by Klaus Kinski

I am going to spare you my usual editorializing and get right to the meat of the situation here. Basically, there is an absolute shit-ton of comedy and benefit type shows coming to the Bell House. I hope you like brass tacks, because I'm going to get right down to them.

Hey, did you get tickets for PROFESSOR BLASTOFF LIVE with Hosts Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan, David Huntsberger plus a special guest? It happens at the Bell House on Saturday November 17 (aka this Saturday!) and, man, it sure as hell sold out.

On Wednesday (11/21), the Bell House will play host to The Musical Extravaganza to Restore Red Hook! starring Rosanne Cash and featuring Alex Battles and the Whisky Spitter Rebellion and B61: A film by Michael Buscemi. Here's more:

The evening kicks off with a square dance, hosted by NYC Barn Dance. Roseanne Cash will headline the evening, and Jesse Lenat, John Pinamonti and the Brotherhood of the Whiskey Spitter Rebellion will play. Michael Buscemi will screen his new film on the bus that runs through Red Hook, called "B61."

This show will benefit Restore Red Hook. Restore Red Hook aims to raise funds to help the small businesses of Red Hook, Brooklyn reopen their doors as soon as possible after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

Tickets are on sale now.

On Sunday, November 25th at 8:00pm, as mentioned, the Bell House and Pretty Good Friends team up for a Hurricane Relief Benefit featuring A Very Funny 'F*ck You' To Sandy. The show will be hosted by Eugene Mirman and feature comedy from a powerhouse line up including Jon Glaser, Wyatt Cenac, Mike Birbiglia , Michael Che and more. I am vexed that this show isn't sold out, so get your tickets now!!

Wyatt Cenac at Prospect Park, August 2012 (more by Jessica Amaya)

And speaking of Wyatt Cenac, check him out a little less than a month later at the much smaller Union Hall when, on Friday December 21, he'll be part of the comedy roster at The Afterlife Comedy Show. The show is gang-hosted by Emily Heller, George Gordon, Erin Judge, and Josh Gondelman. The show is a measly eight bucks and besides Wyatt and the awesome hosts and hostess there will be more comedy to boot!

On Friday November 30 Nick Kroll, one of my all time favorite comedians, takes the stage for a headlining show at the Bell House. Sadly, this show sold out faster than a speeding bullet. I am still recovering from wounds sustained during a self-flagellation sesh I performed on myself upon realizing this had happened. But keep your eye on the Bell House twitter feed in case they release more tickets. Or, go hang outside the venue before the show because I promise you there will be many-a nimrod out there with extra tickets they'd sell for face.

Allow me to go ahead and continue to mention another great Wyatt Cenac related show, this one happening at the Bell House on Wednesday December 5th; for on Wednesday December 5th you can thrill to the THE TELL YOUR FRIENDS! THE CONCERT FILM! RELEASE SHOW/SANDY BENEFIT (caps totally necessary). Join host Liam McEneaney as he brings to the stage Wyatt Cenac, Aaron Freeman (formerly Gene Ween), Christian Finnegan, Victor Varnado, A Brief View of The Hudson, Rob Paravonian , and more! The guests WILL be quite special, your money is going to a good cause, and it's not sold out yet. Get yer tix now!

And don't forget about Wyatt's weekly show "Night Train" which happens at Littlefield.

On Thursday December 6 the Bell House will be the site of two live podcast recordings of How Did This Get Made? A Live Podcast With Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. The early show went on sale and promptly sold out, but they added a late show (Thank Cod!) and tix for that are currently still available. Kaboom!

Flash forward a week later to Thursday December 13 and the Bell House will play host to The Party Machine's 2nd Annual Holiday Benefit Blowout! The show is hosted by the EXTREMELY funny and wonderful Arden Myrin and Lisa Delarios and features and atomic line-up of comedians including Jon Glaser, Chris Gethard, Sheng Wang, Janeane Garofalo and Adira Amram and the Experience. Tickets are only $12 and it will sell out, so git along l'il doggie and buy some tix!

Then on Wednesday December 19th catch TODD BARRY 25TH ANNIVERSARY IN COMEDY SHOW featuring Janeane Garofalo, Ted Alexandro, Jim Gaffigan and more! Thanks to that skank hurricane Sandy, Todd's first attempt at a 25th anniversary show was left in ruins so this is your make up date people. No excuses. This show WILL SELL OUT, so get your tickets right this very second. This show is a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Two days later on Friday December 21, toddle on over to the Bell House for John Hodgman: That Is All. December 21, 2012 is the last day of the Mayan long count calendar and many buffoons and dipshits are prophesizing that this day marks certain doom for mankind. Along with musician Cynthia Hopkins and other special guests, Hodgman will count down to midnight, when his predictions will be proved TRUE! Or else FALSE! Tickets are on sale, but not for long! I prophesize a sell out!

by Klaus Kinski

It goes without saying that New York Fucking City is the best fucking city in the fucking galaxy. Name some attributes of another city (and I am sure people *cough*commenters*cough* will) and any New Yorker worth his or her salt will gladly, after they're done laughing hysterically, verbally pants your claims and make you realize how much time you just wasted with your nonsense. Everything here is better, and we have more of it. End. Of. Fucking. Story. Among our better-than-everywhere-else attributes is our Comedy scene. And one way we articulate and reinforce this attribute is by having several comedy shows happening across this city every night of the week.

One of NYC's biggest stand-out weekly shows is Tell Your Friends! which happens in the basement of a place called Lolita Bar (almost) every goddamned Tuesday. Tell Your Friends! is the brainchild of the talented Liam McEneaney and it has been bringing some of the most incredible line-ups to its basement audiences for over 6 years. Conceived as a showcase that danced somewhere between open mic territory and some of NYCs other smaller, more intimate alt rooms, Tell Your Friends! was devised as sort of a "comedy workout room;" a place where comedians could workshop new material without all the hassles and limitations of standard open mics. No, Tell Your Friends! wasn't the first place to do this type of thing; 15 years ago NYC had Eating It at Luna Lounge, Klaus favorite Patrick Borelli set up shop at the Gershwin Hotel, and, of course, there was Invite Them Up at Rififi where Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale basically wrote the book on how smaller, independent comedy showcases should be run until its demise in 2008. Invite Them Up took their backroom comedy debauchery to the next level when they did three nights of recording at Pianos for a 3 CD/1 DVD set that was released by Comedy Central Records. Incidentally, now that Invite Them Up is long gone (unless you count the upcoming Invite Them Up night at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival), that CD/DVD set serves as an extremely important document of just how bonkers and diverse that era in comedy really was.

Like Invite Them Up, Tell Your Friends! has brought their presence in the comedy world to the next level with the release of Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film!. Shot at the Bell House, Liam McEneaney says

I had this idea that since I wanted to do a movie with standup comedians, comedians who had gotten their start outside the traditional comedy club scene, it shouldn't be shot as a typical comedy special. I sent Victor (Varnado) clips from concert films I felt should serve as the template, Woodstock, The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense, The Beatles First Visit To America... Films that didn't just point a camera at a performance, but got you onstage with the acts themselves. And that didn't just record a concert, but really encapsulated a moment in history. Ultimately, we narrowed our influence down to Woodstock, and The Last Waltz, and used those more as our guides.

This epic piece of greatness features Reggie Watts, Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Christian Finnegan, Leo Allen, Rob Paravonian, Nick Nace, Ann Enzminger, Marc Maron, and more. WANNA SEE IT!? Well SketchFest NYC is proud to present the New York City Premiere of Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film! at the Paley Center for Media on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011; at 7:30pm. After the movie there will be a panel moderated by Liam and feature Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, Christian Finnegan, Leo Allen, Neal Brennan, Jon Glaser, and Victor Varnado. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for the general public UPDATE: and $8.00 to BV readers!

In unrelated comedy news, don't forget that FYF Fest is Saturday September 3rd in Los Angeles and features a pretty toupee-spinning bunch of comedy check out the full comedy line-up below.

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