Puss & Boots @ Rockwood in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

Monday night at the Bell House:

Sex, love, and Country music! Puss and Boots brings to Brooklyn holiday cheer, many P and B special guests/santa's helpers, and hay stacks...lots of them!

Featuring burlesque by Nasty Canaste, and Minnie Tonka plus Speical guests Teddy Thompson, Kaki King, Seth Herzog, Sonia Brown, Michelle Casillas, Jeff Hill, Harper Blynn and more!

7:30pm Doors / 8pm Show / $15 Advance Tickets

I don't know who the "and more" are, but don't forget that Puss n Boots is Sasha Dobson, Catherine Popper, and Norah Jones.

Speaking of Norah Jones and Christmas, did you catch her playing the Ace Hotel on Anthony Bourdain's recently-aired Christmas show? Did you catch Fucked Up at the end of the same show?

by Klaus Kinski

Reggie Watts, Lisa Delarios & Arden Myrin

And now for the good news that will hopefully serve as an antidote for the terrible news. Have you been one of the lucky and smart mofos who has managed to catch The Party Machine at one of its many appearances at Brooklyn's Union Hall? Those shows, hosted by Lisa Delarios and Arden Myrin, are always off the f-ing chain and always rife with incredible guests. RIFE I tells ya. Structurally, Union Hall can barely withstand the ruckus the Party Machine inflicts on the place, so on Thursday December 8th, The Party Machine will test The Bell House's mettle with The Party Machine Holiday Benefit for The Stiller Foundation.

The Stiller Foundation is a philanthropic effort led by Ben Stiller (never heard of him) whose aim is "to support children around the world by providing educational opportunities to help them realize their full potential." The line-up for this show is EPIC to say the least. Like, so epic that if you suffer from incontinence or heart murmurs, you might want to take some meds before reading on. So far, the published line-up includes Colin Quinn, Michael Showalter, Eleanor Friedberger, Ana Gasteyer, the gorgeous Bobby Tisdale, Seth Herzog (no relation to my nemesis), Andy Kindler (!) and Adira Amram and the Experience. And that's just the talent I am allowed to tell you about. I've heard whispers of special guests what would knock the socks off a shoe cobbler. And the show is only $10! Tha fuck?! I know! Get tickets for the comedy event of the century, and help Ben Stiller in his crusade to help kids who have it so much worse than you whining tarts could ever imagine.

And check this out; Arden's now on the ABC show Suburgatory and doing a pilot with Fred fucking Savage for MTV.

And while you've got your wallet out maybe you should get a coupla tickets to the previously mentioned Pretty Good Friends Holiday Show at the Bell House on December 11th featuring Eugene Mirman (please don't show those slaughterhouse pics again), Kristen Schaal, John Mulaney, and MORE. And when I say more, I mean "Damn, I should have bought a ticket when Klaus mentioned it" more. This show is a benefit for you, the ticket buying smarty-pants, who will get a massive dose of laughter which, I am told, is the best medicine.

Meanwhile catch Eugene Mirman, Dave Hill, Bobby Tisdale & Todd Barry at UCB East on December 5th. It's the Comedy Central Corporate Retreat show and Eugene will be giving a sneak peek of a pilot he made for the basic cable channel.

Todd Barry is filming a Comedy Central one hour special at Gramercy Theater four days earlier! Maybe you saw him practice the material at the Pit.

Oh, and don't forget that Ted Leo and the Pharmacists is playing the Bell House on December 30th. Tickets are still, inexplicably, available.

As we reported in February 2010, but I completely forgot until I saw this Wall Street Journal article today...

"Stand-up comedian Pete Holmes had an audience of more than 100 million people last month. As the snarky voice of the stock-trading baby in commercials for the online trading site E*Trade, Mr. Holmes and his two recent Super Bowl spots were part of the most-watched TV event in U.S. history.

Normally, when Mr. Holmes performs, it's for audiences of hundreds--gigs at New York comedy clubs, colleges or the occasional taping of a Comedy Central special. He doesn't do finance.

"I know about as much about investing and banking as an actual baby," he says." [The Funny People Behind the Famous Ads]

We used to see a lot more of Pete Holmes when he lived in NYC, but as his Facebook page points out, he now lives in LA where he performs at the What's Up Tiger Lily? Comedy Show on 2/21 (he moved there in 2010 to be a writer for NBC's Outsourced).

Pete Holmes performed at Comix in NYC on March 11th, 2010 (and other times). Comix went out of business less than one year later.

Pete's friend Mike Birbiglia (I mean they're probably friends) has a new off-Broadway (I think that's considered off-Broadway) show opening at Barrow Street Theatre and tickets are on sale.

If Pete was in NYC tonight (2/18), maybe he would go see Pajama Men at St Ann's Warehouse, or maybe he'd prefer the less high profile comedy show going on at Union Hall (with Seth Herzog, Bridget Fitzgerald, Jon Glaser, Kristen Schaal, and Adira Amram).

A video of Pete performing at Comix in 2009 can be watched below...

Continue reading "(I forgot that) Pete Holmes is the E*Trade Baby"

by David Andrako

LOST fan Bobby Moynihan @ the UCB Theatre in NYC

"On MAY 22nd at 10PM in NYC and LA the UCB THEATER will time travel to the mysterious island from LOST and transform in a fully operational Dharma Station. This one night only event. Will never be seen again. Your favorite stars from LOST (live and via videotape) will perform alongside your favorite comedians on stage in a night of LOST themed Comedy." [Paul Scheer]

Even before comedian Paul Scheer posted that message to his website (hours before the penultimate episode of LOST aired), fans quickly booked the free reservations for both the NYC and LA shows. Many others showed up to wait in the standby line in hopes of getting into Saturday night's show.

The NYC show was hosted by the three-man improv group, Sidecar (Matt Fisher, Alden Ford & Justin Tyler) and featured comedians Samm Levine, Owen Burke, Anthony Atamanuik, Jon Glaser, Seth Herzog, Bobby Moynihan, Kumail Nanjiani, John Gemberling, Gil Ozeri, Jeff Rubins and Pat Cassels. Though no actual LOST cast members were there, the two hour event started with a pre-recorded video message from LOST executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (both recently spotted watching Lost at Knitting Factory) welcoming the crowd to UCB and thanking everyone for supporting the show. Other highlights of the evening included Samm Levine playing a clip of his appearance on LOST as a Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack cashier, John Gemberling and Gil Ozeri in "Crazy Sayid and Crazy Claire's Crazy Island Giveway" and the final sketch of the evening, Bobby Moynihan's video slide-show documenting his extensive collection of LOST memorabilia and various references to LOST that he worked into several episodes of Saturday Night Live.

More pictures from the night below...

Continue reading "the LOST finale was celebrated @ UCB w/ Bobby Moynihan, Jon Glaser, Samm Levine, Sidecar & other comedians (pics) "

photos by Chris La Putt

Sunday's edition of Kidrockers at The Living Room in NYC featured performances by The Dig and The Grates. More pictures and a video from that show,. below...

Continue reading "The Grates & the Dig rocked for kids (pics & video) "

photos by Maryanne Ventrice

Neon Indian Kidrocking it on October 25th...

Real Estate and Neon Indian played a kids- and guardians-only show at The Living Room on October 25th, one day after CMJ. The pictures here are from that (including ones of hosts Seth Herzog and Carlos Jordan).

Neon Indian have three NYC shows coming up for December 15th-17th.

Real Estate are currently on the road - their homecoming will be a Decemeber 4th show at Market Hotel with Woods and Cloud Nothings.

There's another Kidrockers coming up, with Right on Dynamite and Freestyle Love Supreme (and Djs Seth Herzog and Craig Baldo), at The Winter's Eve Festival in Lincoln Square on Monday, November 30th. The event starts at 6pm after Dante Park's tree lighting and takes place at the The American Bible Society (1865 Broadway @ 61st St). It's free; more info here.

The next event after that will be on Sunday, December 13th (1pm) with The Octagon and Saadi at The Living Room. Tickets are on sale. "Adults must be accompanied by a kid and vice versa."

More pictures from the post-CMJ edition, below...

Continue reading "Kidrockers hosted Neon Indian & Real Estate (pics) -- upcoming shows include Right on Dynamite & The Octagon"

DOWNLOAD: USA for Affluence - Cash for Christmas (MP3)

The star-studded video is below...

Continue reading "Beardo Episode 5 - CASH FOR CHRISTMAS (Tim Harrington, Moby, Andrew WK, AC Newman, Will Sheff, etc, etc...)"

Waggytail Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization that rescues and rehabilitates animals from the NYC shelters. All proceeds from this show go directly to the care of the animals.

words by Jon Roren, photos by Marianne Ways

DOWNLOAD: Cobra Krames - What More Time! (MP3)

Karin, Bobby and the time capsule @ Rififi, Feb 25, 2008

Invite Them Up has been a mainstay on the Downtown comedy scene for about six years, and has played host to many great talents. This week sees the end of ITU's run as a weekly show, with shows on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night to celebrate more than a half-decade of fart jokes and fireballs. If you're coming on Wednesday, bring something for the fancy time capsule.

John Oliver

Host Bobby Tisdale got night one-of-three underway with his patented rubbing of the microphone on some dude's balls before bringing up opening comic Greg Johnson - the co-host of the ECNY award-winning Rififi variety show 'Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show'. Johnson was followed by Michael Showalter whose set consisted of one of his trademark "showbiz rants" - this one about how he was only 3rd-to-last-night material and that he clearly wasn't good enough for Wednesday night before trying to tell jokes about shows nobody in the audience had seen.

Continue reading "Invite Them Up, night 1 of 3 final shows (pics & recap) "

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

What else? -Klaus