Best New York Comedy

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Ed Lover

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:

[TOP PICK] [$] 6:00 pm ($10 plus $7 drink min.): Four superb storytellers—David Ellis Dickerson (NPR’s This American Life, author of House of Cards), Ryan Britt (Nerve.com), DJ Hazard (Fuel TV’s American Misfits), and host Andy Christie (The New York Times)—trying to mislead the audience at The Liar Show

7:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): Red-hot rising stand-up star Baron Vaughn (Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Shoot the Messenger, Awkward Kings of Comedy), hilarious sketch duo Pat Stango & Blaine Perry (Don’t Touch Me There), Keith Alberstadt (David Letterman), Steve O’Brien (half of Team Submarine), Kara Klenk (Spike TV), and Jamie Roberts performing in Ochi’s Lounge at Lil’ Seany Boy

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): Star improvisation from writers & performers at 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, Conan O’Brien, and more joyously declaring Let’s Have a Ball

7:30 pm ($5): Superb improvisors Tara Copeland, James Eason, Jesse Falcon, Rachel Hamilton, Jessica Allen, and Paul W. Downs perform “a mono-character form with elements of monoscene, deconstruction, and La Ronde:” Sleepover

[$] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($31.25 & 2-drink min.): Hugely popular radio host, co-host of Yo! MTV Raps, and actor in such movies as Who’s the Man? and Undisputed headlining at Carolines through Sunday: Ed Lover

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): The gutsiest comedy troupe in NYC, genius improvisors Death by Roo Roo

[TOP PICK] [$] 9:00 pm ($15): Ted Greenberg (Emmy-winning David Letterman writer) performing a fun, quick-paced theatrical comedy show—complete with audience rides home!—at The Complete Performer

9:00 pm ($5): Organic & energetic improv by the four guys of 4 Track!

[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 10:00 pm ($15 online using discount code EASYST, otherwise $20): Acclaimed Chicago-based improv duo TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi visit NYC to perform tonight through Sunday at the Barrow Street Theatre: “Fans forever marvel at their technique, mental dexterity, and uncanny ability to create incredible, hour-long instant plays out of thin air (without audience suggestions):” TJ and Dave

[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): An all-star improv troupe led by brilliant UCBT artistic director Anthony King: Reuben Williams

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($10 at the door if you mention The Aristocrats, otherwise $15): A spectacular and unforgettable demonstration of the artful power of mime when combined with a wickedly sharp modern sensibility, executed with great wit and style. Street performers have given mime a bad rep; but if you think about it, what mime does is boil a situation down to its essential elements, and then express those elements in a manner that’s instantly and universally understood. That’s really what art is all about; and that’s also what Billy the Mime does, often brilliantly. (For my review of his FringeNYC show in 2006, please click here.) Don’t miss this rare NYC performance of Billy the Mime

Midnight ($5): Spinning off a single audience suggestion, UCBT student improvisors (plus a few veterans) spend the first half of the show creating scenes that lead up to an Apocalypse. In the second half, they create the new world that rises up from those ruins. Likely characters include zombies, evil robots, dystopian governments, the Four Horsemen, and paste that may or may not be made of people—all at End of the World

[$] 12:30 am ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who’s written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle’s Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.