Best New York Comedy

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Genius comedic storytellers Elna Baker (above) and Chris Gethard, plus The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac, perform tonight at Brooklyn's 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:

[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($5): “An informative 22-minute multimedia presentation on the ins and outs of taping things off the radio taught by Dennis Steiger”—actually, Justin Peters—”a qualified instructor with decades worth of radio-taping experience. He will present a historical overview of this well-beloved hobby, demonstrate various methods of taping things off the radio, and offer suggestions for what to tape. If time permits, he will take questions from the audience, and offer anecdotes drawn from his personal experience with the pastime known as ‘the sport of kings.’ In sum, attendees will come away from this presentation with a solid grasp on the fundamentals they need to participate in a great lifelong hobby:” How to Tape Things Off the Radio

7:00 pm & 8:00 pm & 9:00 pm & 10:00 pm ($5 at the door, $5.99 per show online): NYC improv and sketch troupes—many of whom perform at The PIT—compete against each other via this unusual annual contest in which each group, regardless of specialty, will perform both improv and sketch…as well as a comedy form known as sketchprov using the Second City routine The Pad. The competition, running through Saturday, is SketchProv

[MEGA-TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00 pm: Blowout show with Wyatt Cenac (correspondent for The Daily Show), genius storytellers Chris Gethard (star of Comedy Central’s Big Lake; The Stepfathers, The Nights of Our Lives, author of book Weird New York) and Elna Baker (bestselling author of the comedic book The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance), and musical guest Steph Fagan performing at Brooklyn’s The Royal Oak (594 Union Avenue) along with sketches from Moon regulars such as co-producer Jordan Clifford and hosts Nat Towsen & Bob Walles: The Moon Show

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): World-class storyteller Adam Wade (two-time Moth GrandSlam Storytelling Champion (2006 & 2009) and record-breaking 15-time StorySlam Champion; The New York Times Magazine; host of Real Tales of College; for Adam’s award-winning tale of being an NBC page on Conan O’Brien, please click here) hosts a show that’s “like watching the characters of The Wonder Years and Freaks & Geeks all grown up and telling coming-of-age tales of love, lost, regret, and redemption, with John Flynn (The Nights of Our LIves), Mark Grenier, Tim Welsh, and Courtney Wielgus: Adam Wade’s Whatever Happened to the Nerds?

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00 pm: Arden Myrin (Conan O’Brien, Mad TV, numerous other TV shows & films; for Mad TV samples, please click here and here and here), Adrienne Iapalucci (Last Comic Standing), Joe Devito (Last Comic Standing), Ray Devito, and Gabe Pacheco performing at Cellar 58(58 Second Avenue) alongside delightful host Abbi Crutchfield and comedic rapster Andrew Singer: Positively Awesome

8:00 pm to midnight ($5): Four full hours of improv for only five bucks—tonight featuring UCBT house troupes DeCoster, Ragnaröck, Badman, Sandino, and Monstro; and at 11:00 pm UCBT students make up a story taking place in a single location in real time (i.e., Death by Roo Roo’snear-unbeatable technique at Cage Match)—all at Harold Night

8:30 pm ($3): Treasured Time Out NY Comedy Editor Jane Borden, Russ Meneve, Nick Griffin, and more performing at the Housingworks Bookstore Cafe for an almost-free weekly show hosted by Joe DeRosa (HBO’s Down and Dirty, Comedy Central Presents, new comedy CD The Depression Auction) and Jared Logan (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central): Punch Up Your Life

[FREE] 11:00 pm: Free open-mic stand-up show that’s seldom much fun for audience members but is a nice opportunity if you want 4-5 minutes to test out your comedy material on stage: Bring It

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.