the comic's comic

Your three finalists for the People's Choice "Opening Act" at the 2009 New York Comedy Festival

Voting is now open for the finals of the first-ever People's Choice "Opening Act Competition" at the 2009 New York Comedy Festival. I told you about this previously. You can vote until Oct. 22 -- the winner will be announced the following day. So who's still in the running? You can watch each of them here, but you'll need to go to the People's Choice "Opening Act Competition" site to vote for your favorite.

Adrienne Iapalucci

John Powers

Staci Lynn Fletcher

Comedy Central Presents its class of 2010: Half-hour tapings Nov. 4-9, 2009

Perhaps you have heard of a friend or fave of yours getting a new half-hour Comedy Central Presents this fall? Well, I've got the whole schedule for you -- the free tapings were held in August (and aired the following January) in previous years, but have been moved to a new date and time to coincide with Comedy Central's partnership with the New York Comedy Festival. Good thinking!

Comedy Central Presents class of 2010 tapes in pairs from Nov. 4-9, 2009, at John Jay College's Gerald Lynch Theater in New York City. Sign up for ticket info here. Did you get a half-hour? These people did: Congrats!

Wednesday, Nov. 4: 6 p.m. Myq Kaplan, The Sklar Brothers; 8 p.m. Bret Ernst, Owen Benjamin

Thursday, Nov. 5: 6 p.m. Pete Holmes, Ryan Stout; 8 p.m. Amy Schumer, Mike DeStefano

Friday, Nov. 6: 6 p.m. Rachel Feinstein, Shane Mauss; 8 p.m. Mo Mandel, Iliza Shlesinger

Saturday, Nov. 7: 6 p.m. Rory Albanese, Rob Riggle; 8 p.m. Donald Glover, Jon Lajoie

Sunday, Nov. 8: 6 p.m. Jon Dore, Andy Kindler; 8 p.m. Julian McCullough, Matt Braunger

Monday, Nov. 9: 6 p.m. Jeff Dye, Eliot Chang; 8 p.m. Doug Williams, Tony Rock

New York Comedy Festival will hand out a People's Choice Award? Yes, and more

The 2009 New York Comedy Festival has announced a partnership with the People's Choice Awards that will result in the winner of "New York's Funniest Stand-Up" contest getting an actual People's Choice Award and recognition of some sort during the 2010 televised broadcast of said awards on CBS. Related: Want to enter the contest? Here's how. Other comedians who do not live and/or perform in NYC also will have a chance to take part in the People's Choice in a separate contest by submitting a three-minute routine to the People's Choice people between Sept. 21 and Oct. 7. Festival judges will post the top three performers on the site on Oct. 9, and then online voting will help pick one of the three stand-ups to travel to Manhattan to perform as an opening act during the fest.

“This event marks the first time that a People’s Choice Award will be presented in a stand-up comedy competition,” People's Choice President Fred Nelson said in a statement. “We are thrilled to empower fans to voice their choice alongside the experts and to provide another shot for performers to showcase their comedic talents on stage.”

That's one of the additions to this year's weeklong fest.

As they have done in past years, the NYCF has coordinated with the Paley Center to host a couple of TV comedy panels. This year's panels include discussions with the writers of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report and NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and a special look at the challenge of writing for TV in the age of the Internets with participation by Rory Albanese of The Daily Show, Jim Downey of Saturday Night Live, John Riggi of 30 Rock and Al Jean of The Simpsons.

In addition, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre will host themed shows during the NYCF week, including "Your Favorite Band Sucks...at Comedy," "The Best Sketch in NY" and "Time Out New York Approved."

And Mario Cantone will headline shows at Carolines on Broadway Nov. 5-8.

Expect to hear more show announcements soon.

Open call in NYC for Andy Kaufman Award

The fine folks at the Andy Kaufman Award have alerted me that they'll be hosting an open call for all interested comedians and performance artists in New York City.

So if you're in NYC or will be on Sept. 23, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., and think that your comedic talent is uniquely creative enough to be mentioned in the same sentence as "Andy Kaufman" and "award," then head on over to Carolines on Broadway. Performers will get three minutes to audition. If you're not available for the open call, you can also submit a DVD by Oct. 2 per the instructions here. Semifinalists will perform before a live audience and industry judges on Nov. 2, with "the six most promising contestants" moving on to the finals at Carolines on Nov. 3, as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

The winner receives an artistic memento, $2,500, industry exposure and more stage time at Carolines. Previous Andy Kaufman Award winners: Brent Weinbach, Kristen Schaal, Reggie Watts and Suzanne Whang.

Info for the 2009 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest

This just in: As we get closer to the 2009 New York Comedy Festival, we've got information for all of you aspiring funny people about this year's edition of the "New York's Funniest Stand-Up" contest, which is open to anyone in the city who thinks he or she is worthy of the title, cash prize, week of gigs at Carolines and a guest spot on one of the major festival shows. Here's the schedule:

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 20-21

SEMIFINAL LIVE SHOWS: Oct. 27-28

FINALS: Nov. 3

So, yes, once again, there will be an open call at Carolines on Broadway for comedians who want to perform a two-minute audition for judges. They'll be looking at your material, originality and stage presence. But I should warn you, too (and not just because I have taken part in this contest in the past). In addition to the line of wannabes who have waited on the sidewalk for upward of hours at a time, the club also has offered scheduled audition times in past years to working professional comedians. This was the practice for Last Comic Standing, too. Plus, the winners in 2007 (Wil Sylvince) and 2008 (Julian McCullough) were regulars at Carolines who already had hosting spots in one of the major festival shows. I'm not suggesting anything downright nefarious here; merely letting you know what you'll be up against. If you're that funny, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about, right? Right. Thirty people will get picked from the open calls to perform in one of two semifinal shows (where you'll get a five-minute set). From there, five will advance from each semi to the finals (where you'll get an eight-minute set). Good luck, everybody!

Ricky Gervais promotes his Carnegie Hall show for New York Comedy Festival

Whenever someone shows up with a camera, why does everyone have to get all weird about it? I'm not talking about me, of course. Never me. Never. Ever. Me. No, no. So I suppose it's somewhat comforting to see this new video of Ricky Gervais shilling for his show at the upcoming 2009 New York Comedy Festival and realize that someone told him to sit in front of a camera, unprompted, without a script, and just go go Gadget about it. Can you do it in one take? Solid. All of which is to say, how does Ricky Gervais get to Carnegie Hall? Yes, he practiced. And now you can buy tickets. Sold!

Ricky Gervais from NY Comedy Festival on Vimeo.

 

2009 New York Comedy Festival headliners announced

The 2009 New York Comedy Festival, run by the folks at Carolines in partnership with Comedy Central, has announced the initial slate of confirmed headliner acts for this November. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Aug. 17 (though if you have Citi card privileges, you can start ordering now). The fest focuses on getting big names in a variety of venues throughout Midtown Manhattan, and this sixth year is no different, based on the initial list. Look for more names and shows to be added closer to the event -- including a full slate of Comedy Central Presents half-hour tapings, the return of the Andy Kaufman Award competition and all sorts of special shows at Carolines. Here is the confirmed list of NYCF shows so far:

Nov. 4: “STAND UP FOR HEROES” a special benefit presented by NYCF and the Bob Woodruff Foundation at Town Hall (in its third year)

Nov. 5: DANE COOK “Dane Cook and Friends” at Madison Square Garden, 7 p.m.; RICKY GERVAIS “Out of England II” at Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m.; MIKE BIRBIGLIA “I’m in the Future Also” at Town Hall, 8 p.m.   

Nov. 6: BILL BURR “Let It Go” at Town Hall, 8 p.m.; TRACY MORGAN “Tracy Morgan’s Hard Knock Life” at Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m.; ARTIE LANGE "Artie Lange Live" at Beacon Theatre, 7:30 p.m.   

Nov. 7: MIKE EPPS “The Mike Epps Is Rottin’ in the Apple Comedy Show” at Beacon Theatre, 8 p.m; PATTON OSWALT “Patton Oswalt Live” at Town Hall, 8 p.m.; THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA - PANELS TBA, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.   

Nov. 8: BILL MAHER “An Evening with Bill Maher” at Avery Fisher Hall, 7 p.m.; ANDY SAMBERG “Andy Samberg and Friends Live from Town Hall” at Town Hall, 8 p.m.

For more information on applying for the Andy Kaufman Award, keep reading...

Ricky Gervais to headline 2009 New York Comedy Festival; Comedy Central Presents tie-in?

Just when I thought we were starting the Just For Laughs comedy fest in Chicago (we are doing this today), the New York Comedy Festival named its headliners and increased partnership with Comedy Central for its sixth annual week of headliners in the Big Apple, this coming Nov. 4-8, 2009. Tickets won't even go on sale until August, but they've announced that Ricky Gervais will play Carnegie Hall. And in his official statement of such, Gervais said: "Headlining one of the most prestigious comedy festivals in the world is an amazing honor for me. The fact that it's at the beautiful and historic Carnegie Hall makes it all the more wonderful. It's just down the road from my apartment. I can walk to work. (I won’t walk obviously. I'll take a limo. But I could walk if I had to)."

Also headlining their own shows at the 2009 NYCF: Bill Maher and Tracy Morgan. More talent will be named later this summer. Produced by Carolines on Broadway and United Entertainment Group, the fest will put on shows at 10 venues around Manhattan with more than 150 comedians. Comedy Central had joined as a partner last year (filming a one-hour special in 2008 at the fest for Jo Koy), and this year appears to be aligning its tapings of the 2010 series of half-hour Comedy Central Presents as part of the fest. Those tapings will happen at John Jay College this year.

Video highlights: Time Out New York's comedy fest showcase

Did you miss last week's Time Out New York approved comedy showcase at the UCB that was part of the New York Comedy Festival? Would you like to see some highlights from the sets of Anthony Jeselnik, Max Silvestri, Reggie Watts, Sean Patton, Seth Herzog, The Hazzards and host/TONY Comedy Editor Jane Borden? Of course, you would. So here that is. Note: Language is NSFW!

B.J. Novak and Friends, at Town Hall

It might be easy to forget that B.J. Novak is a stand-up comedian, because he's still in his 20s and pretty much everyone knows him as the writer/producer/actor from NBC's The Office. At Sunday night's "B.J. Novak and friends" show at Town Hall to close out the 2008 New York Comedy Festival, the biggest applause from the audience came for mere mentions of the sitcom, Novak or his friend from the show, Mindy Kaling. When Paul Rust opened the show with his "solo performance piece," aka "Salvation Through the Ring," aka his mimed tribute to a popular morning children's television program, then promptly disappeared, the crowd didn't quite know what to expect on this night.

Not to worry, though, as Novak's friends also included college chum Dan Mintz, who seemed more at ease in his 15-minutes of absurd one-liners than I'd seen him in a while (perhaps New York City is growing on him), and John Mulaney, who hosted the show and provided more than a half-hour of funny at the start and also in between acts. This could have just as easily had been this year's "Young Comedians" special, if HBO still was in that business. I wish Rust had done more to showcase his talents, and wonder why Simon Rich only performed for a New York minute by reading a very short tale about firehouse dogs. Kaling entered to adoring approval from the crowd, who didn't seem to mind that she read from notes throughout her 13-minute set, even to note that Obama won the election. She recovered nicely with a quip: "I had to look at my cheat sheet to remember that, because I have Memento disease." Her best bit examined how and why people use the phrase "devil's advocate," although Perez Hilton will likely be more eager to learn that Kaling said she her fellow Office writers are regular readers of his gossip site.

As for Novak, a suspicious opening routine about a guy who posted a Craigslist ad looking for a date to that night's show revealed itself to be a true story and therefore more auspicious than suspicious, with the guy arriving to his loge seat solo. (Note: If a friend reads this review and says Novak did this bit elsewhere, revert back to suspiciousness) Novak used him to good comic effect and also displayed his stand-up know-how with a couple of callbacks later in his 45-minute set. His showcase set pieces included a reading from "Wikipedia Brown and The Case of the Missing Bicycle," an alt-ventriloquism routine with "Shy Puppet," which ends with Novak asking the audience to take pictures of him with the puppet to litter the online landscape, and ends with close to 15 minutes of jokes on index cards that he "tries out" on the audience, with keepers going back into his briefcase and losers going into the trash can next to him onstage.

You see what Novak looks like now. Here is what he looked like as an aspiring young stand-up comedian on Comedy Central's Premium Blend more than five years ago, with a version of a bit he told onstage Sunday:

Late night with Dick Gregory and Paul Mooney

You don't often see a comedy club audience wait outside in the brisk November air for more than an hour after midnight, for a show that doesn't start until 1:15 a.m. and stretches through to 4:30 a.m., with few of the audience members leaving to go home to bed. Then again, when you have a chance to hear Dick Gregory and Paul Mooney speaking their minds, back to back, just days after the United States has elected its first African-American president in Barack Obama, well, exceptions can, will and should be made. It would be a night and early morning Sunday in which we, the assembled, were told how it was and how it is, an early testimonial that also happened to have plenty of jokes for those who turned out to Carolines for this special New York Comedy Festival double-header (you can also catch them at 10 p.m. tonight, Sunday).

I hadn't seen Gregory since the Aspen festival in 2002, when he received lifetime honors for his comedic work in support of free speech and the First Amendment. Now 76, Gregory has not lost a step. Still very witty, topical and able to dismiss a loud audience member with ease. Gregory took the stage to a standing ovation, and within minutes, was acknowledging an audience member at one of the front tables as 95-year-old Irwin Corey, aka "Professor" Irwin Corey, the comedian who gave Gregory his first big break in the business by taking a night off from his own stand-up duties for Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Club. That allowed Gregory to become the first mainstream black stand-up comedian, paving the way for all who followed. Gregory thanked Corey, then quipped: "If I talk for two hours and Paul talks for two hours, we might see a white guy die tonight!"

Gregory on what Obama's win means for black role models: "The two biggest losers weren't white folk -- they were black entertainers and black athletes." On the Rev. Jesse Jackson crying on Tuesday night, noting Jackson is coldblooded. Why? "Anytime you see a brother cry and don't wipe tears..."

Gregory also had plenty to say about the ongoing economic crisis, including a stab at General Motors and its dwindling stock price: "These are the white folks who hate welfare. Now they're begging for it!"

He mixed in jokes about his own family life and his children with historical lessons and crowd work. And he reminded us all that he actually ran for president himself 40 years ago in 1968. "I don't need to be validated by the New York Times or the Washington Post," Gregory said. "I was there." And 75 minutes later, we all felt a little bit wiser for being in his presence.

Not that going onstage close to 3 a.m. would pose problematic for Paul Mooney!

From jail to Carnegie Hall, It's Pimpin', Pimpin': A long day's night in NYC for Katt Williams

So, that happened. What a weird, wild 30 hours for Katt Williams in New York City last week. It began on Wednesday afternoon, when NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien taped its show and never heard from Williams, a scheduled guest for that night's program. His people told me the next day that Williams, traveling by tour bus, simply got stuck in traffic and never made it into Manhattan in time.

Williams and his entourage did arrive later that night, and sometime in the 2 a.m. hour, NYPD searched a car (allegedly lacking a license plate) traveling with said tour bus, found a handgun in the car, and arrested the entire entourage, including Williams. A source close to Williams tried to assure me that he had been detained on charges of "Pimpin." Ha! Either way, the comedian didn't make bail until 18 hours later, and hurried over to Carnegie Hall, arriving at 8:36 p.m. Considering his stand-up concert was supposed to start at 8 p.m., theater staff and the New York Comedy Festival people were more than a bit anxious awaiting his arrival, and started the show late, plus had opener Wil Sylvince pad his time onstage. Williams emerged to applause at 9:09 p.m. and promptly filled us all in on at least some of the details. He first asked for patience. "I just got out of jail 35 minutes ago," he said. "I had 15 n!&&ers with me. They took us all in!" He also quipped that he didn't rush over just to cash a paycheck, as he'd been paid in advance. After a few more thoughts about the discomforts of incarceration, Williams launched into his regularly scheduled routines, talking about what Barack Obama's presidency means to black Americans, a lengthy historical retrospective on the pilgrims, the great American melting pot, and the beginnings of slavery. If blacks had begged for reparations before, Williams wasn't asking on this night. "This week was the greatest gift you ever gave us, period," he said. He also took a few moments to discuss his dislike of Sarah Palin, and after delivering an hour of material, Williams closed with another five minutes of rapping. Very impressive stuff for a guy who had not gotten a wink of sleep the entire day and barely a minute to decompress from 18 hours in jail! Even Chris Rock, in attendance, was smiling as he left Carnegie Hall. After the show, Williams seemed to be in good spirits as he wound down a very eventful day and night with other comedians at the festival's official afterparty at Carolines.

If any publicity is good publicity, then this is as good a time as any to remind you that Williams has a new DVD out on Tuesday, It's Pimpin', Pimpin'.

And here's a clip:

Who is New York's Funniest Stand-Up?

If you were to ask me at the start of the 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest, who I thought would win, well, someone did, and before I could say "John Mulaney" (whoops, he's not even in the contest? wait, what? oh, right, Mulaney is headlining at the Punchline in San Francisco this week, so he already had plans), I thought, Julian McCullough was the only Carolines club comic returning from among the 2007 contest finalists, so, yeah, him. McCullough did win the $2,500 prize last night at Carolines, along with a week of gigs at the club and an additional spot opening for one of the New York Comedy Festival headliners.

"I'm going to move to Hoboken with this money," McCullough joked while holding the large cardboard fake-check, in between sincere sentiments about his fellow competitors. "I want to thank Carolines. They've changed my life over the past two years."

McCullough told me afterward that he already had a festival gig opening for Susie Essman at Carolines this weekend. Which makes me realize that picking the winner of this contest is simple! Last year, winner Wil Sylvince had a festival gig before the contest; this year, 'twas McCullough. So if you want to win in 2009, get yourself booked in the fest first!

As even McCullough pointed out when he opened his finals set, stand-up comedy contests don't mesh well with stand-up comedy personalities. "Take the hardest job in the world and pit us against each other," he told the audience. And this contest has some work to do, too -- it uses the same audition process as Last Comic Standing (preferring appointments over open calls), which gives an advantage to comedians who know the system and the Carolines staff; and the name, well, the name of the contest, "New York's Funniest Stand-Up," is about as much of a misnomer as Grammy's Best New Artist. Actually, it'd make more sense if they called it New York's Best New Stand-Up, because even if the stand-up has worked for years, he or she is new to the New York City scene and industry and at least that separates that title from the many great and funny stand-up comedians who live in the city. That said, it's great that the Carolines-produced festival addded the contest to its lineup, because it's one of those events that helps make this week in NYC comedy more special and unique than any other week.

Want to know who I think New York's funniest stand-up is? Want to know how everyone else did in the contest? Keep reading...

NY Post Q&As for 2008 New York Comedy Festival

Friend and fellow funny reporter winner Mandy Stadtmiller interviewed Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan, Joel McHale and Louis CK in advance of this week's New York Comedy Festival for the New York Post (an official fest media partner). In print, we only got a taste from each of the comics. Online, we get the full Q&As. And after the jump, I'll share my favorite tidbits from each interview.

NY Daily News spotlights comedy/politics in advance of New York Comedy Festival

One of my newspaper alma maters, the New York Daily News, devoted much of its Sunday features section to comedy, thanks in part to this week's New York Comedy Festival, but also to how much comedy has impacted politics this campaign season. There's a story from Caroline Waxler about how comedians might react to an Obama presidency, brief interviews with fest headliners Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan and Carlos Mencia, a profile roundup of the 11 finalists in the New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest, and a look-back at some quotes from Bernie Mac, who appears posthumously in the new movies Madagascar 2 and Soul Men.

Results, second semi: 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up

There was a tie! We don't know what that means, other than the fact that six more stand-up comedians made it into the finals of the 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest, instead of five, and they are:

D.C. Benny, Geno Bisconte, Hailey Boyle, Jordan Carlos, Myq Kaplan and Mike Vecchione

They join the other semi's "winners," Nate Bargatze, Esther Ku, Julian McCullough, Reese Waters, and Stone & Stone in the finals, to be contested Nov. 5 at Carolines as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Results, first semi: 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up

A reliable source informed me that these are your first five comedians advancing to the finals of the 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest:

Nate Bargatze, Esther Ku, Julian McCullough, Stone & Stone, Reese Waters

They'll join five others who advance from tonight's semifinal competition at Stand-Up NY. Finals Nov. 5 at Carolines. My notes from last night...

Semifinalists: 2008 New York's Funniest Stand-Up

Here are your 32 semifinalists, listed in no particular order (so don't expect this to be your slot in the lineup), for the 2008 competition to find New York's Funniest Stand-Up, part of the New York Comedy Festival. Five comedians advance from each group to the finals, Nov. 5, at Carolines.

Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Stand-Up NY
Host: Maureen Langan
1. Julian McCullough
2. Lee Camp
3. Nate Bargatze
4. Pat Dixon (did not perform)
5. Josh Spear
6. Carmen Lynch
7. Esther Ku
8. Vince August
9. Helen Hong
10. Stone & Stone
11. David Baker
12. Damien Lemon
13. Ryan Reiss
14. Vidur Kapur
15. Reese Waters
16. DC Benny (did not perform)

Also Jonathan Powley (moved from first semi)

The second bracket of semifinalists are...

Open call for New York's Funniest Stand-Up 2008

For the second consecutive year, Carolines and the New York Comedy Festival will stage a contest to determine the city's funniest stand-up comedian.

What you need to know? The open call for New York's Funniest Stand-Up runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Wednesday (Oct. 21-22) at Carolines, 1626 Broadway, New York, NY. You'll get two minutes to perform cold for the judges. Based on originality, stage presence and material, 30 stand-ups will get picked for the semifinals (Oct. 28-29 at Stand-Up NY) and perform five minutes each for a live audience. Five will advance from each semi, making 10 finalists, performing eight minutes each in the finals Nov. 5 at Carolines for celebrity and industry judges. The winner gets cash, a week at Carolines and a guest slot at one of the festival's main shows.

What you really need to know? Last year, most of the semifinalists picked did not stand in line for hours in the open call, but instead had prearranged audition times (as is the case for NBC's Last Comic Standing auditions). Furthermore, if you want to know if you stand a chance of winning, please consider the 2007 results: Wil Sylvince won the title, $2,500 and opening slot for Artie Lange (though he already had a festival gig opening for Damon Wayans). The other finalists were Julian McCullough, Joey Gay, Joe DeRosa, Lee Camp and Marc Theobald. So now you know what you're up against. But go for it! I tried out last year and made the semis, only to know I'd never make the finals since Sylvince and McCullough were in my bracket. Just wait 'til this year!

Comedy Central launches live entertainment division

It's about time. Seriously. I long have wondered why Comedy Central had not done more to cement its branding as the central place for all things comedy, so today's announcement by the cable network that it has created a live entertainment division sounds like positive news. The network, of course, already has established Comedy Central Records and increased its position there in recent years -- the release of the posthumous Mitch Hedberg CD debuted at #18 on the Billboard charts and stayed in the top 100 for the next two weeks. They also have expanded to live stand-up DVDs and comedy tours. Several comedians in the past year have made side deals with Comedy Central to air their hour specials. And this year, the network has partnered with the New York Comedy Festival to provide new broadcast and retail opportunities. Acknowledging this expansion, Comedy Central publicly has gone on record today that they're willing to step things up a notch or two or more.

Here is an official quote from Mitch Fried, the new senior v.p. of Comedy Central Live Entertainment:

"By providing talent, whether they're just starting out or are already household names, with the strength and power of the COMEDY CENTRAL brand we will be able to maximize their exposure and revenue by reaching their fans across multiple platforms, be it through a tour, a special, a CD, a DVD or all of the above, making COMEDY CENTRAL an even more appealing home for the top comedians in the industry."

The first deal for the division is with musical comedian Stephen Lynch, who Comedy Central will back on both a U.S. and international tour, and a one-hour stand-up special that'll air first on Comedy Central, then released unedited on DVD.