Best New York Comedy

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A Halloween film is verbally annotated by Wyatt Cenac and hip-hopper Donwill at the horror edition of their fun new show "Shouting at the Screen"...

...and there's spooky storytelling tonight from comedy warriors Dave Hill at "Tom Shillue's FunnyStory.biz," and Kevin Allison at his award-winning monthly show "Risk!"

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: Weekly open-mic storytelling show, with each performer given a whopping eight minutes to captivate & impress, at UCB East hosted by John Flynn (The Nights of Our Lives) and tonight’s guest host Megan Neuringer (Love Can Suck a Dick, Grandma’s Ashes): Oh, Hey Guys!

6:00 pm ($5): The auditions of three comedic one-act plays hoping to get on the UCBT schedule, and about which I know nothing except they’re titled Dog Fleet, Brandon Gulya Will Be Famous Soon, and The Spin. But at $1.66 per show, it’s hard to go wrong at this frequently surprising and fun UCB West showcase: Spank

[FREE] 6:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up with comics drawing names from a bucket, with each chosen one receiving three minutes at The Creek’s upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: Corby Haas

[FREE] 6:30 pm: In this free Magnet show, audience members (signing in at 6:00) can join in with improv troupe Dunk to make up scenes on the spot: Magnet Mixer

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($5): Wonderful singer/songwriter Shayna Ferm (sketch troupe Fearsome, musical Grease 3: Threase), sketch duo Chris & Paul (The Chris and Paul Show), Ann Carr (Comedy Central, VH1), and Kevin Barnett (College Humor) join terrific sketch duo Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting (Leah Rudick and Katie Hartman) for a comedy variety show at The PIT basement lounge: Daddy’s Basement: A Comedy Variety Freakshow

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($5): 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), Aasif Mandvi (correspondent for The Daily Show), Andy Ross (written for Mad Magazine, The Onion News Network), and Gavin McInnes (author of The Death of Cool) joining star storyteller & host Tom Shillue (Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show, Comedy Central Presents, 2011 ECNY Award for Best Storyteller) performing for this monthly show at UCB East: Tom Shillue’s FunnyStory.biz

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm-MIdnight ($7 for the entire evening): The Magnet co-owner helming The Armando Diaz Experience, plus house troupes Hello Laser, Junior Varsity, Dunk, and The Boss performing improv, followed by improv competition Inspirado (like UCBT’s Cage Match, but with agame-like challenge component) with terrific troupe Friday Night Sh*w vs. The Washingtons at 11:00 pm: The Magnet’s Night Out

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): At UCB West, a smart troupe consisting of writers for The Onion perform their best sketches: Pangea 3000: 12 Years of Hard Work…

…and in the second half of this double-bill, Joanna Bradley performs a one-woman show about how awful people are, directed by the wonderful Becky Drysdale: Everybody’s Dumb and Boring

[FREE] 8:00 pm: NYC stand-ups (for tonight’s lineup, please click here) performing at The Creek’supstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City accompanied by banjo music from Doug Goldstein and hosted by Andy Kleinman: Happy Sounds Comedy

[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),Mike Lawrence (shrewdly funny curmudgeon; Comedy Central), and Will Hines (The Stepfathers, host ofWheelhouse) performing UCB East with best bud hosts Noah Garfinkel & Joe Mande (author ofLook At This F*cking Hipster) at Totally J/K

[FREE] 9:00ish pm: Typically terrific NYC stand-ups performing on this weekly show at the Kabin Bar and Lounge hosted by Chesley Calloway and comedy genius Sean Patton: Comedy as a Second Language

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): Top comics and comedic storytellers—eerily not announced this month—joining brilliant sketch comic and storyteller Kevin Allison (The State) at The PIT upstairs theatre to share tales revolving around the Halloween theme Spooky NYC at one of the finest storytelling shows in the country: Risk!

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): Murderfist (NYC’s fearless heavy metal version of a sketch troupe; winner of the 2010 ECNY Award), James Adomian (talented impressionist; finalist on last summer’s Last Comic Standing), RG Daniels (host of Sunday Night Stand-Up), and Harry Terjanian (Sirius XM Radio) performing at Luca Lounge (222 Avenue B off 14th Street) for Sean Crespo’s & Carol Hartsell’s weekly comedy show Lasers in the Jungle

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): If you’re a fan of CollegeHumor.com, you can see the folks behind it on the UCB West stage—along with stand-ups Arden Myrin (Conan O’Brien, Mad TV, Chelsea Lately, host of The Party Machine; for Mad TV samples, please click here and here and here), Phoebe Robinson (host of Case of the Mondays Comedy), Gale Beggy, and David Drake—at CollegeHumor Live

9:30 pm ($5): Improvisors (not announced) make up one-act plays on the spot at The PITdownstairs lounge, produced by Dan Hodapp & Micah Sherman: The Scene

[TOP PICK] 10:00 pm ($7; or FREE COVER if you show up 30-60 minutes early and buy $7 worth of snacks/drinks): Mystery Science Theater 3000 goes live in this delightful new series by Wyatt Cenac (star correspondent for The Daily Show) and Donwill (hip-hop group Tanya Morgan) in which the boys watch a cinema cult classic—tonight something with a Halloween/horror theme, with the details secret until the screening begins—and yell comments at it throughout. It all happens at Brooklyn’s reRun (147 Front Street, between Pearl & Jay Streets): Shouting at the Screen

[$] 10:00 pm ($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 the Carolines Comedy Club: Paul Mooney

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): Vibrant improv troupes Fuck That Shit and The Beatles competing for audience laughs and votes at UCB West’s raucous Cage Match

[FREE] 11:00 pm: Weekly open-mic stand-up show, with each comic given five minutes, at UCB East hosted by Rob Stern & Amber Nelson: Gutbucket

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