New York Comedy Festival is returning to multiple NYC venues this fall from November 9-13. The festival features a number of comedians including Wanda Sykes, Louis C.K., Russell Peters, Bill Burr, John Pinette, Tracy Morgan, Bill Maher, Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Norm Macdonald, Ricky Gervais, John Pinette and Jo Koy. The festival spans venues including Beacon Theatre, Town Hall, Carolines on Broadway, 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, and BAM. Tickets are available for each show and are in various states of sale/presale. Full schedule is below.

Australian comedian/actor/musician Tim Minchin is returning to NYC this fall to perform at Town Hall on November 4. Tickets are available for Live Nation presale now (password: ELECTRIC) and go on sale to the general public today, Friday (8/12) at noon. Check out a video of Tim at Bamboozle this past Spring along with all dates below...

Continue reading "NY Comedy Festival 2011 lineup & tickets, Tim Minchin too"

"Now in its fifth year, the Brooklyn Book Festival is one of the top book festivals in the nation with a hip, huge and free all-star literary lineup!

Come see Salman Rushdie, Venus Williams, Sarah Silverman, Paul Krugman, Dennis Lehane, Paul Auster, Naomi Klein, Gary Shteyngart, Rosanne Cash, Jennifer Egan, John Ashbery, Nelson George, Mary Gaitskill, Colson Whitehead, Francine Prose, Esmeralda Santiago, Pete Hamill, Russell Banks, Michael Connelly, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Sam Lipsyte, Sloane Crosley, Paul Harding and over 200 more! Plus children's and young adult lit stars like Rebecca Stead, Sara Shepard, Jacqueline Woodson, Jon Scieszka, Jenny Han, Tad Hills, and Francisco X. Stork! Click here for festival program schedule."

Laugh with the stars at Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education on Saturday, October 2 at the Beacon Theatre.

Hosted by Jon Stewart, the evening will feature Lewis Black, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Joel McHale, John Oliver, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and too many more scheduled to appear!

Proceeds benefit autism education and family service programs across the country in support of the overabundance of autistic individuals that so desperately need quality services.

American Express® cardmembers can purchase advance tickets, Thursday, July 29 from 10AM - Sunday, August 1 at 10PM before they go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 2 at 9AM.

A great lineup for a great cause.

Much sooner: Tearing The Veil of Maya, the sometimes-weekly show that mostly happens at Union Hall is turning four and celebrating at Union Hall's sister venue The Bell House. The Four Year Anniversary Show will feature Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, Leo Allen, AD Miles, Wyatt Cenac "and friends!" Maybe Michael Showalter will be there too? That's at the Bell House on August 1st and tickets are on sale (note: "This show will be mixed seated/standing - please come early for the best seats.")

And speaking of weekly comedy shows happening in bigger, near-by venues, The Cameo's "Big Terrific" is happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg on August 27th. Hosts Gabe Liedman, Jenny Slate (SNL) and Max Silvestri promise "Many Special Guests". Tickets are on sale.

Continue reading "comedians fighting autism @ Beacon Theatre, Tearing the Veil of Maya turning four, Big Terrific getting bigger"

Leo Allen benefiting Haiti @ MHOW on 1/23 (by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Aziz Ansari added an extra two shows to his previously-announced run of CD Release shows at Comix. The new total is eight shows over four days (2/3-2/6) and they all appear to be sold out. "Friends scheduled to appear throughout the weekend:" Todd Barry, Moshe Kasher, John Mulaney, Max Silvestri, Joe Mande, Kristen Schaal, Hannibal Buress, Leo Allen, Kumail Nanjiani, and Anthony Jeselnik. A fine set of openers indeed.

Don't have a ticket, but still want to see Aziz during his now-rare trip back to NYC? You can also catch him tonight (2/2) for free at the Apple Store in SOHO. Sarah Silverman will appear in the same venue one night later.

Speaking of Max Silvestri, don't forget to catch his Big Teriffic show every Wednesday night at The Cameo (free!).

Speaking of Kristen Schaal, you can catch her tonight (2/2) as part of Sara Schaefer & Kim Armstrong's new free weekly Tuesday night comedy show in the front lounge of The Bell House (which is also hosting a "TOTALLY SOLD OUT" Lost premiere party this evening as well).

Speaking of Kristen Schaal performing comedy at The Bell House, tickets are on sale for a February 27th show described as "Friends of Celebrate Brooklyn present Winter Warm-Up featuring Comedy with Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends, Special guests include Kristin Schaal & Michael Showalter".

Speaking of Hannibal Buress, he hosts a comedy show every Sunday night at Knitting Factory (free!).

Todd Barry, John Mulaney and Hannibal Buress all return to Comix on the same (February 18th) night (code TBAF saves $5).

Leo Allen hosts Whiplash every Monday night at UCB

A few shows other shows coming up at UCB and other surprises below...

Continue reading "Aziz Ansari at Comix & The Apple Store, Sarah Silverman, Hannibal Buress & other upcoming comedy shows"

DOWNLOAD: Gramercy Arms & Mascott - This Christmastime (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gramercy Arms - Looking at the Sun (w/ Sarah Silverman) (MP3)

Gramercy Arms is an ever (r)evolving collective band project of New York-based artists.

On [their new self-titled] record, Gramercy Arms comprises members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Dambuilders, along with comic Sarah Silverman, [The] album is a summery blast of gorgeous power pop, heartfelt tales of love and loss and the city they call their home...

You can ownload the track Sarah Silverman contributed to, "Looking at the Sun", above along with a new Christmas song Gramercy Arms recorded with Mascott (which you may have heard on on the TV show Grey's Anatomy).

Gramercy Arms open for Nada Surf and Delta Spirit at tonight/Friday's sold out show at Bowery Ballroom. They also have a couple of shows scheduled in February with Marykate O'Neil, who is opening for Nada Surf this Monday at Maxwell's (also sold out). All dates below...

Continue reading "Gramercy Arms = NY Supergroup (Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Joan Wasser, SARAH SILVERMAN?...) - shows & MP3s"

concert photos by Chris La Putt, backstage shots by Kyle Dean Reinford

DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (MP3)

"It was a great show with a nice mix of songs from Rabbit Fur Coat & Acid Tongue and I have to say, the songs from Acid Tongue (most of which I was seeing live for the first time tonight) came across very well, especially "The Next Messiah"! It was a a really nice show tonight and I had a lot of fun!" [Sean]

Jenny Lewis took the stage at The Apollo for the second time in a month on Saturday night (Oct 4) (the first time was for an Elvis Costello show taping) (Elvis also appears on her new album). Last weekend Jenny played twice at Austin City Limits.

Sarah Silverman (who made a guest appearance in one of Jenny's videos) made a surprise appearance as the Apollo opener. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis & Sarah Silverman @ The Apollo, NYC - pics"

Sarah Silverman @ Knitting Factory, NYC - Aug 19, 2008 [YouTube]

Tonight [August 21] we bring you:

Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, Anchorman)
Todd Barry (The Flight of the Conchords, Letterman, Conan)
Heather Lawless (Comedy Central, Stella)
Baron Vaughn (Comedy Central, VH1)
Rich Juzwiak & Tracie Egan (Jezebel.com's Pot Psychology)
...and a secret surprise guest!

And as always, Gabe & Jenny & I [Max Silvestri] are going to be really goofy and make you feel electric downstairs.

Sound Fix Lounge
110 Bedford Ave at North 11th St, Brooklyn, NY
FREE!

Did anyone go to UCB last night? Was Sarah the special guest? Will she be the special guest tonight? Max won't say. Meta video of Sarah saying don't tape this show at Knitting Factory the other night, below...

Continue reading "Sarah Silverman anti-video video + more comedy tonight"

Sarah Silverman @ Comic Con 2008 (veganstraightedge)

Sarah Silverman was the special guest at the free comedy show 'It Is It' at Pianos in NYC last night (August 18). Todd Barry also performed.

Todd Barry performs again tonight (August 19) - at Knitting Factory with "Variety Shac, Jim Gaffigan, Tigers & Monkeys and VERY Special guests!!". The rumor is that Sarah once again will fall into that "special guest" category.

Where will Todd Barry be on Wednesday (August 20)? He'll be performing with Sean Conroy and "VERY special guest" at UCB's free, weekly "School Night" show. Will Sarah be the guest again? Only time will tell.

Sarah's next actually-scheduled performance (aka she will definitely be there) is at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 8th - part of the New York Comedy Festival and tickets are on sale.

by Klaus Kinski

Louis CK suprise appearance @ Pianos (more by Bao Nguyen)

The 2008 New York Comedy Festival is not until November 5-9, but tickets for lots of the shows start going on sale August 7th. The festival boasts some pretty massive talent, but the festival also boasts some enormous venues and somewhat hefty ticket prices. Individually, the tickets prices might not be so bad. But when you want to see 4 or 5 of these shows the overall cost (with fees) is a bit crippling. Some highlights of the Festival include:

• 11/6 - Louis CK - Town Hall
• 11/7 - An Evening with Craig Ferguson - Town Hall
• 11/8 - Sarah Silverman and Friends - Hammerstein Ballroom
• 11/8 - Tracy Morgan - Apollo Theater
• 11/9 - BJ Novak and Friends - Town Hall

What really has my curiosity going bonkers is the addition of "and Friends" to the Sarah Silverman and BJ Novak (The Office) shows. When Sarah performed at Carnegie Hall last year, her friends were Todd Barry and Doug Benson. TOTALLY worth the cost of admission. And BJ Novak, hilarious in his own right, has many many many very funny friends so there's a huge chance his show will absolutely blow the roof off of Town Hall. In their own words...

"We're thrilled to celebrate the fifth year of the New York Comedy Festival with such a talented and hilarious group of performers who are on the leading edge of the comedy business," said Caroline Hirsch, co-founder of the Festival and owner of Carolines on Broadway. "We are also very excited to launch a multi-year partnership with COMEDY CENTRAL, and look forward to working with them to extend the Festival's audience even further and to provide even more content and programming through COMEDY CENTRAL's various media platforms."

Continue reading "Sarah Silverman and Matt singing "I'm fukin' Matt Damon""

DOWNLOAD: Versus - Deseret (MP3)

Peter Moren, Carl Newman & the happy couple @ Union Hall, Nov 10, 2007 (cred)

Eugene Mirman now pronounces you man & wife, Nov 10, 2007

Union Hall can now call itself home to at least two major indie rock weddings, and both weddings involved The New Pornographers' Carl Newman, and Union Hall mainstay comedian Eugene Mirman, in one way or another. The first wedding (August 4, 2007) WAS Carl Newman's, and (luckily then) Carl merely played at the second one. Carl and Peter of Peter Bjorn & John did a set of covers at the private Saturday night show that also included sets by Dean & Britta and The Mugs (not the Muggs). Congratulations to Union Hall's booker Skippy, and his new wife Courtney. More photos like the two in this post, at Flickr. Read an interview with Skippy (Jack McFadden) at Gothamist.

For Peter, that meant his third show at Union Hall. His first was with Bjorn and John - their NYC debut back in January, and his second was just one night before the wedding - he was the not-so-secret guest on Friday night's David Kilgour show....

Peter played a short impromptu set of songs he's working on for an upcoming solo album, working out arrangements in advance of his "real" solo show at Joe's Pub on November 19. Stress on "working them out." There were stops and starts, flubbed lyrics... but luckily Moren's a real charmer so nobody seemed to mind....[Sound Bites]

BUT, ends up....

the real treat was after the night's show (including David Kilgour and Euros Childs) was supposed to be over.

1990s indie faves Versus reunited for their second show since breaking up in 2001. This wasn't the start of a reformation, however -- this was a 40th birthday present for former Teenbeat labelmate Matthew Datesman, who has logged time playing drums for various bands on that influential Arlington, VA label, including True Love Always, Aden, and currently Flin Flon. Teenbeat prez and Flin Flon singer Mark Robinson (who still looks like he's 25) was one of the 50 or in attendence, most of whom were super-psyched to be seeing Versus. [Sound Bites]

Versus reunion, Nov 09, 2007

And as if that wasn't enough, Michael Showalter's new comedy album Sandwiches & Cats is out this week. What does that have to do with Union Hall? Well, it was recorded there! Stream it now at AOL.

As you probably know by now - mostly thanks to Michael Showalter & Eugene Mirman's weekly Sunday night show "Tearing the Veil of Maya", Union Hall has become - along with UCB and Rififi, one of the best places to catch a show by one of NYC's many "alt-comedians". Aziz Ansari, David Cross, Jon Benjamin, Leo Allen.....the list goes on.....

Sarah Silverman poses with a super-fan, Nov 1, 2007

That's right - Sarah Silverman herself was the the "surprise" at Todd Barry's 20th year in comedy celebration at Union Hall earlier this month.

Upcoming shows at Union Hall include Daniel Kitson, Travis Morrison, and Oppenheimer. Eugene Mirman & Immaculate Machine played their Sunday night.

David Cross @ UCB Theater, NYC - Oct 19, 2007 (CRED)

Some Fred Armisen news y'all. Drag City Records has finally released Fred Armisen Presents Jens Hanneman: Complicated Drumming Techinque. I mentioned this DVD in a previous Canon, but have a look at the trailer at the end of this post. Fred will be at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn on October 27th @ 8:00pm - performing, taking questions, and signing the DVD.

In the time that has elapsed since my last Canon, not only was the Sarah Silverman Program Season 1 DVD released, but the second season began airing on Comedy Central. So far, season two has been phenomenal and I just can't get enough of Jay Johnston, Brian Posehn, and Steve Agee's characters. In honor of a stellar-so-far Season 2, we're having a contest! To win, simply email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Silverman!). A grand prize winner will receive a shirt, season 1 DVD, and a condom. Two runners up will get the season 1 DVD. Don't forget, Season 2 airs Wed. nights at 10:30 pm EST on Comedy Central.

Oh, and don't forget to see Sarah Silverman, Todd Barry, and Doug Benson at Carnegie Hall as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Some Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter news too! Michael Ian Black released a CD on September 25th entitled I'm A Wonderful Man. Michael Showater recorded a CD at Union Hall back in July for JDub Records. It doesn't come out until November, but it's called Sandwiches and Cats and you can totally pre-order it right this very second. The two Michaels will also be touring together! Dates below.

Nick Swardson released a CD too! Check it out.

MORE COMEDY BELOW.........

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (10/23/07)"

DOWNLOAD: Sarah Silverman on AOL Interface (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Michael Showalter - Intro to Erotica (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Michael Showalter - Erotica (radio edit) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jose Gonzalez on AOL Interface (MP3)

Saturday - Oct 6
* Two shows by Sigur Ros
* Melvins @ Luna Lounge
* Pinback @ The Stone Pony
* Minus the Bear @ Irving Plaza
* The Dance Music Invasion with Larry Tee
* Ludacris @ Radio City Music Hall
* Yo La Tengo & others for the New Yorker
* Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings @ the Apollo
* Caribou, Heavens & Born Ruffians @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Fiery Furnaces & Tom Brosseau @ Sound Fix
* Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Les Savy Fav @ Randall's Island

Doors: 3:30pm
Wild Light: 5:00pm
Les Savy Fav: 5:50pm
Blond Redhead: 6:50pm
LCD Soundsystem: 7:55PM
Arcade Fire: 9:15pm

Sunday - Oct 7
* Comedy @ Union Hall
* Gina Gerson @ The Box
* Debbie Gibson @ BB King's
* Common & Q-Tip @ Nokia Theatre
* Dave Deporis and Dave Garland @ Joe's Pub

Check out this Bjork & Bernhard Willhelm thing. See what's going on tonight (Friday). What else?

DOWNLOAD: weird Al Yankovic - You're Pitiful (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Brent Weinbech - Oakland Comedian (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Brent Weinbech - Car Ride (MP3)

The Sarah Silverman Program @ Comic-Con 2007 in San Diego (CRED)

The entire cast of The Sarah Silverman Program gathered at this year's Comic-Con to share clips from their second sesaon and a tape of Steve Agee masturbating, or as the moderator, comedian Zach Galifianakis, put it "alphabetizing his testicles." (He was alphabetizing for comedic purposes, of course.) Needless to say, it was an R-rated evening all around. [TV Squad]

I was recently browsing the 92nd St. Y calendar and noticed that they have some unbelievable shows happening in the coming months. They're all very unique, once-in-a-lifetime type shows. Check it:

9/05/2007: Michael Palin of Monty Python with Lorne Michaels
9/06/2007: Larry David in Conversation with Susie Essman
9/23/2007: Alan Alda with Roger Rosenblatt: Talking About Talking
9/23/2007: A Tribute to Robert Altman with Tim Robbins, Bob Balaban and others
10/23/2007: Stephen Colbert: I Am America (And So Can You!)
12/9/2007: Steve Martin

Check out more upcoming shows at the end of this post.

Oh, and Weird Al Yankovic, the nicest man in showbidness, is at the Beacon Theater on September 20th. THAT is going to be awesome. More tour dates at his site, and you can try the presale for tix too.

I rarely mention Mike Birbiglia on here, which is a shame because he is brilliant. In support of his new album, My Secret Public Journal Live, Mike Birbiglia is embarking on a massive tour. Lotsa colleges, lotsa theaters, no NYC. Complete list of dates here. Look out for the record on September 25th.

Lots more comedy, BELOW.....

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (08/17/07)"