Best New York Comedy

For more, please visit HyReviews.com.

For a review of Anthony Jeselnik’s new DVD Caligula, please click here.

SNL’s Jason Sudeikis (above), plus John Lutz, Michael O’Brien, and other TV, film, and Broadway stars perform at Gravid Water…

…and one of my favorite playwrights, Pulitzer Prize nominee Adam Rapp (above), plus The New York Times’ David Carr and FX’s W. Kamau Bell, are interviewed at Employee of the Month

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:

[TOP PICK] [ALMOST FREE] 6:00 pm ($1): Andy Ross (written for Mad Magazine, Onion News Network) guest-hosts (while Cammi Climaco is out of town) this weekly hour-long open-mic storytelling show, with typically six audience members chosen from a bucket of names getting to tell tales for 6-7 minutes each at The PIT downstairs lounge: “Six By Six” Storytelling Open Mic

6:00 pm ($5 cover for comics, no cover for audience with code HyReviews, plus 1-drink min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4 1/2 minutes per set and 20 comics crammed into 2 hours—at the Greenwich Village Comedy Club (99 MacDougal Street) for John Morrison’s Village Motel

6:00 pm & 8:00 pm (no cover, 1 drink min. for both comics and audience members): Open mic stand-up providing 5-7 minutes per comic, with each show running 1 hour and 45 minutes. Arrive 30 minutes before the show you want to be in to get on the signup sheet. This is a fine opportunity to perform at the only comedy club in the East Village: Eastville Comedy Club Open Mic

[FREE] 6:00 pm: An open-mic stand-up show, with 10 comics each performing for 5 minutes, at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City hosted by Abigoliah Schamaun & Peggy O’Leary: Dicks Open Mic

[FREE] 7:30 pm: Four improvisers form teams with comics they’ve never performed with before at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: The Kaleidoscope

7:30 pm ($10; sign-up starts at 7:00 pm): Open mic for stand-ups, storytellers, singers, poets, actors, and more, with 5 minutes per performer and 25 slots available, at One and One Bar’s Downstairs Nexus Lounge (76 1st Street, corner of First Avenue) hosted by Nathan P., followed by a raucous afterparty with dancing & drink specials from 10:00 to midnight: Inspired Word’s Open Mic Joint

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Star improvisors Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live, Horrible Bosses), John Lutz (30 Rock, Saturday Night Live), Michael O’Brien (Saturday Night Live, 7 Minutes in Heaven), and Michael Delaney (The Stepfathers) mixing it up with theatre & film/TV stars Maria Dizzia (Broadway’s In the Next Room—Tony nominee, FX’s Louie), Amy Warren (Adding Machine, Broadway’s August: Osage County), Olivia Wilde (House, The O.C., Cowboys and Aliens), and Julie Sharbutt (The Weekend, Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night) as they crash improv into classic theatre scenes at UCB Chelsea for actor/director Stephen Ruddy’s Gravid Water

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Wow. January’s guests for this show that interviews luminaries about what it’s like to have a dreamy job at UCB East include one of my favorite playwrights, Pulitzer Prize-nominated Adam Rapp; The New York Times Media & Culture Reporter David Carr; and host of FX’s Totally Biased W. Kamau Bell. The interviewer is host Catie Lazarus; plus there’ll be performances by Rob Lathan & Eric Biondo. (Am amazed this hasn’t yet sold out; anyway, I’ll be attending this…): Employee of the Month

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8 at the door or $9.47 online): Neal Brennan (razor-sharp, edgy comedy veteran; HBO, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, co-creator of Chappelle’s Show), Dave Hill (one of the most original and hilariously sharp alternative comics in the country; HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, NPR, The Dave Hill Explosion, bands Valley Lodge and Diamondsnake, champion rapper; new book Tasteful Nudes), Joyelle Johnson (regularly opens for Maria Bamford), Jamie Lee (Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, MTV’s Ridiculousness, VH1), and Damien Lemon (MTV2’s Guy Code, Comedy Central, The Amazing Spider-Man) performing at Brooklyn’s Littlefield (622 Degraw Street) hosted by Wyatt Cenac (star correspondent for The Daily Show): Night Train

[TOP PICK] [$] 8:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Great lineup of Amy Schumer (one of the very finest stand-ups in the country; Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central Presents, Last Comic Standing, 30 Rock), John Mulaney (one of the finest stand-ups in the country; writer/performer for Saturday Night Live; Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central Presents, one hour special & CD/DVD New in Town, VH1’s Best Week Ever; for John’s great bit on Weekend Update, please click here), Nick DiPaolo (star stand-up, with numerous appearances on David Letterman, Jay Leno, Louie; Emmy-nominated comedy writer, talk show host), Tom Papa (host of Jerry Seinfeld-produced NBC comedy The Marriage Ref; numerous appearances on David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno; three Comedy Central specials), Gregg Rogell (Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Louie, Comedy Central), and Jeff Lamp (Jay Leno) performing stand-up at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Amy Schumer, John Mulaney, Nick DiPaolo, Tom Papa, and More

[FREE] 9:00 pm: Calise Hawkins (Jimmy Fallon, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, writer for Playboy.com), Chesley Calloway (co-host of Comedy as a Second Language), Aparna Nancherla (FX’s Totally Biased), and Adam Lowitt (Co-Executive Producer of The Daily Show) performing stand-up, plus singer Grace Love, at Brooklyn’s Freddy’s Bar (627 Fifth Avenue; take R subway to Prospect Avenue) for this free biweekly show hosted by Brooke Van Poppelen (brilliant stand-up, writer, and storyteller; TLC, trutV; for stand-up videos about overindulging at 30 and impersonating Morrisey, please click here and here) and Giulia Rozzi (Jimmy Kimmel, MTV, VH1, Playgirl Magazine, co-host of Dive comedy and Stripped Stories): Dive Comedy

[FREE] 9:00 pm: Calise Hawkins (racing over from show directly above; Jimmy Fallon, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, writer for Playboy.com), Robert Dean, Oni Perez, and Truck Hudson performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Bar Matchless back room (557 Manhattan Avenue, near the G subway’s Nassau Avenue stop) hosted by Nimesh Patel, Mike Denny, and/or Michael Che: Broken Comedy

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Two UCB Chelsea house sketch troupes try out new material: The Prom (which includes such stellar talents as Sasheer Zamata, Amber Nelson, Stephen Soroka, and Siobhan Thompson), and and Dinner (which includes Don Fanelli, Eddie Dunn, Natasha Rothwell, and Bree Sharp): Maude Night: The Prom and Dinner

[FREE] 9:30 pm: Following a club format, hosts Nore Davis & Andrew Short perform stand-up throughout for a total of 25 minutes, two comics each perform a 15-minute set, and then a seasoned headliner closes out the show with a 20-minute set, all at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: On the Road

9:30 pm ($5): The only open-stage show for entire groups of improvisors and sketch comics, running weekly at UCB East hosted by Austin Rodrigues: Bring Your Own Team: Improv/Sketch Team Jam

[TOP PICK] [$] 10:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Neal Brennan (razor-sharp, edgy comedy veteran; HBO, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, co-creator of Chappelle’s Show), Dan Soder (Comedy Central, VH1; for set about being a hypochondriatic drug user, please click here), Mark Normand (hilarious stand-up; Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Gary Gulman (David Letterman, Jay Leno, Last Comic Standing, Tourgasm, Comedy Central hour-long special), Ryan Hamilton (Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, Showtime), Godfrey (Comedy Central Presents, Louie, 30 Rock, VH1; films Zoolander, Original Gangsters, Soul Plane; 7 Up Yours ads), and Michael Che (David Letterman, Comedy Central) performing at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Neal Brennan, Dan Soder, Mark Normand, Gary Gulman, and More

10:00 pm ($5): Improv is dominated by guys, so this is a rare treat—a dozen female improvisors “for an evening of comedy that will delight men, women, babies, and kittens” at The Magnet hosted by Megan Gray: We Might Just Kiss

[FREE] 10:30 pm: Improv students are welcomed onto the stage at The PIT downstairs lounge for this weekly open access show hosted by Gary DeNoia & Langston Belton: Base Jam

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest comics in the world—who are no longer being announced in advance, but it’s virtually always a great lineup—at UCB Chelsea hosted by someone wonderful: Whiplash

[ALMOST FREE] 11:00 pm ($1): If you’re an audience member who loves stand-up, Monday at 11 should be Whiplash! night (see listing above). If you’re a comic who couldn’t get booked on UCBT’s all-star show, though, you can opt to instead practice your skills at this exceptionally supportive stand-up open-mic at The PIT upstairs theatre hosted by Jared Reed: Fresh

From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: If you want to know what is happening in NYC comedy on a particular day, you gotta get hip to this dude Hy Bender and his site Best New York Comedy. The site is updated daily and features a super exhaustive look at what is happening in the NYC comedy world that particular day. The site is updated religiously…It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.