Aparna Nancherla, Abbi Crutchfield, Jessica Kirson, and more tell stories on the theme of "Exes and Woes" at Ruby Karp's & Jenny Jaffel's HelloGiggles (10:00 pm, free, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)...
Jim Norton (David Letterman, Jay Leno, Last Comic Standing; hosted HBO stand-up showcase Down and Dirty; former cast member of HBO sitcom Lucky Louie; HBO half-hour One Night Stand; feature film Spider-Man; author of book Happy Endings) is interviewed by a fellow comedy giant at Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast Live (7:00 pm, $18.90 in advance online or $15 at the door (if it doesn't sell out), or pay $24.82 online to see both this and Scott Rogowsky's show (below); Brooklyn's Littlefield at 622 Degraw Street; take R subway to Union Street)...
...plus Horatio Sanz (improv genius; seven years on SNL; 30 Rock; Jimmy Fallon, HBO's
Girls, ABC, Comedy Central, numberous other TV shows and movies), Aparna Nancherla (one of the finest stand-ups in the country; Conan O'Brien, Last Comic Standing, @midnight, host of Whiplash), Sal Vulcano & Brian "Q" Quinn (co-stars of TruTV's Impractical Jokers), and Budd Mishkin (NY1) are interviewed at Running Late with Scott Rogowsky (9:30 pm, $12.21 in advance online or $10 at the door (if it doesn't sell out), or pay $24.82 online to see both this and Gilbert Gottfried's show (above); Brooklyn's Littlefield at 622 Degraw Street; take R subway to Union Street)
...while stand-ups Michelle Wolf, Brooke Van Poppelen, and Julio Torres, plus singing duo The Reformed Whores, join host Liza Treyger at Cake Shop Comedy (8:30 pm, free, LES' Cake Shop at 152 Ludlow Street between Rivington
& Stanton)
NYC Comedy Picks for Wednesday 10/7/15
The night before Comic Con, Scott Adsit and Jo Firestone demonstrate their brilliance at thinking on their feet by hilariously answering questions related to a science-based guest at the live taping of Chris Duffy's radio show You're the Expert (8:00 pm, $15, Brooklyn's The
Bell House at 149 7th Street; take R subway to 9th Street & Fourth Avenue or F/G to Fourth Avenue)...
...and Jessica Williams (star correspondent on The Daily Show) and Phoebe Robinson Phoebe Robinson (Comedy Central's Broad City, MTV’s Girl Code) co-host storytelling guests Adam Wade, Lizz Winstead, and Franchesca Ramsey in 2 Dope Queens (8:00 pm, $10 at the door or $11.59 in advance online, Brooklyn's Union Hall at 702 Union Street; take R subway to Union Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Thursday 10/8/15
I'll be attending every day of Comic Con, which is NYC's second largest annual event. Highlights of Day #1 include:
Sean Schemmel (voice of Goku, King Kai) and Christopher Sabat (voice of Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha) chatting about FUNimation anime masterpiece Dragon Ball Z (11:15-12:15, Room 1A10)
The newest group of comic book series from DC/Vertigo (4:00-5:00, Room 1A21)
A panel discussion of Game of Thrones with cast members Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Finn Jones (Ser Loras Tyrell), and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand) as they share stories from the set, speculate about season 6, and vent their mutual hatred of the Lannisters (4:00-5:00, Empire Stage 1-E)
SyFy providing advance screenings & discussions of two new series based on bestselling SF novels, The Expanse and Hunters (4:00-6:30, Room 1A06)
Virtually all 150,000+ Comic Con tickets are sold out, but if you've already nabbed one for today, there's a whole bunch to enjoy.
And noteworthy shows happening outside of Comic Con tonight include:
I Don't Get It: Stand-up from Myq Kaplan, Seaton Smith, Nick Vatterott, and Ben Kronberg (7:30 pm, $5, HiFi Bar at 169 Avenue A between 10th & 11th Streets)
Spider-Man Entirely From Memory:Eight improvisors attempt to recreate the adventures of Spider-Man using only what they can remember after watching one of his many movies. Some will watch Tobey Maguire, others Andrew Garfield, and for the lucky few, the animated adventures. To add to the fun, a few rules: Performers must 1) incorporate lines written by the audience; 2) incorporate any sound effect played by the tech booth; and 3) whenever a horn is honked, create a scene that has no business being in Spider-Man but makes perfect sense given where they are in the story (9:30 pm, $10, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)
The Geek Show: Stand-ups (not announced) who are comic book fans, hosted by Neko White (Midnight, $10 cover—or $5 cover if you show your Comic Con badge—plus 2-drink min., Carolines Comedy Club at 1626 Broadway)
NYC Comedy Picks for Friday 10/2/15
On Thursday I saw Kevin Smith talk for an hour (delightful and inspiring), Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto (ditto; a creative genius), saw the pilot for Supergirl (lower your expectations; but maybe it'll get better over time...), and learned one of my favorite movies, the legendary The Warriors, is returning to life as a graphic novel!
Highlights of Day #2 of Comic Con include:
DC Comics celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Batman (11:00-noon, Main Stage 1-D)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of pioneering comics genius Will Eisner's The Spirit (11:00-noon, Room 1B03)
News of upcoming series from comic book publisher Dark Horse (11:00-noon, Room 1A21)
Pop culture reporters and critics discuss the relatively new prominence of geeky journalism (11:00-noon, Room 1A01)
From Black Face to Black Panther: The Evolution of the Depiction of People of Color in Comic Books, Graphic Novels and Film (11:15-12:15, Room 1A05)
Screening and discussion of CBS series Elementary and Limitless (1:30-3:00, Hammerstein Ballroom at 311 West 34th Street)
Interview with Late Night host Seth Meyers (1:45-2:45, Room 1A10)
A reunion of the voice actors of the Justice League animated series, including Kevin Conroy (Batman), George Newbern (Superman), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Phil LaMarr (Green Lantern), Maria Canals-Barrera (Hawkgirl), and Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter), plus voice director Andrea Romano (2:00-3:00, Empire Stage 1-E)
Asian American creators and their comics, including veteran GI Joe artist Larry Hama and writer of hot new Poison Ivy series Amy Chu, both above (3:00-4:00, Room 1A05)
Screening and discussion of USA Network series Colony and Mr. Robot (3:30-6:00, Hammerstein Ballroom at 311 West 34th Street)
Screening and discussion of Amazon series The Man in the High Castle, based on the Philip K. Dick 1962 alternate history novel in which the Allies lose WWII (4:15-4:15, Room 1A06)
The critics from Rotten Tomatoes interact with the audience for a highly opinionated hour (7:45-8:45, Room 1A01)
A sneak peek at the next Batman animated feature, Batman: Bad Blood, with its cast members, director, producer, and character designer (8:00-9:00, Main Stage 1-D)
Headlocked is a comic book that, for the first time, tells stories about wrestling from actual wrestlers. The latter will be on this panel, as well as superb former Sandman artist Jill Thompson (8:00-9:00, Room 1A18)
Virtually all 150,000+ Comic Con tickets are sold out, but if you've already nabbed one for today, there's a whole bunch to enjoy.
And noteworthy shows happening outside of Comic Con tonight include:
Fuck That Movie:Hosts Anna Drezen & Joel Kim Booster encourage comics to vent about the movies they despise—sometimes with the help of PowerPoint presentations (9:00 pm, $5, Brooklyn's Videology at 308 Bedford Avenue)
On Friday I saw Frank Miller talk about spearheading graphic novel series Dark Knight III; the charming Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson) chatting about Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; the writer and cast of USA's innovative Mr. Robot banter about the many twists of the past Season 1; Josh Holloway (Sawyer on Lost) plugging USA's upcoming Colony, which looks terrific and is well-acted—it also stars Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes on The Walking Dead)—but is based upon potentially fatal writing choices (time will tell); and a LEGO-driven videogame jam-packed with visual jokes springboarding off recent Marvel movies and the Marvel universe.
Day #3 of Comic Con highlights include:
Genre novelists with female protagonists discuss how Chicks Kick Ass (11:00-noon, Room 1A21)
Centralia: An acclaimed experimental improv trio consisting of Matt Higgins, Jay Rhoderick, and Kevin Scott is tonight joined by guest improvisor Chris Griggs (9:30 pm, $10, The PIT Downstairs Lounge at 123 East 24th Street)
NYC Comedy Picks for Sunday 10/4/15
On Saturday I saw Chris Carter, David Duchovny, and Mitch Pileggi interviewed by Kumail Nanjiani, plus a screening The X-Files Season 10's first episode (which is slated to air January 24, 2016 on FOX). The series return looks to be a solid one, dealing with the issues of our time—government surveillance, rise of police states, manipulation of media, etc. And most importantly, the chemistry is still there between Mulder and Scully. When asked what prompted the revival, Carter explained, "I got a call telling me David was interested in coming back." That apparently did the trick... I won't give anything away, but for a trailer of Episode 10.1, please click here.
This final Day #4 of Comic Con highlights include:
The latest about Japanese animation from the CEO and editor-in-chief of Anime News Network (10:45-11:45, Room 1A18)
Screening and Q&A for Wabbit, a new Bugs Bunny cartoon series that started ariing on the Boomerang network on Monday, October 5th at 8:00 pm (12:15-1:15, Room 1A10)
Screening and Q&A for FOX's new TV series Minority Report, which so far has provided cool graphics but not much else worth watching (12:15-1:15, Empire Stage 1-E)
French comic book creators discuss their work in a Euro-panel moderated by Publishers Weekly (12:15-1:15, Room 1A01)
Sleepy Hollow screening, followed by a Q&A with series executive producers and cast (4:15-5:15, Main Stage 1-D)
Virtually all 150,000+ Comic Con tickets are sold out, but if you've already nabbed one for today, there's a whole bunch to enjoy.
And noteworthy shows happening outside of Comic Con today include:
The Andy Kaufman Awards: Comics including Jo Firestone (who should easily win unless she self-sabotages), Julio Torres (who might win if he wasn't up against Jo), and more compete for this annual award often chosen with astonishing stupidity, but hopefully this year things will go well. Hosted by Elayne Boosler, the show has sold out of seats, but you might be able to get in if you arrive early and are okay with standing ($15, UCB East at 153 East 3rd Street)
Make My Baby Laugh: Wonderful parents & improvisors Mary Theresa Archbold & Pat Shay challenge comics to make laught babies, toddlers, and/or other children who don't get typical stand-up references (2:00 pm, $5, The PIT Upstairs Theatre at 123 East 24th Street)
