After selling out a zillion shows at Comix, it's not surprising that Aziz is now playing Town Hall. The September 16th show is part of a larger tour that also includes Bonnaroo. NYC tickets are on presale now (password = guitar). Get the first single from the Randy (and Dave Sitek) mixtape at Aziz's site. All dates below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari touring (dates), headlining Town Hall (tix)"

Leo Allen benefiting Haiti @ MHOW on 1/23 (by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Aziz Ansari added an extra two shows to his previously-announced run of CD Release shows at Comix. The new total is eight shows over four days (2/3-2/6) and they all appear to be sold out. "Friends scheduled to appear throughout the weekend:" Todd Barry, Moshe Kasher, John Mulaney, Max Silvestri, Joe Mande, Kristen Schaal, Hannibal Buress, Leo Allen, Kumail Nanjiani, and Anthony Jeselnik. A fine set of openers indeed.

Don't have a ticket, but still want to see Aziz during his now-rare trip back to NYC? You can also catch him tonight (2/2) for free at the Apple Store in SOHO. Sarah Silverman will appear in the same venue one night later.

Speaking of Max Silvestri, don't forget to catch his Big Teriffic show every Wednesday night at The Cameo (free!).

Speaking of Kristen Schaal, you can catch her tonight (2/2) as part of Sara Schaefer & Kim Armstrong's new free weekly Tuesday night comedy show in the front lounge of The Bell House (which is also hosting a "TOTALLY SOLD OUT" Lost premiere party this evening as well).

Speaking of Kristen Schaal performing comedy at The Bell House, tickets are on sale for a February 27th show described as "Friends of Celebrate Brooklyn present Winter Warm-Up featuring Comedy with Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends, Special guests include Kristin Schaal & Michael Showalter".

Speaking of Hannibal Buress, he hosts a comedy show every Sunday night at Knitting Factory (free!).

Todd Barry, John Mulaney and Hannibal Buress all return to Comix on the same (February 18th) night (code TBAF saves $5).

Leo Allen hosts Whiplash every Monday night at UCB

A few shows other shows coming up at UCB and other surprises below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari at Comix & The Apple Store, Sarah Silverman, Hannibal Buress & other upcoming comedy shows"

Patton Oswalt & Conan O'Brien

"The late-night nightmare is almost over. Conan O'Brien is leaving NBC and receiving a payout--and he'll be free to appear on another network before his contract expires, Kim Masters reports.

The NBC-Leno-Conan war is close to ending, according to a knowledgeable source. According to the outlines of a settlement, Conan O'Brien will leave NBC and the network will make an as-yet unspecified payment. The comedian will be free to appear elsewhere on television well before his contract expires, despite earlier threats from NBC that it would prevent him from working anywhere else.

There is still opportunity for the negotiation to fall apart, but clearly, at this point it is in NBC's interest to put an end to this dismal episode." [The Daily Beast] (via Gawker)

Patton Oswalt, Aziz Ansari, and Ricky Gervais all recently appeared on Conan. Videos below...

Continue reading "Patton Oswalt & Ricky Gervais appeared on Conan O'Brien who reportedly is really leaving NBC "

"In the grand scheme of things, figuring out whether to stay in a job that pays north of $15 million a year or fighting for some sort of buyout that would also be in the millions -- if not multimillions -- is something of a luxury problem. But those are basically the options facing NBC's Conan O'Brien, who is being told "The Tonight Show" is going to move from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. to make room for Jay Leno's return to late night." [LA Times]

Conan has rejected the offer to move to 12:05. His statement along with videos of Vampire Weekend and Aziz Ansari on the show (both from the past few days), below...

Continue reading "Vampire Weekend & Aziz Ansari played Conan O'Brien who has issued a statement turning down NBC's 12:05 offer"

Aziz Ansari's listed the following stuff on his 2009 Gummy Award Ballot....

BEST ALBUM
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
2. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
G-Baby - "Welcome To Heartbreak" and Kanye West - "We Were Once A Fairytale" and Major Lazer - "Pon De Floor" (3 way tie)

INDIE ROCK CRUSH
This really hot girl I saw buying a hot dog at a Phoenix show

BEST NEW ACT
Drake

BEST ALBUM OF THE DECADE
In alphabetical order...
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
Kanye West - Graduation
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Rapture - Echoes

BEST TV SHOW
Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Summer Heights High, Mad Men, Delocated, Eastbound And Down (7 way tie)

BEST MOVIE
Inglourious Basterds

BEST WEB VIDEO
David After Dentist

Aziz Ansari's Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening will be released on CD and DVD on on January 19, 2010. Aziz plays ($30 and $35) shows at Comix in NYC on February 4th, 5th and 6th. Tickets are on sale. All dates and video of Aziz on Letterman (where he discusses "an evening at the club with Kanye West and Jay-Z"), below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari releasing a CD & DVD, schedules 'big' NYC shows (and other dates), lists his favorite stuff from 2009"

Natasha Leggero & Morgan Murphy

1. On Wednesday night Gabe Liedman, Jenny Slate [SNL] and I [Max Silvestri] have an especially spectacular Big Terrific for you all. It's almost too famous? We've got some special Halloween shenanigans planned (poisoned candy, knives, etc) as well as comedy appearances from Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Funny People), Natasha Leggero (Tonight Show), Joe Mande (Best Week Ever), John Mulaney (Conan O'Brien, writer for Saturday Night Live), Andrea Rosen (Stella, Flight of the Conchords) and Reggie Watts (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon). Are you kidding me? That is so crazy fun. Be there at 8pm at Cameo Gallery, located at 93 North 6th Street between Berry & Wythe in Williamsburg. It's free. The after-party will be something special too.

2. What is funnier or more rocking than a museum? Literally nothing. I am very proud to be emceeing It Came From Brooklyn at the Guggenheim on Friday night

That Cameo lineup is giving the UCB show (which also starts at 8:00 and has many of the same comedians performing) a run for its money!

Totally J/K (Joe Mande & Noah Garfinkle) are hosting a dream lineup @ UCB tonight.

Many of the same comedians are also performing in Brooklyn tonight at the same time!

Dave Hill's Big in Japan returns to UCB on Thursday.

1. Paul McCartney - Great Day
2. Coconut Records - Wires
3. Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation - All The King's Horses
4. James Taylor - Carolina On My Mind [live]
5. Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart
6. Adam Sandler - Real Love [live]
7. Neil Diamond - We [early take]
8. Wilco with Andrew Bird - Jesus, etc. [Live Summer '08]
9. Adam Sandler - George Simmons Soon Will Be Gone
10. Coconut Records - I Am Young
11. Maude Apatow & Larry Goldings - Memory (from Cats)
12. Warren Zevon - Numb As A Statue
13. Ringo Starr - Photograph
14. John Lennon - Watching The Wheels [acoustic]

There was a screening of "Funny People" in NYC yesterday. "Funny People is the new Judd Apatow movie that stars Seth Rogan, Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, and Raaaaaaaandy. As you can see in the track listing above, the soundtrack features a live Wilco song that was recorded when they were playing shows last year with Andrew Bird who joined them on stage. Some video examples of that below.

Wilco came to NYC this week to play a big show at Keyspan Park in Coney Island (7/13). That show also featured many special guests including Leslie Feist who most likely flew in mainly to join Wilco for their appearance on the David Letterman show which aired last night (7/14), but was recorded yesterday afternoon which gave Jeff Tweedy plenty of time to make it over to the movie screening (which he was spotted at). Letterman video below...

Continue reading "Wilco - w/ Feist on Letterman (video), w/ Andrew Bird on the Funny People Soundtrack (Raaaaaaaandy.......)"

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.

"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]

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.

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"

The Thermals @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Fresh Bread)

tonight in NYC
* Les Paul @ Iridium
* Noisettes @ Pianos
* Etta James @ BB King's
* Alice Smith @ Mercury Lounge
* White Rabbits @ Other Music
* The XYZ Affair, Action Painters @ Pianos
* Matteah Baim, Union, FrankRamz, Mayaeni @ The Annex
* Janeane Garofalo, Leo Allen & more @ UCB (Whiplash)
* Jason Anderson, Yoni Gordon, Aldenbarton @ Cake Shop
* Karl Blau, Sondra Sun-Odeon, Painted Cakes @ Zebulon
* Crystal Antlers, Ribbons, Radical Dads @ The Bell House
* Etta James and the Roots Band, The Sharks @ B.B. King's
* Dickey Betts and Great Southern @ Society for Ethical Culture
* Times New Viking, Vivian Girls, Stupid Party @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Berg Sans Nipple, Jessica 6, Bird Show @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* The Thermals, The Shaky Hands, Point Juncture, WA @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Aziz Ansari talked about his family, Kanye West, and his character, Randy, on Jimmy Kimmel. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

Eugene Mirman @ Le Poisson Rouge (more by Tim Griffin)

Dates have been announced dates for this year's Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, which will take place September 17th - 20th at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Lineup and ticket info to come.

Last year's fest happened September 15th-18th, with events at the Bell House and Union Hall. Featured acts included Janeane Garofalo, John Oliver, Kristen Schaal, Aziz Ansari, Michael Showalter, Mike Birbiglia, Fred Armisen and many others.

Aziz Ansari, now an even huger celebrity thanks to a co-starring role in the new NBC TV series Parks and Recreation, will be back in NYC soon and will be making at least two appearances while he's here. The first is at Eugene Mirman's weekly Tearing the Veil of Maya show at Union Hall on Sunday, May 3rd @ 7:30 pm (tickets at the door) (Eugene won't actually be there though). The next is one night later at UCB as part of Leo Allen's weekly, late-night Whiplash show. Tickets to the latter are free, and you probably want to make a reservation.

Aziz's other upcoming appearances include the Sasquatch Festival, Bonnaroo, and a TBA DVD taping in NYC in "early June".

Mirman is currently on tour with Flight of the Conchords (which is why he won't be at Union Hall on Sunday), though he didn't jump on till after the group's two NYC shows.

Mirman also recently toured with John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders. That show visited NYC three times: February 11th, March 11th, and April 15th (all three links have pics, one of which is reposted above). There remains a May 21st show hosted by Philly radio show World Cafe Live. Tickets for that show are on sale.

Speaking of John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace), on Thursday, April 30th, he'll be performing at CUNY's Proshansky Auditorium on a bill titled "Collaborations/Elaborations: The Music of Daniel Felsenfeld." The event is part of the PEN World Voices Festival, and will feature Harding, Mark Z. Danielewski, Daniel Felsenfeld, Rick Moody, and others. Details on that below.

In addition to that show, Harding has his own UK tour coming up. He just did a reading/performance at the Union Square Barnes and Noble on April 27th.

Details on the PEN Festival show, with all upcoming Eugene Mirman dates and a video roundup of the comedian's recent activities, below...

Continue reading "2009 Eugene Mirman Comedy Fest dates announced ++ upcoming Aziz Ansari appearances in NYC"

Bob Mould two nights ago @ Joe's Pub (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Last night (4/9), while some were enjoying (or not enjoying) a Passover Seder, others caught Bob Mould at his second of two shows at Joe's Pub. Anonymous wrote,

Unfortunately it was not an ideal venue tonight.
It could have been, but the atmosphere just wasn't the way most BM solo shows usually are.
Still not bad, and the audience was with him, but people were eating dinner....that's an ideal venue for Bob Mould?? I don't think so.

We have a review and pictures from the first night, HERE. Tonight (4/10), Bob switches it up a little and plays DJ (and maybe performs live?) at Highline Ballroom for his popular gay dance night Blowoff. (Tickets are on sale.)

Paper Magazine held their "Beautiful People Party" at Hiro Ballroom last night. Past musical guests at the annual get together have included Antony and Joanna Newsom (whose music is now featured in a bra commercial). This year it was Paper cover-girl Katy Perry who was already in town playing multiple nights at Irving Plaza and humping bananas.

Speaking of humping bananas, Chris Cornell played two shows at Webster Hall this week. In the YouTube video below you can see that he.... shaved his guitar player's head on stage while they were playing at one of them.

Also featured in Paper's new "Beautiful People" issue is comedian Aziz Ansari who co-stars with Amy Poehler in the TV show Parks and Recreation which premiered last night. Did you catch it? What did you think?

Lissy Trullie was featured in last year's "Beautiful People" issue. Last night she played Union Hall with US Royalty (who play the Studio at Webster Hall tonight).

New Ditmas Park/Flatbush venue Sycamore hosted its third-ever live show last night. Check out the schedule for what they have coming up.

The Books paid a somewhat rare visit to NYC. The band, noted one showgoer, "debuted some sweet new tunes." Those'd be from the group's forthcoming record, which, according to the Columbia Spectator, is due next year. The Spectator also noted the lack of promotion for the show - which according to the Books' Twitter sold out less than a day before it happened. One student, on the minimal on-campus promotion, said, "I had no way of knowing they were playing at Columbia...I found out about the concert on a random music blog that I was casually browsing -- I don't even remember which site it was."

As NYC's summer concert lineup comes together, two shows were added to calendar yesterday - Casiokids at South Street Seaport and Shilpa Ray at Castle Clinton (as part of a Sly Stone tribute concert). Shilpa played Death by Audio last night. Look for more summer-show announcements today (in addition to Simian Mobile Disco at the Williamsburg Waterfront).

UK band Pet Shop Boys almost became Rescue Shelter Boys.

What did you do last night?

Continue reading "What did you do last night?"

Amadou & Mariam @ All Points West 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The contest to guess the lineup of this year's All Point West festival continues. I honestly don't even know the lineup yet - I'll be receiving it right before I post it at 7am Monday morning.

Will Coldplay be on the lineup? A lot of people seem convinced based on the band's current tour schedule (which you can see in its entirety below). If they are playing the fest, well, that will be weird.

UPDATE: yes, Coldplay are in fact playing the festival

Amadou and Mariam played All Points West last year, are touring the US with Coldplay in July, and have some headlining dates scheduled in June (including a show at Webster Hall on June 8th). The Mali duo was also just added to this year's Bonnaroo lineup.

Also recently added to Bonnaroo (music and comedy): Public Enemy, Ani Difranco, the Itals and Wailing Souls, Murs, Shadows Fall, High on Fire, Janelle Monáe, Pretty Lights, Tony Rice, Passion Pit, Hockey, White Rabbits, Jimmy Fallon, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Rory Albanese, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Aziz Ansari, Kristen Schaal, Arj Barker, Todd Barry, Nick Thune, Wayne Federman, Nick Kroll, Kurt Braunholer, Amy Schumer, Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes. Full Bonnaroo (June 11 - 14 in Manchester, Tennessee) lineup below...

Continue reading "Coldplay, All Points West, Amadou & Mariam & Bonnaroo"

DOWNLOAD: Motel Motel - Coffee (MP3)

Todd Barry in the Wrestler

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Les Paul @ Iridium
* Ferraby Lionheart @ Pianos
* Jimmy Eat World @ Terminal 5
* Whiplash @ UCB w/ Patton Oswalt
* It is It comedy @ Pianos w/ Todd Barry

Aziz Ansari was born today in 1983.

And a belated happy birthday to Yoko Ono who was born February 18, 1933.

If Pianos sticks to set times, you could potentially start the night with the free 8PM It is It comedy show . The lineup is Todd Barry (of The Wrestler), Chelsea Peretti, Kevin Williams, and Rob Cantrell. Then you could stick around for most of Ferraby Lionheart's set. It's his last residency show. Then you could jump in a cab and get to the UCB Theatre on 26th St. and see Leo Allen's free weekly Whiplash show. One of this week's guests is Patton Oswalt who just got done playing multiple nights at Caroline's.

As Todd told San Francisco Comedy Blog, he plays Mickey Rourke's boss at his day job. Mickey lost the Best Actor Oscar to Sean Penn at last night's Academy Awards which closed with a recorded cover of Bob Dylan by Beck. Mickey did win the Independent Spirit Award though.

Kate Winslet won best actress for The Reader. Nico Muhly composed the soundtrack to that movie.

M.I.A. did not win an Oscar.

Vicodin earrings.

Cheap Ballet tickets.

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday.

They're giving away 2 VIP tickets to the REM tribute at Carnegie Hall to the the person who uploads the best video of themselves covering R.E.M. to YouTube.

Motel Motel were added to the upcoming Phosphorescent show.

Paul Weller won a Brit Award. U2, who are streaming their new album at MySpace, performed at the ceremony. Video below..

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

Morgan Murphy the pregnant Hanukkah fairy (more by Tim Griffin)

The lineup for tonight's Whiplash show at the NYC UCB Theatre is great as usual. Leo Allen hosts Paul F. Tompkins, John Mulaney, Andrea Rosen, Jesse Popp, and LA's Morgan Murphy. If anyone knows of any other shows Morgan is playing while she's in town, please leave details in the comments.

Also coming up at UCB: The Benson Interruption on Wednesday 2/18, and A-Side / B-Side with Kurt and Kristin on Thursday.

Patton Oswalt plays six shows at Caroline's this month. Tickets are on sale at Ticketweb.

Zach Galifianakis has a few shows coming up of note. On February 19th he'll join Bobby Tisdale, Pete Holmes, Shane Mauss and Andrea Rosen for a short set at 92YTribeca. Then on March 5th he's doing a full, $40, show at NYU. On May 24th he's playing the new comedy/dance tent at the Sasquatch Music Festval in Gorge, Washington.

The venue attached to Sound Fix Records in Williamsburg is closing soon. Upcoming comedy shows there include Entertaining the Bartender w/ Jena Friedman on Tuesday 2/17, Totally J/K w/ Joe and Noah (Paul F. Tompkins, Michelle Collins, Ted Alexandro, and Paul Oddo) on Wednesday 2/18, and Big Terriffic w/ Max, Gabe and Jenny on Thursday 2/19.

Eugene Mirman recently celebrated the release of his book at the Bell House in Brooklyn. His upcoming shows include two dates with John Wesley Harding at Le Poisson Rouge.

Dave Hill appears at Village Underground on February 24th.

Commercials have started to air for Parks and Recreations, by the people who brought you the Office, coming Thursdays to NBC and starring Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, and Aziz Ansari. That commercial, and more videos, below...

Continue reading "Morgan Murphy @ Whiplash tonight, Parks and Recreation, Patton, Zach Galifianakis dates & other comedy news"

"I WENT TO THE AZIZ GLOW IN THE DARK TOUR AND IT WAS AMAZIIIING!!! OH AND I EVEN GOT TO MEET HIM!!!!" [Kanye West]

That's awesome that Kanye got to meet Aziz. I wonder if he got to meet Obama last night when he played at one of his many inauguration parties...

Opening the show from the Hilton Washington, the night's host, Sway, reminded everyone that after what was sure to be an exhausting first day, it was time to celebrate President Barack Obama's historic inauguration.

Kanye West kicked off the show with a medley of hits like "Touch the Sky," "Stronger" and "Good Life." "Let's make some noise for our new president, Obama," he told the crowd. "It feels so good to be standing here. My mama would be so proud to see her baby boy with the #1 song in the country and our new African-American president."

Later in the night, he joked, "I still can't believe it. I feel like I'm in the future -- first iPods, now this!"

All Kanye-related accolades aside, the night really belonged to President Barack Obama, who dazzled the 7,000 party goers with a heartfelt speech about how thankful he is for the work the young people put in to get him elected. [MTV]

Aziz Ansari's Glow in the Dark tour came through NYC earlier this month. He played four shows at Comix. Before the shows, Aziz was telling Gothamist about how much he loves to read Kanye West's blog, so he is surely pretty excited about the post.

Aziz's still-untitled new TV show with Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones premiers on NBC on Thursday, April 9th.

Kanye West is thinking about posing naked.

Aziz Ansari (Ulysses) @ UCB Theatre, NYC (by Edwina Hay)

The Upright Citizens Brigade is exploring an opportunity to open an additional venue in the East Village and we can use your help. If you currently reside in the East Village and would be willing to support the effort please sign the petition linked below.

The Theatre is hoping to move into the Pioneer Theatre at Avenue A and 3rd Street, next to Two Boots Pizza. While we're still a long way from making this happen the first step is to see if we can get enough support from within the community. To continue offering the same brand of comedy at the same affordable prices we'll need to get a Beer/Wine license.

If you or anyone you know live within Community Board 3 (the area of NYC from the East River westward to 4th Avenue, and from 14th Street down to the Brooklyn Bridge) and support this effort please take a moment and sign the online petition, or stop by Two Boots this weekend and sign a live petition. If you do not live in the neighborhood, we appreciate your support but it will not be helpful to us for you to sign the petition.

Thank You and we appreciate your help and continued support,

Matt, Matt, Amy, Ian

UCB regular Aziz Ansari performs two shows at Comix this weekend (Friday and Saturday).

Leo Allen hosts Whiplash every Monday night at UCB's current location.

Catch Bill Hader and Seth Meyers from SNL at UCB Wednesday January 14th.

For more SNL, ASSSSCAT 3000 happens every Sunday night.

"Let's Have a Ball" describes itself as "Writers and Performers from the Emmy-award winning '30 Rock', 'The Colbert Report', 'Late Night w/Conan O'Brien', and the UCB Theatre come together to play for your entertainment in this Star-Studded, Long-Form Improvised Show."

Dave Hill will be telling stories on January 30th as part of "The Shits of Our Lives".

Dave Hill, A.C. Newman, Carl Arnheiter (elf) & Brett Gelman @ UCBNY (via)

"Exciting news for the East Village -- we've discovered that the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has designs on the former Two Boots Pioneer Theater space at 155 East 3rd Street. Alex Sidtis, directing manager of the UCB's current location in Chelsea, revealed to [NY Magazine] that the troupe is hoping to open an East Village outpost, depending on whether it can secure a tavern wine license (the theater will plead its case at a January 12 meeting of Community Board 3's licensing committee). The location will mean more stage time for its performers...

Sidtis loves the fact that the 99-seat theater has a lobby, and says of the layout, "It's a little different [than that of the Chelsea location]. The shows will be more presentational and less theatrical in nature." Phil Hartman, who built the theater a decade ago and still owns the adjacent Two Boots pizza parlor and video store, tells us "I love the theater and I'm pleased to think that it would stay alive as a theater and not get gutted and turned into something else."..."
[NY Magazine]

The current NYC UCB Theatre is located at 307 W. 26th St. It's there that you can catch Leo Allen's weekly Whiplash show on Monday nights at 11pm...for free. This week (tonight) (11/5), Reggie Watts and Marc Maron will be two of his guests.

Leo Allen's Monday night spot used to be held by Aziz Ansari and the Human Giant crew doing a similar type of comedy show with the same types of guests. Don't miss Aziz when he does a much bigger type of show January 9th and 10th at Comix. All dates HERE.

The above photo was taken at the UCB Theatre in NYC, on December 18th.

Eugene Mirman's new book The Will to Whatevs will be releaed on February 10, 2009. Coincedentally that is the same day he is having a party celebrating the release of the book at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Sarah Vowell is DJing, and John Oliver, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Paul F. Tompkins, and "more special guests" are also performing at the $15.00 show.

Also on Eugene's calendar: four headlining shows at Comix in January. Actually:

@ COMIX in NYC
Jan 02 (early) - Todd Barry
Jan 02 (late) - Todd Barry
Jan 03 (early) - Todd Barry
Jan 09 (early) - Aziz Ansari
Jan 09 (late) - Aziz Ansari
Jan 10 (early) - Aziz Ansari
Jan 10 (late) - Aziz Ansari
Jan 03 (late) - Todd Barry
Jan 16 (early) - Eugene Mirman
Jan 16 (late) - Eugene Mirman
Jan 17 (early) - Eugene Mirman
Jan 17 (late) - Eugene Mirman

Tickets are on sale for all of those shows.

BUT/AND/ALSO, unlike Todd Barry and Paul F. Tompkins, Eugene Mirman will NOT be opening any of the Yo La Tengo shows this year. All of Eugene's dates below...

Continue reading "Eugene Mirman's new book, parties, special guests, Comix shows & other tour dates (but no Yo La Tengo)"

Aziz officially announced this 'Glow in the Dark' tour right in the middle of CMJ causing me to forget to mention this until now... Tickets are on sale for two January shows at Comix in NYC. All dates are below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari (Human Giant) - 2008/09 (comedy) Tour Dates"

photos by Chris Graham

Human Giant vs Jesse Thorn

Don't shoot video clips of bands on your phone to post on YouTube. They are always shaky and sound like crap. No one cares that you saw Beck from 300 yards away. It won't make you cool and you might piss Beck off.

Leave the devil sticks, hula hoops, and glow balls at home. It's too crowded for dumb displays of your "individualism." And why give people a reason to make fun of you as they walk by? You know they do that, right? Because we do. All of us.
[from Human Giant's guide to Bumbershoot]

There was comedy all three days of the Bumbershoot in Seattle this past weekend. Some more Sunday (day two) pics below...

Continue reading "The Sound of Young America Live! & other comedy live @ Bumbershoot - pics (Human Giant, Rhett Miller included)"

by Klaus Kinski

In my last Comedy Canon I devoted a lot of keyboard time to news about awesome comedians and the TV shows they're working on. But I totally missed one. A big one. But let's backtrack a bit.

Last summer I was at a mega-packed Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy show at Rififi. At one point in the evening I ran into Human Giant #4 and all around totally awesome dude Jason Woliner. We chatted a bit and I eventually asked him what he'd been up to besides HG. He mentioned that he was working on a pilot for Adult Swim with Jon Glaser.

Flash forward to September 2007. Eugene Mirman sent out a myspace bulletin in which, among other things, he mentioned that he was "in a live action pilot for Adult Swim that stars Jon Glaser as a guy in the witness protection program with his own reality show. He wears a ski mask the whole time. It's very funny and will maybe get picked up. I play the mobster trying to kill him". I wondered if that was the show Jason was talking about at Rififi.

Ends up, it was! The Human Giant Production Blog posted this recent message....

Congratulations to our friend Jon Glaser - his pilot "Delocated" just got picked up by Adult Swim!

You might remember Jon as the Devil in Human Giant season 1's Exorcism sketch, and he's got a few guest appearances coming up in season 2. He was also a consultant on our show, writing pieces like Let's Go!, Blood Oath, and Commercial Jingles. Our director Jason Woliner shot and edited the pilot for Delocated. The two of them got coffee the other day in Park Slope. Jon got some kind of egg dish and Jason opted to just get a cappuccino.

This is truly exciting news. There are a lot of people out there like me who are completely bonkers about Jon Glaser and have always wanted more than his cameos, voice work, and all-too-sparse live appearances. I can't wait to see what happens.

Aziz Ansari & Clipse @ Emo's, Austin, TX (SXSW 2008)

Tickets are on sale for an April 1st Human Giant show at the Paley Center in NYC (the first scheduled NYC show since the last one was cancelled). And don't forget that Human Giant has a DVD available and are knee-deep in their second season on MTV. Aziz hung with Clipse during SXSW and in addition to that picture up there, the below video exists to prove it....

Continue reading "Jon Glaser on Adult Swim, a NYC Human Giant show, Clipse"

by Klaus Kinski

For over 5 years, Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's weekly comedy showcase Invite Them Up has been bringing New Yorkers the best comedy (and sometimes music) on the planet. But as mentioned earlier, Invite Them Up will cease operations on February 27th, 2008. And although this loss will leave a huge hole in the comedic soul of NYC, Eugene and Bobby are saying goodbye by giving us three nights of comedy and music beginning Monday 2/25 (tonight)

Obviously such a renowned comedic institution like Invite Them Up won't die quietly. These final three shows will feature line-ups so insane that I'm not going to bother to mention a single participant. I won't even bother to mention a few of the lesser known names and append that with the vague "Plus Special Guests". These three nights' line-ups are comprised of special guests only. Want an idea of how good the line-ups might be? Take a look at their More Info Page and let your imagination run wild.

As with all other installments of Invite Them Up, each show will conclude with a wonderful afterparty featuring a different guest DJ each night. Comedian Craig Baldo is confirmed to DJ the 2/25 afterparty. To accomodate the legions of comedy fans that will stick around for these afterparties, the bar and the showroom will both stay open after the show.

But that's not all. They're going to make a large time capsule. They'll mostly have comedians put stuff in relating to the show, comedy, or this point in time, but Eugene and Bobby would like to Invite the audience to bring stuff for the time capsule too! Bring something. They'll be collecting the stuff over all three nights.

Despite previous reports, there is now no official closing date for Rififi. Nate Sloan at the NY Press reports....

"Whether or not the liquor license will be revoked is up in the air," explains Antonio. "The owner is making an effort to keep Rififi open, and it seems as though Rififi will remain open for at least another four or five months and could remain open permanently if the license is saved and hopefully will continue to operate as it has been."

This means the departure of Invite Them Up leaves Wednesday nights open for a brand new show. What will the show be? Who will curate it? With a little bit o' luck, I'll have the answer real soon....

Invite Them Up - The Final Shows
February 25, 26, 27 - 8:00pm
$5
Rififi
332 East 11th Street

.Check out some now-classic videos from Invite Them Up below....

Continue reading "Invite Them Up, RIP - 3 more to go, all this week (@ Rififi)"

Human Giant have announced a comedy tour today to promote Human Giant Season One on DVD (out March 4), and Human Giant Season Two on MTV (premieres March 11) . The tour includes the Telluride comedy festival, some shows in LA, SXSW, and the March 13th show @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn - already on sale. They're also playing tonight and next Monday at UCB in NYC (like they did every Monday in January). All tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Human Giant - 2008 Tour Dates, UCB shows, Brooklyn, SXSW"

Human Giant is back at the UCB Theatre every Monday in January. Reserve some tickets now. You'll be entertained by the likes of Rob Huebel (who told us his favorite albums of 2007), Paul Scheer (who also told us what he listened to in 2007), Aziz Ansari (who never sent in his 'Best of 2007'), and probably a bunch of other very special guests.

Season 2 of Human Giant (the 27th reason Rolling Stone loved television in '07) premieres March 4th on MTV. Season one comes out on DVD the same day. It features.....

Commentary by: Patton Oswalt, Rob Riggle, Bill Hader, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Dolby Digital 2.0
8 episodes from the 2007 season
Best of the 24 Hour Marathon
Deleted Scenes, Extended Sketches, Behind the Scenes footage, Movie Awards promos

Check out a recent Human Giant interview on My Old Kentucky Blog.