Houston’s Laff Stop comedy club began its search for the city’s funniest person April 15. The thing that separates this contest from many others comedy comps is that the winner won’t only get some cash for his or her efforts but also some crucially important necessities that will help that comic rise in the national comedy ranks.

The winner of the whole contest, which wraps up June 3, will snag $1,000 plus a $20,000 CD distribution package from BCD Music, a $500 headshot package, a professionally produced video package of their contest performances, paid work at the Laff Stop and more.

Last night during the third round of preliminary shows, five more contestants won a spot to compete in the semi-finals on May 20 or May 27. They are:

Donnie Johnson
Eric Dieckman
Larry Kuciemba
John Gard
Slade Ham

During each round, wild card contestants are also chosen and will perform in the wild card show May 13. Our friends at RooftopComedy will be holding online voting during this show— which means more than just the peeps in Houston will have a say!

The wild cards from last night are:

Emery Cookston
Rey Rey
Homero Arellano

And here’s some info to catch you up on the rest of the semi-finalists so far.

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Comedian Dave Landau thought it would great to date a kinky chick. But he soon found out it’s sometimes a dangerous proposition. Check it out.

Online comedy channel RooftopComedy, along with Wheeler Opera House will fill the void left by the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival that had its final run in Aspen last year by presenting its own comedy festival.

The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival will start May 30 and will last two days; the Wheeler Opera House will act as the fest’s main stage.

Performers will include Chris Porter, Andi Smith, Jimmy Dore, Tig Notaro, Matt Braunger, Robert Hawkins, Vince Morris and many more.

In the spirit of creating as many award shows as possible as well as satiating man’s desire to assert their man-esque desires via tapping and clicking on a keyboard, Spike TV has opened online voting for their second annual Guys Choice Awards.

It’s your chance, guys, to vote on this year’s Biggest Ass Kicker (will it be fictitious character Jason Bourne or CGI-thing Iron Man?). It’s your chance, also, to vote on the year’s Ballsiest Band (your choices? pussy rockers Linkin Park and kinda, sorta loudish Foo Fighters). Don’t forget the race between Chris Rock and Seth Rogan for King of Comedy. How they narrowed it down to such an odd couple is a secret. We know, but we’re not telling.

There’s many more categories, guys. So get thee over to the friggin’ voting site and start exercising your right to scratch your balls, spit in the urinal while you’re peeing for no reason and ignore your bitch girlfriend!

Voting ends May 30 and the award show will premiere on Spike on Sunday, June 22 at 10 pm. Get them scratching fingers ready!

Three lucky winners will win themselves both the first season (uncensored, of course) of Lil’ Bush, The Invasion Begins and the extended, uncensored DVD of the Roast of Flavor Flav.

Here’s what you need to do to win this Comedy Central prize pack: snap a photo of you enjoying, reading, feeding, caressing, whatever PunchlineMagazine.com and send it here:

contest@punchlinemagazine.com

The first three most creative photos, as voted on by our esteemed writers and editors will win. And we might even post the winning photos right here on the old blog. If you’ve won anything from us in the past three months you are not eligible.

Remember to leave your full name and address so, like, we know where to mail out the DVDs, should you win. Good luck and happy snapping.

Montreal’s Just For Laughs comedy festival, the longest running one in the world, will announce their official lineup at 6 p.m. EST today. The festival is in its 26th year. Check back here or the JFL official site for more information later in the day.

I try hard most times not to be a comedy snob. But sometimes it’s just too darn tempting.

On Saturday I went to see Tom Papa’s early show at Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan. I got to the venue rather early. So the rest of my party and I took some seats in the lounge downstairs. I took a quick look around. At the bar were about five women in their late 20s, and one dude. I turned to my three friends and submitted that once in the showroom, that group was going to be a problem.

And here’s why: They were celebrating someone’s birthday; they were already loud.

These may seem like pretty flimsy reasons for thinking this group was going to be disruptive during the show. But believe me, they’re not.

The lounge was not crowded. I’d assume the people scattered throughout were those who really cared about getting decent seats for the show. Then there was the birthday party: the members of the group posed for photos making sure the fancy pinkish drinks they were consuming were clearly in each frame; they threw down shots of some caramel-colored liquor and frequently scooted in and out of the lounge.

I couldn’t help but think that to these folks, a comedy show was just a novelty outing—something a tad different from the norm, something a bit special for the big birthday celebration, a secondary distraction to the main event.

And that’s fine, so long as you’re not a douche about it.

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Comedian Tom Segura loves when wild animals attack humans. It’s even better when it’s caught on tape. Check it out.

Los Angeles-based comedian Jonah Ray really likes drinking in New York City. We mean, he likes it likes it. Check it out.

Want to tell us about a Hot Show? Email us at: hotshows@punchlinemagazine.com

Lizz Winstead: 4/26 - Comedy Works - Denver, CO

Jimmy Shubert: 4/26 - Helium Comedy Club - Philadelphia, PA

Jay Mohr: 4/27 - Cobb’s Comedy Club - San Francisco, CA

Kevin Hart: 4/27 - Improv - Miami, FL

Jim Jeffries: 4/27 - Punchline Comedy Club - Atlanta, GA

Chris Porter: 4/30 - Laff Stop - Houston, TX

John Heffron: 5/1- Zanies - Nashville, TN

Juston McKinney: 5/1 - Gotham Comedy Club - New York City, NY