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Louis C.K.’s “Hilarious” hits the big screen for one day; all the ticket info you’ll need is here

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Louis C.K.Last Month, in our post about Louis C.K.’s new hour-long special Hilarious getting an official premiere date — write it down; EPIX on Sept. 18 — we quickly mentioned that the already critically acclaimed concert film (it was screened at Sundance) would have a limited run in theaters. Well, today, we’re simply giddy to let you know where and when that’s all going down: Sept. 8. is the big day.

And with that info, here’s our suggestion to unite comedy nerds in the cities of Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington DC: get a large group together and go to this film. It’s not at all normal to see a stand-up comedy concert film in movie theaters; it’s a rare thing. So get out there en masse and laugh your asses off!

All the info you need is below. Pass it on.

Austin:
7:00 PM screening at Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, 13729 Research Blvd., Austin. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 10:00 AM and are available through drafthouse.com.

Boston:
7:30 PM screening at the Kendall Square Cinema, 1 Kendall Square, Boston. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 4:00 PM and are available through the Kendall Square Cinema box office or online at landmarktheatres.com.

Chicago:
7:00 PM screening at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 5:00 PM and are available through etix.com.

Los Angeles:
TBA

New York City:
7:30 & 9:45 PM screenings at IFC Theater at Waverly, 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York City. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 10:00 AM and are available at the IFC Theater Box Office or through ifccenter.com.

Philadelphia:
7:30 PM screening at Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, September 1 at 12:00 PM and are available at the Prince Music Theater Box Office, the Trocadero Box Office or online at ticketmaster.com.

San Francisco:
7:30 PM screening at Embarcadero Center Cinema, One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level, San Francisco. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 10:00 AM and are available through landmarktheatres.com.

Washington DC
7:30 PM screening at Arlington Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike
Arlington, VA. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 27 at 8:00 AM and are available through arlingtondrafthouse.com.


Sarah Silverman, David Spade, more raise money for Todd Glass’ medical bills

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Sarah SilvermanA 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]


Jimmy Fallon does Cosby, Seinfeld, Foxworthy, more on American’s Got Talent

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Last night on America’s Got Talent, Jimmy Fallon made a special appearance to help promote his Emmys hosting gig going down Sunday at 8 pm EST on NBC.

Now, for you haters out there thinking, “What’s Fallon doing on a talent show? He hasn’t got any talent.” Well, we’d like to say to you attitudy Judies (to quote comedian Pete Lee), it turns out the man can do 10 second imitations of a dozen comedians. That’s talent. Right? Maybe?

You decide. Check out the video below, wherein Fallon takes some time to become Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Norm Macdonald, Gilbert Gottfried, Pee-Wee Herman (not sure how he fits in here), Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, Steven Wright and Adam Sandler.

Enjoy! Or not. We don’t want to tell you how to live your life.


Sneak peak: Ricky Gervais uses buddy Karl once again to get laughs on new show

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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.


Video takes aim at comedy club booking practices

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Anyone who’s ever tried their hand at comedy knows how hard it is to find stage time – especially within the bureaucracy of the club system. This animated video, made with the help of Xtranormal.com, does a great job of breaking down the Catch-22 filled process of trying to squeeze spots out of a traditional club booker. It plays like watching a 1930’s shop owner deal with the local mafia, and, yes, it’s pretty dead on.

[thanks for the tip, Tabari McCoy]


The State to release long-lost album; Black, Showalter, Wain and more included

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Listen up, comedy nerds. Mark Sept. 14 on your calendars. That’s when the album from The State, titled Comedy For Gracious Living, that you never knew existed – or did you? — is set for release.

The State: Comedy for Gracious Living

“It was a freeing experience because no one was watching over us, there were no ‘adults’ around,” original member Kevin Allison told USA Today. “We’d swim and drink and gamble all day and record the silly ideas we’d had that day up into the wee hours that night like kids making tapes in the basement. If you listen, you can hear the ice clinking in the rum drinks we had in hand at all times.”

The album, to be released by Rhino Records, was recorded in the Bahamas in January of 1996 and features the talents of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain, as well as Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon and Ken Marino.

You can pre-order the album and listen to samples here. Do it!


Comedians not allowed to perform political satire

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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?


Is Ricky Gervais already planning a movie about his upcoming series?

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gerv2Ricky 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 raises 100 grand to help clean up Gulf

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Jay LenoJay 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.


Michael Ian Black defends Obama, blasts Tea Party slander during stand-up set

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Michael Ian BlackIn 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.