"I can tell by the bellows of my neighbors that sports are over & the New Jersey Acromegolics beat my 6-State Patriots." - John Hodgman

Ted Leo leaving Beerland - 1/28/2012 (by Tim Trentham)

After a recent trip to Texas in honor of Esme Barrera (picture from the Beerland benfits above), and more recently a weekend of "curling (the "sport"), Nightbirds & Kim Phuc at the Acheron, seal watching boat trip in NY harbor, and Puppy Bowl repeats," Ted Leo is heading out to Gowanus to host tonight's edition of Hot Tub at Littlefield with guests John Hodgman, Christian Finnegan, Jamie Lee, Harrison Greenbaum, and Brandon Wardell (2/6).

by Klaus Kinski

It goes without saying that New York Fucking City is the best fucking city in the fucking galaxy. Name some attributes of another city (and I am sure people *cough*commenters*cough* will) and any New Yorker worth his or her salt will gladly, after they're done laughing hysterically, verbally pants your claims and make you realize how much time you just wasted with your nonsense. Everything here is better, and we have more of it. End. Of. Fucking. Story. Among our better-than-everywhere-else attributes is our Comedy scene. And one way we articulate and reinforce this attribute is by having several comedy shows happening across this city every night of the week.

One of NYC's biggest stand-out weekly shows is Tell Your Friends! which happens in the basement of a place called Lolita Bar (almost) every goddamned Tuesday. Tell Your Friends! is the brainchild of the talented Liam McEneaney and it has been bringing some of the most incredible line-ups to its basement audiences for over 6 years. Conceived as a showcase that danced somewhere between open mic territory and some of NYCs other smaller, more intimate alt rooms, Tell Your Friends! was devised as sort of a "comedy workout room;" a place where comedians could workshop new material without all the hassles and limitations of standard open mics. No, Tell Your Friends! wasn't the first place to do this type of thing; 15 years ago NYC had Eating It at Luna Lounge, Klaus favorite Patrick Borelli set up shop at the Gershwin Hotel, and, of course, there was Invite Them Up at Rififi where Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale basically wrote the book on how smaller, independent comedy showcases should be run until its demise in 2008. Invite Them Up took their backroom comedy debauchery to the next level when they did three nights of recording at Pianos for a 3 CD/1 DVD set that was released by Comedy Central Records. Incidentally, now that Invite Them Up is long gone (unless you count the upcoming Invite Them Up night at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival), that CD/DVD set serves as an extremely important document of just how bonkers and diverse that era in comedy really was.

Like Invite Them Up, Tell Your Friends! has brought their presence in the comedy world to the next level with the release of Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film!. Shot at the Bell House, Liam McEneaney says

I had this idea that since I wanted to do a movie with standup comedians, comedians who had gotten their start outside the traditional comedy club scene, it shouldn't be shot as a typical comedy special. I sent Victor (Varnado) clips from concert films I felt should serve as the template, Woodstock, The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense, The Beatles First Visit To America... Films that didn't just point a camera at a performance, but got you onstage with the acts themselves. And that didn't just record a concert, but really encapsulated a moment in history. Ultimately, we narrowed our influence down to Woodstock, and The Last Waltz, and used those more as our guides.

This epic piece of greatness features Reggie Watts, Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Christian Finnegan, Leo Allen, Rob Paravonian, Nick Nace, Ann Enzminger, Marc Maron, and more. WANNA SEE IT!? Well SketchFest NYC is proud to present the New York City Premiere of Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film! at the Paley Center for Media on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011; at 7:30pm. After the movie there will be a panel moderated by Liam and feature Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Christian Finnegan, Leo Allen, Neal Brennan, Jon Glaser, and Victor Varnado. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for the general public UPDATE: and $8.00 to BV readers!

In unrelated comedy news, don't forget that FYF Fest is Saturday September 3rd in Los Angeles and features a pretty toupee-spinning bunch of comedy check out the full comedy line-up below.

Continue reading "Tell Your Friends! the movie! (is screening in NYC), comedians (are playing FYF Fest in LA Saturday)"

Last week Littlefield wasn't listing any more editions of "Hot Tub" on their schedule, but it is in fact back tonight (2/7). Corn Mo, Brent Sullivan, Adam Cayton-Holland, and Free Love Forum will all join Kurt Braunohler (but maybe not Kristen) at the Brooklyn venue this evening. There's also a lineup listed for 2/14 - "Found Footage Festival, Sandra Bauleo, Surprise Guests, + more!" (and Kristen's name is on that bill).

Tonight is also another edition of Kevin Allison's Risk! Storyslam at the Pit, and of course Whiplash at UCB (with Jay Pharoah, Adam Cayton-Holland, Brooke Van Poppelen & Roger Hailes).

Speaking of UCB, the Chris Gethard Show returns to the venue on February 19th. Chris recently returned from a tour that kicked off with some help from Diddy.

Speaking of Diddy (not actually), the great Reggie Watts has announced another big headlining show. Having already sold out Manhattan's Highline Ballroom, his next big NYC conquest will be Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 30th. Tickets for the "partially seated show" go on sale Friday at noon.

Reggie will also join Eugene Mirman (and Kumail Nanjiani) for a special Boston edition of "Pretty Good Friends" on March 1st. Meanwhile catch the next edition of Mirman's "Pretty Good Friends" at its usual home of Union Hall in Park Slope this Sunday (2/13), and don't miss the extra-large Brooklyn edition coming to the Bell House on 2/27 in honor of Michael Showalter's new book.

And speaking of The Bell House and new books...

TUE 2/8: 8pm / FREE
JON GLASER BOOK RELEASE PARTY
Please join us for an evening of readings and music from Jon Glaser's new book "My Dead Dad Was In ZZ Top" (Harper Perennial), followed by general hanging out good times. Paul Rudd, Scott Adsit, John Hodgman, Zoe Lister-Jones, Ira Kaplan, Jon Hamm, and other special guests are scheduled to appear. Books will be on sale, plus the first 25 people to purchase books receive a special free un-named gift!

That's like half the cast of the new New Pornographers video all in one place and it's free!

Last but not least, Tuesday night live comedy series "Tell Your Friends" (who are advertisng a secret musical guest for this Tuesday's show) are releasing a movie! Trailer (starring Reggie Watts, Kurt Braunohler, Kristen Schaal and many others) and more details below...

Continue reading "Hot Tub, Reggie Watts, Whiplash, Jon Glaser's book, Tell Your Friends the movie, Chris Gethard & more shiat"

photos by Tim Griffin and Chris La Putt

"After a soggy Friday and sunny Saturday, the thunderstorms returned for the third and last day of All Points West, this time resulting in major delays and canceled sets for the festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. But after the rain cleared and mercifully stayed away, organizers hustled to get the schedule back on track, culminating in a dazzler of a headlining set by British rockers Coldplay.

Sunday's line-up, scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the comedy tent and 2 p.m. on the music stages, was pushed back several hours due to severe storms that hit the area midday. Fans who arrived early were turned away at the gates, and it wasn't until just before 4 p.m. that ticket holders were invited to line up at the festival entrance for an even longer wait for admission. Comedians Todd Barry, Christian Finnegan and Janeane Garofalo, originally slated for 45-minute sets at the Queen of the Valley tent, were rushed through with 10 minutes each to make way for the musical acts that followed them. "I might do a tour of entirely rained-out festivals," said Barry, "it's big money for not a lot of work at all."

Some sets were canceled altogether--indie rockers Steel Train and New Jersey punk band the Gaslight Anthem, scheduled to take the main Blue Comet stage in the afternoon, were scrapped to allow later bands to perform at their scheduled times." [Billboard]

As you may have heard, Coldplay's Sunday night set included covers of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right". Jay-Z covered "No Sleep Till Brooklyn on Friday.

MGMT played against Coldplay on Sunday, and Echo and The Bunnymen instead opened for Coldplay on the main stage (with Courtney Love watching in the wings). Akron/Family, Silversun Pickups, Mogwai, Lykke Li, Elbow, the Black Keys, and others also played sets on the shortened, very wet day. More pictures, and the two Coldplay cover videos, and some setlists, below....

Continue reading "All Points West 2009 - Day 3 Pictures (Coldplay, mud, MGMT)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Ted Leo played a three song, acoustic set at 92YTribeca last night (4/23). The mostly-comedy show was not affiliated with the Tribea Film Festival, though the fest is holding some events at that venue and many other places in the same neighborhood this week.

Ted Leo performed his firs two songs solo, one of which was a cover of Nick Lowe's "So It Goes". The third song was a duet with comedian, and host of the evening, Paul F. Tompkins. They did "Atlantis" by Donovan. Ted Leo's next NYC-area show is in NJ. More pictures from 92Y below...

Continue reading "Ted Leo, Paul F Tompkins & friends @ 92YTribeca - pics "