Best New York Comedy

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For Hy’s coverage of the spectacular FringeNYC 2010 Festival, please click here.

One of the very best FringeNYC 2010 comedies concludes its run tonight: Faye Lane's Beauty Shop Stories

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: Kevin Allison (legendary MTV sketch series The State, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, host of award-winning storytelling show Risk!) hosts this free open-mic show for storytellers, in which you can put your name in a hat for the chance to tell a five-minute true story…and if it’s a good one, possibly be included in Kevin’s popular podcasts on the Web: Risk! Storyslam

[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 7:00 pm ($17.50 online with discount code NIFF): My #1 pick for the2007 FringeNYC Festival, this wonderful group of actresses/improvisors portray characters as if they were in a play, but improvise everything they say and do. The luminous performers include Katharine Heller, Brenna Palughi, Lynne Rosenberg, and Lauren Seikaly, each of whom is immensely appealing and quick-witted. Further, they have an intimate, lovely chemistry with each other; and they’ve all committed to baring their personal lives, thinly disguised via their characters (hence the title’s Naked). As a result, this is one of the most honest and nuanced improvised shows you’ll ever see. Check out some videos of previous episodes here; and then nab tickets for tonight’s final installment at the Soho Playhouse of an initial 12-week Monday night run (and then an open-ended run starting in late September): Naked in a Fishbowl

[FREE] 7:30 pm: NYC stand-ups Phoebe Robinson, Kevin McCaffrey, Kyle Daniel, Kendra Cunningham, Calvin Cole, and Jayson Cross performing at a free weekly show in the Manchester Pub guest-hosted by Jamie Lee (Last Comic Standing): Case of the Mondays Comedy

7:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours at the Luca Lounge (222 Avenue B off 14th Street)—at John Morrison’s Motel Luca

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8): TV & movie star Kristen Schaal (one of the funniest women alive; shining star correspondent on The Daily Show; co-star of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords; Comedy Central Presents half-hour special; co-creator & co-star of UK TV series Penelope: Princess of Pets; co-author of new bestselling book The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex) and master sketch comic Kurt Braunohler (Comedy Central Presents; co-creator & co-star of UK TV series Penelope: Princess of Pets) host their legendary weekly sketch & stand-up comedy show, with guests Livia Scott, Leo Allen, and Greg Barris performing at Brooklyn’s Littlefield (622 Degraw Street): Hot Tub Variety

8:00 pm ($5): NYC stand-ups Carole Montgomery, Jamie Kilstein, Ali waller, Ray DeVito, and more performing in the Lolita Bar for producer Liam McEneaney’s Tell Your Friends

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Two of UCBT’s finest house sketch comedy troupes, High Treason and Slow Burn, trying out new bits at Maude Night

[TOP PICK] [$] 8:45 pm ($18): One of the very best shows at FringeNYC 2010 is a comedy from NYC’s own Faye Lane, a luminous storyteller and singer who will charm your socks off—and possibly give you a moon pie to boot. Please read my review by clicking here; and don’t miss the finest Fringe performance of Faye Lane’s Beauty Shop Stories

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Young talents doing a sketch show about cops, and Peter Blomquist and Jeff Wiens performing an all-new multimedia sketch show, in the double-bill The Sit Down and Shut Up NYPD Variety Hour and Franco & Billy: Diamonds of Fire

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest comics in the country—tonight including Hannibal Buress, Marina Franklin, and TJ Miller—hosted by the wonderful Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live,Conan O’Brien, HBO, Comedy Central) at Whiplash

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For Hy’s coverage of the spectacular FringeNYC 2010 Festival, please click here.