|
|
|
Comedy
Every Thursday, Al Harris rounds up the top comedy shows of the week. This time around: the "amazing racist" Ari Shaffir, two guys named Matt Weir and hip-hop funny man Ricky Night.
The "amazing racist" Ari Shaffir brings a fresh batch of offensive humor to Philly for a series of shows this weekend. Shaffir, who gained eternal Internet infamy when his parody of the Amazing Race made it on YouTube, has been touring nationally with Joe Rogan for the last few years. The comedian describes his act as akin to a puppet show, but filthier and without puppets.
Thu. April 5, 8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. April 6-7, 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $16-$33, Helium Comedy, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Al Harris on the week's top five comedy shows. This week: Larry David's perpetual houseguest, more tirades by Bill Burr and PHIT's take on science and medicine.
Perhaps best known as Larry David’s perpetual houseguest Leon on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, comedian JB Smoove, is also one hell of a comedy writer and standup comedian. His first feature film appearance was the narrator of Pootie Tang and he later co-starred in Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler. Smoove was also a writer for Saturday Night Live from 2003 to 2007. Most recently he's had roles in The Sitter and the upcoming Sasha Baron-Cohen farce The Dictator. Watch Smoove get physical in this standup clip where he reminisces about throwing rocks at old people when he was a kid.
Thu. March 29, 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., Fri.-Sat. March 30-31, 7:30 p.m. and 10: p.m., $21-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-495-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Troika is an annual Philly improv competition which assembles three-man teams specifically for the 
tournament. Teams are required to come up with a show concept and are given about a month to develop it. Some teams go on to be successful within the the Philly scene, such as Pasiónes de Pasiónes. This 2010 Troika winning team (consisting of Andy Moskowitz, Mike Marbach and Ralph Andracchio) performs an improvised Telamundo-style serial drama. Pasiónes de Pasiónes has gone on to be a Fringe Festival and Philly Improv Festival hit. A new winner will be crowned this weekend, with Troika having its final round of the season tonight, followed by the Grand Championship tomorrow at the Arts Parlor.
Teams to check out tonight include Chaperone (Frank Farrell, Meredith Weir and Steve Kleinedler), Pickle (Jen Curcio, Mike Marbach and Scott Hinners), and Virginia Clemm Sideburns (Cara Schmidt, Claire Halberstadt and Dennis Trafny). Says organizer Matt Nelson: "I don't know what the round-three teams are doing tonight. But from some of their production requests, I think that have some crazy stuff in store for the audience — it's going to be a really interesting night."
Al Harris on the week's top comedy shows. This week: Todd Glass, Ralphie May, High Dramma and more.
Philadelphia native (and this week’s CP cover boy) Todd Glass started his comedy career at 16 and hasn’t stopped since. He now lives in Los Angeles and has made frequent television appearances, including his own half-hour standup special on Comedy Central.
Thu., March 22, 8 p.m., and Fri.-Sat., March 23-24, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $12-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001,heliumcomedy.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey dishes on the people and things that are giving Philly the giggles.
Former Temple University student Bill Cosby is one of the top comedians of all time. Contemporary comedy big-shots Paul F. Tomkins and Tim & Eric attended Temple. Bob Saget won a Student Academy Award for his film Through Adam's Eyes, which he produced at Temple's film school. And Temple grads Pat House, Doogie Horner, John Kensil and Aaron Hertzog are among the most frequently seen local comics working at clubs all over the city.
"It's unbelievable the amount of Philly comics currently in the scene who 
went to Temple," says comedian and Temple student Alex Grubard. "You can't major in comedy, but when it comes to Temple, there is an invisible comedy program: I can study Film Comedy in the Film department, I can take Humor Writing in Journalism, I can take Creative Writing in the English department, I can take Jewish Humor Past & Present in Jewish Studies."
This Sunday, you can see Temple U's comedy team rematch against Penn State in the Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition. Last year the Penn State team went on to win the entire tournament, and its MVP, Brandon Scott Wolf, performed on Lopez Tonight.
Al Harris on his favorite comedy shows of the week.
Standup comic Kenny Zimlinghaus got his start as an intern on the Howard Stern Show and has gone on to host a number of morning shows from Charleston to Boston. He’s now a co-host of the morning show Wake Up! With Taylor! on XM and Sirius Radio. Fellow New York comic Greg Johnson will join Zimlinghaus.
Thu. March 15, 8 p.m., $18, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0978, tinangel.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Local comic Jess Carpenter produces a show at L'Etage on the third Thursday of every month called 
Comedian Deconstruction. Two or three local standup acts perform a 10- to 15-minute set on a specific theme, and then their act is sketched out by different local improv troupes. Next week's theme is "sports". LOL WITH IT favs Pat Barker and Sydney Gantt will be "deconstructed" by Grimacchio (Jason Grimley and Ralph Andracchio) and Nielsen (Abigail Bruley, Brad Zinn, Dan Corkery, Jacqueline Baker, Kate Banford, Katie Monaco, Meredith Weir, and Molly Silverman).
Carpenter previously paired up groups to comedians via random assignment. Now he says, "I don't do the out-of-the-hat thing anymore, because when certain comedians are paired with specific improv groups, it's really magic."
Al Harris on the week's top comedy shows. This week: Hang out with The Real Housewives of South Philly, Sarah Colonna visits from Chelsea Lately and Damon Rozier makes being paralyzed seem funny.
Comedian Sarah Colonna takes a break from cracking jokes as a panelist and writer for Chelsea Lately to do some standup this weekend at the Helium Comedy Club. A Last Comic Standing semifinalist, Colonna hits the road on the heels of her recently released, bawdy memoir, Life as I Blow It (Villard, Feb. 7).
Thu. March 8, 8 p.m., Fri-Sat March 9-10, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $16-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Al Harris on the week's top five four comedy shows.
When he isn’t playing a firefighter or getting paid to drive around in the world’s most awesome cars, Adam Ferrara is a standup comic. The NYC-based comedian has been a series regular on FX’s Rescue Me and is currently a co-host of History Channel’s Top Gear. Ferrara’s got jokes on everything from Zoloft, the Pope and, of course, his girlfriend.
Thu. March 1, 8 p.m, Fri.-Sat March 2-3 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., $16-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St. 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Around three years ago, Don Montrey's monthly variety comedy showcase Die, Actor, Die was handed 
off to Chip Chantry and branded Chip Chantry's One Man Show (with Special Guests). Now, Chip is passing the torch to LOL fav James Hesky (pictured). Hesky will be re-branding PHIT's variety comedy showcase The Monthly Hour, enlisting some Philly joke heavyweights like Jim Grammond (Reasonable Discourse with Jerks), Mary Radzinski (Laughs on Fairmount), Darryl Charles (CheaPodcast), Pat House (Helium) and Mikey Gleason (BirdText video producer) to produce each show. "I want to continue to provide a format for comedians and sketch groups to perform," says Hesky, "but I also want it to be a showcase for this group of comics, all of whom are among my favorites in the city."
The Monthly Hour will feature a monologue by Hesky recapping the major events of the month. Bits, sketches and videos relating to current haps will be interspersed between the standup and sketch guests. There will be a sneak peak at 10 p.m. on Wed. March 7, and the first official show will be Mon., March 26 at 9 p.m.
As for Chip Chantry's One Man Show (with Special Guests), you can catch the final installment on Mon., Feb. 27 at 8:30 p.m. Says Chantry: "I wanted to put on my favorite comics from back when I first started. So guys like Andy Nolan, John Kensil, the Legendary WID, Eric Todd, Mike Rainey, etc." Also on the show will be Don Montrey, Jim Grammond, sketch comedy from Secret Pants, and some surprises. When asked why Chantry is passing along the One Man Show, he said, "I'm gonna be taking some time off next year to do more road dates. I'm also going to be producing a more heavily sketch-oriented SNL-esque live show which will let me focus on writing. We don't have a venue yet, but it's going to be somewhere in center city."
Have a comedy something or other you'd like Ryan to feature in an upcoming LOL WITH IT? Email him at ryan.carey@citypaper.net or tweet him @slackerDIYtoday.
- Activism
- Arts
- Arts Events
- Books
- Dance
- First Person Fest
- Last Chance
- Museum
- On the Fringe
- Philly Artists
- The Curator
- Theater
- Visual Art
- Arts News
- Artist Profile
- Arts Preview
- Street Art
- Been There, Done That
- Big Ups
- Comedy
- LOL With It
- Stand-up
- Critical Mass
- DVD
- Events
- Friday Fill-in
- Ice Cubes
- In Memoriam
- Interview
- Just Do It
- Just Opened
- Kaleidoscopic
- LGBTQ
- Art Phag
- Mailbag
- Movies
- Film Fest
- Movie Review
- On set
- Scenester
- screening
- trailer!
- Music
- 10 Track Mind
- Album
- Album Review
- Concert Review
- DJs
- Local Support
- Now Hear This
- One Track Mind
- Philly Bands
- Show
- Somebody Else Was There
- Song
- The Showdown
- concert photos
- jazz
- DJ Nights Blogged
- Night Watch
- Now See This
- Poetic License
- Printed Matter
- Radio
- Shopping
- Coveted
- Fashion
- What We Heart
- TV
- 24
- Idol Hands
- Mad Men
- ProjRun
- True Blood
- Useless Lost Recaps
- Couch Potato
- Shore Trash
- Turned ONN
- TopMod
- Video Games
- Free Online Game
- PSP
- PlayStation 2
- The 1-Upper
- Wii
- Web Junk
- CAGE MATCH
- Free Online Toy
- Weekend Omnibus
- Win
