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Amy Schumer’s just-released DVD Mostly Sex Stuff is great. Buy it here.
Nick Vatterott and Frank “MST3K” Conniff perform stand-up at Hot Soup…
…Cyndi Freeman performs burlesque at the storytelling & sideshow extravaganza And I Am Not Lying; delightful comic Ellena Chmielewski wrote & directs a 30 minute romantic comedy: Standards & Practices…
…and at 10:30 on Comedy Central is a new episode of the finest sketch comedy series to grace TV in years: Kroll Show
Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:
[FREE] 6:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up for 15 comics performing for 5 minutes each at Queens LIC’s Laughing Devil Comedy Club (4738 Vernon Blvd.)—with drinks at half price: Happy Hour Open Mic
[FREE] 6:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up providing 3 minutes per comic at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre hosted by Max Corbel & Benel Germosen: Cracking It
7:00 pm-12:30 am ($7 for the entire evening): Magnet house troupes Dr. Champagne, Flower GIrl, The Wrath, Featherweight, Chet Watkins, Brick, Horses, and Bloomer performing improv, followed by a free audience interactive show with Bloomer at 11:30 pm: The Magnet’s Megawatt
[FREE] 7:00 pm to midnight: Five free hours of improvisation at The PIT upstairs theatre: Super Free Wednesday
7:00 pm ($5): “Christine Holt and Mary Guiteras both worked at The Magician, a bar in NYC’s Lower East Side. It was there that they realized they loved being oddballs. Sometimes they’d get in trouble because they’d be so busy being odd, they’d forget about their customers. Now they do it on stage,” and are tonight joined by Erin Lennox and Margaret Lyons for this show mixing stand-up, storytelling, and improv at The PIT downstairs lounge: Bartenders: Ladies’ Night
7:30 pm ($5): Expanding the UCB longform improv showcased on Harold Night is this weekly show at UCB East which tonight features troupes Huxtable and City Mouse: Lloyd Night
[TOP PICK] [FREE] Seating at 8:30, show at 9:00 pm (RSVP to confirm your spot at FreeComedyWednesdays@gmail.com): Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank on Mystery Science Theater 3000; Cinematic Titanic), Nick Vatterott (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central’s The Half Hour, MTV, Second City, 2012 Andy Kaufman Award), Emily Heller (Comedy Central; staff writer for Rooftop Comedy; for ruminations on pregnancy, please click here), Joe List (HBO, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central), and more performing stand-up at Ella (9 Avenue A) produced by Mark Normand, Matt Ruby, Gary Vider, and Sachi Ezura: Hot Soup
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Wonderful improvisor Ellena Chmielewski co-wrote and directed this comedy mini-play about modern romance at UCB Chelsea co-written & co-starring John Zachary Townsend (and which, barring last-minute snags, I’ll finally be attending tonight): Standards & Practices…
…and in the other half of this sketch comedy double-bill, “Four traveling salespeople whose car broke down in your suburban neighborhood. They’ve come knocking… but what are your neighbors doing behind those doors?! The Partners are determined to find out, and sell some patented Ice Mix™ in the process:” Former Business Partners: Everything Must Go
[TOP PICK] [$] 8:00 pm ($14 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Nick DiPaolo (star stand-up, with numerous appearances on David Letterman, Jay Leno, Louie; Emmy-nominated comedy writer, talk show host), Tom Papa (host of Jerry Seinfeld-produced NBC comedy The Marriage Ref; numerous appearances on David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno; three Comedy Central specials), Keith Robinson (HBO, Comedy Central, Wanda Sykes Show), Robert Kelly (Louie, Comedy Central, Opie & Anthony), and Jeff Lamp (Jay Leno) performing at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Nick DiPaolo, Tom Papa, and More
[FREE] 8:00 pm: NYC stand-ups do sets “and then have a discussion about what’s going on in the world and the mysteries of life” at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City, hosted by Chris Laker: The Show
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10 at the door or $11.80 in advance online): Storytelling, stand-up, and carny join forces to bring the blog And I Am Not Lying to life on stage, hosted by Jeff Simmermon (NPR’s This American Life, The Moth), and tonight featuring storytelling by Jeff, Brad Lawrence (Moth GrandSlam Champion, FringeNYC, co-host of The Standard Issues), and Daisy Rosario; stand-up by Sasheer Zamata (highly charming, innovative rising star; host of UCBT’s School Night, member of red-hot improv troupe Doppelganger, sketch troupe The Prom, and Harold Night troupe Bucky); sideshow antics by Abigoliah Schamaun; and burlesque by Cherry Pitz and Magdalena Fox, all at Under St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place, off First Avenue): And I Am Not Lying
[FREE] 9:00 pm: Al Jackson (Comedy Central Presents, Last Comic Standing, John Oliver’s NY Stand-Up, Upload with Shaq, MTV), Selena Coppock (author of upcoming book The New Rules for Blondes), Victor Varnado (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central, NBC’s My Name is Earl, Adult Swim, Comedy Central’s The Awkward Comedy Show; films Pluto Nash, End of Days, A Guy Thing), Neil Constantine, Joe Larsonm and Monroe Martin performing stand-up at this free weekly comedy show at Lucky Jack’s Bar (129 Orchard Street) produced by Kyle Fincham, Lance Weiss, and Brendon Fitzgibbons: Gandhi, Is That You?
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Superb improvisors including Charlie Todd, John Murray, and John Frusciante “gather around the couch to turn each others’ bizarre tales and armchair philosophies into an evening of improv comedy. It’s like hanging out with your friends, except that your friends are really funny and need to suddenly turn their stories into improv scenes” at the UCB Chelsea theatre: The Living Room
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($5): Superb improvisors—and actual brothers—Will Hines and Kevin Hines make use of their intimate knowledge of each other to gracefully invent scenes (hopefully without any fighting) at UCB East performing as duo The Brothers Hines
[$] 9:45 pm ($14 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Jessica Kirson (Jay Leno, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, HBO, Showtime, Bravo, VH1, Logo one-woman show My Cookie’s Gone), Sherri Shepherd (co-host of The View), Gregg Rogell (Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Louie, Comedy Central), Godfrey (Comedy Central Presents, Louie, 30 Rock, VH1; films Zoolander, Original Gangsters, Soul Plane; 7 Up Yours ads), and Sherrod Small (writer/performer on TBS’ Are We There Yet?, Comedy Central, VH1), performing stand-up at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Jessica Kirson, Sherri Shepherd, and More
[TOP PICK] 10:00 pm ($5): The instructors of UCB’s classes include some of the finest improvisors in the country. In this weekly show a bunch of them get on stage at UCB East, along with hosts Betsy Stover and Ari Voukydis: Hot for Teacher: The UCB Faculty Show
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 10:00 pm: Rising stand-up stars—Jared Logan, Mike Lawrence, Mark Normand, Dan. St. Germain, Pat Dixon, Emily Heller, Michael Che, Joe List, and/or Nick Turner—at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre: The Regulars
10:00 pm ($5): Two-person improv scenes from Haldane McFall & Brad Stuart, Elke Reid & Giovanni Vargas, and more at The PIT downstairs lounge hosted by Donna Lobello and tonight’s guest partner Meredith Hackman: I Trust (Two-Prov)
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: The wonderful Sasheer Zamata (Doppelganger) hosts as many as a dozen guests packed into 75 minutes performing stand-up, improv, sketch, and occasionally acts that defy categorization. The level of talent can vary wildly, but for some (like me), that’s part of the laid-back fun; and this is often one of the most amazing comedy shows in town. (Tonight’s scheduled guests include Katey Healy-Wurzburg, Adam Newman, and Luke Thayer; for the complete list, please click here.) Come support the experimentation, and periodic magical surprises, that this uniquely organic rollercoaster of a weekly show at UCB Chelsea makes possible—and don’t forget to toss $1 in the bucket on your way out: School Night
[FREE] 11:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up running until 1:00 am, with time divided evenly between performers (up to five minutes), at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City with host Rob Stern: Bucket ‘O Buckets
[FREE] 11:00 pm: Your opportunity to perform on the stage of UCB East with improv veterans, hosted by UCBT Harold Night house troupe Grandma’s Ashes: The Improv Jam
[TOP PICK] [$] 11:30 pm ($10 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Uncensored stand-up from Big Jay Oakerson (Comedy Central Presents, HBO, Showtime, MTV), Jena Friedman (wry dark comedy stand-up and rising star; producer for The Daily Show, former staff writer for David Letterman, host of Entertaining the Bartender), Kurt Metzger (Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central Presents, Ugly Americans), Chris Distefano (Comedy Central, MTV2′s Guy Code), and Mike Vecchione (Last Comic Standing, Howard Stern) performing at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: The Nasty Show: Big Jay Oakerson, Jena Friedman, Kurt Metzger, and More
From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: If you want to know what is happening in NYC comedy on a particular day, you gotta get hip to this dude Hy Bender and his site Best New York Comedy. The site is updated daily and features a super exhaustive look at what is happening in the NYC comedy world that particular day. The site is updated religiously…It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.
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