Best New York Comedy

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Star stand-up Jay Mohr headlines at the Gotham Comedy Club...

...and rapidly rising star Ali Wong headlines at the Carolines Comedy Club

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: An open-mic show on a lottery system (sign-ups start at 5:30 pm) at The Creekupstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City with hosts Mike Recine and Annie Lederman: The Shinebox

7:00 pm ($7): “Strange, mysterious, beautiful, and disgusting, this show will dazzle you with sketch comedy… and magic!” at The Magnet from witchy duo Angela DeManti & Emily Shapiro: The Weird Sisters

7:00 pm ($5): A PIT musical improv troupe with a military theme: 10 Pound Ally

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): In one of the best scripted ensemble shows to grace UCB West for some time, troupe Stone Cold Fox performs hilarious parodies of off-off-Broadway theatre, as well as some of the very best sketches it’s crafted over the years, in a tight hour-long show directed by comedy genius Neil Casey (who, after also recently directing stellar one-person shows by Kate McKinnon and Mike Still, apparently can do no wrong), featuring delightful performances by Fran Gillespie, Molly Lloyd, D’Arcy Carden (watch for these three gals playing existential Truth or Dare), John Murray, Nate Smith, Brandon Scott Jones, and Jonathan Fernandez, and the writing of Leila Cohan-Miccio, Evan Greenspoon, Brandon Gulya, Matt Hunziker, Owen Parsons, and Michael Trapp: Stone Cold Fox: This Is Not Art

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): Sharp improvisors at UCB East—tonight featuring guests Sue Galloway (improv troupe The Law Firm) and John Flynn (storytelling shows Oh, Hey Guys! and The Nights of Our Lives)—making up a musical on the spot: Diamond Lion

8:00 pm ($10): A PIT improv troupe making up a musical on the spot after a friendly greeting: Hello

[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($22.25 [vs. $27.25] using Friday $5 discount code ALIWONG online or at the door, plus 2-drink min.) A petite comedy dynamo, this razor-sharp rising star who recently performed on Jay Leno and FOX, and is a cast member of the upcoming NBC sitcom Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea and the upcoming Oliver Stone film Savages, will shock you and make you roar with laughter thanks to a fearlessness that’s won her acclaim in San Francisco and, over the past two years, a devoted following in NYC. Headlining tonight and Saturday at the Carolines Comedy Club, treat yourself to Ali Wong

[FREE] 8:00 pm: Eight small improv teams compete as part of a 32-team tournament starting tonight at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City, hosted by James Ferrarella: The Arena Small Team Tournament, Round 1

[FREE] 8:00 pm: An open-mic show that’s first come, first serve (sign-ups start at 7:30 pm), with each comic getting five minutes on stage at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City: Mic and Cheese

[TOP PICK] 8:30 pm ($5 at the door or $7.63 online): Arden Myrin (Conan O’Brien, Mad TV, numerous other TV shows & films; for Mad TV samples, please click here and here and here) and Lisa deLarios (Comedy Central) host this delightful monthly mix of stand-up and sketch, with tonight’s guests Adira Amram (fresh, hilarious rising star singer/songwriter; winner of the 2011 ECNY Award for Best Musical Act), Baron Vaughn (Jimmy Fallon; co-star of USA’s Facing Kate and Comedy Central’s The Awkward Comedy Show, MTV, VH1), Leo Allen (former writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central Presents, Conan O’Brien, HBO’s Funny or Die, director/co-writer of Comedy Central’s Jon Benjamin Has a Van, host of top NYC comedy show Whiplash), Seth Herzog (staff comic for Jimmy Fallon; Comedy Central, CBS, VH1, movie star; host of Sweet), Jacqueline Novak (Comedy Central, College Humor, host of Spirit of Comedy; for “response to heckler” video, please click here)., and Bridey Elliott (David Letterman) performing at Brooklyn’s Union Hall: The Party Machine

[TOP PICK] [$] 8:30 pm & 10:30 pm ($30 & 2-drink min.): A TV & movie star who created & hostedLast Comic Standing, was a cast member of CBS’ Gary Unmarried and Ghost Whisperer, has done extensive sports broadcasting for ESPN, and has appeared in such feature films as Jerry MacGuire, Pay It Forward, and Hereafter (opposite Matt Damon) headlining one last night at the Gotham Comedy Club: Jay Mohr

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:30 pm: Kevin Allison (legendary MTV sketch series The State, HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, host of award-winning storytelling show Risk!), Stuckey & Murray (terrific comedic singing duo; Chelsea Handler, NBC, VH1, Fuse), Adam Conover (host of UCB East’s Fresh Out), Jeff Mauer, and Yannis Pappas performing at Brooklyn’s Red Star Bar (37 Greenpoint Avenue) for hosts Nick Turner’s & Jason Sáenz’s Too Cool for School

8:30 pm ($7): Veteran Magnet improvisors Megan Gray & Louis Kornfeld team up to perform as improv duo MegaLou

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Some of the finest improv in NYC from UCB West’s all-star members of The Stepfathers

9:00 pm ($10): This show claims it “will test your limits of good taste and push the boundaries of what you consider funny. Nothing is off limits and no punchline is ‘too soon.'” I’m not sure how that makes it different from any other downtown comedy show…but time will tell. Tonight’s guests are sketch troupe Thunder Gulch, and stand-ups Nikki Glaser (Jay Leno, Last Comic Standing, podcast You Had to Be There), Dan Allen (UK comic), Patrick Waldo (a.k.a. The Mustache Man), Ryan Connor, and Jeff Wesselschmidt performing at UCB East hosted by Chris Wilkes (member of Thunder Gulch): After Dark

[$] [DISCOUNTED] 9:00 pm & 11:00 pm (FREE TICKETS if you reserve in advance by calling (212) 260-2445 and mention HyReviews.com, but there’s still a 2-drink min. per person): Christian Finnegan (co-star of TBS’ Are We There Yet?; three Comedy Central specials; MSNBC, VH1’s Best Week Ever, Chappelle’s Show, The Today Show), DC Benny (Last Comic Standing finalist, Comedy Central Presents), and more performing at the only comedy club in the East Village: Eastville Comedy Club

10:00 pm ($7): Singing improvisors at The Magnet using an interview with an audience member to craft The Made-Up Musical

[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): Jon Gabrus, Nate Lang, Craig Rowin, Matt Fisher, Fran Gillespie Sue Galloway, and other superb improvisors at UCB West making up scenes about an audience member’s legal dispute: The Law Firm: Law & Disorder

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): Jessi Klein (fresh, unique, deliciously organic comic who’s one of the best stand-ups in the country; former staff writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central, VH1, NBC, CNN, Adult Swim), and groups Fuck That Shit and Buckwheat Groats performing at UCB Easthosted by Emily Axford, D’Arcy Carden, Alden Ford, Brandon Scott Jones, and/or Justin Tyler: Gentrify

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($10): Top Gun performed as if written by William Shakespeare. I haven’t seen it, but am guessing this sketch-based parody at The PIT upstairs theatre is hilarious: Jester’s Dead

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 11:30 pm ($5): One of the finest improvisors alive, Joe Bill (Bassprov, iO, co-founder of the Annoyance Theatre) spearheads a breathtakingly brilliant group of improvisors from Chicago and New York who will blow the roof off The Magnet with lightning-quick dark comedy unlike anything else in NYC. The other superb players are Jordan Klepper (Klepper & Grey, iO, ), Jodi Lennon (Comedy Central’s Exit 57), Ari Voukydis (UCB instructor, VH!’s Best Week Ever), Doug Stoley (Conan O’Brien, UCB), Rick Andrews (Magnet performer), Mark Grenier (Magnet instructor), Jen Sanders (Magnet performer), and Chet Siegel (Magnet performer), all declaring Lights Out, Shirley!

[FREE] Midnight: 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

[FREE] Midnight: This show typically isn’t much fun for audience members—which is why it hasn’t been on the UCB West schedule for a long time—but it’s an amazing opportunity if you want to perform sketch for free and with almost zero hurdles on the prestigious UCBT stage. Hosted by Maude troupe Onassis: Liquid Courage

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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