a shoe cobbler. And the show is only $10! Tha fuck?! I know! Get tickets for the comedy event of the century, and help Ben Stiller in his crusade to help kids who have it so much worse than you whining tarts could ever imagine.

And check this out; Arden's now on the ABC show Suburgatory and doing a pilot with Fred fucking Savage for MTV.

And while you've got your wallet out maybe you should get a coupla tickets to the previously mentioned Pretty Good Friends Holiday Show at the Bell House on December 11th featuring Eugene Mirman (please don't show those slaughterhouse pics again), Kristen Schaal, John Mulaney, and MORE. And when I say more, I mean "Damn, I should have bought a ticket when Klaus mentioned it" more. This show is a benefit for you, the ticket buying smarty-pants, who will get a massive dose of laughter which, I am told, is the best medicine.

Meanwhile catch Eugene Mirman, Dave Hill, Bobby Tisdale & Todd Barry at UCB East on December 5th. It's the Comedy Central Corporate Retreat show and Eugene will be giving a sneak peek of a pilot he made for the basic cable channel.

Todd Barry is filming a Comedy Central one hour special at Gramercy Theater four days earlier! Maybe you saw him practice the material at the Pit.

Oh, and don't forget that Ted Leo and the Pharmacists is playing the Bell House on December 30th. Tickets are still, inexplicably, available.

by Klaus Kinski

Patrice O'Neal

As you may have heard, comedian Patrice O'Neal passed away this morning after suffering a stroke back on October 19th. The news of the stroke first reared its ugly head a week after the actual incident when comedians Jim Norton, Colin Quinn, Robert Kelly, Rich Vos and Keith Robinson confirmed it on the Opie and Anthony radio show on October 26th. As he had survived the stroke, there was always the hope that the big man would somehow pull through. Unfortunately, he lost the battle. Patrice was an absolutely brilliant comedian, respected by both the indie comedy community and the more mainstream comedy folks. He had an absolutely expert knack for presenting you with controversial material in such a playful way that he always managed to avoid coming across as controversial for the sake of being controversial. He was such a charming and magnetic presence that it is incomprehensible that he's gone at 41 years of age. To the uninitiated, do yourself a favor and spend some time on youtube. And to the medical experts who will no doubt rear their ugly heads any second now, I say "Fuck you, troll" in advance. RIP Patrice.

Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live) and Carrie Brownstein (Wild Flag, Sleater kinney) from IFC's hit original comedy Portlandia are embarking on a unique six city tour bringing the romanticized and dreamy rendering of Portland, OR to life for fans across the country. "Portlandia: The Tour" will feature Armisen and Brownstein, the co-creators, writers and stars of Portlandia, performing live music, presenting sneak-peek clips from the show's second season and sharing personal anecdotes about the creation and inspiration of Portlandia and its variety of eccentric characters. "Portlandia: The Tour" begins in Portland, OR, on Tuesday, December 27, 2011.

Bowery tickets, as of this post, are already on Ticketmaster and go on sale at 10am Tuesday EST. Chicago tickets go on sale the same time, but CST.

The Chicago show, which is at the Hideout, happens exactly a month after Fred opens for Wilco at Lincoln Hall in the same city.

All Portlandia dates below...

Continue reading "Fred Armisen & Carrie Brownstein are bringing Portlandia on the road (live dates)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 came to a close on Sunday night. It was another successful year for the well-rounded music fest, and the end of its first in the larger (and much dustier) Auditorium Shores. And though Ryan Gosling may have been the most talked about artist at the festival (Danzig was a close second), the real star was festival organizer Transmission Enertainment for putting together such a kickass lineup on four stages for three days straight (not to mention a mechanical bull) (and skate and bike ramp and tons of good food and vendors and merch and posters and wrestling) (and Turquoise Jeep).

After Hum and then a quick set of comedy by metal comedian Brian Posehn (he did his Slayer joke and one that involved Pantera), Slayer closed out the large Orange stage on Sunday (the other metal acts played on the slightly smaller Black Stage all weekend, but the Orange was the biggest and actually specially built to Slayer's specs).

Slayer wasn't the only wild headliner of the day though. In fact, that's an understatement. Trash Talk played after Henry Rollins did his set of spoken word in the Yellow Tent because Trash Talk had to miss their originally scheduled set on the Black Stage earlier in the week due to a family emergency. Thanking everyone for missing Slayer to see them (actually not true because it ended up Trash Talk was done before Slayer even started), Trash Talk started their hardcore insanity by pointing out that they were on the only stage with no barricade (the stage comedians usually played). Circle pits, stagediving, stage crowding, grabbing the mic, pumping fists (and skateboards) and just general craziness characterized the next 20 minutes or so.

The always controversial Odd Future drew their own giant and enthusiastic crowd to their headlining set on the Blue Stage, and Blonde Redhead closed out the Black Stage to a more intimate and chilled out audience (in the location that was metal, punk, garage and hardcore the rest of the weekend).

Here is our second set of pictures from the final day of the fest, including Asobi Seksu, the reunited Hum, We Were Promised Jetpacks (who just played NYC and one of our CMJ day parties), Odd Future, G-Side, Austra, Grimes, MNDR, Mates of State, Budos Band, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Architecture in Helsinki, Del the Funky Homosapien, Brian Posehn, Flying Lotus, Brody Stevens, Trash Talk, Henry Rollins, and more SLAYERRRR.

We previously posted pictures from both day 1 and day 2, and a second set by BBG day 1, day 2, and day 3

The rest of day 3, below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 -- Day 3 pics (part 2) -- Henry Rollins, Brian Posehn, Odd Future, Trash Talk & more"

Big Terrific

I didn't check any other price points, but I was able to pull up a $1000 ticket no problem to tonight's show at Beacon Theater no problem. It's this one:

JIM GAFFIGAN, RICKY GERVAIS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JON STEWART, AND THE MAX WEINBERG BIG BAND JOIN FORCES WITH THE BOB WOODRUFF FOUNDATION AND THE NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL TO BRING LAUGHTER AND MUSIC TO THE 5TH ANNUAL STAND UP FOR HEROES EVENT.

Tickets are much cheaper, if not already sold out, for the rest of the events comprising this year's NY Comedy Festival which runs through November 13th. Venues range from the fancy Beacon to the homes of drink minimums to more indie offerings. The official schedule lists Big Terrific at Cameo and multiple things happening at UCB East and West tonight.

Tim Minchin, Cintra Wilson & Colson Whitehead are appearing at the Greene Space today and tickets are still available.