Best New York Comedy

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Comedy dynamo Shannon O'Neill tonight performs her one-person extravaganza Prison Freaks: A Talent 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:

6:30 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours—at John Morrison’s Ochi’s Motel

[FREE] 7:30 pm: NYC stand-ups Jamie Lee, Kevin McCaffrey, Mike Lawrence, Nick Cobb, and Trevor Williams performing at a free weekly show in the Manchester Pub hosted by Phoebe Robinson: Case of the Mondays Comedy

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Broadway & off-Broadway stars Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Tony nominee forAvenue Q), Jennifer Grace (Theatre World Award Winner for Our Town), Kevin Kelly (Shakespeare In The Park: Twelfth Night, The Brother/Sister Plays), and Julie Sharbutt (Shakespeare In The Park: Twelfth Night) mixing it up with some of the best  improvisors in the world—Scott Adsit, Tara Copeland, Michael Delaney, Becky Drysdale, and Anthony King—as they crash improv into classic theatre scenes at actor/director Stephen Ruddy’s Gravid Water

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Reggie Watts (musical improv comedy genius; 2009 ECNY Award for Best Musical Comedy Act and the 2007 Andy Kaufman Award; cast member of the new Electric Company; Jimmy Fallon), Patrick Borelli (Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central, Adult Swim), Joselyn Hughes (lovely writer for Tosh 2.0, visiting from LA), Jamie Lee (CollegeHumor.com), Tony Camin (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel), and Kara Klenk (performing in the Lolita Bar at Liam McEneaney’sTell Your Friends

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Wonderful comics Sara Schaefer and Liam McEneaney performing in Brooklyn’s Union Hall for a live version of Chatroulette

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Comedy dynamo Shannon O’Neill performing her extravaganza about an annual talent show in “Charlie Sheen Prison, the only talent show starring the criminally retarded and insane,” directed by the wonderful Will Hines; and the also wonderful Jon Friedman performing a smart & silly one-man show, in the double-bill Prison Freaks: A Talent Show and Bear With Me

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest comics in the country—tonight including lightning-fast & thoroughly hilarious Pete Holmes (Comedy Central Presents, The Daily Show, John Oliver’s NY Stand-Up, VH1’s Best Week Ever, The New Yorker, host of hit shows Punch Up Your Lifeand Gutbucket), Leo Allen (former writer for Saturday Night Live; Comedy Central Presents, Conan O’Brien, HBO’s Funny or Die, wonderful host of Whiplash), Moshe Kasher (Comedy Central,Chelsea Lately, IFC), and “a special guest”—guest-hosted by the wonderful Sean Patton (red-hot rising star; killer set on Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central, VH1) at Whiplash

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Comedy dynamo Shannon O'Neill plays a variety of criminally insane inmates in the debut of Prison Freaks: A Talent 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] 8:00 pm ($10): Comedy dynamo Shannon O’Neill debuting her extravaganza about an annual talent show in “Charlie Sheen Prison, the only talent show starring the criminally retarded and insane,” directed by the wonderful Will Hines; and disarmingly charming comedy duo Mamrie Hart and Stephen Soroka performing silly skits and—most memorably—tackling the news on the fly based on audience requests, in the double-bill Prison Freaks: A Talent Show and BoF in This Old Thing

[FREE] 8:00 pm: Brilliant comedic singer/songwriter Mindy Raf (VH1, College Humor), Myq Kaplan (The Tonight Show, Comedy Central Presents), John F. O’Donnell (Comedy Central), Micah Sherman, and Nick Vatterott performing at Brooklyn’s Coco 66 for host Nick Turner’s and new co-host Jason Saenz ‘s Too Cool for School

9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): Stellar singer/songwriter Ben Lerman, and sharp NYC stand-ups Leah Dubie, Jamie Lee, Lisa Kaplan, and Chris Doucette, performing in Ochi’s Lounge at a gay-themed show hosted by the lovely Jenny Rubin: The Back Room

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): Some of the finest improv in NYC from the comedy genius members of The Stepfathers

10:00 pm ($7): Singing improvisors who use an interview with an audience member to craft The Made-Up Musical

11:00 pm ($5): Ace sketch troupe Olde English, plus comedy guests who are asked to perform entirely new material, at what might their last UCBT show for a while: Very Fresh: The Finale

11:00 ($5): NYC’s heavy metal version of a sketch troupe, providing odd, unsettling, and fearless dark comedy…and for tonight promises all-new material: Murderfist: Late and Dirty

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 12:20ish am: My favorite open-mic stand-up show, where odd things involving drunk audience members tend to happen at it heads towards 2:00 am, hosted by brilliant & lightning-quick Pete Holmes (one of the very best stand-ups in the country; Comedy Central Presents, The Daily Show, VH1’s Best Week Ever, The New Yorker, host of Punch Up Your Life): Gutbucket

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.