Best New York Comedy

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Manhattan Monologue Slam

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks marked by brackets) include:

five free hours of improvisation in The PIT’s Super Free Wednesday (7:00 pm-midnight),

[TOP PICK] a competition among top comedic & dramatic short-scene performers—including razor-sharp & hilarious Leslie Goshko (above left)—at the Manhattan Monologue Slam (7:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] Violet Krumbein demonstrating she’s one of the most darkly funny talents in NYC, and the debut of “a one-man family sitcom,” in the double-bill Human Painkiller and Sertainly Seth (8:00 pm),

superb comics Jessica Delfino, Ray Devito, RG Daniels, and Vicki Ferentinos, plus improv troupe Fat Penguin, at the free Shrink (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] an entirely improvised musical from genius improv duo Eliza Skinner and Glennis McMurray, and an improvised soap opera, in the double-bill I Eat Pandas and Hot Lather: As the Diamond Burns (9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] and a free, laid-back, and occasionally magical variety show where virtually anything can happen on a School Night (11:00).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Andy Blitz

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks marked by brackets) include:

the perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours, tonight including Kumail Nanjiani, Helen Hong, Emily Epstein, Chelsea White, Chesley Calloway, Meg Cupernall, Mark Normand, Luke Cunningham, Sean Donnelly, Blaine Perry, Matteson Perry, Aalap Patel, and John Morrison—at John Morrison’s Ochi’s Motel (6:30 pm & 9:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] stellar stand-ups including comedy genius Andy Blitz (long-time writer for Conan O’Brien), Laurie Kilmartin (Comedy Central, VH1), Myq Kaplan (Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham), and Brent Sullivan (Funny.com), plus musical group Wild Yaks at a free weekly comedy show in Brooklyn hosted by the razor-sharp Jena Friedman: Entertaining the Bartender (8:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] and a free weekly show featuring some of the finest comics in the country—tonight including Marc Maron (David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, HBO, Comedy Central), Reggie Watts (comedic freestyle beatbox genius), Patrick Borelli (Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central, ESPN), and Adam Lowitt (The Daily Show)—hosted by the wonderful Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central) at Whiplash (11:00 pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Brooke Van Poppelen

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks marked by brackets) include:

[TOP PICK] UCBT’s playground for celebrities and ace improvisors, ASSSSCAT 3000 (paid show at 7:30 pm, free show at 9:30 pm),

typically stellar stand-ups at what’s often among the funniest free productions in NYC, from hosts Greg Johnson and Jacqueline Novak: President Johnson (8:00 pm),

razor-sharp NYC comics Jamie Kilstein (has opened for Dave Chappelle, Marc Maron, Dave Attel, and Lewis Black), Brooke Van Poppelen (Carolines, Macho!), Dan Allen (Comedy Central), and more at RG Daniels’ free Sunday Night Stand-Up (8:00 pm).

and veteran stand-up Rob Cantrell (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, CBS, VH1), plus Ross Hyzer, Lucas Held, and Peter Kassnove at Vince Averill’s & Jesse Popp’s free show Beauty Bar Comedy (9:00 pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Todd Barry and Koala bear in cuteness contest

and a gala annual free event ushering in the new year:

The 50 First Jokes of 2009

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks marked by brackets) include:

[MEGA-TOP PICK] what’s become one of my favorite traditions of the new year—an entirely free show/party in which 50 of NYC’s best comics gather to tell the first joke each of them wrote in 2009 at the Third Annual 50 First Jokes (7:00 pm),

a sketch troupe taking simple premises to wild conclusions, tonight with an all-new show about our country falling apart: The Impending Moustache Embraces the Madness (7:00 pm),

the NYC debut of a show developed at Chicago’s legendary iO theatre in which veteran improvisors create a play on the spot based on audience suggestions: New Play (7:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] star improvisation from writers & performers at 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show who joyously declare Let’s Have a Ball (7:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] one of the funniest men in the world performing a deliciously long, wry headlining set at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Todd Barry (8:00 pm & 10:30 pm),

comics experiencing the rush of performing with no clothes on in The Naked Comedy Showcase (8:00 pm),

sharp NYC comics at a free stand-up comedy show hosted by star sketch/improv troupe Derrick in Queens’ Long Island City: This Is New York (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] one of my all-time favorite improv troupes—which in 2008 broke the Cage Match record for winning streaks with 18 triumphs in a row, and has now taken over UCBT’s prestigious prime-time Saturday night slot—the brilliant and daring members of Death by Roo Roo (9:00 pm),

organic & energetic improv by the four guys of 4 Track! (9:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] inventive & hilarious sketch comedy from The Harvard Sailing Team (9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] improvised TV shows about audience members via world-class troupe Reuben Williams (10:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] Ted Greenberg (Emmy-winning David Letterman writer) performing a fun, quick-paced theatrical comedy show at The Complete Performer (10:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] and the debut of a comedy show about the advertising biz, tonight featuring razor-sharp comics & national TV ad veterans Matt McCarthy (Comedy Central, VH1) and Andrea Rosen (Comedy Central, Variety SHAC), and hosted by Greg Johnson (President Johnson) and Sam Brown (The Whitest Kids U’ Know): Ad Nauseam (midnight).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Todd Barry

and

MC Chris

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks marked by brackets) include:

[TOP PICK] one of the funniest men in the world performing a deliciously long, wry set in his trademark deadpan style headlining at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Todd Barry (8:00 pm & 10:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] rising star Charlie Sanders performing one of the most vibrant and hilarious autobiographical shows you’ll ever see, plus comedic actor Nick Ross doing a show about desperate characters, in the double-bill Minnesota Muslim and Cool Your J (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] some of the finest improv in NYC from the brilliantly funny members of The Stepfathers (9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] a comedic freestyle rap contest, tonight including world-class musical improvisor Glennis McMurray (I Eat Pandas), hilarious nerd rapper MC Chris, and stellar stand-up comics Baron Vaughn, Matt McCarthy, and Michelle Collins, hosted by genius comedic musical hosts Chris “Shockwave” Sullivan (Freestyle Love Supreme) and Eliza Skinner (I Eat Pandas), at The BEATdown (11:00 pm),

and a free opportunity for you to perform sketch on the UCBT stage at Liquid Courage (12:20ish am).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Nick DiPaolo

The recommendation for the best in NYC comedy on New Year’s is

a former regular on Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd and on Howard Stern, Nick DiPaolo at Carolines (8:00 pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.