by Klaus Kinski

Secret Wars @ All Points West 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

So we've got the Del Close Marathon happening this weekend (8/14-8/16) and we've got the New York Comedy Festival happening in November. And now it is with unbridled enthusiasm that I can achieve a comedy-festival-posting-hat-trick by announcing the EUGENE MIRMAN COMEDY FESTIVAL which is set to take over Brooklyn venues Union Hall and the Bell House from September 17 - September 20. OK, so we briefly mentioned the festival before, but with line-ups, showtimes, as well as venue and ticket info just released, it's time to spread the word.

Curated by the great Eugene Mirman, this year's festival has a gasp worthy line-up that is truly beyond belief and will feature stand-up, panels, videos, special guests, 'theme' shows, the occasional free drink, after-parties, and much more. The highlight of the festival for me are two Daniel Kitson headlining gigs at Union Hall. Daniel is a British Stand-up comedian who I've only had the opportunity to see once, but that one experience was epic. More monologuist than stand-up comedian, he is one of the smartest, funniest, most energetic and eloquent performers I have ever seen. We are blessed to have two chances to see him headline such an intimate room. Besides that, the festival boasts appearances by Reggie Watts, Todd Barry, John Hodgman, Bobby Tisdale, AD Miles, Kristen Schaal, Michael Showalter, Marc Maron, John Mulaney, Jon Benjamin, and many many more. And, of course, Eugene.

The schedule so far is below. According to the folks in charge, even more excitement will be announced in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!! Tickets for all shows go on sale Sunday August 16 Saturday, August 15 at noon via Ticketweb (Bell House, Union Hall).

Full lineup and more below...

Continue reading "Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2009 lineup (Daniel Kitson & more), an 826NYC benefit (tickets), a new Sub Pop album"

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.

by Klaus Kinski

Brett Gelman's 1000 CATS! @ Rififi, NYC (mister mark davis)

So I just got a myspace bulletin urging me to go to Gelmania at Rififi tonight (July 30, 2008), not only because it has a killer line-up featuring Tom McCaffrey, Baron Vaughn, and Adam Newman, but also because, as the message went on to tell me, the author "Just found out that Rififi is closing, come hang out one last time tonight!". This isn't the first time these words have been uttered. Reluctant to get suckered into this Boy Who Cried Wolf nonsense, I checked out trusted comedy authority The Apiary and sure enough they had a pretty convincing scoop on this most recent closing rumor. The Apiary included a note that Rififi's manager sent to the very funny Matt Ruby:

it's quite possible that thursday will be the last day that rififi will be open, it seems that the owner of rififi has come to an impasse with the landlord... as you might have known rififi has been occupying the space on a month-by-month basis since march and the landlord is now asking for substantially more money, it's possible that he's playing hardball but if an agreement isn't be reached by thursday then it will really be the last day that rififi is open.

i'm sorry we didn't have a couple of weeks to plan for this but the relationship between the landlord and the owner has always been somewhat unstable so it was hard to predict if and when the end would actually come... please be assured that all of the time and effort you put into producing your show has been greatly appreciated, if there is any change in the situation i will let you know as soon as i hear about it.

Rififi currently plays host to incredible weekly shows including Totally J/K, The Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show, Sweet Haven, Gelmania, as well as Mo Diggs' Open Mic Comedy Night. The potential loss of such consistently fun and talent-packed showcases will be one of the biggest, most devastating blows to the comedy scene in NYC as I, we, know it.

Okkervil River @ Sasquatch on Friday (more by Chris Graham)

today in NYC
* Eagles @ MSG
* Gelmania @ Rififi
* 'The Scale of Sound' @ The Tank
* A benefit for Scotty Hard @ Europa
* Birdmonster @ Mercury Lounge
* Slaraffenland & Efterklang @ Knitting Factory
* Ex-Models and Dark Meat @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Sea Wolf & The Jealous Girlfriends return to Mercury Lounge
* Simone of Blonde Redhead, Soft Circle, Lucky Dragons, Chairlift @ Studio B
* She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own PET, The Virgins, and Switches @ Irving Plaza

There are also free River to River events in Battery Park City.

The show at The Tank is described like this: "Amplification is magnification. Using voice, feedback installations, live soldering, wireless modular synths, photography, musical instruments and more, performers will play with amplification to change our perception of sound. Big sound, little sound, and everything in between."

John Oliver and Reggie Watts are both performing at Rififi tonight. Flyer below.

Baby Dee made a music video.

Hot Chip tickets are on sale.

Happy Birthday Chubb Rock (catch him in Prospect Park on June 28th).

RIP, Earle Hagen, `Andy Griffith' composer.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

Waggytail Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization that rescues and rehabilitates animals from the NYC shelters. All proceeds from this show go directly to the care of the animals.

words by Jon Roren, photos by Marianne Ways

Todd Barry and Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) @ Rififi, Feb 26, 2008

Eugene Mirman

The penultimate Invite Them Up at Rififi Tuesday night (Feb 26, 2008) was perhaps as close to perfection as downtown comedy gets. It was also about as crowded as it gets. There were so many people that they had to open up the back room, put up a projection screen and seat people in there. This of course inspired some visual humor with Eugene Mirman standing in between rooms, watching himself in the back room while waving his arm in front of the camera in the main room a la "Spaceballs."

Continue reading "Invite Them Up, night 2 of 3 final shows (pics & recap) "

words by Jon Roren, photos by Marianne Ways

DOWNLOAD: Cobra Krames - What More Time! (MP3)

Karin, Bobby and the time capsule @ Rififi, Feb 25, 2008

Invite Them Up has been a mainstay on the Downtown comedy scene for about six years, and has played host to many great talents. This week sees the end of ITU's run as a weekly show, with shows on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night to celebrate more than a half-decade of fart jokes and fireballs. If you're coming on Wednesday, bring something for the fancy time capsule.

John Oliver

Host Bobby Tisdale got night one-of-three underway with his patented rubbing of the microphone on some dude's balls before bringing up opening comic Greg Johnson - the co-host of the ECNY award-winning Rififi variety show 'Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show'. Johnson was followed by Michael Showalter whose set consisted of one of his trademark "showbiz rants" - this one about how he was only 3rd-to-last-night material and that he clearly wasn't good enough for Wednesday night before trying to tell jokes about shows nobody in the audience had seen.

Continue reading "Invite Them Up, night 1 of 3 final shows (pics & recap) "