Best New York Comedy

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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

[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),

an improv troupe with a theatrical approach: Stray (7:30 pm),

Kevin Allison (member of legendary sketch troupe The State) in a new one-man show: F*** Up (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] comedy genius Andy Blitz (long-time staff writer & performer for Conan O’Brien),  Joe Mande (Totally J/K), Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report), and other sharp stand-ups at a free monthly show benefiting an animal shelter: Diamonds in the Fluff (8:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] one of my all-time favorite improv troupes—which this season broke the Cage Match record for winning streaks with 17 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),

a small mob of talented comics telling funny, poignant, and at times unforgettable tales about their relatives at the gorgeous Sara Benincasa’s Family Hour (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: The Complete Performer (10:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] and star Timmy Williams (IFC sketch comedy TV series The Whitest Kids U’ Know) joining exceptionally sharp comics Kumail Nanjiani (Comedy Central) and Thomas Middleditch (genius improv troupe Baby Wants Candy) proving themselves to also be nerds by hosting this fun show about the video game industry: Game Bros. Live! (midnight).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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

improvisors dressed in odd costumes and spontaneously interacting in Character Dogville (7:00 pm),

fine stand-up guests Christian Finnegan (Comedy Central, VH1), Mark Norman, and Harry Terjanian, and regulars including Roger Hailes (Chappelle’s Show, VH1), at a show of occasionally uncomfortable comedy hosted by Blaine Perry & Pat Stango: Don’t Touch Me There (7:30ish pm),

[MEGA-TOP PICK] rising star Charlie Sanders performing one of the most vibrant and hilarious autobiographical shows you’ll ever see, plus comedic actress Sue Galloway performing a one-woman sketch show, in the double-bill Minnesota Muslim and Homebody (8:00 pm),

Kevin Allison (member of legendary sketch troup The State) in a new one-man show: F*** Up (8:00 pm)

a gay-themed stand-up comedy show hosted by Jenny Rubin: The Back Room (9:00 pm),

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

[TOP PICK] brilliant & sexy comics Erin & Her Cello (stellar musician & delightful singer/songwriter), Sara Schaefer (VH1, E!, UCBT), and Kurt Braunohler (master sketch comedy perfomer), plus Phil Yanos (guitarist for Dangaru) at a show mixing comedy and music: Tim Ellis’ & Matthew Park’s Of the Moment (9:30 pm),

singing improvisors who use an interview with an audience member to craft The Made-Up Musical (10:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] stellar stand-ups Demetri Martin (The Daily Show, star of upcoming Important Things), Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report, Comedy Central, VH1), and Julia Segal, plus ace sketch troupe & host Olde English, performing all-new material for a show that’s Very Fresh (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.

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

[TOP PICK] two brilliant comics who enjoy pushing at boundaries: Glennis McMurray and Jawnee Conroy (6:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] stellar stand-up Andrea Rosen (VH1, Comedy Central, Variety SHAC) and superb comedic singer/songwriter Mindy Raf (VH1) as guests on the best sexy storytelling comedy show in NYC: Margot Leitman’s & Giulia Rozzi’s Stripped Stories (9:30),

[TOP PICK] and the final raucous evening of 2008 quarter-final competition at Pat Baer’s 3-on-3 Improv Tournament (11:00).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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] Violet Krumbein demonstrating she’s one of the most breathtakingly original and darkly funny talents in NYC, and Thomas Middleditch (member of genius improv troupe Baby Wants Candy) showing off a myriad of comedic characters via a dynamic one-man show, in a don’t-miss double-bill: Human Painkiller and Littlebitch (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] a fun auction of dreadful art, hosted with style by the hilarious Judah Friedlander (30 Rock) and featuring a musical full set by indie band Xiu Xiu, at New York Magazine’s Bad Art Auction (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] three of the finest stand-ups in NYC—Pete Holmes (Comedy Central, VH1), Chelsea Peretti (Comedy Central, Variety SHAC), and Seth Herzog (VH1, Sweet)—plus New Zealand/UK star Rhys Darby (HBO’s Flight of the Conchords) at a new weekly show hosted by 92YTribeca: Comedy Below Canal (9:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] some of most razor-sharp and uproariously funny storytellers in the country—Anthony Atamanuik, Jonathan Gabrus, Curtis Gwinn, Joe Mande, and Dave Martin—telling tales of “The Guiltiest Night Of My Life” at one of the finest shows in NYC, The Nights of Our Lives (9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] an exciting monthly event bringing NYC theatre and comedy folks together, tonight featuring a networking party at 9:30, and then a comedy show at 10:00 with top stand-ups Demetri Martin (The Daily Show, star of upcoming series Important Things), John Mulaney (Conan O’Brien, writer for Saturday Night Live), Dan Mintz (HBO, Comedy Central, MTV), and Giulia Rozzi (VH1, Stripped Stories) at Margie Kment’s Hold for the Laughs (9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] and typically stellar stand-up comics who perform their sets but are periodically interrupted by the host—one of the funniest men on the planet, Doug Benson—at a very special show called The Benson Interruption (11:00 pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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, who tonight include Vicky Kuperman, Margie Kment, Doug Adler, Gilad Foss, Sarah Fearon, and John Morrison—at John Morrison’s Broadway Motel (6:00 pm),

a blowout fundraiser featuring some of the most talented and hilarious female comics in NYC—Livia Scott, Shayna Ferm, Carolyn Castiglia, Becky Donohue, Desiree Burch, Ophira Eisenberg, and Helen Hong—at a 3-hour bash of Empowerment, Pampering, and Great Entertainment (7:00 pm),

16 NYC stand-ups—including Taylor Williamson (Late Late Show), Josh Homer (Comedy Central), Andy Pitz (David Letterman), Julian McCullough (2008 NYCF Champion), Liz Miele (Comedy Central), and Mike Drucker (The Onion)—competing for audience laughs and votes at Eric I’s Comedy Showdown (7:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] brilliant stand-up Pete Holmes (Comedy Central, VH1, The New Yorker), rising star Kumail Nanjiani (Comedy Central), Big Jay Oakerson (HBO, Comedy Central , Showtime, MTV), Joselyn Hughes (Macho!), Sean Patton (Just for Laughs Festival), and Cassidy Henehan in the debut of VH1’s biweekly live comedy show VH to the One Comedy Showcase (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] comics journalist Brian Heater (The Daily Cross Hatch), and comics creators Tom Hart, Sarah Glidden, and John Kerschbaum, joining in on a lively & hilarious discussion about comic books at Comic Book Club (8:00 pm),

three full hours of improv for only five bucks—tonight featuring UCBT house troupes DeCoster, Ragnaröck, Bangs, Bastian, and The Law Firm—at Harold Night (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central), Wyatt Cenac (correspondent for The Daily Show), and Max Silvestri (VH1) at one of the finest and funniest shows in NYC, the wonderful Seth Herzog’s Sweet (9:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] and sharp stand-ups Tom McCaffrey (Comedy Central, VH1, The Onion), Marina Franklin (Last Comic Standing, Chappelle’s Show), Jared Logan (Chicago Comedy Awards), Liz Miele (Comedy Central), plus Team Submarine (hilarious sketch comedy duo) at Sweet Haven (9:00ish pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

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 Jena Friedman, Emily Epstein, Vicky Kuperman, Margie Kment, Karen Batista, Dan Cartwright, Mark Normand, Sean Donnelly, Blaine Perry, and John Morrison—at John Morrison’s Ochi’s Motel (6:30 pm & 9:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] an entirely improvised musical from a genius improv duo (and among Eliza Skinner’s final NYC performances before moving to LA), 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 weekly show featuring some of the finest comics in the country—tonight including two of the best comedy hosts in NYC, Seth Herzog (VH1, Sweet) and Greg Johnson (Greg Johnson & Larry Murphy 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.

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 (7:30 pm and 9:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] typically stellar stand-up comics joining comedy giants Eugene Mirman & Michael Showalter winners of the 2008 ECNY Award for Best Hosts—for their weekly shindig at Brooklyn’s Union Hall: Tearing the Veil of Maya (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] typically stellar stand-ups at one of the funniest productions in NYC—and winner of the 2008 ECNY Award for Best Variety Show—The Greg Johnson & Larry Murphy Show (8:00 pm),

the debut of a new, free weekly comedy show hosted by RG Daniels: Sunday Night Stand-Up (8:00 pm),

[TOP PICK] a blowout free show in Brooklyn with genius comics Dave Hill (HBO, VH1, MOJO) and Anthony Jeselnik (Conan O’Brien, HBO, Comedy Central), superb stand-ups Laura Krafft (The Colbert Report) and Nate Bargatze (Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central), and superb musicians Leah Siegel and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, at the razor-sharp and delightful Jena Friedman’s Entertaining the Bartender (8:30 pm),

and 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 (9:00 pm).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

[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),

an improv troupe with a theatrical approach: Stray (7:30 pm),

[TOP PICK] one of my all-time favorite improv troupes—which this season broke the Cage Match record for winning streaks with 17 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),

a small mob of talented comics telling funny, poignant, and at times unforgettable tales about their relatives at the gorgeous Sara Benincasa’s Family Hour (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] a blowout party celebrating Gossip Girl, the TV teen drama sensation of the year, hosted by Sara Benincasa (MTV, Family Hour, star Sarah Palin impersonator), and including a small mob of NYC comics, Emmy-winning writers, and other very smart fans having enthusiastic fun at the Gossip Girl Summit (11:00),

and five superb female comics who are also a terrific experimental cover band interviewing a comedy celeb and rockin’ the house as Stickerbook (midnight).

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.