Best New York Comedy

The Now Hear This Podcast Festival provides live-on-stage shows from 25 popular podcasts, including Chris Gethard’s Beautiful Anonymous, IFC’s Comedy Bang Bang, Larry Wilmore’s Black on the Air, Paul Scheer’s How Did This Get Made?, Jon Lovett’s Lovett or Leave It, and lots more, starting today at 5:00 pm and running through Sunday at 2:30 pm at the Javits Center: Now Hear This Podcast Festival (5:00 pm-10:30 pm today, 11:00 am-9:30 pm Saturday, 10:30 am-2:30 pm Sunday; $160 for 3-day pass using code FB20, $125 for Saturday-only pass; Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 11th Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets)…

…or see one of the very best shows at UCB—from Jay Malsky, a super-charged & hilarious character comic who also sings beautifully. This 25-minute solo musical shows off all of Jay’s strengths, as he plays a variety of women whose boyfriends he stole. With musical direction by Jody Shelton, choreography by Zak Sommerfield, and taped vocals by David Carl & Taylor Ortega, this production establishes Jay Malsky as a vibrant rising star with a great comedy career ahead of him. If you’re in the industry and looking for fresh talent, come check this out: Jay Malsky Slept With My Boyfriend! (7:30 pm; $12—which includes a second show that briefly includes Jay, and is a great idea that starts out well but needs lots of development, The Kellyanne Show: UCB Chelsea at 307 West 26th Street)…

…or enjoy contestants who watch a wacky dance video from the Internet and then have three minutes to plan and perform their own dance springboarding off what they’ve just seen. They are then judged by comics TBA at The PIT Mainstage hosted by Deborah Lohse: Dancify That! (8:00 pm, $15, The PIT Mainstage at 123 East 24th Street)…

…and party at this monthly stand-up, storytelling, and carny show that brings the blog And I Am Not Lying to life on stage, with stand-up from Kat Radley (above left; staff writer for The Daily Show; comedy album The Important Thing is That I’m Pretty), Gabe Pacheco (The Story Pirates), and guest host Jess Salomon (former UN war crimes lawyer turned comic; CBS); storytelling from Adam Newman (above right, between Kat and cat; David Letterman, Comedy Central Half Hour, MTV); and burlesque from Clara Coquette and Pearls Daily:  And I Am Not Lying (Midnight, $7, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)

Other notable shows this Friday include:

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm ($15): A play co-written & performed by Elana Fishbein & Elena Skopetosunique, and co-written & directed by Peter McNerney, about a family’s reluctant reunion received a rave from The New York Times’ Elise Czajkowski, and is being briefly revived for three Saturdays this month at The Magnet theatre: Sisters Three

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:00 pm, 8:45 pm, 9:30 pm, 10:00 pm, 10:30 pm, 11:30 pm, and 12:15 am ($15 cover for FBPL shows, $24 cover for CC & VU shows, plus 2-item food/drink min.): Some of the finest stand-ups in the country spread among four shows at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane), the 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 shows at Village Underground (130 West 3rd Street, off Sixth Avenue), and the 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm shows at The Fat Black Pussycat Lounge (130 West 3rd Street): Comedy Cellar Friday

7:00 pm ($7): Improvisors make up a documentary based on an audience member’s suggestion at The PIT Mainstage: Observer Effect: An Improvised Documentary

7:30 pm ($10): A house sketch group that includes the wonderful Sarah Nowak and is directed by Holden McNeely (Murderfist) performs at The PIT Underground:: National Scandal

[TOP PICK] 8:30 pm ($10): Before this Magnet show, audience members may anonymously submit written confessions, secrets, rants, advice and opinions which will be used onstage by the improvisors—who include such talents as Phoebe Tyers and Sebastian Conelli: The Friday Night Sh*w

[TOP PICK] [$] 9:00 pm ($12): Some of the finest improv in the country from brilliant comics Connor Ratliff, Shannon O’Neill, Alexandra Dickson, Michael Delaney, and/or Silvija Ozols forming a seamless and hilarious group mind at UCB Chelsea—the all-star members of The Stepfathers

9:00 pm ($10): “When a very famous New York Times theatre critic writes a scathing review of New Team Honeybear’s latest play, calling it, “Not a play at all,” Jeff and Anthony are forced to question everything. Is it a play? Can they work together to prove the critic wrong? Will their friendship survive?” by sketch duo Jeff Mondoro & Anthony Jackson directed by Kevin Laibson at The PIT Underground: That’s Not a Play: A Play by New Team Honeybear

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): A comedic play written and starring Ian Lockwood & Sophie Zucker, and directed by Philip Markle, in which “Baby Jessica was the first child to fall down a well, thereby capturing the nation’s attention and becoming America’s sweetheart overnight. Baby Ian will be the second” at The PIT Mainstage: Baby Ian Falls Down a Well

[TOP PICK] 10:00 pm ($10): Musical improv group Premiere—which typically features the best improv piano player in the biz, Frank Spitznagel—springboards off an audience suggestion to create a complete story with song and dance at The Magnet theatre: Premiere: The Improvised Musical

10:00 pm ($10; typically includes free beer): Petey DeAbreu invites comedy friends (not announced) to hang out at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ LIC (10-93 Jackson Avenue): Petey’s World

[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($7): I’m not sure he’s in NYC tonight, but one of the finest improvisors alive, Joe Bill (Bassprov, iO, co-founder of the Annoyance Theatre) will either personally spearhead or lead in spirit a breathtakingly brilliant group of improvisors from Chicago and New York who will blow the roof off The PIT Underground with lightning-quick dark comedy unlike anything else in NYC. The other superb players typically include Doug Stoley (Conan O’Brien, The Scene), Amey Goerlich (Indie Cage Match, Krompf, The Scene), Jed Resnik (Annoyance Theatre, UCB), Silvija Ozols (The Stepfathers), Micah Sherman (Second City, co-host of The Scene, host of Fun), and/or many more, all declaring ChicaGoGo

[TOP PICK] [$] 10:30 pm ($12): Superb improvisors James Dwyer, Craig Rowin, Connor O’Malley, Matt Fisher, Sue Galloway, Brian Faas, Matt Moses, and Shaun Diston make up scenes about an audience member’s legal dispute at the UCB Chelsea theatre: The Law Firm: Law & Disorder

[FREE] Midnight: “A new game show where three contestants get quizzed on random topics; raps, video games, different types of soda. We’ll even have a few comics drop by” at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ LIC (10-93 Jackson Avenue) hosted by Marvin Lattimore: A Night of Thrill-Via

NYC Comedy Picks for Saturday 9/9/17

A show celebrating the app that redefined online dating, with the lovely and quick-witted Lane Moore (bottom; HBO’s Girls; Sex & Relationship Editor of Cosmo; writer for The Onion, McSweeney’s) going on a live Tinder safari for guys while a packed audience watches her every choice with fascination. Offering comments and suggestions during the adventure are tonight’s guests Sasheer Zamata (cast member for three seasons of Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, Amazon’s Transparent, TBS’ People of Earth) and Chase Mitchell (former writer for Jimmy Fallon, the 2017 Golden Globe Awards, and MTV). This show usually sells out, so I recommend nabbing tickets ASAP for Tinder Live (8:30 pm, $15, Brooklyn’s Littlefield (635 Sackett Street; take R subway to Union Street)…

…and it’s Day #2 of the Now Hear This Podcast Festival, which today features live-on-stage shows from popular podcasts IFC’s Comedy Bang Bang, Larry Wilmore’s Black on the Air, LeVar Burton Reads, The Flop House, Mortified, Who Charted?, and more, starting today at 11:00 pm and running through Sunday at 2:30 pm at the Javits Center: Now Hear This Podcast Festival (11:00 am-9:30 pm today, 10:30 am-2:30 pm Sunday; $125 for Saturday pass, $50 for Sunday pass; Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 11th Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets)…

…or experience Griffin Newman (Arthur on Amazon’s The Tick, HBO, MTV), Akaash Singh (HBO’s The Leftovers, Netflix’s Brown Nation, MTV’s Guy Code and Joking Off), and hosts Mike Brown & Dillon Stevenson make fun of a bunch of music videos a la MST3K: Super Video Bros. (7:00 pm, $10, Brooklyn’s Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)…

…or see the Fifth Anniversary show of a sketch comedy troupe that consists of Kristen Bartlett, Jason Gore, Eliza Kingsbury, Jesse VandenBergh, Shira Danan, Will Gallagher, Danielle Grace, and Adam Maid: Bridge & Tunnel (7:30 pm, $10, The PIT Underground at 123 East 24th Street)

Other notable shows this Saturday include:

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm, 7:15 pm, 8:00 pm, 8:45 pm, 9:15 pm, 10:00 pm, 10:30 pm, 11:15 pm, and 12:15 am ($20-$24 per show, plus 2-item food/drink min.): Some of the finest stand-ups in the country spread among four shows at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane), the 7:15, 9:15, and 11:15 shows at Village Underground (130 West 3rd Street, off Sixth Avenue), and the 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm shows at The Fat Black Pussycat Lounge (130 West 3rd Street): Comedy Cellar Saturday

7:00 pm ($10): Comedy group Terrorbird performs prehistoric dark sketch comedy at The PIT Loft (154 West 29th Street): Terrorbird

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:30 pm ($12): Improv powerhouses Charlie Todd, Jeff Hiller, Jim Santangeli, Natasha Rothwell, Brandon Gardner, Chelsea Clarke, Kevin Hines, Erik Tanouye, and John Timothy at UCB Chelsea interview an audience member about where he or she grew up and then “turn that town’s tourist attractions, landmarks, hangouts, local celebrities, urban legends, and more into a hilarious show made up on the spot:” The Curfew: Not From Around Here

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): Improv groups Gypsy Danger (which includes brilliant comics Katie Hartman and Evan Kaufman, and which will make up a feature film on the spot) and The Baldwins (which includes brilliant comics Micah Sherman and Sarah Nowak) make stuff up at The PIT Mainstage: Gypsy Danger: The Improvised Movie and The Baldwins

8:00 pm ($7): Skilled improvisors David Rysdahl & Paul Gutkowski make up a play on the spot at The PIT Loft (154 West 29th Street) as improv duo True East

[TOP PICK] [$] 8:30 pm ($12): Improv group Airwolf—with big talents Molly Lloyd, Tim Martin, Achilles Stamatelaky, Eddie Dunn, Ben Rameaka, and Adam Fruccie—make up scenes about terrible audience experiences related to a home at UCB East: Airwolf: Let’s Go Back to Your Place

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): A highly talented freestyle rapping long form improv group takes the stage for an hour at The PIT Underground: North Coast

9:30 pm ($10): Nore Davis (HBO’s Last Week Tonight, Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer and Russell Simmons Presents The Ruckus, Showtime’s Boardwalk Empire, MTV), Rae Sanni (New York Magazine), Joyelle Nicole, and Eman El-Husseini perform stand-up at Brooklyn’s Union Hall (702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street) hosted by Mamoudou N’Diaye & Yedoye Travis: The Resistance Comedy

9:30 pm ($10): A raunchy musical about high school seniors and aliens from outer space plotting to harvest our genitals begins a 10-show run tonight through September 18th at The PIT Mainstage from writer Joe Kelly, musical director Jonathan Evans, and director Griffin Osborne: Aliens Coming: The Musical

[TOP PICK] [$] 10:00 pm ($12): A powerhouse group of improvisors—Zhubin Parang (writer for The Daily Show), Michael Kayne (Baby Wants Candy, Diamond Lion), Natasha Vaynblat (one-woman show United Federation of Teachers), Casey Jost (former writer for NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and TruTV’s Impractical Jokers), and Lui Vega—springboard scenes off interviewing an audience member about his or her love life at the UCB East theatre: What I Did For Love

[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): Long form improv about the behavior of a theatrical troupe both on-stage and off-stage, revolving around a different show biz theme each week at The Magnet theatre: The Cast

[TOP PICK] [$] 10:30 pm ($12): At UCB Chelsea, improv group Grandma’s Ashes—which includes stellar talents Ryan Karels, Morgan Grace Jarrett, Brandon Scott Jones, and more—takes your written secrets and turns them into very funny improv scenes: Grandma’s Ashes: We Won’t Tell

[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): Using real horror films purchased in local gas stations and bodegas, host J.W. Crump selects specific clips to play for 30 seconds, then asks his talented cast of improvisers—who include Keisha Zollar, BJ Thorne, and and Josh Krebs—to finish the scene. Will anyone survive at The PIT Underground? Attend at your own peril: Gas Station Horror

[TOP PICK] 11:30 ($7): A game show that describes itself as follows: “Ever talk to a straight guy and think, ‘Jesus Christ you’re boring!’ Join gay-ass hosts Matt Rogers & Dave Mizzoni as they gay up the straights through games and trivia. Life lines include one woke woman and a wise queer. Come witness the ultimate test of who Is honorarily Gay As Fuck!” at the UCB East theatre: GAYme Show

[TOP PICK] Midnight ($7): In this Stephen King It parody, “After decades of slumber, the being known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown has arisen to begin anew a cycle of bloodshed and terror. But first, It wants to put on a big ol’ comedy show! So It’s left the sewers of Derry, Maine for an equally creepy basement underneath a grocery store. There, alongside trusty sidekick Susie the Murdered Little Girl, It’s going to put on a tremendous show featuring special guests from all across the Stephen King multiverse!” hosted by Jon Bershad & Keisha Zollar at the UCB Chelsea theatre: Pennywise’s Sewer Circus: A Stephen King Multiverse Bit Show

NYC Comedy Picks for Sunday 9/10/17

It’s the final day of this weekend’s Now Hear This Podcast Festival, featuring live-on-stage shows from popular podcasts Doughboys, StarTalk AllStars, The Weeds, Conversation with the Big Guy, and more at the Javits Center: Now Hear This Podcast Festival (10:30 am-2:30 pm, $50, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 11th Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets)…

…or see Michelle Buteau (above left; VH1’s Morning Buzz and Best Week Ever, Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, FOX’s Enlisted, Craig Ferguson, Last Comic Standing, @midnight, comedy album Shut Up), Seaton Smith (rising star stand-up; HBO’s Girls, FOX’s Mulaney, Seth Meyers, Inside Amy Schumer, The Nightly Show), Whitmer Thomas, Ester Steinberg, and Mike Lebovitz perform stand-up hosted by Will Miles, Clark Jones, and/or Kenny DeForest: Comedy Night at the Knit (9:00 pm, Free!, Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory at 361 Metropolitan Avenue)……and Ilana Glazer (co-star of Comedy Central red-hot hit Broad City) is delivering superb stand-up shows, in which she performs a great long set and then hosts two sharp stand-up friends also do long sets. Tonight’s early and late shows are sold out, but you might be able to nab tickets via the Fan Exchange. Alternatively, you can buy tickets for next Sunday 9/17 at 7:30 pm or 9:30 pm: Ilana Glazer and Friends (7:30 pm and 9:30 pm, $10, Brooklyn’s Littlefield at 635 Sackett Street;—take R subway to Union Street)

Other notable shows this Sunday include:

[TOP PICK] [$] 1:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:00 pm, 9:30 pm, 10:00 pm, and 11:30 pm ($14 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Some of the finest stand-ups in the country spread among nine Labor Day Weekend shows, with four shows at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane), and the 8:00 & 10:00 pm shows at The Fat Black Pussycat Lounge (130 West 3rd Street): Comedy Cellar Sunday

[$] 7:00 pm ($5 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Irish stand-up star Des Bishop performs an intimate one-man show at the West Village’s Fat Black Pussycat Lounge (130 West 3rd Street): Des Bishop: Grey Matter

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): Groundbreaking and highly acclaimed improvisors Patrick McCartney, Matt Higgins, Jay Rhoderick, and Kevin Scott make up scenes at The PIT Mainstage: Centralia

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:30 pm ($12) and 9:30 pm [FREE]: UCB Chelsea’s signature improv comedy extravaganza, which typically includes superstars in the improv world such as Shannon O’Neill and Anthony Atamanuik, and sometimes network TV & movie stars such as Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz: ASSSSCAT 3000

7:30 pm ($7): Kevin Barnett (NBC’s The Carmichael Show, MTV’s Guy Code, #FAIL Comedy Central, TruTV’s Friends of the People, Sleepwalk With Me, College Humor), Emily Winter (writer for Fusion’s Come Here and Say That, co-host of Backfat Variety), Sarah Sherman, Daniel Simonsen, Finn Straley, and Max Rosenblum perform stand-up at UCB East produced by Kara Klenk (writer for MTV’s Girl Code & Guy Code and contributor to Broad City) and hosted by Alison Leiby (sharp, fresh, likeable stand-up; staff writer for Comedy Central’s The President Show; VICE; host of It’s a Long Story): If You Build It

[TOP PICK] [$] 8:30 pm ($5 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Michelle Wolf (star stand-up who’s also a star writer/correspondent for The Daily Show; previously staff writer & performer for Seth Meyers), Josh Gondelman (Emmy & Peabody Award-winning writer/producer for HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Conan O’Brien, The New Yorker; stand-up comedy album Physical Whisper), and more comics who’ve written for and/or appeared on Seth Meyers perform stand-up at the West Village’s Fat Black Pussycat Lounge (130 West 3rd Street) hosted by Ryan Reiss: Comedians of Seth Meyers

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Help Aasif Mandvi (former correspondent for The Daily Show; appearances in numerous movies & TV shows) try out a new one-man show at The PIT Mainstage: New Material Night: Come See How the Sausage is Made

NYC Stand-Up Open Mics & Improv Jams

If you want stage time, you can find one or more stand-up open mics virtually any night at Manhattan’s The PIT, Eastville Comedy Club, and Stand Up NY Comedy Club, and at Queens LIC’s The Creek and Astoria Queens’ QED.

In addition, at the East Village’s UCB East you can typically find a stand-up open mic Thursdays at 6:00 pm, an improv jam Wednesdays at 11:15 pm, and a rare bring-your-own-group improv/sketch open stage Sundays at 11:00 pm. And in Chelsea, The Magnet offers an improv jam on Wednesdays at 6:00 pm, and a rare musical improv jam on Tuesdays at 6:00 pm.

All of the venues above typically provide you the stage time either for free or for $5.

There are also numerous other open mics throughout the city. For a more comprehensive list, please visit FreeMicsNYC.

For many more shows, please click the following links to top NYC comedy venues:

Best Inexpensive Stand-Up, Improv, Sketch, and Storytelling

Upright Citizens Brigade Chelsea
307 West 26th Street; 150-seater; one of the most respected comedy theatres in the world; especially strong on improv, sketch, solo shows, and one-act comedic plays; shows free-$12

Upright Citizens Brigade East
153 East 3rd Street; 99-seater; a top comedy venue that focuses more than sister theatre UCB Chelsea on stand-up and screenings, and on experimental shows taking big risks; shows free-$12

The PIT Striker (Upstairs) Theatre
123 East 24th Street; 88-seater; a top venue that’s a powerful rival of UCB, and often surpasses UCB when blending comedy with music and/or theatricality; shows free-$20

The PIT Underground (Downstairs) Theatre
123 East 24th Street; 40-seater; often more quirky & experimental than upstairs Striker; shows free-$10

The PIT Loft
154 West 29th Street; 50-seater; the third of The PIT theatres, located separately on the West side, hosts a wide range of comedy, but is especially effective as a home for intimate solo and/or theatrical shows; free-$20

The Magnet
254 West 29th Street; 60-seat theatre; strong on improv, musical improv, sketch, and energy; shows $5-$10

The Creek and the Cave
Queens’ Long Island City; 40-seat theatre upstairs, 25 downstairs; virtually all weeknight shows free; weekend shows free-$10

Union Hall
702 Union Street in Brooklyn; R to Union Street; 50-seat theatre; shows $5-$20

Littlefield
635 Sackett Street in Brooklyn; R to Union Street; 100-seat theatre; shows $5-$20

Bell House
149 7th Street in Brooklyn; R to 9th Street or F/G to Fourth Ave.; 200-seat theatre; shows $10-$25

QED: A Place to Show & Tell
27-16 23rd Avenue in Astoria Queens; N/Q to Ditmars Boulevard; 40-seat theatre; shows free-$10

Best NYC Stand-Up Comedy Clubs

Comedy Cellar
117 MacDougal Street; among the finest daily stand-up lineups in the world; 2-item min.

Village Underground
130 West 3rd Street; Comedy Cellar’s larger sister venue, just around the corner with the same top comics; 2-item min.

The Stand
239 Third Avenue; recent competitor to Comedy Cellar; no drink min.—support this policy!

Carolines Comedy Club
1626 Broadway; focuses on the world’s top headliners, who perform hour-long sets; 2-drink min.

Gotham Comedy Club
208 West 23rd Street; headliners on weekends, specialty & lineup shows weekdays; 2-drink min.

Eastville Comedy Club
85 East 4th Street; strong weekend lineups; no cover using code HyReviews; 2-drink min.

Greenwich Village Comedy Club
99 MacDougal Street; convenient if Comedy Cellar’s sold out; no cover using code HyReviews; 2-drink min.

Comic Strip Live
1568 Second Avenue, off 81st; Upper East Side club with typically solid lineups; 2-drink min.

Stand Up NY
236 West 78th Street, off Broadway; Upper West Side club with typically solid lineups; 2-drink min.

The Standing Room
4738 Vernon Blvd., by #7 train; Queens LIC club; no drink min.—support this policy!

From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: Thank God for Hy Bender’s religiously updated show bible BestNewYorkComedy.com…It must be exhausting keeping that monster of a website alive. It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.

Please feel encouraged to reach out to tell me about comedy shows, submit material to my short story anthology Ghosts on Drugs, or for any other reason by emailing me at hy@hyreviews.com.