For the third year in a row, alt comedy god Eugene Mirman is bringing his anti-comedy-festival comedy festival to the borough he calls home. This year’s festivities, which will run September 16-19, will once again be held at Union Hall in Park Slope and Bell House in Gowanus, with The Rock Shop in Park Slope added into the mix.

Perks of Mirman’s off-beat comedy extravaganza have included free barbecue upon entry into a show, a limo to haul audience members to the subway stop from out-of-the-way Bell House, and shows with entertaining themes and high profile guests. This year’s offerings include shows like An Evening of Comedy From 1986, A Night of Gay or Foreign Comedy and Toddless Tinkle. Guests throughout the festival will include David Cross, John Mulaney, John Oliver, Marc Maron, Kristen Schaal, Reggie Watts, Emo Phillips, Mike Birbiglia, Kumail Nanjiani and many, many more.

This is always a great way to see some of the best comics in the world be funny and have a blast in a laid back atmosphere (something decidedly lacking in your average festival). Check out the festival website for schedules, tickets and specific lineups.

Another booking coup for our favorite podcast: this week on WTF with Marc Maron, the comedian turned podcast king interviews writer/director Judd Apatow. In this special two-part interview, the second of which just went live online, Marc and Judd cover a range of topics, including the deep-seated love of stand-up that took hold of each of them at a young age.

Part 1 includes a major bonus: audio of interviews that Apatow conducted with comedians in 1983 for his high school radio station. This Inception-esque interview within an interview portion features a teen-aged Apatow talking to Jay Leno, Gary Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld, all of whom were working comedians who had yet to become huge stars.

Part 2 is more standard WTF fare, with Marc and Judd talking movies and whether Judd was happy with how Funny People turned out. All in all, it’s just fun to hear two guys who know a lot about comedy talk about comedy. Get the episode of wtfpod.com or download it directly from iTunes.

A few months ago comedian Todd Glass suffered a heart attack while performing on a Sarah Silverman and Friends show in LA. So, to help the burden of all those medical bills, Glass’ friends are producing a benefit show. David Spade has organized the event, rightfully titled the David Spade and Friends Comedy Benefit Show, and it features an excellent lineup: Sarah Silverman and Adam Carolla are just two of the big name comedians announced so far, with more to come in the next few days.

The show will take place on Aug. 31 at Largo (tickets here), the same place Glass suffered his heart attack. Tickets are $40. If you’re in the LA area, we highly recommend you make it out. And regardless of where you live, why not buy Todd’s album Thin Pig. Just click the image below.

[via thelaughbutton]

Fresh off a string of recent career successes, Ricky Gervais is looking to keep his winning streak going with a new show on UK channel Sky1. In a doc-comedy (did we just coin a new genre here?) called An Idiot Abroad, Gervais and buddy Stephen Merchant have schemed to drop their mate Karl Pilkington into a different, foreign culture and film the results. As it happens, Pilkington is an aggressive misanthrope with severe people-hating issues, so the results are expected to be hilarious.

Check out a sneak peak here!

You can get more info on the show by visiting its official site. No premiere date has been announced.

Reuters reports that several hundred Brazilian comedians took part in a protest recently against the country’s censorship of political satire. The comics are members of the “right to ridicule” campaign, a group formed in response to a new amendment passed by The Supreme Electoral Tribunal which outlaws “any use of audio or video that in any way degrades or ridicules candidates (or) political parties.”

The amendment calls for punishments such as a fine of 100,000 reais ($57,000), and almost double that repeat offenders.

“This is a joke — and it’s not in the slightest bit funny,” said comedian Fabio Porchat. ”First we can’t laugh at politicians, but from here it’s going to grow — by 2015 we won’t even be able to talk about the government.”

The protestors wore clown noses and t-shirts with their movement’s clown with a cork stuffed in its mouth logo. One sign read, “If you don’t want to be a ridiculed politician, be an honest one.”

“This is a country that wants to be considered a mature democracy and then it comes out with something like this — it’s completely ridiculous,” said Danilo Gentili, a reporter for satirical news program CQC.

Brazil has an election for a new president and senators coming up on Oct 3.

What do you think about this?

Ricky Gervais is already talking about the idea of making his new show into a movie – and the show hasn’t been shot yet! The UK’s Chortle reports that when asked about his future projects in a recent interview, comedian/actor/producer said: ‘Maybe we can do a film of Life’s Too Short.’

Life’s Too Short, which Gervais is co-writing with his Office collaborator, Stephen Merchant, is based on the experiences of dwarf actor Warwick Davis.

“Let’s see how the series goes. Let’s not get carried away,” advised Merchant, to which Gervais responded, “Let’s have it ready in case it’s a success. Always plan for success.”

The show is set to air on BBC Two, and will feature Gervais and Merchant playing themselves, a la Larry David in Curb.

Jay Leno performed a $40 – $150-a-head benefit show in Biloxi, Miss Aug. 21, where he helped raise $90,336 for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. He agreed to throw in $10,000 of his own dough to get it up to an even 100,000.

The show went down at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi with more than 1,000 people showing up to watch the late night chat show host flex his stand-up chops.

In case you haven’t heard already, Michael Ian Black is a stallion. And if you sneak up behind him, chances are you’ll be kicked. Hard. In the teeth. And balls.

Case in point: Black’s Saturday night tirade on a stand-up stage in Columbus, Ohio. After the subject of Obama was brought up, an irate audience member (frustrated with the inability to pinpoint the president’s real nation of birth as a European one, no doubt) hollered out “Heil Hitler!” Naturally, Black, being both of the Jewish and sane persuasions, took umbrage to this assessment, and laid into said audience member with the following:

How dare you compare Hitler to this president or any president? How dare you equate what he did with Obama is doing? Do you have any idea how insulting that is? Do you know anything about history? Do you have any idea what Hitler did? He killed six million of my people, which is six million more than Obama has killed. You’re a fucking idiot. You’re a fucking moron. You’re the fucking problem with this country. You and your reflexive retardation.

At this point, the barely-concealed Tea Bagger walked out in disgust. (A friend of mine told me she wished she’d been there to give Black a standing O. I would’ve liked to give him a different kind of O, but we shan’t touch upon that.)

Later, Black pleaded mea culpa on his Tumblr, posting something to the extent of “fighting fire with fire is stupid, mmmkay?”

But now I feel bad. I feel bad because, in retrospect, that guy didn’t deserve that. Yes he said something incredibly stupid, but my response was just as stupid. I could have made my point a million different ways without screaming into a microphone in a room filled with drunk people. I wasn’t clever, I wasn’t thoughtful, I said nothing that would move the conversation forward. I just yelled because Nazis push my Jew button (my Jew button is located right below my tail).

I, for one, don’t feel that he has anything at all to apologize for. Having spent enough time around Tea Baggers and the half-wits who love them (but don’t ask why), it’s taken every fiber of my being to keep from developing a stupidity twitch. Perhaps fighting fire with fire is the most apt way to get singed, but for a cult of individuals who equate one of the world’s most moderate, centrists G20 leaders with one of the world’s most diabolical, blood-thirsty monsters, stupidity is probably the only language in which these people are fluent.

Punchline Magazine, the country’s leading online hub for all things stand-up comedy, seeks motivated, self-starting fall college intern — incoming junior or senior — to write comedy news stories, review albums and DVDs and interview comedians (and write corresponding features).

Candidates should have substantial knowledge of current stand-up comedy trends, have a writing/journalism background and/or preferably be majoring in English, communications or related subject matter. Chosen candidate must earn college credit for the internship. Candidates must have online clips available upon request.

Chosen candidate will be expected to write 2-3 short blog posts a day, submit a longer weekly feature based on comedian interviews and other miscellaneous projects as editor sees fit.

Please note, we are not looking for candidates to write humor pieces. This posting is for to-be professional journalists, critics and comedy fans who want to write about comedy the way other publications have been writing about music, television and movies for decades.

Send resumes and cover letters to punchlinemagazine@gmail.com.

A comedian from Norway, Hans Morten Hansen, has broken the record for the longest solo stand-up comedy show during the Oslo Comedy Festival this past weekend.

Irish powerhouse comedian Tommy Tiernan earned the rights to the first record of this ilk in 2009 by performing 36 hours, 15 minutes; Australian Lindsay Webb bested that with a 38 hour, six minute performance. Hansen went eight minutes longer, beginning his show last Wednesday at 10 pm and wrapping up on Friday at 12:14 pm.

But the real question remains: is Hans funny? The answer is below with video evidence.**

**If you speak Norwegian.