Before I even start tonight let me apologize to a reader that made a comment on last week’s LCS live blog about how we deleted all the comments that didn’t match with my opinion. I think her name was Tara, and if i could paraphrase, she said something like why would i think anyone cares about my opinion and I think she also called me shallow.
I’m not repeating these things to set up a comeback. I’m doing it because we never, ever delete negative comments. So, Tara (if i’m getting the name right) believe me when I say your comments must have been deleted along with the immense amount of spam comments we get. Please feel free to make similar comments or the same and we’ll post them. I don’t care that you disagree with me or you think I’m shallow. You have an opinion about stand-up comedy. I think that’s good. Ok, enough of that.
8:09
So we’re finally in Vegas for the first round of semi finals. Richard Belzer and Steve Schirripa are our judges for the night. Adam Hunter is the first comic up.
Hunter’s got great energy. I like his “I root for the underdog” joke, like “the black hockey player … or the Asian guy in porn.” His jokes come quick and hard, like a semi automatic. Both judges seemed to like him and I gotta say, I can’t help but like him as well. Here’s some Hunter on Showtime’s White Boyz in the Hood.
After 18 years, Toronto’s Laugh Resort is hosting its final shows this week. The club was home to many independent comics in Toronto. Most other clubs in the city sought exclusive deals with comedians.
The club used to regularly book comics like Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, and Ellen DeGeneres, but has not had the same success in recent years since it moved to a new location at the base of a Holiday Inn.
The club’s owner, Jim Vanderberg, hopes to find a new location, but seems resigned to the possibility that these shows could be the last.
“Who knows? I’ve got a bit of a vision to find a bigger space and start doing some of those shows that seem to only happen when Just For Laughs pulls into town for a few days, once a year,” he told the Toronto Star. “Whether we open in some other fashion or let it go, it’s been fun.â€
France 24 reports on some semi-recent Aussie/Muslim clashes:
In December 2005, racist riots in Sydney’s south made headlines around the world. An incident on the beach triggered 5,000 people to take to the street to protest against the presence of Middle Eastern youths in their suburb.
More recently, the construction of an Islamic school on the outskirts of Sydney was violently opposed by sections of the local community. The council ended up rejecting the project, claiming it would disturb local traffic.
Hussain told France 24, “People are scared of Uncle Sam because he’s this guy who states the stereotype and really wants to perpetuate that. But when people realised that Uncle Sam was a bit of a joke character, and was there to make fun of the paranoia, people relaxed and eased up and I think in some cases got to see the stupidity in the paranoia.â€
Comedian Greg Giraldo landed in Buenos Aires Airport this morning to shoot a pilot, where he told Punchline Magazine that he will act as the host of what has been described to him as the American version of the Argentinian version of The Daily Show.
Giraldo recently wrapped the first season of Lewis Black’s The Root of All Evil, where he plays one of the show’s attorneys who tries to prove that his clients — pop culture icons — are more evil than his opponents’ clients. The show was renewed last month; the second season will premiere July 30 on Comedy Central.
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ASPEN, CO — Turns out the folks at RooftopComedy thought it interesting to hand out some comedy industry awards. It’s about 6:15 pm here in the Mountain zone and the awards presentations just wrapped at the Wheeler Opera House. The awards were voted on by representatives from RooftopComedy’s 20 partner clubs — that is, the venues where Rooftop film everynight — as well as the 24 comedians who are performing at the festival and finally, Rooftop staff.
GoBananas in Cincinnati picked up two awards in the club category (one for being the best place for young comics to perform; the other for being the best all around club to perform). The likes of Robert Hawkins, Auggie Smith, Tyrone Hawkins, Eddie Gosling and more picked up comedian awards. And even we, Punchline Magazine, picked up an award for best online comedy publication; other nominees were TheApiary, Dead-Frog, and SheckyMagazine.
Starting tomorrow and ending Sunday in lovely Aspen, CO, the inaugural run of the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival is going down. A lot of you will remember that there was a long-running, pretty huge comedy fest in Aspen called the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. As of last year, it has gone bye-bye.
But stand-up video site RooftopComedy quickly picked up where the former fest left off. And we’ll be there this weekend to check it out. So make sure you check the blog for some updates from Colorado. The likes of Tig Notaro, Robert Hawkins, Andi Smith, Jimmy Dore, Auggie Smith and many more are scheduled to perform. Go here for a full list of performers.
The cool thing about this fest is that its being run like a mini Just For Laughs, where there’s focus on some of the brightest up and comers, not to mention a showcase for some of the already well-established comics. It’s not just a parade of giant names at huge venues. We’re looking at you, Vegas.
Comedy Central announced today that it has renewed Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil, the faux courtroom reality show that pits comedians acting as attorneys against one another. The new season will premiere July 30 at 10:30 pm EST.
In each episode, the comics have to prove to judge Black that the pop culture icon they’re representing is more evil than the other. Past battles include YouTube vs. porn, marijuana vs beer and Oprah vs the Catholic Church. The likes of Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo, Andy Kindler, Kathleen Madigan and Paul F. Tompkins have been featured as defendants.
According to Comedy Central, Root has garnered nearly 2 million viewers each week and was the best series launch for the cable giant since Chappelle’s Show first season premiered in 2003.
The first Alternative Comedy Festival (AltCom) was held at the Somerville Theatre outside of Boston on May 9 and 10. The fest featured Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Jim Jeffries, Morgan Murphy, Emo Philips, Toddy Barry and more. Enjoy some images.
