In this week’s episode, Christian Capozzoli (Bucky), Chelsea Clarke (The Curfew), & Don Fanelli (The Stepfathers) join Abra to create a world where getting on a boss’ dick isn’t sexual, Yo-Yo Ma performs at Yankees games, & Notre Dame Judi Dench is incorrect.
This episode is sponsored by Audible. Head over to audiblepodcast.com/comfy to grab a 30 free trial of Audible and a free audiobook of your choosing! Any book you want, for free!
In this week’s episode, Neil Casey (Saturday Night Live), Connor Ratliff (I’m Too Fragile For This), & Jim Santangeli (The Curfew) join Abra to create a world filled with bashful nudity, misidentified men, and jellyfish on peens.
In this week’s episode, Chad Carter (The Daily Show), Will Hines (The Stepfathers), and Cathryn Mudon (I'm Too Fragile For This) join Abra to create a world where Kimmy needs castle rent, glitter lung kills, and well, shit my ass.
Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the short-form improv TV show that gave us Wayne Brady, is coming back, according to a tweet this morning from one of its stars, Colin Mochrie. Washington newspaper The Wenatchee World covered the story yesterday, reporting that Ryan Stiles will also return and that a new host, Aisha Tyler, will replace Drew Carey, who has no involvement in the revived series. Stiles will be bringing some actors from The Upfront Theater, the improv school and theater he opened in Washington with him, and the people behind the show have been auditioning improvisers from UCB, as well. The new season will tape [...]
In this week’s episode of "Make Yourself Comfy with Abra Tabak" Lauren Lapkus (NBC’s Are You There, Chelsea?), Laura Willcox (Bucky), and Shaun Diston (The Shauncast) join Abra to create a world where sex isn’t fun, Gollum rules high school, and your mom loves boobalas.
In this week’s episode, Matt Fisher (The Law Firm), Diana Kolsky (Menage à Trois), & Tim Martin (Airwolf) join Abra to create a world where Bert eats dead people, Mrs. Gianelli travels by drain, & the Spice Girls celebrate your bush.
There, in his eyes.
Controlled madness. Laser-keen in bursts. Pointed and precise.
Vulnerability, too. A certain tenderness. His eyes set the tone for his act.
I can't think of an American comedian more revered and respected than Jonathan Winters. (There's Jack Benny, for those who remember him.) Winters created a world where you were welcome, but you had to keep pace. His rapid-fire mind took hairpin turns. The inattentive might be left in his dust.
Winters was one of the more offbeat performers in mainstream comedy. He was as polished as Hope. As graceful as Gleason. As biting as Rickles. Yet Winters pushed it further. Breathed different [...]
There's been a lot of hubbub in the press lately about two competing Steve Jobs biopics, but now, The Chicago Tribune reports that there are two dueling movies based on the life of Del Close, the father of modern improvisational comedy. Close, amongst other things, trained dozens of well-known comedians like Bill Murray, John Belushi, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Amy Poehler at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic theaters from the early '70s up until his death in 1999. Here's the info on the two similar movies, one called Guru from the Second City camp and another called Del from the ImprovOlympic camp:
Guru - Produced by Second [...]
In this week’s episode of "Make Yourself Comfy with Abra Tabak" Patrick O'Brien (Fambly), Craig Rowin (It's That Episode), and Sasheer Zamata (Doppelganger) join Abra to create a world where babies better shape up or ship out, Ray is SAG’ing in there, and you better not stop skating nor hating on the rink.
"This is where comedy works — where people are the most miserable," Doug Stanhope lamented as he walked the streets of New York City at the beginning of his special, No Refunds. Maybe it is the misery, dirt and exhaustion that comes with life in NYC that fosters great comedic voices; an optimist would say its the city's vibrancy, diversity, and bustling energy. Either way, it's impossible to deny that no place does comedy like New York. Though in the past, we've looked at the stellar comedy scenes of both Los Angeles and Austin, I'll faithfully defend New York as the greatest comedy city in the world.
There's more comedy to see [...]
Intro to Improvisation – Mondays 7:00
In this class you will work on overcoming your disdain for improv comedy brought on by years of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and a detrimental trip to ComedySportz in your teen years. It won’t be fully successful, but Monday nights are a television black hole, so what the hell? Expect to be overwhelmed at how many people in your class sound like they have a much more fulfilling job and/or life than you.
Prerequisites: Ability to be civil when you’re in a scene with “that guy” whose friends told him to take this class and who will be gone after the second [...]
In this week’s episode, members of Grandma’s Ashes Lydia Hensler (Ladies Night), Dru Johnston (Bellevue), and Winston Noel (Hear Me Out) join Abra to find out what happens after hours at Petco, how to hang up a party line, and the status of Moses' pants barn.
In this week’s episode, it’s a mini CREEP reunion when Anthony Atamanuik (Death By Roo Roo), Silvija Ozols (The Stepfathers), & Ryan Karels (Grandma’s Ashes) join Abra to create a world where Little Roger haunts and makes a frittata, clubs need a VIPleat entrance, & diner waitresses don’t give a shit.
Neil Flynn, star of sitcoms Scrubs and The Middle, sat down with The AV Club for an interview today, in which he talked about his early days as an improviser at the ImprovOlympic theater. At iO, he studied under improv guru Del Close and performed alongside Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, and Adam McKay in the legendary group The Family. Here's Flynn reminiscing about his Chicago days:
"Del and I were both in a production of Hamlet in the mid-’80s with Chicago native Aidan Quinn starring as Hamlet. Del was Polonius, and that was pretty much his crowning glory, although he still had more than a decade left to live. In [...]
