Seems the folks at the Laff House in Philadelphia — located on famous South Street — are having their own comedy throwdown from Oct. 1 - 5. Want more info? Well, who are we to write more when the Laff House made this video. Seems a waste of time if you ask us. Seriously. I mean, really. Right? Are we wrong? Think about it.
Punchine Magazine has learned that wildly popular comedian Katt Williams has been booked to play Madison Square Garden for this year’s New York Comedy Festival. The official lineup announcements will be made at the end of this month or early August.
Also expected to perform at the festival, which runs from Nov. 5 - 9, are Craig Ferguson, Tracy Morgan (at the Apollo), Frank Caliendo and Brian Regan as well as fest favorites Denis Leary and Mario Cantone.
When you come from a town of 500 in northern Wisconsin, you’re bound to run into a few cultural barriers. Comedian Mary Mack testifies. Check it out.
In a move to help the mental health of inmates, stand-up comedians performed in Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail.
Three of the more-known names of Scottish comedians were recruited, Stu Who?, Alan Anderson and Scott Agnew to perform at Scotland’s largest prison, with over 1500 inmates.
The main difference with prison audiences: they’re all sober. “The guys are all up for it, Anderson told The Glasgow Herald. They’re a bit more reserved at first but, as soon as you get things going, they’re a lot more responsive.”
“Comedy is about social comment and observation - who better to make it to?” Stu Who? says. “the show is bad enough, people won’t want to come back. Maybe we can put them off jail that way.”
If word’s hurt your brain, here’s a video of the things we just wrote about:
Martin Lawrence’s 1st Amendment Stand-up returns to Starz July 9 at 10 pm EST for its third season. So if you haven’t caught any of the first two seasons, now’s the time to check it out. We’ve seen the first two episodes and were not disappointed. The series is amazingly produced – very slick – chock full of audience reaction shots (you’ll even see a leather-clad Martin Lawrence in the balcony) and an energy that hasn’t been seen since the peak of Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam. The idea behind the show, Lawrence says is “to present talented up and coming comics and to catch up with some old friends and seasoned veterans.”
For the new episodes, 10 shows were shot at Washington DC’s historic Lincoln Theatre. Comedian Doug Williams hosts each episode doing a few minutes of comedy up front and then bringing up two to three better known black comics to the stage during the 30-minute show. Biz Markie is back as the show’s DJ because, what’s stand-up comedy without a giant man spinning and beat boxin’?
The first episode features Don “DC†Curry and Ricky Smiley; the second episode will see the likes of Bruce Bruce, Deon Cole and Rodney Perry. The show’s official site on Starz has the entire list of future performers. Check it out.
We are extremely excited to give you this news, Punchline Magazine readers. We have teamed up with our friends at RooftopComedy and Comix comedy club in New York City to bring you a weekly interview series called A Tight Five. Each week Punchline Magazine editor in chief Dylan Gadino chats with your favorite comedians from the stage at Comix; then the folks at RooftopComedy make it all nice and pretty. The results are sometimes informative, at other times not so much; but it’s always fun. So without further exposition. Check out the premiere webisode of A Tight Five with comedian Mike Birbiglia.
To the delight of stand-up comedy fans — and people who like good movies — Eddie Murphy recently announced that he will begin to phase out his movie career and head back to stand-up comedy stage. Murphy told Extra:
Fifty years (old) I’ll have been making movies thirty years and I have close to fifty movies and it is like why am I in the movies,’ Murphy commented. “I’ve done that part now. I’ll go back to the stage and do standup.
If you’re wondering when this phasing out of the old movie career is starting, Murphy promises that after his upcoming film, Meet Dave is finished, he’ll start concentrating on stand-up. But does Murphy still have the edge after making so many family friendly romps to create an amazing hour of stand-up comedy? Fingers crossed. Fow now, enjoy some classic Murphy.
Hey, comedians: Got something you wanna sell? We’re not above posting creative, entertaining ads here to help you out. Check out the latest from comic Phil Mazo: