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.”

If you’re in or around New York City, get thee to the world famous Comic Strip Live this Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Punchline Magazine will be on hand sponsoring a stellar night of comedy and giving some stuff away. Here’s the lineup:

Pete Correale
Kevin Brennan
Dan Naturman
Chuck Nice
James Smith
JJ Ramirez
Karen Bergreen
Erik Rivera
Call 212-861-9386 now for reservations or buy tickets online and visit comicstriplive.com for more info.

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.

All photos by Rob Turbovsky

Morgan Murphy and Jim Jeffries

Patton Oswalt

Emo Philips

Morgan Murphy

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Dov Davidoff: 5/2 - Stress Factory - New Brunswick, NJ

Bill Burr: 5/3 - Helium Comedy Club - Philadelphia, PA

Andy Andrist: 5/3 - Skyline Comedy Cafe - Appleton, WI

Doug Stanhope: 5/3 - Laughs Comedy Spot - Seattle, WA

Marc Maron: 5/4 - Improv - Washington DC

Robin Williams: 5/6 - Acme Comedy Company - Minneapolis, MN

Dan Levy: 5/7- Cap City Comedy Club - Austin, TX

Russell Peters: 5/8 - Hilarities - Cleveland, OH

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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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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Courant.com just did a piece recognizing Hartford, Connecticut for its thriving stand-up comedy scene.

Writer, Ken Carlson reports that the area’s residents are highly interested in comedy and that promoters are able to draw big names with large, receptive crowds. Even comedians who are less recognizable have been able to play to big crowds.

The “Ha! Ha! Hartford!” series at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and the “Brew Ha Ha Room” at City Steam Brewery Café have been especially successful. Check out the full read here to get some more knowledge on the Hartford, CT comedy scene.

Sports site Deadspin today posted a rather entertaining first-person account about one of their writers trying his hand at stand-up comedy. Because the author is not really trying to make it in the comedy bizz and is not at all fearful of burning bridges, he’s able to talk pretty frankly about his experiences and where they happened.

His first time onstage was at New York Comedy Club in Manhattan. Here’s a bit of what happened:

I got completely shitfaced, then ambled up to one of my fellow amateurs and asked him to do me a favor.

Me: Listen, I need you to take this black marker and write FUCK ME in big letters across my chest.
Other Comic: Why?
Me: I dunno. ‘Cause it’ll be funny.
Other Comic: Whatever you say. (writes the words)
The person on before me was an 18-year old girl singing “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady,” with her family in attendance.

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Josh Blue: 4/12 - Comedy Connection - Boston, MA

Emo Philips: 4/13 - Zanies - Nashville, TN

DL Hughley: 4/13 - Improv - West Palm Beach, FL

Greg Giraldo: 4/17 - Punchline - San Francisco, CA

Paul Mecurio: 4/17 - Acme Comedy Company - Minneapolis, MN

Jeffrey Ross: 4/17 - Hilarities - Cleveland, OH

Steve McGrew: 4/18 - Comedy Castle - Detroit, MI

Jim Norton: 4/18 - Carolines - New York City, NY

This Sunday, we’ll be on the red carpet for Comedy Central’s giant benefit hosted by Jon Stewart, Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. It’s an excellent cause and will no doubt be an excellent show.

At the last Night of Too Many Stars two years ago, in addition to covering the carpet we did some live blogging. This year, we’re not doing that. Instead, during the show, point your browsers toward our friends at the Comedy Central Insider, where as they put it, “you can look at the TV and see Jon Stewart say something funny and then look at the blog and see someone write something funny about the funny thing Jon Stewart just said.”

At some point, we’ll have a little recap and some photos here. Enjoy