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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:
[FREE] 6:00 pm: An open-mic show on a lottery system (sign-ups happen at 5:45-6:00 pm) at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City with hosts Erin Lennox and Eli Sairs: The Orphanage
[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($7): Jeff Simmermon (NPR’s The American Life, Moth StorySlam Champion, host of And I Am Not Lying), Steve Zimmer (two-time Moth GrandSlam Champion), Ben Lillie (host of The Story Collider, Moth StorySlam Champion), and Carolita Johnson (cartoonist, writes blog NewYorkette.com) telling comedic tales at The Magnet with host Adam Wade (two-time Moth GrandSlam Storytelling Champion (2006 & 2009) and record-breaking 18-time StorySlam Champion; The New York Times Magazine; host of hilarious monthly storytelling extravaganzas The Adam Wade Show, Tales of the Cosmos, and Whatever Happened to the Nerds?; for a sampling of Adam’s award-winning tales, please click here): Super Stories
7:00 pm ($5): Hip hop musical improv at The PIT downstairs lounge from Nick Brown, Don Romaniello, and Michael Short pretending to be NYC police officers: Rap Crimes Division
[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): Comedy genius Shannon O’Neill (breathtakingly innovative, lighting-quick, and fearless improvisor/sketch comic and rising star; The Stepfathers, Diamond Lion) does a monthly show at UCB Chelsea based on nothing but interviews with the audience and sheer guts: Strangers Wanted with Shannon O’Neill
[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10): UCBT Artistic Director Nate Dern, Zhubin Parang (writer for The Daily Show), Tracey Wigfield (writer for 30 Rock), Michael Kayne (Baby Wants Candy, Diamond Lion), and more perform improv at UCB East springboarding scenes off interviewing an audience member about his or her love life: What I Did For Love
[$] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($38.25 & 2-drink min.): A cast member of the much-missed Chappelle’s Show headlining tonight through Sunday at the Carolines Comedy Club: Donnell Rawlings
8:00 pm ($5): “It may be made up on the spot, but there is a method to the madness. In this show players explore the structure of improv by performing unique forms provided by the community and abroad” at The PIT downstairs lounge: True to Form
[FREE] 8:00 pm: An open-mic show that’s first come, first serve (sign-ups start at 7:30 pm), with each comic getting five minutes on stage at The Creek in Queens’ Long Island City downstairs lounge: Mic and Cheese
[TOP PICK] 8:30 pm ($7): Two of the most respected improvisors in the country, Magnet co-owner Armando DIaz and Christina Gausas team up as Diaz & Gausas
[$] 8:30 pm & 10:30 pm ($20 & 2-drink min.): A stand-up who’s performed on NBC’s 30 Rock, a Comedy Central Presents half-hour special, VH1, BET; in films including Zoolander, Original Gangsters, Soul Plane, and Johnson Family Vacation; and was the spokesman for the 7 Up Yours campaign, headlining tonight through Sunday at the Gotham Comedy Club: Godfrey
[FREE] 8:30ish pm: Lucas Brothers (Jimmy Fallon), Josh Rabinowitz (Comedy Central, MTV), Nick Turner (Jimmy Fallon), Jake Young, and more performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Red Star (37 Greenpoint Avenue) hosted by Annie Lederman, followed by wild Karaoke: Pirate Party
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Some of the finest improv in NYC from comedy geniuses Chris Gethard and Shannon O’Neill, plus stellar comics Silvija Ozols, Zach Woods, Michael Delaney, Will Hines, and Connor Ratliff, performing at UCB Chelsea—the all-star members of The Stepfathers
[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($10): Sharp improvisors at UCB East—Michael Kayne, Amber Petty, Ashley Ward, Morgan Phillips, and Winston Noel—making up a musical on the spot: Diamond Lion
9:00 pm: Mark Normand (hilarious stand-up; Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Reid Faylor (co-host of hilarious Creek show Underbelly), Lucas Brothers (Jimmy Fallon), Annie Lederman (Comedy Central, co-host of Pirate Party), Andrew Clark, and Narinder Singh performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Fort Useless (36 Ditmars Street) hosted by George Flanagan: Spit Take Friday
9:00 pm ($5): Rob Cantrell (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, VHI, documentary Metaphysical Graffiti, High Times), Gary Gulman (Last Comic Standing, Tourgasm, Comedy Central hour-long special), Nore Davis (Russell Simons Presents: The Ruckus), and Team Submarine performing stand-up, plus others doing sketch, improv, and who knows what else, at The PIT downstairs lounge with host Jeremy Wein: Undefined
9:30 pm ($10): A PIT improv troupe making up a musical on the spot after a friendly greeting: Hello
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 10:00 pm: Formerly titled Now That’s What I Call Musical Comedy—until a “cease and desist” order arrived from the attorneys at EMI Music—this show marches on with terrific comedic musical performers at The Creek’s upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City hosted by Ben Lerman and Tim Dimond: Radio Shack: A Comedy Musical Showcase
10:00 pm ($7): Singing improvisors at The Magnet using an interview with an audience member to craft The Made-Up Musical
10:00 pm ($5): Stand-ups, improvisors, and more gather to discuss the Presidential election in, with luck, a funny way at The PIT downstairs lounge: Electoral Dysfunction 2012
[TOP PICK] 10:30 pm ($10): Fran Gillespie, Jon Gabrus, Sue Galloway, Matt Fisher, Craig Rowin, Nate Lang, and other superb improvisors at UCB Chelsea making up scenes about an audience member’s legal dispute: The Law Firm: Law & Disorder
10:30 pm ($5): NYC comics (not announced) performing at UCB East hosted by Emily Axford, D’Arcy Carden, Alden Ford, Brandon Scott Jones, and/or Justin Tyler: Gentrify
11:00 pm ($5): Sketch host Meredith Hackman and her many friends promise “Despair. Pride. Heartbreak. Comedy.” at The PIT downstairs lounge: The Saddest Sketch Show
11:00 pm ($5): Where else can you find a late-night improvised exorcism besides The PIT downstairs lounge?: The Exorcism of Lucas Hazlett
11:00 pm ($5): Improvisors Brandon Gardner (The Curfew) & Natasha Vaynblat (Surfing) and sketch comics James Coker (1-800-LONDON) & Marshall Stratton (The Awesome 80’s Prom) performing at the Richmond Shephard Theatre (309 East 26th Street) hosted by Caitlin Bitzegaio and friends: The Gadget Hour
[TOP PICK] 11:30 pm ($5): Before this Magnet show, audience members may anonymously submit written confessions, secrets, rants, advice and opinions which will be used onstage by the improvisors—who include such talents as Laura Grey (stellar old-time radio style theatrical podcast Horrorgasm, top Maude sketch troupe Gramp’s, sketch/improv duo Klepper & Grey): The Friday Night Sh*w
[TOP PICK] [FREE] Midnight: NYC stand-ups—sometimes stellar ones—pushing boundaries for a show designed for looseness and experimentation at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City with hosts Jacqueline Novak and Chris Laker: Permission to Fail
Midnight ($5): A three-person improv competition at UCB East hosted by Brian Glidewell, Josh Patten, and Ben Rameaka: Three for All
[FREE] Midnight: This show might not be much fun for audience members, but it’s an amazing opportunity if you want to perform sketch for free and with almost zero hurdles on the prestigious UCB Chelsea stage. Plus it’s hosted by members of Maude troupe Fambly, typically including such wonderful talents as Nicole Byer and Veronica Osorio: Liquid Courage
For more, please visit HyReviews.com.
For free & $5 Greenwich Village Comedy Club tickets, please click here.