John Oliver is hosting/taping a "New York Stand-Up Show" at NYU's Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Saturday & Sunday - January 14-16...

"Stand-up Comedian and Daily Show correspondent, John Oliver, hosts a unique series of stand-up comedy shows for Comedy Central which feature some of America's most influential stand-up stars and great upcoming comics. Season 2 is sure to be amazing. Headliners this year include Greg Behrendt, Pete Holmes, Al Madrigal and Maria Bamford as well as these great comics Brendon Walsh, Kyle Kinane, Anthony Jeselnik, Marina Franklin, Jen Kirkman, Deon Cole, Mike Lawrence, Kumail Nanjiani, Rory Albanese, Glenn Wool, Moshe Kasher, Rory Scovel plus more tbd..."

Wyatt Cenac is doing something similar. Free tickets available.

Free weekly series Whiplash continues every Monday night at NYC's UCB Theater. Tonight's special guests are John Oliver, Rory Scovel & Mike Lawrence.

Reggie Watts and Daniel Pinchbeck are having "An Open Dialogue About the Future" at Cameo Gallery tonight (1/10) (doors at 9pm). On January 17th, 2011, Daniel Pinchbeck will host a screening of "2012, Time for a Change" at the same venue.

The Wednesday night free "Big Teriffic" show has been happening again at Cameo Gallery, and it will happen again on 1/12 and 1/19 (and probably after that!). Max Silvestri, Gabe Liedman, and Jenny Slate host. Other special guests perform too.

Hannibal Buress still hosts the free show every Sunday night at Knitting Factory. 1/16 promises Rory Scovel, Ben Lerman, Jermaine Fowler, John Mulaney & Rob Shapiro

Monthly show Variety Shac with Andrea Rosen returns to UCB on January 13th with special guests John Mulaney, Aasif Mandvi & Negin Farsad.

Joe Mande breaks out at Caroline's this Tuesday, January 11th. Tickets are on sale.

Neil Innes of Monty Python and The Rutles fame plays Highline Ballroom on May 10th. Tickets are on sale.

Did you miss all six appearances Patton Oswalt just made in NYC? If you live in Fargo, North Dakota you're in luck.

Did you miss the opening weekend of Daniel Kitson's show at St. Ann's Warehouse? Well, you have until January 30th to correct that!

Aziz Ansari's Carnegie Hall show happens on January 22nd. Tickets are still on sale.

Louis CK has a new CD and DVD entitled "Hilarious" which gets relesaed this Tuesday, 1/11. That's the cover art above. Have you seen it on Comedy Central? Well, the DVD is " uncensored and feature an additional 40 minutes of content not aired on TV." Check out the trailer/e-card thing below...

Continue reading "free John Oliver taping tickets, a Neil Innes show, Louis C.K. is 'Hilarious', Big Teriffic & other comedy shows & news"

TheRumpus.net is having a launch party at Crash Mansion in NYC tonight (2/5). According to the ticket page, there will be "Music by Will Sheff of Okkervil River, Timothy Bracy of the Mendoza Line and Beth Wawerna of Bird Of Youth" and "Comedy by: Kristen Shaal of Flight of the Conchords, and
Michael Showalter from Comedy Central's Stella" and "Readings from authors: James Frey, Andrew Sean Greer, Jonathan Ames, and This American Life's Starlee Kine".

Also tonight, also comedy: Variety Shac @ UCB with recently added special guest Zach Galifianakis.

Also coming up at UCB: Klaus made a list.

Also comedy with special guests: three editions of Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk with Me this month.

Also a show that Kristen Schaal is playing: Flight of the Conchords at Radio City Music Hall (twice)

Also a show that Kristen Schaal is playing: Eugene Mirman's book release party

Also a show Will Sheff is playing: Coachella

Also starring Michael Showalter (and Todd Barry, Paul Rudd, David Wain, Eugene Mirman, Leo Allen, and Superbowl commercial star Jon Benjamin): "The Weekender" video below...

Continue reading "Will Sheff, Kristen Schaal & friends playng Crash Mansion, Zach Galifianakis at UCB & other stuff"

David Cross (you may know him as the Crane from the movie Kung Fu Panda) is confirmed to appear with Eugene Mirman at the previously mentioned Tearing the Veil of Maya holiday show at Union Hall in Brooklyn on December 7th. Tickets are now on sale. That's one day before David appears at Knitting Factory with Marnie Stern and Fred Armisen.

Eugene Mirman is confirmed to appear at Variety Shac's Farewell to the Knit (at the Knit) on December 17th. Also on the bill: Tigers and Monkeys (a band that is often on the bill of comedy shows), Jon Glaser and Stella's Michael Showalter. Tickets are on sale.

Stella performed two shows at Union Hall this past Saturday and will be appearing at Nokia Theatre December 9th and 10th.

Demetri Martin plays UCB tonight, Monday December 1st.

ALSO TONIGHT (MONDAY): @ Pianos - It Is It (free comedy) w/ Pete Holmes, Hannibal Burress, Roger Hailes, Noah Garfinkle, and others.

More like this, HERE.

by Klaus Kinski

Good ole Brooklyn is going to be the epicenter of some of the world's best comedy from September 25th - September 28th when the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival rolls into Park Slope. The 4-day festival boasts 10 MASSIVE shows that will take place at Union Hall and the soon-to-be-open Bell House. The exact line-ups and guests have yet to be set in stone, but prepare yourself for a sweet opening night awards ceremony, an Invite Them Up reunion, an Apartment 2F renuion, an installment of Variety Shac, some fresh faces of comedy, a Tearing The Veil of Maya closing night blow-out, and, of course, appearances by the best of the best (think Galifianakis, Birbiglia, Schaal, Oliver, Showalter, The Sklar Brothers, and many many many more....). Here's how the schedule looks thus far:

Continue reading "Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival (9/25-9/28 in Park Slope)"

photos by Chris La Putt

On Monday (June 16, 2008), Jersey indie rocker Ted Leo (aka Bloomfield Vegan) and the Pharmacists played at Maxwell's in Hoboken before headining out on a tour with Pearl Jam (that includes two dates at MSG next week). Musicsnobbery was also there:

No doubt about it, Ted is a must-see live act and tonight, he was just as good as ever. His energy and charisma was on full display, and the man shows no sign of stopping or easing things up after 17 years of playing post-punk pop music.

... a good 80 minutes of awesomeness. To see him is to experience rock music without all the tricks and homages that is popular most of today's rock 'n' roll, synth sounds, echo effects and generally studio nonsense. With Ted, it's all done the old fashion way -- amps, pedals and microphones.

Continue reading "Ted Leo (Bloomfield Vegan) & The Pharmacists & Variety Shac @ Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ - pics"

Female comedy collective Variety Shac will be performing at the June 16th "Bloomfield Vegan" show at Maxwell's with Ted Leo (in case you weren't already convinced). $10.00 tickets are still on sale.

The show will help Ted prepare for the much larger shows he'll be playing with Pearl Jam soon afterwards. Ted is also playing a free show at Castle Clinton over the summer, and all the following places...

Continue reading "Ted Leo - updated 2008 Tour Dates (Variety Shac, Maxwells)"

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"