In 2001, members of MTV's sketch comedy group The State came together with Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, A.D. Miles to star in the David Wain-directed film We Hot American Summer. The film, which initially flopped, is apparently/possibly/according-to-some, now considered a cult classic and in honor of its tenth anniversary, David Wain, Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black (collectively known as Stella) are hosting a celebration of the film at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 26 "with tons of GUESTS and SURPRISES!!" Tickets for the Brooklyn event go on sale today (6/10) at noon.

Wet Hot American Summer is currently Netflix on demand if you're into that kind of thing.

David also keeps busy working on Adult Swim show "Children's Hospital."

And David Wain hosted a 10th anniversary screening of the movie at the LA Film School theater (in LA) last night (6/9), and will be hosting a reception to celebrate a Wet Hot-inspired art show in Santa Monica tonight. The movie is also screening (sans David) in Boston tonight (6/10). More event info and the movie's trailer, below...

Continue reading "Wet Hot American Summer is 10, parties include a Stella-hosted show in Brooklyn"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

"On Tuesday night (12/9), a few of us ventured into Times Square to catch comedy troupe Stella at the Nokia Theatre. Stella is David Wain, Michael Showalter, and Michael Ian Black, all founding members of another comedy troupe, The State. Also, all film/TV actors/writers/directors. The Stella style of comedy is not for every taste, but it's for me. On Tuesday night's homecoming gig, the trio offered up a head-spinning assortment of absurd and abstract jokes, bits, and riffs. Their comedy is a stream-of-consciousness style that is hard to summarize, but it recalls the so-clever-it's-silly routines of Monty Python or the Marx Brothers.

Part of the show included a funny cameo by Paul Rudd, who has worked with the guys in films such as Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, and The Ten. Opening the show was fellow geek comic Eugene Mirman, stacked with his trademark dry wit and abstract social commentary. Both sets probably played best to the chemically-enhanced members of the audience. For those of us sticking to liquor, it was still a delight." [Matt Dentler]

Tonight/Wednesday is the 2nd of two NYC shows. More pictures from last night below...

Continue reading "Eugene Mirman, Stella & Paul Rudd @ Nokia Theatre - pics"

Stella in Time Out, March 1997

The Stella comedy tour is underway and hits Nokia Theatre in their hometown of NYC tonight/Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are still on sale, AND I have a pair for each show to giveaway...

Continue reading "Stella is here (again) - win tickets to Nokia Theatre"

Photos by Chris La Putt

STELLA REUNITES FOR MEDIUM TO MODERATELY SIZED-WAIT! THEY-NEVER-REALLY-BROKE-UP-TOUR

JDub Records is delighted to announce that renowned comedy trio Stella will be back on the road this November. Formed in 1997, Stella features comedians David Wain, Michael Ian Black and everyone's favorite goof-off Michael Showalter.

Showalter first came to recognition as a cast member, writer, producer, and director of MTV's half hour sketch comedy show, The State, which aired from 1993-1995. Michael later went on to co-write and star in the cult classic film Wet Hot American Summer (2001), write, direct, and star in The Baxter (2005), as well as write, produce, and star in Comedy Central's televised Stella (also 2005). In addition to these many feats, Showalter also hosts the excellent online interview show The Michael Showalter Showalter on CollegeHumor.com (you can see the episodes here: http://www.collegehumor.com/tag:michaelshowalter); recent guests include Andy Samberg, Paul Rudd, David Cross and Michael Cera. Showalter's 2007 album, Sandwiches and Cats, out on JDub Records, gleefully inhabits "the comedy danger zone that hovers between too far and just enough" (The New York Times).

Though they rarely tour as a collective, a typical Stella show guarantees audiences a playful mix of mainstream comedy and surrealist wit. Their absurd approach to the mundane promises that no show is the same as the last. So why don't you find out for yourself?

They never really did break up. In fact, you might have caught the trio earlier this month at NY Mag's 40th Anniversary party @ Hammerstein Ballroom. Individually, they are not that rare either (which is a good thing), well Michael Showalter especially, who, for instance, just performed with John Vanderslice at the opening of the 92YTribeca way back before CMJ (10/18). That's where the pictures in this post came from.

Stella play the Nokia Theatre in NYC on December 9th and 10th. Tickets are on sale. More tour dates below...

Continue reading "Stella (reunited) (again) - 2008 (comedy) Tour Dates"

Photos by Zach Dilgard

NY Magazine held their 40th anniversary party at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC on Friday night (Oct 10, 2008). Their were musical sets by Grizzly Bear and The National, and comedy by Stella's Michael Showalter, David Wain, and Michael Ian Black. More pictures from the evening (Oct 10, 2008) below...

Continue reading "NY Mag's 40th party (Grizzly Bear, The National & Stella) @ Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC - pics"

photos by Chris La Putt

Stella Hosted, Nina Persson, Alberta Cross, OK Go & Joan as Policewoman played

Paul Rudd also showed up at the event. More photos & videos below...

Continue reading "Shudder To Think reunited @ Get Up & Vote @ Bowery"

Craig Wedren @ Pianos, NYC (BV CMJ), NYC - Oct 20, 2007 (Bao)

Craig Wedren helped put together this "Get Up And Vote" show at Bowery Ballroom on February 4th. All his friends from Stella will be there, his former bandmate Nathan Larson, Nathan's wife Nina Persson, Joan as Policewoman, AND: OK GO (of YouTube fame) are headlining. More details below.....

Continue reading "Barack Obama "Get up and Vote" show @ Bowery Ballroom"

Mr. Brownstone, Patti Smith, Les Savy Fav, The Virgins, Earl Greyhound, The Dresden Dolls, Dean & Britta, and a few others were all part of my first big 'New Years Eve in NYC' rundown this year. Then came news about Gogol Bordello, Dirty Projectors and Nellie McKay. We even heard about Velvet Revolver (which has since been reduced in price) and Chris Rock (which since had Jill Scott added to the bill). Here are some more NYC choices:

• Studio B New Year's Eve Celebration featuring Slick Rick the Ruler, Moby, Frankie Bones , Kudu, Holy Ghost!, Jacques Renault, The Bangers, Eamon Harkin - only $20.
• "What happens when you cross NYC's top burlesque night with a monster New Years Eve dance party? Burlesque + Discoteque = BURLESQUE - O - TEQUE!" @ Galapagos - tickets are on sale.
• "NYE Official Radiohead Album Release Party with Young Love, 33HZ and VHS or Beta Deejays" - tickets are very expensive and so are drinks @ Hiro Ballroom.
• DJ XXXchange from Spank Rock is playing at the Annex
• The Y2k8 Dance Party @ Silent Barn is all ages and will have free Sparks and is only $5.00 to get in - 6 live acts and/or DJs, presented by Famous Friends & Big Stereo.
• A Place To Bury Strangers is playing the RATED-X & TRASH! New Years Eve Extravaganza at Don Hill's (sort of this year's Motherf*cker party since there isn't Motherf*cker anymore)

Studio B is my first choice of that new bunch, but Galapagos and Silent Barn sound great too - and Don Hill's will probably be good too (if you liked going to Motherf*cker). Hiro Ballroom I can definitely do without.

WIN STUFF: I have one pair of tickets to give away to Mr. Brownstone, and another pair for Nellie McKay, and I still never gave away that pair to the Dirty Projectors, AND I have two DVD copies of The Ten to send out as well. The Ten is related to The State. More details on all of this below.....

Continue reading "New Years Eve in NYC, win tix & The Ten on DVD"

We're playing some catch up, so here is the first half of this week's Comedy Canon....

Craig Wedren, David Wain & friend @ Gramercy Theatre, NYC - Aug 2, 2007 (CRED)

I unfortunately couldn't make it to last night's "Ten" event at the Blender (Gramercy) Theatre, but as you can see from the picture above - the film's co-creator David Wain was also celebrating his birthday. How did it go?

This Fall, Drag City will release the first in a series of DVD's called Fred Armisen Presents. For those of you not in the know, Fred is quite the seasoned drum veteran; he appears on the new Les Savy Fav record, he was in early 90's punk band Trenchmouth, and one of his most beloved characters on SNL was Fericito, a drumming latino variety show host. So it's only fitting that the first Fred Armisen Presents DVD will focus on drum wunderkind Jenns Hannemann whose Complicated Drumming Technique made Fred realize Jenns is a man who could change the world of drum instruction . Billed as an incredible educational opportunity for the musician in us all the disc is set to hit music shops around the globe in October.

But wait; who the hell is Jenns Hannemann? I don't know, but according to Pitchfork, Jenns recently did a show with Will Oldham. He also put on a clinic in Canada last month. This guy's good. Real good.

And speaking of Will Oldham, have you seen the new Kanye West video he's in with Zach Galifianakis? Probably yes, but if not, hurry up!

Neil Hamburger is on tour, and going on tour. He'll be at the Knitting Factory in NYCon September 8, 2007 with Pleaseeasaur. If anyone reading this will be in Chicago on August 4, 2007 - and looks like Neil, why not enter the NEIL HAMBURGER LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST. The winner gets two tickets to his Lakeshore Theater gig. My condolences to the winner.

All of Neil's tour dates can be found at the end of this post, and much more comedy, below...

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (08/03/07) (part 1)"

The more I read the reviews and the more I rewatch the trailer, the more I'm beginning to think that former Statesmen David Wain and Ken Marino might have created a classic with their upcoming film THE TEN. The film is basically 10 short films about each of the ten commandments. Many film twats are quick to remark that this concept has been done already in Krzysztof Kieslowski's supreme masterpiece Dekalog, but being that this film is from the geniuses that brought you The State and Wet Hot American Summer, I can assure you that the approach in this film will be much different, and much, much, much, MUCH funnier.

The film will have its nationwide release on August 3rd with some festival dates (including a July 21 Hamptons Film Festival screening), but New Yorkers will have a chance to attend a big "An Evening of Comedy & Music Celebrating the Release of The Ten" in New York on August 2nd at the Blender Theater at Gramercy. The shinding will be hosted by director David Wain, and will feature Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Craig Wedren (a longtime State collaborator), Mr. Blue, Rashida Jones and Peter Salett (who is also playing The Living Room on July 18). Tickets to the event go on sale TODAY AT NOON.

Which reminds me, Michael Showalter's CD-taping shows at Union Hall are already sold out. More comedy shows that hopefully aren't sold out by the time you read this, BELOW....

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (06/29/07) [The Ten]"

@#@ damnit. Friday night was a late night. Saturday was a long day. I got home and slept right through karaoke...

Of Montreal karaoke @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NYC - Apr 14, 2007 (CRED)

More below....

Continue reading "Of Montreal karaoke"