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Hilarious surreal stand-up Joe Pera headlines at Carolines…
…and star Wyatt Cenac is interviewed about how he got started at Beginnings
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-Midnight ($7 for the whole evening): In this 5-hour extravaganza, five of The Magnet’s singing improv groups make up a musical on the spot based on an audience suggestion, followed at 10:15 by a free show that lets audience members join in with a musical improv group to make up stories in song: Magnet Musical Megawatt
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 7:00 pm: Dan Starkey (Doctor Who, Strax) joins super-hosts Alex Zalben, Justin Tyler, and Pete LePage in a lively & hilarious discussion about four-color pop culture at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge Street), with giveaways of comics and gift certificates (and if you can’t make it, watch in online here): Comic Book Club
[FREE] 7:00 pm: Abigoliah Schamaun will tell dick jokes and eat fire at this stand-up & carny one-woman show that she’ll soon be taking to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Catch Abigoliah’s hour-long act while she’s still in NYC, tonight and tomorrow at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre: Abigoliah Schamaun: Subtle.
[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 7:30 pm ($7.37 if you use code BREAKOUT online or by phone, plus 2-drink min.) One time I saw Joe Pera sing beautifully and then smash three dozen plates to pieces. Another time he ended his set by slicing milk. For deadpan Joe’s latest Kaufman awards submissions, please click here and here. For a mere $7 cover, come join me to see this unique NYC treasure headline for one night only at the Carolines Comedy Club: Joe Pera
7:30 pm-9:15 pm ($5): Long form improv known as The Harold from UCB Chelsea house troupes Sherlock & Cookies, Graceland, and Bucky at this first half of Harold Night
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Interviews with Wyatt Cenac (former star correspondent for The Daily Show, Comedy Central hour-long special, Adult Swim, host of Night Train), Talib Kweli (Black Star), and Mandy Stadtmiller (xoJane) about “their earliest creative experiences and the nuances of having a creative career,” plus music from Xenia Rubinos (Ba Da Bing Records), for a weekly podcast that once a month goes live on the UCB East stage produced by Andy Beckerman & Mark Bisi and guest-hosted tonight by Nick Vatterott (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central Half Hour, MTV, Second City, 2012 Andy Kaufman Award): Beginnings
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): Cammi Climaco & David Crabb host this monthly storytelling show, with tonight’s guests Brantley Brice, Susan Kent, Tim Manley, Julie Threlkeld, and more at the Axis Theatre (1 Sheridan Square, near West 4th Street and Seventh Avenue): Ask Me Stories
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8 at the door or $10.70 online): TV & movie star Janeane Garofalo, stand-up Chris Lamberth, storyteller Diana Spechler (The New York Times; author of Who By Fire and Skinny), “professional liar” Vinny Deponto (magician, mind reader), and more performing at Brooklyn’s Union Hall with hosts Kerri Doherty & Nate Fernald: Geeking Out
[TOP PICK] [$] 8:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Whitney Cummings (star of NBC’s Whitney; HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV), Gregg Rogell (Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Louie, Comedy Central), Greer Barnes (David Letterman, Chappelle’s Show, For the Love of the Game), Ryan Hamilton (Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, Showtime), Lenny Marcus (David Letterman, MTV), and Keith Robinson (HBO, Comedy Central, Wanda Sykes Show) performing stand-up at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua (HBO’s Bad Boys of Comedy, Comedy Central): Whitney Cummings, Gregg Rogell, Greer Barnes, Ryan Hamilton, and More
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8): A sketch comedy troupe that includes Keisha Zollar (Doppelganger, host of The Soul Glo Jam, Andy Kaufman Award finalist) at The PIT upstairs theatre: Slap Fight
[FREE] 9:00 pm: Michael Che (hilarious rising star stand-up; David Letterman, Comedy Central, VH1), Neal Stastny, Matt Nedostup, The Wildcats, and more performing stand-up and/or sketch at this weekly show at Brooklyn’s The Alligator Lounge (600 Metropolitan Avenue) hosted by Sean Donnelly, Kevin McCaffrey, Robert Dean, Steve O’Brien, and tonight’s comic of honor Sachi Ezura: Comedy at Alligator Lounge: Sachi Birthday Edition
9:15 pm-Midnight ($5): Long form improv known as The Harold from UCB Chelsea house troupes Namaste, The Regulars, and Grammer—plus advanced improv students perform The Way of the Samurai—at this second half (continued from 7:30 pm) of Harold Night
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Brilliantly innovative comic Anthony Atamanuik (Death by Roo Roo, 30 Rock, Conan O’Brien, The Nights of Our Lives) plays oddball characters in a mix of sketch and improv. What’s happening tonight isn’t yet posted, but it’ll happen at the UCB East theatre and will likely be great: The Tony Show
9:30 pm ($8): A one-man multimedia show by Neil Goldberg about “the inherent strangeness of our need to kill and consume other living organisms in order to survive” at The PIT upstairs theatre: One Version of Events
[$] 10:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Nick Griffin (David Letterman, Jay Leno, Comedy Central Presents), Mark Normand (hilarious rising star; Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central; opens for Amy Schumer; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Nikki Glaser (co-star of MTV’s The Nikki and Sara Show; Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central Half Hour; podcast You Had to Be There), Dan Soder (Comedy Central Half Hour, VH1; for set about being a hypochondriatic drug user, please click here), Elon Gold (correspondent for Jay Leno, FOX’s Bones), Sherrod Small (writer/performer on TBS’ Are We There Yet?, Comedy Central, VH1), and Dan Naturman (David Letterman, Jay Leno) performing stand-up at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua (HBO’s Bad Boys of Comedy, Comedy Central): Nick Griffin, Mark Normand, Nikki Glaser, and More
[$] 10:00 pm ($15 & 2-drink min.): Whitney Cummings (star of NBC’s Whitney; HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV), Ari Shaffir (HBO’s Down & Dirty), and more performing stand-up at the Gotham Comedy Club: ComedyJuice
[FREE] 10:00 pm: Big Jay Oakerson (Comedy Central Presents, HBO, Showtime, MTV), Luis J. Gomez, Dave Smith, and other NYC stand-ups performing live on stage for this podcast show at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: Legion of Skanks
Tuesday Open Mics & Jams
[TOP PICK] [ALMOST FREE] 6:00 pm ($1): In this delightful weekly open-mic show, each comic has 3 minutes to try out a character-based bit (e.g., for a solo show, sketch, or audition) at The PIT downstairs lounge, hosted by Jen Kwok (Comedy Central) and Keisha Zollar (Doppelganger): Imposter Open Mic
6:00 pm (no cover, 1 drink min. for both comics and audience members): Open mic stand-up providing 5-7 minutes per comic, running 2 1/2 hours. Arrive 30 minutes before the show to get on the signup sheet. This is a fine opportunity to perform at the only comedy club in the East Village: Eastville Comedy Club Open Mic
[FREE] 6:15 pm: Open mic for comedy of all types providing 2 minutes for each performer (with sign-up starting at 6:00) at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre hosted by Jay Dean and Tynan DeLong: Two Nice Guys Open MIc
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 7:00 pm: This weekly 2-hour open-mic storytelling show allows each performer a full 8 minutes to tell a compelling and funny tale at Queens LIC’s The Creek downstairs lounge, with tonight’s guest co-host Bodger Millerd (The Bodger Millerd Experiment) and host Jake Hart: The Dump
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 10:15: Sign up at 9:30 pm for the opportunity to make up a musical on the spot with members of some of The Magnet’s finest singing improv groups: Magnet Musical Improv Mixer
[ALMOST FREE] 11:00 pm ($1): A breathtaking 40 comics are given 2 minutes each in this rapid-fire open-mic stand-up show at The PIT upstairs theatre hosted with wit and energy by Jay Welch: Bring It
[FREE] 11:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up at UCB East hosted by Boris Khaykin, John Trowbridge, and/or Katie East: Tuesday Night Open Mic
Best Inexpensive Stand-Up, Improv, Sketch, and Storytelling
Upright Citizens Brigade Chelsea
(307 West 26th Street; 150-seater; shows free-$10; one of the most respected comedy theatres in the world)
Upright Citizens Brigade East
(153 East 3rd Street; 99-seat main theatre, bar area for open mics; shows free-$10)
The PIT
(123 East 24th Street; 99-seat upstairs theatre, 40-seat downstairs theatre; shows free-$15)
The Magnet
(254 West 29th Street; 60-seat theatre; shows $5-$10)
The Creek and the Cave
(Queens’ Long Island City; 40-seat theatre upstairs, 25 downstairs; virtually all shows free)
Best NYC Stand-Up Comedy Clubs
Comedy Cellar
(117 MacDougal Street; among the finest daily stand-up lineups in the world; 2-item min.)
The Stand
(239 Third Avenue; recent competitor to Comedy Cellar; no drink min.—support this policy!)
Carolines Comedy Club
(1626 Broadway; focuses on the world’s top headliners, who perform hour-long sets; 2-drink min.)
Gotham Comedy Club
(208 West 23rd Street; headliners on weekends, specialty & lineup shows weekdays; 2-drink min.)
Eastville Comedy Club
(85 East 4th Street; strong weekend lineups; no cover using code HyReviews; 2-drink min.)
Greenwich Village Comedy Club
(99 MacDougal Street; convenient if Comedy Cellar’s sold out; no cover using code HyReviews; 2-drink min.)
From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: If you want to know what is happening in NYC comedy on a particular day, you gotta get hip to this dude Hy Bender and his site Best New York Comedy. The site is updated daily and features a super exhaustive look at what is happening in the NYC comedy world that particular day. The site is updated religiously…It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.
