Best New York Comedy

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Over 30 NYC stand-ups will tell the filthiest jokes they know at The Dirty 30...

...and that's just one of the dozens of events at this year's New York Comedy Festival

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:

[MEGA-TOP PICK] November 9th-13th: Among the stellar events at this year’s New York Comedy Festival—which begins tonight—are shows by comedy titans Louis C.K. (11/10 and 11/12 at the Beacon Theatre), Tracy Morgan (11/11 at the Beacon Theatre), Bill Burr (11/11 at Carnegie Hall), andSarah Silverman (11/12 at BAM); shows by comedy stars Wanda Sykes (11/10 at Town Hall),Michael Ian Black (11/10 at Bowery Ballroom), Glenn Wool (11/10 at UCB East), Kumail Nanjiani(11/11 at UCB East), Bill Maher (11/12 at the Beacon Theatre), Norm MacDonald (11/12 at Town Hall), and Kathy Griffin (11/12 at Carnegie Hall); three panels on the art of comedy writing & performing(11/12 at UCB East), plus a panel discussion with the writers of Saturday Night Live (11/13 at the Paley Center); and a leisurely chat with Ricky Gervais (11/13 at the 92nd Street Y). For the complete massive schedule, please click: New York Comedy Festival

[FREE] 6:00 pm to midnight: Six free hours of improvisation at The PIT’s Super Free Wednesday

[FREE] 6:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up providing four minutes per comic, with “15 people chosen randomly through e-mail, and five walk-ins; and a guaranteed spot to anyone who performs in character as a famous explorer” at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre: Comedic Exploration Club of Long Island City, West

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm ($13): The Story Pirates take stories written by New York City elementary schoolchildren, “enhance” them with adult language and themes, and them perform the heck out of them using music, puppets, and “a David Bowie-style tribute to a good Hebrew School education.” With tales ranging from the shame of chronic bedwetting, to the tender love between the Devil and some guy she met at Starbucks, the Story Pirates have blown the minds of over 100,000 second graders (sans the narrative enhancements), and lots of adults in their “After Dark” version—which is what they’ll be performing tonight at 92Y Tribeca (200 Hudson Street): Story Pirates After Dark

7:00 pm-12:30 am ($7 for the entire evening): Magnet house troupes Grappler, Horses, Leviathan, The Wrath, Featherweight, Brick, Dunk, and Chet Watkins performing improv, followed by a free audience interactive show with Dunk at 11:30 pm: The Magnet’s Megawatt

[$] 7:00 pm ($16.50 plus 2-drink min.) Mark Normand (hilarious stand-up; Last Comic Standing; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Kurt Braunohler (Comedy Central; creator & host of IFC game show Pointless; co-creator & co-star of UK TV series Penelope: Princess of Pets; co-host of Hot Tub Variety; triple 2011 ECNY Award winner), Emily Heller (staff writer for Rooftop Comedy; for ruminations on pregnancy, please click here), Sam Morril, Michael Che, Josh Rabinowitz, Daryl Wright, and Kevin Bigginson are among the NYC stand-ups slated to perform tonight, with host Jeffrey Ross, at the Carolines Comedy Club: Comics to Watch

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($5): For this double-bill at UCB East, Nicole Byer, Sasheer Zamata, and Keisha Zollar are first up as the fiercely energetic & entertaining all-gal improv troupe Doppelganger; and then genius improvisors Gavin Speiller of Death By Roo Roo, Ben Rodgers of The Curfew, and Jonathan Gabrus of The Law Firm) perform as Outlook of the Poet

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8 at the door or $9.47 in advance online): Top comics and writers sharing memorable tales of their material being turned down—with tonight’s guests Dave Hill (one of the most original and hilariously sharp alternative comics in the country; HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, NPR, star of The King of Miami, band Diamondsnake, champion rapper; The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Dave Hill Explosion), Kevin Allison (legendary MTV sketch series The State, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, host of award-winning storytelling show Risk!), Mike Lawrence (shrewdly funny curmudgeon; Comedy Central), and Abbi Jacobson & Ilana Glazer (Web seriesBroad City)—at Brooklyn’s Littlefield (622 Degraw Street) for Jon Friedman’s wonderful The Rejection Show

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Some of the finest sketch troupes in NYC—Pangea 3000, Murderfist, Stone Cold Fox, BriTANick, and more—perform at UCB West hosted by BoF: Best of NY Sketch

[TOP PICK] [FREE—plus FREE PIZZA for first 30 people, from Artichoke Pizza!] 8:00 pm: Mindy Raf (brilliant singer/songwriter/character actress; VH1); Livia Scott (comedic chameleon; Conan O’Brien, Law & Order, beloved sketch troupe Meat), Matt Graham (Conan O’Brien, World Champion Scrabble Player), Nimesh Patel, and musical guests Channing & Quinn performing at the East Village’s Beauty Bar for Negin Farsad’s & Amy Albert’s free weekly show Comedy School Dropout

8:00 pm ($5—which includes a free beer!): Mark Normand (hilarious stand-up; Last Comic Standing; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Louis Katz (HBO, Comedy Central), Ryan Hamilton (Last Comic Standing), Phil Hanley performing stand-up at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City for this weekly show hosted by Nick Turner & tonight’s special co-host (and birthday boy) Matt McCarthy: Too Cool for School

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($5): For this double-bill at UCB East, Neil Casey & Anthony Atamanuik, both genius members of Death by Roo Roo, perform the jaw-dropping feat of making up an entire feature film as The Two-Man Movie; and then UCBT Harold Night house troupes Deckard and Still Mike make up scenes without relying on the usual long-form “Harold” rules at Cheating on Harold

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 9:00ish pm: Pat Dixon (Comedy Central Presents, FOX, VH1, E!), Joe Garden (Features Editor of The Onion; co-author of The New Vampire’s Handbook), Keith Albertsadt (David Letterman; contributing writer to SNL), Bridget O’Neill (Purge, Moth Slam Winner), and musical guest The Pendulum Swings performing at this free weekly show at the Luca Lounge (222 Avenue B off 14th Street) hosted by Sharon Spell: Shrink

9:00 pm ($5 if you mention code Vintage, otherwise $8): Fine sketch duo Chris & Paul, musical comedy troupe People with Teeth, sketch troupe City Hall, and more at Under St. Marks: Sketch Block

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Brandy Barber (Bust Magazine, Late Night Republic) and Jon Fisch (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central) joining sensual hosts Margot Leitman (VH1, Spike TV) and Giulia Rozzi (MTV, VH1.com, co-host of Dive Comedy) in telling sexy true tales at UCB West for tonight’s special “Best Of” event—plus hot songs from Thin Skin Jonny—at the finest sexy storytelling comedy show in NYC: Stripped Stories: Best Of Edition

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): Kurt Braunohler (Comedy Central; creator & host of IFC game showPointless; co-creator & co-star of UK TV series Penelope: Princess of Pets; co-host of Hot Tub Variety; triple 2011 ECNY Award winner) performs a one-man show at UCB East about his dating experiences: The Amish Guide to Fucking

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): NYC stand-ups have been instructed to tell the filthiest jokes they know. The 30+ scheduled participants include Sean Patton, Tom Shillue, Elna Baker, Murderfist, Adira Amram, James Adomian, Glenn Wool, Sara Schaefer, Brooke Van Poppelen, Joe DeRosa, Matt McCarthy (on his birthday!), and lots more (for the complete list, please click here). Comics aren’t always known for following orders, so it’s anybody’s guess how consistently filthy the show will be; but whatever happens, it oughta be interesting. This special event at UCB West is hosted by John F. O’Donnell: The Dirty 30

[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

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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