Donald Glover is performing a "secret" show tonight in LA under his hip hop moniker Childish Gambino. If you either don't live in LA or do but don't feel like waiting in line only to be crammed into a small space with a bunch of other sweaty people when it's easier to just stay home, it'll be streaming live on YouTube right over here. It kicks off at 8pm EST/5PM PST. Nice and early so you can still get to bed by 10pm afterwards.
Not content to be hoarding only 80% of the world's comedians, the Secret Policeman's Ball has added Eddie Izzard, Chris O'Dowd, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Jay Pharoah, Liam Neeson, Matt Berry, Jimmy Carr, Tim Roth and Burmese comedian Maung Thura Zarganar to the lineup. Phew. Boy, if this event were any more star-studded it would be the clear, deepening night sky viewed from the middle of a lonely country field, amirite?
The Secret Policeman’s Ball, the legendary British charity event benefitting Amnesty International, is taking up residence at Radio City Music Hall on March 4. It’s scheduled to feature a smorgasbord of American and British comedians, including Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Russell Brand, Reggie Watts, Sarah Silverman, Kristen Wiig, Peter Serafinowicz, and Noel Fielding. The New York Times reported this morning that the show will air on the cable channel Epix and stream online at EpixHD.com.
The Secret Policeman’s shows date back to 1975, a time before Live Aid or Comic Relief when the idea of a celebrity benefit gala was still a bit novel. Amnesty International was a fledgling [...]
Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Russell Brand, and Reggie Watts will be among the performers at the first ever American version of the Secret Policeman's Ball on March 4 to benefit Amnesty International. Coldplay and Mumford & Sons will also be in attendance. The event, a long-running British tradition, has been transported to the New World by former Daily Show producer David Javerbaum, who says to expect two hours of music, standup, sketches and “wild fun and games in the audiences." Take that, England; we're gonna take your awesome ideas and make them our own! That's what you get for pulling that taxation without representation shit back in [...]
“Hey. Remember DCM? (I don’t. Please fill me in.)”
Four days after I get home from the Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre’s 13th annual Del Close Marathon, this message pops up on my Facebook wall. I laugh for a second, trying to think of a stupid joke before realizing that — holy shit — I kind of can’t. Remember DCM, that is.
Towards the end, 50 straight hours of non-stop comedy on three stages (four, counting nightly featured shows) begin to blend together. Plus, the weekend-long festival is overcast by a frantic feeling of wanting to see everything (especially since this is likely your only annual chance to [...]
The Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival hits the Windy City on June 12-17 this summer, and they've just announced the initial lineup. It's pretty stacked, with acts that include Vince Vaughn, Aziz Ansari, Stephen Merchant, Bill Engvall, Billy Gardell, John Pinette, Patton Oswalt, John Oliver, Kevin Smith, Mike Birbiglia, Jeff Ross, Amy Schumer, The Dan Band and Henson Alternative’s Stuffed and Unstrung. More comedians are set to be announced in the near future, but if you're in Chicago or will be there this summer, this looks pretty awesome already. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am. The full press release is after the jump.
If you live in Boston and enjoy the comedy, you should click here and sign up to go see some standups tape their Comedy Central specials for free. There are two shows nightly from Tuesday through Thursday of this week featuring comics such as Joe Mande, Garfunkel and Oates, Rory Scovel and Neal Brennan. Great news for Bostonians! But non-Bostonians, don't worry, you still win, as you don't live in Boston.
…now that SNL's Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers have joined Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Russell Brand, and Reggie Watts for the March 4 event? Maybe a gallbladder or a couple yards of small intestine. Oh, also Parks & Rec's Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza will be there. So we're getting into spleen/pancreas territory. What's that? Maya Rudolph, Bob Odenkirk, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Kristen Wiig, Peter Serafinowicz and David Cross are going to be there too? Take my liver and my stomach. And lastly, Muppet commentators Statler & Waldorf will be in attendance. HEART.
The "Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally" kicks off right about now down in Charleston, SC, and Reuters has a live feed of the event so you can follow along from home. It's just like being there in person, except there are less jokey signs by your desk. I assume.
Looking to find your way to Lebowski Fest? Just follow the dudes in the bathrobes. Or the men holding coffee cans. Or the women in the Viking horns.
Last night was part one of a two-part yearly Dude celebration, held in New York's Chelsea Piers, with the festivities culminating tonight with a cast reunion of the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult classic, The Big Lebowski. When the movie was released 13 years ago, on March 6, 1998, it received decent-to-good reviews and barely made its budget back here in the States (cost $15 million; earned $17 million domestically). But a small, vocal audience was growing, learning and quoting every [...]
Just in case today's guide to LA's comedy scene wasn't enough for you, here's a form to sign up for free tickets to Comedy Central's standup series Mash Up, hosted by TJ Miller. Comedians performing: Deon Cole, Nick Vatterott, Reggie Watts, Sean Flannery, Tom Segura, Chris D'Elia, Tig Notaro, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jonah Ray, Pete Holmes, Jon Dore, Jared Logan, Chris Hardwick, Hannibal Buress and others. Pretty great! You might as well go, as life is fleeting and brief moments of joy that are delivered by free entertainment are rare indeed.
Aziz Ansari is prepping a pretty huge nationwide tour this spring and summer dubbed Buried Alive! It's a brand new full hour of comedy, which is fun. And if you want to go to the show near you, a limited number of good seats will be available fee-free from the presale on his site starting on Wednesday. Set those alarms!
Last Thursday, deep in the heart of Brooklyn, comedienne and writer Julie Klausner invited about 300 people to join her in the famous snack nest. Klausner brought her hilarious weekly podcast “How Was Your Week” to the Bell House stage for a second time and as the Gowanus Grounddog predicted — something magical happened.
Klausner, whose “HWYW” podcast was chosen as Splitsider’s best of 2011 for her strong guest choices, did not disappoint with Thursday’s lineup. She was joined by the fabulous Sandra Bernhard, writer, producer and WMFU’s hilarious Tom Scharpling, comedian Joe Mande, musician Ted Leo and the very special surprise guest and snack nest correspondent This [...]
Louis C.K. will continue his world takeover by performing at the 68th annual Radio & TV Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner in June (a totally separate correspondents' dinner from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which Jimmy Kimmel is hosting). He doesn't usually do much political material, so it should be very interesting to see him take on Washington. Something tells me he'll kinda nail it. (Oh my God, does Louis C.K. branching out into political comedy mean he's going to go for #5 on the list of things he'd have to do for me to like him more? Probably!)
