photos by Andrew St. Clair

Stan Lee & Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo teamed up with Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee to host a discussion at this year's ComicCon in New York City on Saturday. The R&B star and the the 87-year-old former president and chairman of Marvel Comics discussed their recent collaboration on Libra Scale, a comic book that Ne-Yo wrote to accompany his upcoming album of the same name. [RTT News]

You can check out our first two sets of pictures from this past weekend's con, HERE and HERE (both sets heavy on constumed attendants). The third set, heavy on celebrity guests (with video footage of Stan Lee and Ne-Yo), continues below...

Continue reading "NY Comic Con 2010 in pics - part 3 (Stan Lee, Ne-Yo, Jon Glaser, Rob Huebel, Bruce Campbell & more) "

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.

Highlights of this years festival include 30 Rock-prov (featuring Donald Glover, John Lutz, Tami Sagher, and more), Horatio Sanz and the Kings of Improv (featuring Horatio Sanz of Saturday Night Live) and reunions of classic UCB Theatre groups The Swarm and Respecto Montalban (featuring Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer of Human Giant, Rob Riggle, and more). The Marathon will conclude with a special performance of ASSSSCAT at F.I.T.'s Haft Auditorium, featuring members of the Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh).

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) "

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

The 10th Annual Del Close Marathon is just a few weeks away, and like last year, the schedule is a tad overwhelming. Featuring over 150 shows from improv groups from all over North America, this milestone anniversary edition of the Marathon takes place non-stop from Friday afternoon August 8 to after midnight on Sunday August 10.

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, FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre, and the FIT Haft Auditorium. The Marathon website has each theater's schedule individually mapped out, so creating your own itinerary should be a breeze.

Weekend passes are a measly $25 and are only sold at the door. Shows taking place at the FIT Kate Murphy Ampitheatre, however, are $10 each and can be purchased directly from the UCB Theater website. The FIT shows feature appearances by Horatio Sanz, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel, Rob Riggle people from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Amy Poehler and many many many other popular comedians. Buy tickets for those soon, as I expect them to sell out rather quickly.

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?"

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.

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

Previously
* Best of 2007 by Dave Hill