New York Comedy Festival

The 6th Annual New York Comedy Festival starts tonight (Nov 4) and they’ve got some big shows lined up for the next five days including: Stand Up For Heroes (with Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K., and special guests), Ricky Gervais, Patton Oswalt, Andy Samberg, Tracy Morgan, Mike Birbiglia, Bill Maher and many others. As far as comedy goes, by and large this is a pretty mainstream festival, but this year they have partnered with the Upright Citizens Brigade and 92Y Tribeca for a number of shows in an effort to give the fest an air of indie cred. You can obtain free tickets to all of the Comedy Central Presents shows at this year’s NY Comedy Festival by clicking on this link (most are already full though).

Check out the full New York Comedy Festival lineup after the jump.

“NY Comedy Festival Starts Tonight, Get Free Tickets to Comedy Central Presents Shows” continued after the jump

UPDATE: I just realized that I forgot to mention that The Boss will also be appearing tonight (Nov 4) at the Stand Up For Heroes benefit at Town Hall along with Brian Williams, Stephen Colbert, Louis CK, Lisa Lampanelli, John Ondrasik and other special guests..

In between his regular tour dates with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen will be appearing (presumably solo) at a benefit concert for Autism Speaks on November 17, 2009 at Carnegie Hall. Tickets for that show are pretty pricey, but it’s a benefit, and it’s for a good cause.

Benefit Concert for Autism Speaks with Jerry Seinfeld
and a special appearance by Bruce Springsteen
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, New York City
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: Pre-show Private Reception for Sponsors
Sponsored by KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation (Business Attire)
7:30 PM: Performance
Buy Tickets

In other Boss news, it has just been announced that Bruce will be reviving the classic album + greatest hits format for his two upcoming Madison Square Garden shows (Buy Tickets). New Yorker’s will be treated to the The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle and The River, each being performed in their entirety for the first time.

Special programs announced for this weekend’s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band shows at Madison Square Garden

On Saturday, November 7, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle in its entirety for the first time.

On Sunday, November 8, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform The River in its entirety for the first time.

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle was originally released in 1973 and The River was originally released in 1980. They now join Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Born in the USA as albums that Bruce and the Band have performed in their entirety during their Fall tour. [BruceSpringsteen.net]

The classic British comedy series Fawlty Towers has turned 30 years old and in honor of the occasion BBC Video has just released a 3 disc box set containing all 12 episodes of the original series, plus interviews, commentaries, outtakes and a whole disc worth of special features. The Times Online recently ran an interview with an interview with Prunella Scales (Sybil Fawlty) where they discussed the 30th anniversary of the series and her role in British television history:

One of the striking things about the shows is that most scenes were filmed once without the opportunity to reshoot if things weren’t quite right. On the new set of remastered DVDs, Cleese provides a commentary that reveals him as a frustrated perfectionist. He chuckles along at classic moments — “excuse me laughing at my own jokes, but I think that was Connie’s” — but is also hypercritical. He points out where moments of slapstick weren’t spot-on, analyses how lines could have been tweaked and picks over minute editing decisions: “Could have taken the first three seconds off that shot.”

But what is striking is how quick the show still seems. “It hasn’t lost pace, that’s the great thing about it,” says Scales. “And that’s because of the talent of Connie and John and the rigour of John; how fast he played. If you couldn’t keep up with him you had to really get in there. That’s what its enduring quality is, the pace.”

The reaction of the audiences when they recorded the shows was positive, but she had no inkling that she was involved in something that would go on to top polls of the greatest British television programmes. [Times Online]

This set is truly a gem and something every comedy fan should own, that’s why I’m pleased to offer 3 copies of Fawlty Towers: The Complete Series Remastered DVD box set to three lucky readers of this site. To enter the contest, just fill out the entry form after the jump (just don’t mention the war!). Winners will be notified and selected on November 11, 2009. Contest is available to US and Canadian residents.

But wait, that’s not all, in addition to my contest, there is a “Fawlty Towers Lookalike Contest” going on right now on Facebook where you can win even bigger prizes including a signed John Cleese Photo, a John Cleese signed Fawlty Towers DVD and a bunch of other FT related items. John Cleese himself will be picking the winners of this contest!

Bumpershine contest entry form, more info about the DVD box set and the Fawlty Towers Lookalike Contest after the jump.

“Fawlty Towers Complete Series Remastered DVD Giveaway + Fawlty Towers Lookalike Contest on Facebook” continued after the jump

The New York Comedy Festival is in town this week (more on that later) and there are some pretty big names in town doing some smaller shows before the big event begins. Here are a couple great comedy options for this Monday night (Nov 2), and if you act fast, you can probably still catch both of these shows before they start.

WHIPLASH! with Colin Quinn & The Sklar Brothers, Sean Patton and Andrea Rosen
Monday, November 2 at 11:00pm
UCB Theatre 307 W.26th (corner of 8th Ave)
FREE

TYF! w/ Colin Quinn, Bob Powers, The Pleasure Syndicate, Bryan Tucker, and Liam McEneaney
Monday, November 2 at 8:00pm
Lolita Bar 266 Broome St
$5

I was going to post about this when I first saw it, but then I forgot, and was only reminded about it last night. Unfortunately, tickets the first two tapings of the new Comedy Central series “John Oliver & Friends” are sold out, but there are still some left for Sunday night. (Note to the uninitiated, if you really want to see these shows, I’d just show up.) Check out the lineup below, details on how to get tickets after the jump:

Friday, Oct. 23 – 6:45 PM – NO TIX LEFT
Marc Maron, Janeane Garofalo, Maria Bamford, Hannibal Buress, Pete Holmes, Amy Schumer

Saturday, Oct. 24 – 7:45 PM – NO TIX LEFT
Paul F. Thompkins, Eugene Mirman, Maria Bamford, Greg Fitzsimmons, Chris Hardwick, Nick Kroll

Sunday, Oct. 25 – 5:45 PM
Brian Posehn, Kristen Schaal, Matt Braunger, Chris Hardwick, Hari Kondabolu, Mary Lynn Rajskub

“John Oliver Friends This Weekend (Free Comedy Taping)” continued after the jump

Eugene Mirman – God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s

DOWNLOAD: Non-Album Bonus Track w/ John Wesley Harding

Eugene Mirman’s new comedy album, the provocatively titled, God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s, came out this Tuesday (Oct 6) on Sub Pop records. To celebrate his new record’s release, he had a CD launch party in Somervile, MA on Tuesday where he rented a limo for his fans “so they [could] get home easily and, of course, because it’s stupid.” (Umm, no CD release party in NYC. Hey Eugene, how about showing us New Yorkers a little love for once?)

If you live in New York, and you still feel slighted by the whole Boston thing, you can catch Eugene this Sunday and on most Sundays after that at Union Hall for the weekly Tearing The Veil of Maya comedy show which he usually hosts (sometimes with Michael Showalter). This week’s show features Dave Hill, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney and probably one or two other surprises. (Tickets are $7 at the door.)

In other Brooklyn comedy news, after their first successful show last may, comedy is returning to BAM on Saturday with the second free Comedy Night at BAMcafé.

On Saturday, October 10, Comedy Night, will feature some of New York’s most hilarious comedians including: Tom Shillue (Comedy Central Presents: Tom Shillue, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show), Pete Holmes (Comedy Central, VH1, The Daily Show), our very first returning comic, Kumail Nanjiani (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Comedy Central’s Michael & Michael, UCB), Gabe Liedman (Gabe & Jenny, UCB), and hosted by the hysterical Chris Griggs (TVLand, NY Underground Comedy Festival).

(Word to the wise, get there early, I didn’t get in last time. Apparently, comedy in Fort Greene is something of a novelty.)

Other upcoming comedy/variety shows (Oct 10-18):
Sat, 10/10 Radio Happy Hour at LPR w/ Tunde Adebimpe and Kumail Nanjiani
Sun, 10/11 The Greg Johnson Show at Pianos
Sun 10/11 Tearing The Veil of Maya at Union Hall
Mon, 10/12 Tell All Your Friends at Lolita Bar w/ The Daily Show’s David Javerbaum, Dan Allen, Liam McEneaney, Jena Friendman, Alan Lebetkin & More!
Mon, 10/12 Whiplash! at UCB w/ Leo Allen
Tue, 10/13 Punch Up Your Life w/ Jessi Klein, Pete Holmes, Matt Goldich, Matt McCarthy, Ali Waller & Special Guest (Listen to Jessi’s recent story on the Moth podcast.)
Tue, 10/13 Punchline Mag Show at Comix w/ Janeane Garofalo, Lewis Black, Ted Alexandro, Todd Barry, Christian Finnegan
Tue, 10/13 IndigNATION at Comix with Joe DeRosa
Tue, 10/13 NY Moth StorySLAM “Enemies” at The Nuyorican Poets Café ($7 Tickets)
Wed, 10/14 Big Terrific at Cameo Gallery w/ Max Silvestri, Gabe & Jenny
Wed, 10/14 Risk! at Joe’s Pub w/ Kevin Allison of The State, Zak Orth, Melanie Hamlett, Christian Finnegan & Michelle Walson (This deserves its own writeup.)
Thu, Oct 15 Comedy Below Canal at 92Y Tribeca w/ Wyatt Cenac, John Oliver, Hannibal Buress, Che Grand, DJ Car Stereo (Wars)
Thu 10/15 Comedy As A Second Language at Kabin
Fri, 10/16 Moth Mainstage “Tales Out Of School: New Yorker Writers on Life at the Magazine” at City Winery Hosted by: Andy Borowitz. Stories by: Roger Angell, Adam Gopnik, Ariel Levy, Mark Singer, Judith Thurman
Sun, 10/18 Humor Revue at The Director’s Guild w/ Jenny Allen, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Yoni Brenner, Ian Frazier, Patricia Marx, David Owen, Amy Ozols, Simon Rich, Paul Rudnick, George Saunders, Paul Simms, and Calvin Trillin. Hosted by David Remnick

No doubt I’m leaving some things out, but it’s pretty late and that’s all I can come up with right now.

Les Savy Fav at The “New” Knitting Factory (09/09/09)

Photos: Jessica Amaya

On Tuesday of last week I made my first foray to the Knitting Factory Brooklyn for their opening night festivities. I was pretty impressed by the venue itself; the 200 capacity performance space is just about the right size, the 4 foot stage was high enough off the ground to see from the back, but not too high as to be impersonal, and while I wasn’t personally amazed by the sound (it was night 1 after all), it was certainly more than acceptable and I’m sure will only get better as the club matures. Fans of the old Knitting Factory may be disappointed by lack of columns in the main space, but I’m sure most folks will be pleased with the lack of obstructions. On off nights, the front room bar will be open for drinks and on show nights, non-ticket buying patrons can look in on the main stage if the curtains are up, in fact, there is an even an option to pipe in the music to the bar if management so desires. The Brooklyn Knitting Factory is a welcome to the NYC music scene, and if the booking is solid, I don’t see any reason why people won’t go there in droves. Speaking of which, the KF schedule doesn’t have anything super exciting coming up as far as I’m concerned (Helado Negro is tomorrow night), but the club is still pretty new and the calendar still has quite a few holes in it. In three months time if things are still pretty weak, that might be cause for concern, but for right now I’m content to sit back and give them a little time to work on their bookings. According to talent buyer Chris White big things are being planned for the future and the eventual goal is to get the performance space up and running 7 nights a week.

Many more photos and a review of Les Savy Fav and Hannibal Buress at the new Brooklyn Knitting Factory after the jump.

“Les Savy Fav and Hannibal Buress at the Brooklyn Knitting Factory” continued after the jump

I’ve been meaning to post about The Bell House’s amazing upcoming schedule of events for a while now (and I still plan on doing so in the near future), but I think these two little gems merit a post of their own.

THE STATE
THU 10/1: 8pm / $15
Screening and hang session hosted by
DAVID WAIN & MICHAEL IAN BLACK.
Benefiting NEW YORK CARES.

featuring
*Previously never-before-seen footage & classic skits from the MTV show and The State’s CBS Halloween special.
Buy Tickets

OSSO QUARTET PLAYS THE BQE
SAT 11/7: 7:30pm (EARLY SHOW) / $12
Sufjan Stevens’ The BQE is a 40-minute symphonic and cinematic exploration of the infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a major traffic artery that severed neighborhoods and contoured waterways with the brute force of modern urban planning. Commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival in November 2007, the film tells a quintessentially American tale through an original film by Stevens and a live soundtrack by OSSO QUARTET.
Buy Tickets

Tickets for The State screening and Q & A session and The Osso Quartet’s live performance of Sufjan Stevens‘ The BQE both go on sale Saturday, September 12 at noon.

FYI, the CD/DVD version The BQE is now available for pre-order at Asthmatic Kitty for a very reasonable $15.00.

New Island Festival 2009 (Governors Island, New York)

A couple of interesting shows have been added to the inaugural New Island Festival which started today on Governors Island and runs through September 20, 2009. Intrepid readers may recall that I wrote about the festival a little when it was first announced, but the schedule is now final and you can check out the whole thing over here. (Performances are in English, subtitled, or non-verbal. About twenty performances will be FREE each day.)

Armin Van Buuren
Saturday September 12, 2009
From 1 PM — 5 PM
FREE EVENT*
All Ages

Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis with Boom Chicago
Sunday, September 13, 2009
8:30 PM
Buy Tickets

Direct from Holland, the New Island Festival will set up stakes on New York City’s Governors Island from September 10–13 and again from September 17–20. The festival will kick off the fall with provocative theatre, stunning site-specific performance, dazzling visual arts and exhilarating DJ sets, performed by world class Dutch performers. More than 150 artists will perform during the festival. The Festival is part of NY400, an extraordinary celebration to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage from Amsterdam to New York Harbor.

Read the rest of the press release after the jump.

“New Island Festival Started Today | Armin Van Buuren, Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis Add Performances” continued after the jump

Patton Oswalt in Big Fan

For the cineastes in the audience, I’m happy to bring back semi-irregular movie correspondent (in frequency, not disposition), Alberto DeSouza, for a review of a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, Robert Siegel’s directorial debut, “Big Fan“.

Big Fan Film Review
By Alberto DeSouza

“If you think you’re a sports fantatic, whether as a viewer, participant, or both, you ain’t seen nothing like Paul from Staten Island (Patton Oswalt), the seriously psychologically damaged goods in this very sharp and well-done independent flick on a super-low budget.

Here’s a guy who eeks out a living as a parking garage attendant (and who’s quite happy to remain as he is) but who has a profound obsession with his NY Giants team and is a regular on one of the sports radio programs. For the current season, he has an on-going feud with his nemesis, an almost equally twisted grown-up with no life, who’s an Eagle fan.

By chance, Paul and his sidekick spot the Jints superstar quarterback, Quantrell Bishop (hence the initials QB for quarterback – obvious but clever) somewhere in Staten Island. They follow him to Manhattan into a posh nightclub where a Bud goes for $9. An altercation breaks out when they approach QB and Paul ends up in the hospital. His idol QB is suspended pending an investigation.

But the obsessive fan that he his, he refuses to testify against QB to allow him to continue playing. Even his brother who wants to sue is pissed off and screams, “How does one get a concussion with no fucking brain?”

This is less of a story about twisted football fans, rather about a deeply disturbed and introverted individual who is incapable of communicating with other people who don’t share his passion for sports, particularly football. He has found his subculture of equally lost souls, who’s probably on the very bottom rung, and becomes its demented prisoner despite the masochocist punishment, physically and psychologically from his hero icon QB. He has no other interests: women, sex, drugs, whatever. His church is Giant Stadium and worships his team in the parking lot with a portable TV with his buddy every Sunday. Think of a short, pudgy Travis Bickle Lite from Taxi Driver.

His family, who genuinely loves him and tries to help him, tries the Good Guy approach and the tough love approach. But Paul is unmoved, detached and possibly lost permanently. His ‘family’ is the NY Giants, win or lose, and his father figure is QB since there’s no mention of his father in the movie.

There’s a screamingly hiliarious scene between Paul and his mother in the car. It was so funny and unexpectedly, I practically choked on my dessert.

With respect to films depicting real-life damaged characters, this flick is superb and a must-see.”

“Big Fan” is currently playing in NY, NJ, and PA and is opening in more theaters across the nation every weekend. Check this link to help locate a theatre near you.

New Yorker Festival

The “early” yet official 2009 New Yorker Festival schedule was released today and while there a lot of familiar faces (as always), I think this year’s lineup is a lot stronger than last year’s. Highlights of this year’s festival include: Mad Men panel with Matthew Weiner, Lee Clow, Steve Stoute, Brooklyn Playlist concert at The Bell House with Dirty Projectors, A Conversation with Music with and Neko Case and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Inside the Artist’s Studio with Chuck Close and Adam Gopnik, and the Humor Revue with Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach and a host of others. Tickets for The New Yorker Festival will go on sale at 12 noon ET on Friday, September 18, (the shows I just mentioned should sell out almost instantaneously).

View the entire 2009 New Yorker Festival schedule after the jump.

“2009 New Yorker Festival Schedule Released Today” continued after the jump

Myself and the guy I work with are going on tour! Below are the first announced dates. There may be a few more to follow. On a scale of 1-1000, in terms of awesomeness, I think it’s going to be a 600!

Sep 19 YMCA Boulton Center, Bay Shore, NY (Black Only)
Oct 11 Royal Oak, Detroit, MI (Buy Tickets)
Oct 13 Metro, Chicago, IL (Buy Tickets)
Oct 14 Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI (Buy Tickets)
Oct 15 Pantages, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 17 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO (Buy Tickets)
Oct 23 Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA
Oct 27 Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ
Oct 28 Sixth & I Synagogue, Washington, DC
Oct 29 Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA (Buy Tickets)
[MichaelIanBlack.com]

While it may have been a little uneven at times, there were some pretty great moments in Season 1 of MMHI: Leo Allen’s unexpected line, “She wanted me to pee on her!” literally made me burst out laughing, Jon Benjamin and Rob Huebel were pitch perfect as the Michaels’ boorish rivals Jeff & Larry, and the understated, yet hilarious Kumail Nanjiani made every scene he was in worth watching. I hope they bring the show back for a second season, and if they do, I’d love to see more show behind the show and less of the sketches (in fact, they could probably even drop the skits and monologues altogether if you want my honest opinion). By all means though, I think they should keep the original product ads featuring Showalter and Black; I watched every one of those Klondike commercials, and I own a DVR.

Hannibal Buress at Union Hall (05/18/08)

Congratulations to Hannibal Buress, who for my money, has been one of the funniest guys to play the NYC indie comedy circuit (if there is such a thing) in the last year or so. I know it’s a tall order, but hopefully he can use his flare for “comedic jokes” to restore SNL to a little bit of its former glory.

It’s been a whirlwind of a month for Buress. He performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Aug. 5, then continued a stand-up tour that brought him to Chicago to open for John Oliver last weekend; he sent out a tweet Sunday afternoon stating, “I’ll be writing on this season of SNL. Lots of elaborate poop sketches will be pitched this season.” He told The A.V. Club that the SNL job came about because of his Late Night performance, and that he’ll be starting on Monday, working six days a week, every week, unless the show is taking a break. He’ll continue to perform his absurdist, cerebral stand-up at night. [The Onion AV Club - Chicago]

Watch the video of Hannibal on Fallon that helped him land the writing gig after the jump.

PS Along with Kumail, Hannibal absolutely killed during his set at the ECNY Awards showcase show at Comix last night.

“Hannibal Buress to Write for Saturday Night Live” continued after the jump

Kumail Nanjiani at Union Hall (09/07/08)

With Tearing The Veil of Maya on hiatus, I guess Monday night has become a the new night for comedy. Check out what’s happening in the city tonight (Monday, August 31):

ECNY SHOWCASE at COMIX
Monday, August 31 @ 8PM
Admission: $15 plus a two item minimum purchase in the showroom
Where: Comix, 353 West 14th Street

HOST: Jon Friedman (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Rejection Show)

WITH:
Michelle Collins (Best Week Ever)
Sara Schaefer (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)
Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Michael and Michael Have Issues)
Kumail Nanjiani (Michael & Michael Have Issues)
Harvard Sailing Team
and a very special Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions Reunion!

Videos by Nick Kroll & John Mulaney, Sean Crespo, Elephant Larry & College Humor.

Music by Valley Lodge (featuring Dave Hill)

---

WHIPLASH #2L2Q
Monday, August 31 @ 11PM
Admission: Free
Where: UCB Theater, 307 W. 26th St. (corner of 8th Ave)

HOST: Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Michael and Michael Have Issues)

WITH:
Hannibal Burress (Saturday Night Live)
Eugene Mirman (Flight of the Conchords, Delocated)
Marc Maron (Air America Radio)
Joe DeRosa (Last Call w/ Carson Daly), and
Rory Scovel

---

TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Monday, August 31 @ 8PM
Admission: $5
Where: Lolita Bar, 266 Broome Street (Corner of Allen Street)

HOST: Daniel St. Germain

WITH:
Joe DeRosa
has appeared on on “Last Call with Carson Daly,” Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend,” and the “New Faces” showcase at the Montreal Comedy Festival.

Dave Hill
is a musician, writer, and comedian whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Blender, The Huffington Post, HBO, VH1, Spike TV, Sundance Channel, starred in the hilarious “The King of Miami” (which is now available on iTunes), and is featured in NPR’s This American Life Tour with Ira Glass

Victor Varnado
has appeared on Late Night w/ Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Premium Blend, My Name id Earl, in the movies End of Days, Pluto Nash, and Julien Donkey Boy, and is on his special/documentary The Awkward Kings of Comedy

Liam McEneaney
has toured all over Europe and has appeared on Comedy Central and VH1

Laura & Bradford
sketch comedy performers and great friends of show

and more TBA!

Will Dave Hill be cloning himself tonight?

David Cross at The Bell House (Tearing The Veil of Maya 3rd Ann Show)

David Cross actually plays a fair amount of shows in NYC, but when he does, they tend to be slightly under the radar affairs (Tearing The Veil of Maya, Tinkle, UCB etc). Well, all of that is about to change next month as David heads out on a theater tour and makes a high profile appearance at ATP NY on September 11 (where he is curating the comedy stage). However, if you don’t want to make the trek up to Kutshers Country Club, you can also catch David at Borders in Time Warner Center on September 9 where he’ll be reading from his new book, I Drink For A Reason, which is due out on Monday, August 31. IDFAR also has a companion website at IDrinkForAReason.com which is a bit lame on the whole (in my opinion), but the video of David dancing on stage at a Jim Belushi show is priceless.

More David Cross 2009 tour dates after the jump.

“David Cross Playing ATP NY, New Book Out Monday + Tour Dates” continued after the jump