Best New York Comedy

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Michael Showalter performs at "Pretty Good Friends;" stellar writers & comics are at Kevin Maher's "Sexy Nerds & Dirty Words".....

...and music from The Bandana Splits, and more, at The Moon 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] 4:00 pm: An unusually early walk-in open-mic stand-up show at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: Face-Plant Comedy Showcase

[FREE] 6:00 pm: “Short-form improv teams battle it out for the most points and a prize. C’mon, admit it! You miss the quick-witted fun and audience involvement of short-form improv. A different short-form team joins Mishmash! each month and struts their stuff for a panel of judges (including one judge chosen from the audience) until a winner emerges. There will be a series of completely improvised scenes, stories and musicals all based on your suggestions. Come ready to shout out suggestions, and even shout at the judges,” at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: The Scrimmage

[FREE] 6:30 pm: Advanced Magnet students performing improv as couples directed by Magnet co-owner Armando Diaz: Dynamic Duos

[TOP PICK] 6:00 pm ($5): Justin Shanes (writer for Jimmy Fallon), Streeter Seidell (College Humor), and Dan Gurewitch (College Humor) participate in “a weekly podcast that assembles a new panel of comedians and weird characters to give funny advice, or at the very least relate to the people’s problems with their own stories” at UCB East hosted by Andy Rocco: Here to Help

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($5): A one-time-only event “where erotica meets neurotica, where the obscene meets the obscure, with geeks providing comedy for geeks” from Kevin Maher (creator of the smash hit Kevin Geeks Out shows; HBO, Comedy Central, AMC). Performers include Web superstar Mark Douglas (The Key of Awesome) doing stand-up, Mike Edison (author of Dirty! Dirty! DIrty!) chronicling the history of America’s greatest girlie magazines, M. Sweeney Lawless revealing a secret conspiracy in comic book covers, and Iris Explosion doing burlesque dancing; plus Geek Bingo! It all happens at Under St. Marks: Sexy Nerds & Dirty Words

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10) and 9:30 pm [FREE]: UCBwest’s signature improv comedy extravaganza, which typically includes stars in the improv world, and sometimes even TV & movie stars such as Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz: ASSSCAT 3000

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($5): Star storyteller Tom Shillue (Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show, Comedy Central Presents, 2011 ECNY Award for Best Storyteller), Jared Logan (hilarious angry rising star;Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, co-host of Righteous Kill), utterly adorable comedic singers The Bandana Splits (for video samples, please click here and here), delightful comedic singer Camille Harris, and more performing at UCB East along with sketches from Moon regulars Camille Harris, Jordan Clifford, Stephanie Fagan, Bryan Condon, and Tim Skinner, and hosts Nat Towsen & Bob Walles: The Moon Show

[FREE] 7:30 pm: Sketch, improv, and more at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City from comedy troupe Froduce

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($7): Michael Showalter (MTV’s The State, comedy troupe Stella, writer/star of feature films The Baxter and Wet Hot American Summer and Comedy Central’s Michael & MIchael Have Issues; author of bestselling new book Mr. Funny Pants), Todd Barry (David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central Presents, FX’s Louie, HBO’s Flight of the Conchords and Bored to Death, Adult Swim, feature films The Wrestler and Pete Smalls is Dead), Dan St. Germain (quick-witted rising star; Jimmy Fallon, MTV, VH1; for reenactment of Dan’s breakup, please click here), and Cameron Esposito (acclaimed storyteller; one-woman show Side Mullet Nation; Logo TV) performing at Brooklyn’s Union Hall for comedy giant Eugene Mirman’s Pretty Good Friends

[FREE] 8:00 pm: Mike Lawrence (shrewdly funny curmudgeon; Comedy Central), Seaton Smith, Tess Barker, Frank Liotti, and Reid Taylor performing at RG Daniels’ free weekly show at the Three of Cups East Village lounge: Sunday Night Stand-Up

[$] 8:00 pm ($27.25 & 2-drink min.) A stand-up who’s been called “The African King of Comedy,” and has performed on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and Bad Boys of Comedy, BET’s ComedyView, and the feature film Next Friday headlining tonight and Sunday at the Carolines Comedy Club: Michael Blackson

[FREE] 8:00 pm: From the producers of The Scene, improvisors at The PIT downstairs lounge make up one-act plays on the spot: Act One

8:00 pm ($5): A troupe that performs a sketch show with an improv segment at the end directed byMagnet co-owner Armando Diaz: Dumbrowsky

8:00 pm ($5): PIT improvisors Nate Starkey & Chris Grace makes stuff up in Two-Prov with Starkey & Grace

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($5): Sean Patton (red-hot rising star; killer set on Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, VH1; co-host of Comedy as a Second Language, frequent guest-host of Whiplash), Hari Kondabolu (Comedy Central Presents), Nick Turner (Jimmy Fallon, host of Monsters), and Lisa Delarios (Comedy Central; co-host of The Party Machine) performing stand-up at UCB East hosted by Mark Normand, Matt Ruby, Andy Haynes, and/or David Cope: Hot Soup

[FREE] 9:30 pm: Open-mic stand-up, with four minutes per comic, at The PIT downstairs lounge hosted by Rob Stern: Vicious Cycle

[FREE] 10:00 pm: NYC stand-ups Maureen Langan (Jay Leno, Joy Behar), Emily Epstein, and Adam Lehman performing at this free weekly gay-themed show at Therapy hosted by Brad Loekle:Electro Shock Therapy Comedy Hour

11:00 pm ($5): Improv troupes not associated with a particular comedy theatre at UCB East, hosted by Thank You Robot: Indie Improv Showcase

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