"JAWBOX IS REUNITING ON THE SHOW TONIGHT! Last week, this iconic 90's post-hardcore band re-released their classic album For Your Own Special Sweetheart. Tonight, they perform together again for the first time since 1997! They are not touring or performing anywhere else - THIS IS IT!" - Jimmy Fallon (actually Sara Schaefer)

As previously mentioned, Jawbox played four songs during an early "rehearsal", and then played "Savory" agan on the actual show last night (12/8). You can tell the above picture was taken during rehearsal because Fred Armisen isn't sitting on the stage next to his Trenchmouth bandmates and his ThunderAnt bandmate Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney (like they were during the actual show) (Trenchmouth and Jawbox played shows together back in the day). Two videos from rehearsal and the one from the actual show, below...

Continue reading "Jawbox played Fallon - 'Savory' & 2 videos from rehearsal"

People like Fred Armisen, Carrie from Sleater-Kinney (and NPR) (man, she was rough on Tallest Man on Earth), Joe Mande and Nick Kroll will be watching comedy shorts (with piano accompaniment) tonight...

Continue reading "ThunderAnt, Max Silvestri, others & film @ MoMA Tuesday"

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"

Todd Barry recently discovered that he was interviewed on Carrie Brownstein's NPR blog Monitor Mix. READ IT.

Louis CK is taping a new stand-up special called Chewed Up! It will take place in Boston on March 1, 2008. Tickets go on sale through ticketmaster on 1/25/08 and are $30. HOWEVER, a limited number of $10 tickets will be available through Louis' website so keep checking it for details!

A while back I told y'alls that Eugene Mirman's Comedy Central Presents episode will be airing on Friday February 1st at 10:00pm. Like you, I was happy to hear the episode would finally be airing. Also, like you, I wasn't really looking forward to sitting in my apartment on a Friday night watching TV. Luckily Eugene, a man of intuition and foresight, has come to our rescue and will be having a FREE little screening party at Union Hall.

The details for that, and MUCH MORE, are below....

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (01/24/08)"

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

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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"

Tonight (Sept 21) The Knitting Factory is hosting a show that is so incredible and so insanely inexpensive that I'm beside myself with joy. The Knit is playing host to the Variety Shac DVD release party. For those who don't know, Variety Shac is a sensational music and comedy shindig featuring Shonali Bhowmik, Heather Lawless, Andrea Rosen and Chelsea Peretti that happens monthly at Galapagos. Not only will this show bring us new sketches and videos c/o Variety Shac, but the bill also includes Zach Galifianakis, Fred Armisen, Eugene Mirman, Michael Showalter and artist Cory Arcangel.. I'm not sure how Cory Arcangel fits into all of the, but as an employee of a museum, I can almost guarantee you it'll involve video projections.....

$8.00 tickets are miraculously still on sale. However, I have 2 PAIRS to give away! TO WIN e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: VARIETY SHAC) and tell us your favorite comedian - the first and tenth emails right now WIN. Include your first and last name in the email. Winners will be notified, loser will not.

And speaking of Fred Armisen; remember how I mentioned a few weeks ago that Fred been working on a new short video series called ThunderAnt with ex-Sleater-Kinney guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein? Well they're up and you can see them here.....

Continue reading "Klaus says go to Variety Shac tonight, WIN TIX + new Fred Armisen/Sleater Kinney videos"

Andrew WK, Kurt Braunohler, John Oliver, Leo Allen - Aug 20, 2007 (CRED)

The UCB Theater played host to a freaking stupendous edition of Bro'In Out with Leo and Tony. The show, which featured guests Andrew WK, Jon Oliver, Kurt Braunohler and music by Sam Bisbee, may be the comedy highlight of my summer. The show kicked-off with a sedate and chill Andrew WK discussing his recent lectures and motivational speeches which I found quite interesting. I find his theme of blocking out the bad, letting in the good, and making sure you feel happy and fulfilled all the time a bit unrealistic though - for me at least. WK was followed by Hot Tub Variety co-host Kurt Braunohler who delivered a monologue about fathering thousands of children all over the country. I pretty much laughed throughout the entire monologue and pray he performs it again soon. Up next was Daily Show correspondent Jon Oliver. I should point out that at this point in the show the guests and hosts had just about finished an entire bottle of absinthe, and that the effects were totally dictating the direction of the show. When Jon Oliver hit the stage it was pretty much a free-for-all with guests and hosts talking over each other and just having a blast. One stand-out line occured during a back-and-forth between bartender Jawnee and Jon Oliver when Oliver exclaimed "Giving you alcohol is like giving a child a tambourine." Finally, Sam Bisbee came out to close out the evening with a few songs, one of which was the most touching ode to his little daughter. He was fantastic and brought the energy back down to a normal, non-manic level. I left the show sore. These pics truly capture the essence of the experience.

And speaking of shows, we're giving away a pair of tickets to the next installment of ROFL at Joe's Pub on August 31, 2007. To enter, send us an e-mail at BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: ROFL), and tell us the last thing that made you ROFL. Include your first and last name. One winner will be picked at random and contacted. ROFL! is high art, low humor, YouTube video, Myspace weirdness, flash animation, web memes, conceptual puzzles, original film and non-sequiturs galore.

A few weeks ago Stephen Colbert broke his wrist. Bid on the actual cast.

NYC comedy staple Variety Shac (featuring Heather Lawless, Chelsea Peretti, Andrea Rosen, and Shonali Bhowmik) is having a monster DVD release party on September 21st at the Knitting Factory. This evening of music, comedy, and shorts will have special guests including Zach Galifianakis, Fred Armisen, and Cory Arcangel. The show is on a Friday and tickets are only $8! Check out the sweet flyer.

Speaking of Fred Armisen.... Fred's been working on a new short video series called ThunderAnt with ex-Sleater-Kinney guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein. A while back Fred and Carrie did a short called Boink! Look for the premiere of the newest video sometime soon on Stereogum.

Keep reading for more upcoming comedy shows, more news, tour dates, and just more stuff....

Continue reading "Klaus Kinski's Comedy Canon (08/24/07)"