by Klaus Kinski

If the NY Comedy Festival is at one end of the comedy festival spectrum, then the Del Close Improv Marathon resides at the absolute opposite end. I am really excited to report that the 11th Annual Del Close Improv Marathon is, like, just around the corner. Dude. Taking place from August 14th - August 16th, the 56-hour NON-STOP improv marathon will take over 4 stages in NYC and will bring to us the absolute best improv from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Phoenix, Austin, Philadelphia, Finland, Hawaii, Baltimore, Ontario, St. Louis, Toronto, and more. FINLAND?! AND MORE!?!? This marathon is important to me because New York is so absolutely saturated with improv troupes. So much so that the scene is really hit-or-miss for me. So hit-or-miss that I rarely venture out to see improv comedy (the only thing that makes me sadder than bad improv is the end of Blade Runner). But with the Del Close Marathon, there are no misses. It is the best of the best, from start to finish.

Del Close was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few. After Del's passing in 1999, the UCB started the Del Close Marathon to celebrate their mentor and keep alive his name and teachings for future generations.

Shows will be taking place at the UCB Theater, Hudson Guild Theater, Urban Stages, and the FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre. The FIT Haft Auditorium will play host to that single ASSSCAT mega show. The schedule is insane, but with the help of the glorious time table set-up by the organizers, creating your own itinerary should be a cinch. $25 weekend passes are available at the UCB Theater as well as the other participating venues. The F.I.T. shows are $12 and are likely to sell right out, so buy your F.I.T. tickets ASAP.

2009 iO West Del Close Awards Nominations, and other videos below...

Continue reading "2009 Del Close Improv Marathon this weekend (lineup, tix) "

Human Giant (Rob, Aziz & Paul) @ Bumbershoot 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

Human Giant's Aziz Ansari is going on tour. Human Giant's Paul Scheer appears in the Army Navy video below...

Continue reading "Army Navy - 'My Thin Sides' (w/ Paul Scheer) (video)"

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]

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

Cursive @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - June 3, 2008 (bill shouldis)

today in NYC
* Live at the Trash Bar
* Thao Nguyen @ Mercury Lounge
* The Homosexuals @ Cake Shop
* Lucy Wainwright Roche @ The Living Room
* M83 & Berg Sans Nipple @ Bowery Ballroom
* Paid Dues Hip Hop Festival @ Nokia Theatre
* The Presets & Walter Meego @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Styrofoam, Broken Spindles (Joel Petersen of The Faint), Gringo Star @ KF

I heard that Cursive (and Midlake) also played a party at Pianos on Monday night.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd Wolf Parade show at Terminal 5.

There'a a comedy benefit at Southpaw TOMORROW.

Happy Internet Week! Happy Birthday Horatio Sanz and Angelina Jolie.

Happy Birthday Rob Huebel. Congratulations on becoming a member of the cast of Scrubs Aziz Ansari

What else?

Posehn about to go on stage @ Mess With Texas 2008

Klaus didn't go see Brian Posehn at Comix last night because he (Klaus) came down with some laryngitis or something. Ironically, that is the same reason he (Brian) couldn't tell his jokes when he performed at the Mess With Texas Festival in Austin during SXSW a couple of weeks ago. The remedy: Brian whispered his (dirty) jokes in Eugene Mirman's ear and Eugene told them instead. It was sunny and warm out and the middle of the afternoon.

Tickets are still available for Brian's 3rd & 4th shows at Comix in NYC tonight (March 29) (late and inside). More photos from Austin below....

Continue reading "BRIAN POSEHN - @ Comix tonight ++ Mess with Texas pics"

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.

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"

Holy Fuk @ Emo's Annex, Austin, TX - Mar 13, 2008 (Elizabeth Weinberg)

Frightened Rabbit in Austin, TX - Mar 13, 2008 (WOXY)

These are Powers in Austin, TX - March 2008 (Elizabeth Weinberg)

A Place To Bury Strangers in Austin, TX - Mar 14, 2008 (WOXY)

* Pillow fight!
* Tim Haslett, RIP
* Mary Weiss is at Blender Theater
* Digitalism is playing Webster Hall
* Celebrate 10 years of the Living Room
* Why? & Panther are playing Knitting Factory
* Pearl Jam announced tour dates w/ Ted Leo
* Tragedy (Bee Gees tribute band) playing BB King's
* Adam Kesher is playing Studio B around midnight
* Sons and Daughters & Bodies of Water are @ Bowery
* Holy Fuck & A Place to Bury Strangers are @ Music Hall
* Drink At Work 2-year anniversary show in Ochi's Lounge
* Serge Santiago is DJing Studio B (and so is Digitalism)
* Conspiracy of The Beards is at Highline in the afternoon
* Longwave & Frightened Rabbit are playing Mercury Lounge
* Anti-Pop Consortium are playing 2 shows @ Knitting Factory
* Oneida, Old Time Relijun & These are Powers are playing Market Hotel

Zooey Deschanel CANCELLED her appearance at Glasslands Monday.

Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" wins a YouTube award. It was about two months ago that he performed the song live in Brooklyn.

Speaking of YouTube, have you listened to Michael Stipe's recent announcement?

A new Human Giant clip (that is somehow safe for television) below. What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

I was wandering around LES, when I stumbled upon this guy was defacing the following movie posters. I went back to scene of the crime the next day. To find that another poster was put on top. It was just a promotion for the Black Lips / Quintron & Miss Pussycat at the Bowery Ballroom on March 10th. [all photos by URBANBLITZ] (via Gothamist)

Continue reading "Black Lips are here, you may have seen the posters"

Q-Tip

KRS-One

Common

* Todd Barry on Conan
* last Invite Them Up EVER
* Henry Rollins is speaking at Warsaw
* Big Head Todd & The Monsters is playing Bowery Ballroom
* Liam Finn is playing w/ Pela & Apollo Sunshine @ Music Hall
* The Acorn is playing w/ Bowerbirds & Phosphorescent @ Union Hall
* Marc Ribot, Sean Lennon & Yuka Honda are playing Knitting Factory

Q-Tip, KRS-One, Common and Furious Five played that private Smirnoff event which was in NYC last night. That's where the three photos above are from (courtesy of Ryan Muir/Metromix).

Human Giant (who recently cancelled some shows) released a new video from their upcoming season 2 on MTV. That's below. What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday? "

Human Giant @ UCB LA, Feb 24, 2008 (Eric Appel)

Hello, this is Ticketmaster Customer Service with an important alert for your upcoming event. Human Giant, scheduled at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, March 13, 2008, with doors opening at 8PM, has been cancelled.

Your Ticketmaster order number xxxx will automatically be credited the ticket price and convenience charges, and should post to your account within 7 to 10 business days. Please note, the $2.00 per order processing fee and any Ticketfast or UPS delivery charges are non-refundable.

Continue reading "Human Giant cancelled some shows, Paul Scheer lands a role"

Brian Posehn on strike (cred)

Mess With Texas, an annual party thrown in Austin, in the south by southwestern region of the US, at the same time as a certain other major music festival, has expanded in its second year to a massive, outdoor, FREE, ALL AGES event with three stages and an exclusive Austin performance from headliners The Breeders and NOFX and A-list comedians likeJaneane Garofalo, MTV's Human Giant and Brian Posehn.

Continue reading "Mess With Texas messes with SXSW"

not for the faint of heart, NSFW, etc...

Continue reading "Human Giant - Viral Videos (video)"

by Klaus Kinski

You Should Probably Go To Rififi Tonight (Feb 8)......

Why? Because every Friday night (this month at least) Rififi (332 east 11th, b/t 1st and 2nd) plays host to The Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show. If I wasn't so lazy/busy, I would have finished my Top Ten Best Things In Comedy In 2007 list for BV; a list that would have had the ECNY Award Winning Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show at the #1 slot. Every single week the line-ups their myspace bulletins boast are so packed with top-shelf talent that I often think Greg and Larry are the biggest liars in the business. But then I show up to the show and, sure enough, they deliver what they promised for a mere $5. Here's what makes tonight's show so great.....

Continue reading "Greg Johnson, Rififi, Larry Murphy, The Whitest Kids You Know, Human Giant, Nick Kroll, Chelsea Peretti, Patrick Borelli, Joe Mande"

DOWNLOAD: The Forms - Knowledge in Hand (MP3)

Greg Johnson @ Knitting Factory, NYC - Jan 29, 2008 (Anya Garrett)

It is with an unprecedented amount of glee that I annouce a new monthly party brought to you by BrooklynVegan and I (Klaus Kinski) called BrooklynVegan and Klaus Kinski present Rock n' ROFL (or just "Rock n' ROFL" for short).

Taking place at Pianos in NYC (158 Ludlow Street at Stanton), the purpose of the show is to bring you a night of great comedy and music in an intimate setting. Our premiere installment will take place on Thursday February 28th, 2008, and will be hosted by ECNY Award winner Greg Johnson. There will also be comedy by Pete Holmes, Dave Hill, Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler, Leo Allen, and maybe more TBA. Maybe. After the comedy comes two bands (approximately something like 8-10pm comedy, 10-12 bands). The first band is one of my favorites The Forms, and the second band will be announced soon. Your sides will hurt from laughing, your ears will hurt from the loud music, and your liver will hurt from all the booze you're going to drink. It's gonna be great! (ticket info TBA soon)

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No members of Human Giant are performing at the premiere show - at least partially because they'll be out on tour.

Fred Armisen definitely won't be joining us either - at least partially because we uknowingly scheduled this show the same night as his own at Knitting Factory.

Can't make our show, but still want to see the Forms? Or you want to see them twice? Or you love Gothamist? Catch The Forms and Pattern is Movement at Union Hall on February 15th (13 days before our show).

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"

Rob Huebel & Aziz Ansari @ Rififi, NYC - Jan 23, 2008 (Marianne Ways)

* Violens plays Pianos
* The Cool Kids are at Studio B
* Corn Mo is playing Mercury Lounge
* Rhett Miller is playing Blend in Ridgewood
* Amanda Blank + Spankrock DJs are @ Hiro Ballroom
* Neurosis, Mastodon, US Christmas, Brooklyn
* Download a US Christmas track @ Paper Thin Walls
* Growing and IUD are playing Death By Audio
* Kaki King is playing w/ Benevento @ Sullivan Hall
* Marc Ribot and Laurie Anderson are playing The Stone
* Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music) & Ben Nichols of Lucero are @ Maxwell's
* Kelly from the Rosebuds is doing comedy in Ochi's Lounge @ Comix
* Comedian Max Silvestri Like's Attention @ Sound Fix

The above picture was taken at one of the last Invite Them Up shows ever. Lisa Loeb! played in a Borders the other day. She also played an Ikea. Video below. What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

this picture (by Joel Barhamand) isn't even of comedy, but it did happen at Rififi where comedy often happens.....

I already posted a reminder that Human Giant is at UCB again tonight, but I didn't mention the "It Is It" show happening earlier in the evening at Pianos:

hosted by Adam Lowitt of the Daily Show
with special guests:
Demetri Martin, The Daily Show
Rob Cantrell, Last Comic Standing
Sara Schaefer, host of the DL
Matt Goldich, Comedy Central
Joselyn Hughes, The Slumber Party

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

the sixth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Jonah Ray is a surprisingly tall comedian from LA. He's also got a pretty impressive resume. He's appeared in TV shows including The Sarah Silverman Program, Saul of the Molemen, Comedy Central's Live At Gotham, and Human Giant. He's also got tons of videos on Super Deluxe including his man-on-the-street style docs shot at SXSW, and his series "The Freeloaders Guide To Easy Living with Jonah Ray". He recently went on tour with Sean O Connor, Nick Maritato, and Andrew Wright which was billed as the (Still) Born in the USA Tour. Oh, and he has a 7" on AST records. What follows is what he dug in 2007. - Klaus

- - -

Lavender Diamond, Here Comes One - I couldnt stop listening to this song, over and over and over again i'd rock in my car, on my bike, in my house while cooking....everytime i listened to it it made me feel like i was in some kind of Romantic Comedy. Except when the song was over i wasnt with my quirky dream girl... i was still by myself mid-masturbate.

The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour - One of my favorite bands. They've made the same album three times now and i dont mind it. Each song has such a sweetness to it, and it doesnt hurt that the singer sounds a lot like Big Bird. Maybe thats why i like it? because it brings in these thoughts of a large, friendly bird bringing me in for a hug...then singing sweet political poetry into my earhole.

(strong language) continued below....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 By Jonah Ray"

the fifth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Because the man does so damned much, Fred Armisen is one of the hardest individuals to sum up in a pre-list blurb. He's 50% of ThunderAnt (the other 50% is Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney). He just released a DVD called Jens Hannemann: Complicated Drumming Technique. He has also been doing some live gigs. And in addition to being a senior member of SNL, Fred's mug can be seen in scads of movies and TV shows (check out his resume on IMDB). Being equal parts artist and entertainer, he's absolutely one of my favorite people in entertainment and I am triple-dog-delighted he took the time out to share with BV the things he enjoyed in 2007 - Klaus

- - -

10 things I bought/got/looked at this year that I love.

Paul McCartney, The McCartney Years DVD - It has live McCartney footage from 1976 that is amazing. He plays these really busy bass lines and sings at the same time effortlessly. I don't know how someone is able to do that so well. And I love that lefty Rickenbacker!

Petra Haden, Don't Stop Believin' - This is on a compilation album called Guilt By Association that came out this year. Her voice is just the greatest ever and the guitar solo part kills me. She's working on an acappella version of movie soundtracks right now that is unbelievable.

The Apple iPhone - It makes me feel like I am finally in the future. When I was a kid, this is what I imagined I'd be using in the 2000's. If you tap a business name into the map application, it finds it for you AND gives you the phone number AND gives you directions INCLUDING how to avoid traffic at that precise moment. I mean, are you kidding me? Thank you inventors who work at Apple!

God Of War 2 for Playstation - It's more complex than the first one but also more difficult. I liked it a lot, but couldn't finish it past the flying horse fights.

Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Mr. Martin writes about the part of his life when he was a stand up comedian. His focus on working on every detail of his act is fascinating. At age fifteen he was already giving himself notes in a notebook. "Relax. Don't shake."

dlisted.com - This celebrity gossip site seriously makes me laugh out loud. The guy who writes this is SO funny! I look at this probably ten times a day. I was going to quote some of his stuff but I say just go to it and read it.

continued below....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Fred Armisen"

the fourth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Paul Scheer is an American actor. He currently can be seen on MTV's newest comedy show, "Human Giant" which he created and stars in along with Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Jason Woliner. He is a regular on VH1’s Best Week Ever and his films include School for Scoundrels with Billy Bob Thornton, the upcoming Sean William Scott comedy Trainwreck, Watching the Detectives with Cillian Murphy, The Onion Movie, and the 2004 SXSW Audience Award Winner Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. He recently appeared with Jeff Goldblum in the Frank Darabont-directed NBC drama Raines. -Wikipedia

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1.) National, "Boxer"
This album really snuck up on me. At first I was like, "Ah..whatever", then I was like, "Holy Shit, these guys are geniuses!"


2.) Kanye West "Graduation"
I probably listened to Kanye more thn the National but I just wanted to put him as my number 2 to piss him off, he's funny when he's angry.

3.) Radiohead, "In Rainbows"
Undisputed Awesomness!

4.) The Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible"
It's downright unamerican not to mention this Canadian band as one of your favorite albums of the year. I love their beards.

5.) Black Lips, "Good Bad Not Evil"
Great album. I saw them live this year, I was disappointed when they didn't literally burn Bowery Ballroom to the ground. I thought they were showmen.

continued below.....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Paul Scheer"

the second in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Rob Huebel is one of the fellows from the hit TV series Human Giant (whose second season is currently in production). He was also a member of the UCBNY sketch troupe Respecto Montalban - a troupe that Rob Riggle, Paul Scheer, and Jackie Clarke were also members of. A very busy writer, comedian, producer, and actor, Rob took some time out to give BV readers his list of the best music of 2007-ish. -Klaus

- - -

Not everything on mine is from 2007 technically, but it's what was on my brain in 2007. In no particular order:

• LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
• Girl Talk: Night Ripper
• Radiohead: In Rainbows
• Mastodon: Blood Mountain
• Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury
• Kanye West: Graduation
• Lil Wayne: Da Drought 3
• Band of Horses: Cease to Begin
• The National: Boxer
• Cold War Kids: Robbers and Cowards

Max Silvestri @ Rififi, NYC - Oct 29, 2007 (CRED)

In addition to all the special comedy shows always going on, don't forget that there are plenty of shows that happen weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly in NYC that are always reliable, rarely over $5, and usually feature some of the biggest comedians in the business. Why, just the other day Invite Them Up featured Jim Gaffigan, Demetri Martin, Nick Kroll, Andy Blitz, and Max Silvestri. Nuts, right!? Here are some other recurring shows I highly recommend.

• Totally J/K with Joe and Noah: Every other Monday at Rififi with Joe Mande and Noah Garfinkle
• At Night with Gabe and Jenny: Mondays at Rififi
• Sweet: Tuesday at The Slipper Room with Seth Herzog
• Invite Them Up: Wednesdays at Rififi with Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale
• Greg Johnson & Larry Murphy: Fridays at Rififi with Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy
• It is It: Monthly at Pianos with Adam Lowitt (The Daily Show)
• Tearing the Veil of Maya: Sundays at Union Hall with Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter

We hosted a Flight of the Conchords (FOTC) contest. Some winners won passes to a screening of the first episode of the new HBO series. Now EVERYONE - even those who don't have HBO (like me) - can watch the first episode thanks to the kind folks at HBO.com. Look for appearances by UCB, Rififi and Union Hall regulars Arj Barker, Eugene Mirman, and Kristen Schaal.

Speaking of Kristen Schaal who was also a guest on the 24 Hour Human Giant Marathon on MTV, we asked all those entering the FOTC contest to tell us who their favorite stand up comedian was. We got something like 50 comedian names total, but these were - by a small margin - the top seven:

your favorite comedians
1) Demetri Martin
2) David Cross
3) Mitch Hedberg
4) George Carlin
5) Aziz Ansari (tie)
5) Brian Posehn (tie)
5) Kristen Schaal (tie)

That's right - you like Kristen Schaal as much as you like Aziz Ansari who you like just as much as Brian Posehn WHO LOVES METAL.........

Continue reading "Flight of the Conchords, Human Giant, Kristen Schaal, YOUR FAVORITE COMEDIANS, Michael Showalter, Brian Posehn & MASTODON"