Rififi

Maybe it's because we're both originally from Massachusetts and share a lot of the same comedic and cultural sensibilities, but comedian Greg Johnson is, hands down, one of my all-time favorite comedians. Although I can't remember the exact showcase or even the exact year, Greg for sure first came to my attention at a comedy showcase at Rififi (probably Invite Them Up)...

New York City has always been a hotbed of recurring comedy showcases, but I feel like now more than ever we are having a serious Renaissance of comedy...

Max Silvestri, Jenny Slate & Gabe Liedman @ Rififi (Marianne Ways)Hi buds, Woah, get ready. I have some huge news! As you know, one of my lovely Big Terrific co-hosts Jenny Slate has been absent as of late doing "showbiz" stuff, and a lot of you have been all "more like no-biz...

Los Campesinos! @ Sound Fix Records (more by Kyle Dean Reinford) After "Anonymous" posted "soundfix closing at the end of FEB???? true or rumor...

Brett Gelman's 1000 CATS! @ Rififi, NYC (mister mark davis) So I just got a myspace bulletin urging me to go to Gelmania at Rififi tonight (July 30, 2008), not only because it has a killer line-up featuring Tom McCaffrey, Baron Vaughn, and Adam Newman, but also because, as the message went on to tell me, the author "Just found out that Rififi is closing, come hang out one last time tonight...

Will Franken @ Rock n ROFL (more by Ryan Muir) Holy Toledo. If ever there was a night when the NYC comedy scene presents you with two extremely tough choices of live entertainment, Wednesday April 16, 2008 is a doozie...

It's been a while since I posted much comedy-related news, and the last thing I did post turned out to be somewhat of a false alarm caused by completely erroneous listings on Ticketmaster and Live Nation (which they've since corrected)...

Todd Barry and Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) @ Rififi, Feb 26, 2008 Eugene Mirman The penultimate Invite Them Up at Rififi Tuesday night (Feb 26, 2008) was perhaps as close to perfection as downtown comedy gets...

For over 5 years, Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's weekly comedy showcase Invite Them Up has been bringing New Yorkers the best comedy (and sometimes music) on the planet...

"The city cracks down on things, just to give bars fines--that's what kills the new businesses," said Joi Brozek, former co-owner of the Lucky Cat rock club in Williamsburg...