For more, please visit HyReviews.com.
Legends in the making: Watch The Jeselnik Offensive Tuesdays and Kroll Show Wednesdays at 10:30 on Comedy Central.
Some of the coolest comics at UCB Chelsea perform at…
…a prestigious annual industry event: UCBT’s I’m Cool Showcase…
…while Sean Patton performs stand-up at Wyatt Cenac’s Night Train…
…and Joe Pera performs surreal oddities at Erin Lennox’s DTF
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] [ALMOST FREE] 6:00 pm ($1): Cammi Climaco (co-host of Ask Me Stories) hosts this weekly hour-long open-mic storytelling show, with typically six audience members chosen from a bucket of names getting to tell tales for 6-7 minutes each at The PIT downstairs lounge: Cammi Climaco’s Storytelling Open Mic: Six by Six
6:00 pm ($5 cover for comics, no cover for audience with code HyReviews, plus 1-drink min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4 1/2 minutes per set and 20 comics crammed into 2 hours—at the Greenwich Village Comedy Club (99 MacDougal Street) for John Morrison’s Village Motel
6:00 pm & 8:00 pm (no cover, 1 drink min. for both comics and audience members): Open mic stand-up providing 5-7 minutes per comic, with each show running 1 hour and 45 minutes. Arrive 30 minutes before the show you want to be in 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] 6:00 pm: An open-mic stand-up show, with 10 comics each performing for 5 minutes, at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City hosted by Abigoliah Schamaun & Peggy O’Leary: Dicks Open Mic
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 6:30 pm: After Cammi Climaco’s show ends (see 6:00 pm above), race on down to this other open-mic storytelling show, with names drawn out of a bucket at UCB East in the bar area (“Hot Chicks Room”) hosted by Julia Wiedeman: Happy Hour Open-Mic Storytelling with Julia Wiedeman
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 7:00 pm: TV & Broadway stand-up star Colin Quinn performs bits from a show he’s developing for an off-Broadway run that looks at US history “from the Founding Fathers to the Kardashians” at Queens LIC’s The Creek upstairs theatre: Unconstitutional with Colin Quinn
7:00 pm ($5): Storytellers Steven Berkowitz, Justin Born, Craig Iturbe, and Laura Weinblatt tell tales about their nerdy past at The Magnet guest-hosted by Kelly Buttermore (while Adam Wade is out of town): Adam Wade’s Whatever Happened to the Nerds?
[FREE] 7:30 pm: Four improvisers form teams with comics they’ve never performed with before at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: The Kaleidoscope
7:30 pm ($10; sign-up starts at 7:00 pm): Open mic for stand-ups, storytellers, singers, poets, actors, and more, with 5 minutes per performer and 25 slots available, at One and One Bar’s Downstairs Nexus Lounge (76 1st Street, corner of First Avenue) hosted by Nathan P., followed by a raucous afterparty with dancing & drink specials from 10:00 to midnight: Inspired Word’s Open Mic Joint
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($8 at the door or $9.47 online): Sean Patton (one of the finest stand-ups in the country; killer sets on Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central, VH1, feature film Wifed Out; co-host of Comedy as a Second Language, frequent guest-host of Whiplash), Carmen Lynch (David Letterman, Last Comic Standing finalist, Comedy Central), Rob Cantrell (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, VHI, documentary Metaphysical Graffiti, High Times), Sheng Wang (Comedy Central Presents), and George Gordon performing at Brooklyn’s Littlefield (622 Degraw Street) hosted by Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show): Night Train
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Some of UCB Chelsea’s finest sketch comedy & stand-up performers perform before industry folks who can make their careers at an all-you-can-watch revue: UCBT’s I’m Cool Showcase
[TOP PICK] [$] 8:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Todd Barry (David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central Presents, FX’s Louie, HBO’s Flight of the Conchords and Bored to Death, Adult Swim, feature films The Wrestler and Pete Smalls is Dead), Marina Franklin (developing into one of the finest stand-ups in the country, with an uncommonly gentle, graceful style that’s pure joy; Last Comic Standing, Chappelle’s Show, Craig Ferguson, VH1, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend), Mark Normand (hilarious stand-up; Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central; co-host of Hot Soup and We’re All Friends Here), Nick Griffin (David Letterman, Jay Leno, Comedy Central Presents), Ryan Hamilton (Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, Showtime), and Erik Rivera (Jay Leno, MTV) performing at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Todd Barry, Marina Franklin, Mark Normand, and More
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:00ish pm: Joe Pera (hilarious deadpan Andy Kaufman-like stand-up; one time I saw Joe sing beautifully and then smash three dozen plates to pieces; more recently he ended his set by slicing milk; for Joe’s latest Kaufman awards submissions, please click here and here), Joyelle Johnson (opens for such superstars as Maria Bamford), Matt Koff (Onion News Network, WitStream, 9 Am Meeting), Monroe Martin, and Billy Wayne Davis performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Grand Victory Bar (245 Grand Street) for this twice-a-month extravaganza hosted by Nick Maritato and the razor-sharp & delightful Erin Lennox (co-host of The Orphanage; for a sample of Erin’s dynamite Seriously Sports show, please click here): DTF
[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Inspired by the popular blog My High School Boyfriend Was Gay, this superb show at UCB East “celebrates our most tragic, hilarious, and heinous teenage memories, full of chaste hugs, Grease sing-alongs, and trips to the stage door to accost the cast of Rent,” with true stories tonight from Miss Vodka Stinger, Meg Ferril, and Susan Kent, plus hosts Damian Bellino, and the super-delightful Camille Harris whose piano playing and singing will make you grin and dance in your seat: My High School Boyfriend Was Gay
8:00 pm ($8): Improv troupe Maybe Sherman makes up scenes involving mobsters at The PIT upstairs theatre: MafiaProv
[FREE] 9:00 pm: Kendra Cunningham, Sean Donnelly, Richie Redding, and Kenny DeForest performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Bar Matchless back room (557 Manhattan Avenue, near the G subway’s Nassau Avenue stop) hosted by Nimesh Patel, Mike Denny, and/or Michael Che: Broken Comedy
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($8): Rachel Feinstein (finalist on Last Comic Standing; Comedy Central, HBO, The Apprentice, opens for Sarah Silverman on tour), Gary Vider (hilarious writer & deadpan stand-up; for sample jokes, please click here), Ryan Hamilton (Conan O’Brien, Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, Showtime), Cardone (vaudeville magician), and Noah Winkler performing at The PIT upstairs theatre hosted by comic Brett Druck and juggler Marcus Monroe: The Hang Out with Marcus and Brett
[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): Two UCB Chelsea house sketch troupes try out new bits: Chunk (which includes Zhubin Parang, Emmy-winning writer for The Daily Show) and Beige (which includes Dan Hodapp, who last August co-starred in FringeNYC smash hit Tail! Spin!): Maude Night: Chunk and Beige
[FREE] 9:30 pm: Liz Miele (Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central), Reid Faylor (co-host of hilarious Creek show Underbelly), Justy Dodge (co-host of Too Much Information on comicalradio.com; “I was kind of a tomboy growing up. Like, I had Barbies, but only because my Ninja Turtles needed bitches;” for dark bio video, please click here), Bryan Walsh, Evon Campbell, and Brian Allen Mitchell performing stand-up at Brooklyn’s Freddy’s Backroom (627 5th Avenue) with host Pat O’Shea: Ed Sullivan on Acid
[FREE] 9:30 pm: Following a club format, hosts Nore Davis & Andrew Short perform stand-up throughout for a total of 25 minutes, two comics each perform a 15-minute set—who tonight are Neil Constantine and Brandon Collins—and then Warren Holstein closes out the show with a 20-minute set, all at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City: On the Road
9:30 pm ($5): The only open-stage show for entire groups of improvisors and sketch comics, running weekly at UCB East hosted by Austin Rodrigues: Bring Your Own Team: Improv/Sketch Team Jam
[$] 10:00 pm ($12 plus 2-item food/drink min.): Jena Friedman (wry dark comedy stand-up and rising star; producer for The Daily Show, former staff writer for David Letterman, host of Entertaining the Bartender), Keith Alberstadt (David Letterman, VH1, contributor to SNL’s Weekend Update), Greer Barnes (David Letterman, Chappelle Show, For the Love of the Game), Andrew Schulz (MTV2′s Guy Code), Sam Morril (Comedy Central), Godfrey (Comedy Central Presents, Louie, 30 Rock, VH1; films Zoolander, Original Gangsters, Soul Plane; 7 Up Yours ads), Modi (HBO’s The Sopranos, Comedy Central), and Wil Sylvince (Comedy Central, BET’s Comic View) performing at Comedy Cellar (117 MacDougal Street, between 3rd Street & Minetta Lane) hosted by Ardie Fuqua: Jena Friedman, Keith Alberstadt, Greer Barnes, and More
10:00 pm ($5): A rotating cast of veteran improvisors make up scenes based on improvised monologues from tonight’s guest Robert Weinstein at The Magnet theatre: The Armando Diaz Experience
[FREE] 10:30 pm: Improv students are welcomed onto the stage at The PIT downstairs lounge for this weekly open access show hosted by Gary DeNoia & Langston Belton: Base Jam
[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: Some of the finest comics in the world—who are no longer being announced in advance, but it’s virtually always a great lineup—at UCB Chelsea hosted by someone wonderful: Whiplash
[ALMOST FREE] 11:00 pm ($1): If you’re an audience member who loves stand-up, Monday at 11 should be Whiplash! night (see listing above). If you’re a comic who couldn’t get booked on UCBT’s all-star show, though, you can opt to instead practice your skills at this exceptionally supportive stand-up open-mic at The PIT upstairs theatre hosted by Jared Reed: Fresh
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.
