the comic's comic

Recent additions to The Laugh Track

Now that I'm showcasing funny videos and pictures and such over at The Laugh Track, you'd think I'd go ahead and find some way to tell you about them over here. Without further hesitation...

• Tommy Johnagin impressed David Letterman with his recent stand-up set, which aired last Friday.
• Eugene Mirman has something to tell you about the do's and the do-not's (but not the donuts) of marketing.
• Ben Schwartz got rejected by Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin, but it was all in good fun to promote the ESPYs for ESPN. And that reminded me of the uproarious time that was the "Worst. Heckle. Ever." show that Derrick Comedy and several other UCB players and improvisers subjected Schwartz to during last summer's Del Close Marathon. Congrats on your Emmy nominations, Ben!
• The 40th anniversary of mankind landing on the Moon happened on Monday, and how did the Barely Political crew celebrate it? With a fake rap about a busty Moon girl. Music and lyrics from Mark Douglas.
• Daniel Tosh's Tosh.0 last week featured a mashup of white girls impersonating Bill Cosby, which made me curious about other kids trying to be like Cos. Apparently, it's all about the pudding.
• Jack McBrayer got nominated last week for a couple of Emmys, too, and yet that same day, he unveiled a new Funny or Die video that had him being very angry, from far away. Fortunately, it looked like it was just a phase.
• And Paula Poundstone has been asking people to check out her pitch for her very own cooking show. Involves wigs. More importantly, perhaps: She's in a dress?! Rare footage, indeed.

Eugene Mirman delivers graduation speech to his high-school alma mater

Eugene Mirman, Lexington High School class of 1992 graduate, returned over the weekend to deliver the commencement speech to Lexington's class of 2009. I heard him rehearse the speech at a comedy show in Brooklyn last week, which was funny since we were in a dark club, and funnier to see how it plays under the bright lights of a gym. With parents. The laughs come in different, awkward places. Mirman also put the transcript up on his site.

Delocated: Live and online

So, let's talk Delocated! The first-season finale aired overnight on Adult Swim, and cliffhanger alert! Am I right? Anyhow. If you missed, I shall not spoil it for you, and neither will the network, because the episode isn't online yet. Better for you, though, because you can still catch the penultimate episode for a limited time and look at country club golf in a "hole" new light.

Everything about this show should be awful but instead is awfully hilarious. The only thing wrong about these seven episodes, or 77 minutes of awesomeness, that I can see is that when you try to watch the clips online later, Adult Swim presents them in reverse order, so you watch it a la Memento. Even that's satisfying, though.

In related news, star "Jon" Glaser hosted a live Delocated show on March 19 at the 92YTribeca, and it was the oddest thing I'd seen since seeing Glaser get his fake band Detroit Octane to perform as the real musical guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Glaser's Delocated comedy show was perhaps the ultimate anti-comedy show. Scott Adsit (30 Rock) performed as a ventriloquist who wasn't providing the voice of his dummy. A.D. Miles presented a slide show without the slides. Andy Blitz twirled comedy circles as "Peanut Butter" repeating his punchlines twice in a set that seemingly went on forever. The Pontani Sisters performed burlesque in masks, and one of them did a "strip-tease" for "Jon's" son from the show. Yo La Tengo closed the night with a short set of music, in masks and with voice modulators. Eugene Mirman, who plays "Jon's" would-be assassin on the show, provided a video about vodka singalongs that "Jon" co-opted for the rest of the night. Can you really sing any song and change part of the lyrics to say "vodka"? Yes, yes you can. Oh, and Glaser also presented his own illustrated book response to Kim Cattrall's sex book. Two weeks later, I'm still not sure what I experienced. Photos? Yes.

Premium Blend on Hulu: When they were younger

This is pretty much for my American readers (and those of you outside the States who have figured out how to watch clips on Hulu.com). My Hulu visits tend to be more targeted -- I know what's on there and what I want to catch up on -- rather than exploratory missions of curious wonder. That said, one of my friends tipped me off to this new addition to Hulu's online archives: Full seasons of Comedy Central's Premium Blend. Premium Blend was the bigger, louder, hyperactive precursor to Live At Gotham. Look at how the audience and claps as if they're in a Benny Hill sketch. So far, just seasons five, seven and nine are up, for 36 episodes spotlighting 144 up-and-coming stand-up comedians, some of whom have since made leaps and strides, while others have yet to become household names. It's fun to see some of the pairings here, find glimpses of people I know now but didn't back then, as well as comics I was friends with years ago.

Season 5 also is intriguing because it filmed pre-Sept. 11 but began airing Oct. 5, 2001. Remember that weird time for comedy, when society and the mainstream media asked if it was OK to be ironic and sarcastic? It's also a time that gave us early looks at Judah Friedlander, Laurie Kilmartin, Eugene Mirman and Patrice Oneal, all in one half-hour!

From Season 9, here is another lineup that's notable for putting Aziz Ansari (NBC's new Parks and Recreation) together with Boston stand-up vet Frank Santorelli, Austin's Brendon Walsh (who now sports wilder hair and stand-up), and Jo Koy. This aired in February 2006.

Scenes from Eugene Mirman's book party

If Eugene Mirman could pull off his own comedy festival, then what would he have in store for the release of his first book, The Will to Whatevs? We had to take the first B75 or F train we could get to the Bell House in Gowanus Brooklyn to find out last night for ourselves (why do I refer to myself in the first-person plural? not relevant). A sold-out crowd watched what turned out to be two hours of comedy and a full set by GnR tribute band Mr. Brownstone, and before you ask, why Mr. Brownstone, note that Eugene's brother joined them on guitar for "Knocking on Heaven's Door," with Eugene and David Cross taking over one of the microphones, and Todd Barry and Cross' girlfriend Amber Tamblyn joining them all onstage.

Of course, it wasn't all rock and roll. After all of that, Sarah Vowell took over the turntable with a more leisurely mix of tunes.

But first, Mirman welcomed the crowd with a multimedia presentation about his new book (related: read my interview with Mirman about The Will to Whatevs). John Hodgman took the stage and immediately apologized for being sick with the cold/flu bug that has circled New York City. Although that's not how Hodgman caught it, as he claimed instead: "I got sick hugging Al Gore last week at the TED conference." If that wasn't odd enough for you, Hodgman talked a bit more about the personalities who show up to talk hot topics at TED each year, and revealed that he once tried stand-up comedy at one of Mirman's shows. "Eugene was nice enought to let me come up and insult his profession, and now he has insulted mine," he said. And now that they're competitors in the book world, Hodgman decided to plug his own book and read from it.

Preview: Delocated on Adult Swim

Jon Glaser is responsible for some pretty ridiculous concepts, and I have to congratulate him once again for getting this premise onto the airwaves -- Delocated, which debuts Thursday night on Adult Swim (10:30 p.m. Eastern), stars Glaser as the father of a family that ends up in the witness protection program. Oh, almost forgot. They agreed to move to New York City, putting on ski masks and disguising their voices and being taped for a reality show. And they're being chased by a stand-up comic (Eugene Mirman) who doubles as a hitman. Roll the clips!

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Glaser also will be a guest tonight (Feb. 10) on The Best Show on WFMU (8-11 p.m. EST), 91.1 FM in the NYC area, or online at WFMU.

After the jump, an episode guide if you want to know what's coming...

Interview: Eugene Mirman's "The Will to Whatevs"

After years of entertaining comedy fans with his stand-up and videos, Eugene Mirman finally has delivered what audiences really need to hear from him: Advice they can use from birth to death and even life after death. Certainly you have plenty of questions. Mirman took some time yesterday to provide some answers and talk about his new humorous self-help book, The Will to Whatevs. You can browse The Will to Whatevs on this HarperCollins site. And perhaps you might want to watch a promotional video he sent my way. Just in time for Valentine's Day, here is Eugene Mirman giving you valuable tips on nabbing yourself a husband. Watch this, and then we'll get to the interview.

Mirman will celebrate the release of his book Feb. 10 at The Bell House in Brooklyn, with performances by Kristen Schaal, John Hodgman, John Oliver, Paul F. Tompkins and Sarah Vowell spinning tunes as the DJ. Can you reveal anything else about the party? "I set the building on fire and destroy the New York comedy community. Probably not."

Hodgman provided a blurb for your book. Considering he has written two books claiming to give readers insight into everything, did that set the bar higher for you to dole out advice that hadn't already been given? "I don't know. I mean my book is more…his book is just flat-out knowledge, while mine is more of a road map for protection."

You include actual examples from your own life growing up. How did you decide how much to divulge of your own background? "One of the things I liked about the book is that it's partially truth and partially a lie and it's not revealed except what you could believe reasonably to be true," he said. "I like the format of the book…I think that it's good to have real stories and things, and then also good to make lots of stuff up. It sounds like I will enjoy my book."

92YTribeca spoofs New York Times Weekender ad

If you live near New York City, or even in New England, you see the TV ad for the New York Times Weekender subscription a lot. A lot, a lot. Perhaps this ad even runs nationally? Regardless, the new 92YTribeca facility, which has been booking lots of great comedy shows (thank you, Bart Coleman), just released this new advertisement written and directed by Michael Showalter and featuring Paul Rudd and many funny stand-up comedians. How many do you recognize? If you need a hint, just look at my category tags below. Related: The 92YTribeca's comedy schedule. Enjoy!

To Do Thursday: See Wayne Federman host Todd Barry, Dave Hill, Jessi Klein and others in 92YTribeca's weekly Comedy Below Canal series (tickets and info).

Why you need a little Whiplash

The UCB Theatre in New York City has a tradition of offering great stand-up comedy showcases for free late-night Mondays. For a while, Aziz Ansari hosted the showcase under the name Crash Test. Then Ansari got all Human Giant, and the showcases took a break. Leo Allen has taken over hosting duties in the 11 p.m. Monday timeslot, now known as Whiplash. This week, audiences got treated to Allen, Sean Patton, Eugene Mirman, Janeane Garofalo, John Mulaney and Hannibal Buress. For free! (Well, there is the "Bucket of Truth" to accept your comedy donations afterward, but still...) So imagine my surprise this week to see the house only half full?! You're missing out, people!

Janeane Garofalo, pictured here resting her bad back. "Mama's got a bum stem!" she told the crowd. Photo by Mindy Tucker. More photos at With Reservation.

The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival

Eugene Mirman has announced the planned lineups for his crazy-yet-true-because-it-is-Eugene-after-all comedy festival named for him, taking place Sept. 25-28 in Brooklyn. Mirman pretty much has it covered -- most of his usual and unusual suspects will appear over those four days and nights at two venues, Union Hall (where Mirman already hosts the popular Tearing the Veil of Maya showcase on Sundays with Michael Showalter in Park Slope) and The Bell House (a new joint the Union Hall folks are opening nearby).

Time Out NY playfully hinted at what a Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival might look like, with hints from Mirman himself.

Want to see who's scheduled to perform?

Eugene Mirman at the 2008 RNC

From Denver to St. Paul, Eugene Mirman and the folks at 23/6 follow the campaign trail from the Democratic convention to the Republican confab, and Mirman managed to bring his funny NSFW ambush reporting technique not only to innocent Minnesotans, but also to the anchors at MSNBC and actor Ron Silver. All in an attempt to find out, who is Sarah Palin?

Two comedic takes on the 2008 DNC in Denver

Yes, yes, The Daily Show has its own irreverent cable TV "news" spin on the political conventions, but in this groovy new media world, it's all about online video and blogs and vlogs and going low-budget, low-key, low-tech. At the first convention I covered as a reporter (Democrats, New York City, 1992), we didn't have no Internet. Al Gore was just a vice presidential candidate, remember? Memories. Anyhow. Back to the future present. Here are two different takes from the start of this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver. First up is Eugene Mirman, on the scene with the big online kahuna Huffington Post's 23/6 (236.com) team, and his first report is, well, NSFW but safe for fun-time viewing:

236.com: DNC '08 Breaking Inside the Behind
Uploaded by twentythreesix

Will Durst, on the other hand, takes his political comedy quite seriously. So he attempts to sum up Mama Obama's speech and spin in 60 seconds. Take a deep breath, and click!

Look for more from both Mirman and Durst over the course of the next week in Denver, then with the Republicans next week in St. Paul/Minneapolis.

Rififi's Last Night: The photos

Mindy Tucker took photomographs (it's a technical term) of the final night at Rififi. Enjoy the full 46-photo slideshow at Tucker's site, With Reservation. Here is a taste, fittingly featuring Eugene Mirman, who had the brainiac idea to put comedy in this hole in the first place, and John Mulaney, who can even tell new jokes at Rififi's last night and kill...

Rififi: This is the end, the end my friends, the end

Why would anyone mourn a venue that's essentially a dive bar with inconsistent air conditioning, horribly horrible bathrooms, a movie screen that had a massive tear in it (until, ha-ha, this past week!) for a place that still had a sign outside boasting it was Cinema Classics, and really, all of the fun that the East Village had to offer? Then again, the independently-produced comedy community of New York City has been through this before, whether it was last year at Mo Pitkins or years ago with Luna Lounge. So there we were, after an abrupt email sent out in the wee hours yesterday morning, trying to figure out if it really would be the final hours for comedy at Rififi. Spoiler alert: It was.

While rumors flew about what made July 30 the last night for Rififi (a month-to-month lease that finally found someone willing to pay the increasingly high East Village rents seemed to be the leading speculation), the indie comedy scene hastily recast the weekly Gelmania show originally scheduled for this Wednesday night. The hosts from Thursday's Totally J/K (Joe and Noah) and Friday's Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show certainly would be there. So, too, would many others come to pay final respects. The Whitest Kids U Know, Andy Blitz and Todd Barry showed up as spectators. The final bill would see Joe Mande and Noah Garfinkel take over first-half hosting duties, with one final "List of Nothing" and a joke Mande had uttered earlier in the day via Facebook, that the current Rififi owner would be fleeing on Thursday and taking all of the Glade air-fresheners with him to "Molester Town." Gabe and Jenny (Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate) returned to host the second half. The final schedule will show that Adam Newman, Pete Holmes, "John McCain," Baron Vaughn, John Gemberling, Slightly Known People, Hannibal Buress, Tom McCaffrey, Chelsea Peretti, Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy, Jon Glaser, John Mulaney, Leo Allen and Eugene Mirman took part in this last Rififi effort. There was a one-woman lip-synch effort to Les Miz with Pez, or is that called Pez Miz? Mirman shouted out requests to Glaser to "do some oldies!" Mulaney even used the opportunity to try new jokes! The show began auspiciously late (?) at 9:11 p.m. and lasted past midnight, with Mirman taking the stage at 12:01 a.m., getting all rock 'n' roll by play-real trashing the stage, and Leo Allen rejoining him onstage for some last-minute banter that was odd and appropriately poignant for the occasion.

Among the quips I quoted...

"Rough week, first Bennigan's, now Rififi!" -- Pete Holmes

"I like how the owner never learned our names," Jenny Slate said. "And we had a show here for two years," Gabe Liedman replied. "Well," Slate said, "He only knew me by who I was sleeping with."

"So, Rififi's closing...ninth time's the charm, right?" -- Tom McCaffrey

"I only saw the last episode of Seinfeld, if that makes you feel any better." -- Chelsea Peretti

"I could stand up here and tell jokes that I've told 5,000 times on this stage, and I think I might." -- Greg Johnson

"Greg Johnson and I tried to save Rififi once." -- John Mulaney, adding that they discovered at a city meeting that, at that time, Rififi didn't even have a license to host live events such as comedy. Rut-ro!

"I like Rififi because you could do things that you thought were funny, but most audiences would  disagree vehemently with you." -- Leo Allen

"When you leave, take a door with you!" Eugene Mirman said, then made some banging noises on the ceiling. "Oh, wait. The neighbors will complain...to the next landlord."

I have video of the final 13 minutes of the show, after the jump. You may think it a bit anti-climactic, but remember, comedians and fans didn't really have much of a chance to plan this out, even though we all knew this night would be coming sooner or later. Perhaps all of those false closing rumors of Rififi made some believe the dive would never change hands. This night proved us wrong. So now where does this scene hang out and perform now? Suggestions and thoughts encouraged in the comments. Don't be shy.

Eugene Mirman on Conan O'Brien

Did you miss Eugene Mirman's recent performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien? Did you see it, but would like to relive it again? Either way, hooray! Mirman has uploaded his performance for all of us to enjoy...some classic bits he has done around the New York City club and alt circuit, as well as on the road, but here on the TV, he manages to hold his spot and stay focused on the camera. Lots of greatness. All in under five minutes.

Eugene Mirman on Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Big benefit comedy show tonight in NYC

Almost missed this entirely somehow...but tonight, as in an hour from now, doors open at 7 p.m. at the Knitting Factory in NYC, there's a comedy benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society featuring Todd Barry, Eugene Mirman, Leo Allen, John Mulaney, Max Silvestri, Seth Herzog, Andy Blitz, Daniel Dratch, Mike Birbiglia, Jim Gaffigan and more? Get out of town. No, stay in the city and head on over and donate $20 to the cause. Here's a link.

That Eugene Mirman documentary

Eugene Mirman spent some extra time last weekend in the Boston area, not only catching up with old friends but also filming a documentary about his life (thus explaining Michael Showalter following him with a video camera). Mirman told me that process will culminate next year when he travels back to his native Russia and performs a comedy show there.

In the meantime...Mirman's on a brief national tour -- Stand-Uppity -- with Marc Maron and Andy Kindler. Buy tickets for Sunday in Portland, Ore., May 20 in San Francisco, or May 22 in Los Angeles.

His weekly Sunday night show with Showalter at Union Hall, Tearing the Veil of Maya, most likely will take a month off, he tells me, returning in July to coincide with their (and the venue's) 2-year anniversary. Last year's first anniversary bash filled the upstairs and the bocce courts with guest performances by Todd Barry, Janeane Garofalo and David Cross. And don't fret, comedy fans. Union Hall doesn't appear to be closing anytime soon, despite an odd campaign to revoke its liquor license by a competing bar owner?! A community board meeting last night at Brooklyn's Borough Hall supported Union Hall.

Notes from AltCom, part one

AltCom fest organizer Brian Joyce paced backstage at the Somerville Theater minutes before the scheduled 8 p.m. showtime and tried to pump up his performers. "It's a healthy crowd," he told the comedians. "There's not a stretch of empty seats downstairs." Eugene Mirman couldn't help but laugh right away, telling Joyce his pep talk really helped. Actually, there wasn't a need to worry. By the time Myq Kaplan and Micah Sherman took to the stage at 8:25 p.m. to open the festivities with their "Comedians National Anthem," fans had filled most of the seats in the lower orchestra level.

Nevertheless, Mirman felt like addressing the seating situation upfront, inviting folks from upstairs to come downstairs. "Why spread people out, unless you're different races?!" he announced with his usual absurdist flair. "This is Boston!" Mirman had plenty of fun throughout his 20-minute set, especially by poking fun at himself and his tendency to color his routine with local jokes and town names. "Now to stick it to the old Fleet Bank machine!" he said at one point. Later, he enjoyed ad-libbing a thought about a local audience member attacking a bear and yelling at it, "You're queah!" that he completely skipped over his usual punchline and tags on his bit about bears. He tailored another portion of the set for the Boston-area audience with a clever video spoof of ads for Boston.com, the Boston Globe's online portal. Mirman also included a recent observation from his 236.com-sponsored trip to Philadelphia for last month's Democratic debate, talking about anti-abortion protesters, and ad-libbing a retort to his own description of the presidential race as "Obama and the lady."

Also worth noting about Eugene Mirman: Michael Showalter followed him around offstage with a video camera (for a documentary? for a spoof? just because? we'll investigate this further), and Mirman told the other comics beforehand that he and his fellow Stand-Uppity Tour performers (Andy Kindler and Marc Maron) are looking forward to hitting the road together next week. Actually, that tour starts Sunday in Kentucky! Moving on...

Emo Philips joked with Todd Barry beforehand about Barry being limited to a 20-minute set. "If you're having fun," Philips told Barry backstage, "you'll want to fight that impulse...to stay onstage!" Barry also joked with me about the New York Times review earlier in the week of his performance opening for Flight of the Conchords, noting how reviewers often resort to lame jokes in critiquing a comedian. The Times, for the record, said this of Barry on Thursday: "A comedian whose deadpan delivery was drier than an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting." I won't attempt anything of that sort here. Leave that to the couple of audience members (fans of Barry's, it'd turn out afterward) who felt compelled to shout out oddities during his set. And that's even after Barry told his joke about an audience member "who wanted to challenge him...comedically." Argh. Barry also had to bear witness to a couple near the front who stood up and apparently walked out. Not his fault. "How awkward would that be if I cleared the room?" he joked. Not as awkward as what happened next, when he asked a guy in the front row if he was the most famous person to ever talk to him. "No," the young man replied, and then, after a pause, offered: "Wesley Willis." I hadn't heard of the late, overweight, schizophrenic, homeless musician, but Barry had. He joked about that, then went on with his act, and I thought he'd close on his Facebook jokes, but just then, Mirman's laptop computer -- still onstage -- beeped loudly. "Eugene got a new Gmail?!" Barry said. Another pause to regroup. A couple more jokes. And by then, Barry had gone 28 minutes. Again. Not his fault. Just one of those odd sets that gets derailed by the audience and other factors out of his control, forcing him to take extra time to get the show back on track.

Kaplan and Sherman also attempted at this point to remind the audience not to get in the way of everyone's good time. They did not, however, fully prepare everyone for doktor cocacolamcdonalds. How could they?

This one-man band from the UK has wowed crowds in Edinburgh and plays the big Leeds and Reading festivals later this summer. He'll also be swinging down to NYC on Monday for a show at the PIT. You have to see and hear this guy, and even then, you might not believe it. He bounded onstage wearing only face makeup, a scarf tie, colorful briefs and sneakers, and alternated between a keytar and other odd instruments for a few musical numbers. First up: "When you generalize, the general...lies." Another song he wants to be more R&B, so a GameBoy supplies the beats. His truncated set (this only showcased him for about 18 minutes) also included an appearance by his performance poet, Ray: Man of Words, who closed with a "cover" -- in this instance, his rendition of the theme rap song to TV's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. You could hear doktor cocacolamcdonalds on the radio, disc or iPod and chuckle a bit. But his humorous success proves it's really all in the presentation.

He also proved to be a good transition between the stand-up of Mirman and Barry to the headlining performance of Emo Philips.

I spent so much time trying to jot down notes between giggles the last time I saw Philips that this time, I wanted to sit back and absorb his set as a fan. What really hit home with me now was what also connected deeply with me when I first devoured Emo's E=MO2 over and over again as a teen. Sure, his jokes and one-liners are amazingly funny. But what makes him amazing is how devious and mischievous he is. It goes beyond clever. The guy opens with remarks about appreciating us appreciating live stand-up comedy, and somewhere in there is a joke about incest. He knew enough about Boston to work in baseball jokes, and also, perhaps unbeknownest to some in the crowd, a dating joke with a wickedly funny and subtle nod to the Kennedys! Philips also manages to jab at religion, politics, the homeless and so many other topics with his trademark wit and mannerisms that you're usually too busy laughing to get how wonderfully subversive it all is. For example, here he is on capital punishment: "We shouldn't execute the mentally retarded. No. Right? But what if they do something wrong?" Or this little ditty: "I like the South, but, of course, I'm prejudiced." By the end of his 55-minute set, the crowd couldn't help but give him a standing ovation.

AltCom continues Saturday night with Patton Oswalt, Morgan Murphy, Jim Jeffries and the Walsh Brothers.

NY Mag endorses Tearing the Veil of Maya

This week's issue of New York is its best-of issue, and this time around, they actually included a category for comedy. One category. Best Indie-Comedy Night. And the award goes to...oh, you read the subject title already, didn't you...Tearing the Veil of Maya, the Sunday night showcase hosted by Eugene Mirman and Michael Showalter at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Good luck getting in this Sunday. No. Really. Best of luck to you, because Mirman and Showalter will be in Austin, Texas, for SXSW.

The end of Invite Them Up

After six years, and after creating a new home for the so-called "alt-comedy" scene in New York City's East Village, Invite Them Up called it a night. Hosts Bobby Tisdale and Eugene Mirman will go their separate ways. And who knows what's next. Let's take a moment to reflect.

Invite Them Up RIP
Uploaded by thecomicscomic

Time of death: 11:51 p.m., Feb. 27. 2008.

Of course, all of the comedians who performed, from Tisdale and Mirman to Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, Todd Barry, Demetri Martin, Jon Glaser, Jon Benjamin, Chelsea Peretti, Craig Baldo, Kristen Schaal, and everyone who performed Monday and Tuesday, will still be performing around NYC. And Rififi will still be open. But Invite Them Up is done. And comedians, bloggers, photographers and fans packed the joint, feeling a bit nostalgic already.