Earlier this year, Comix comedy club in New York City held its 4th annual March Comedy Madness, wherein 64 comedians competed in a NCAA basketball-style competition. There would be one comedian chosen the winner. That comedian was up and coming talent Sam Morril. This is his story.

Not really.

This is him asking a few questions about comedy and why he was was crazy enough to get into the business. It’s also partly us telling you that he’s opening for Jim Florentine at Comix this weekend (tickets here). And us telling you should go. And maybe you should visit Sam’s official site here.

Now, enjoy our little chat below.

How has your comedy career changed since your Comix competition victory?
Aside from now showing up to my shows in a Hummer Limo, and only hanging out with models, it hasn’t really changed. In fact, I think the following night I was performing in a bar. Every so often a comic will say, “congrats” or “you won March Madness, right?” And I nod. I guess I got some street cred.

What’s the most challenging aspect of being a young up and coming comedian in NYC?
Probably breaking into the clubs. Younger comics need to contend with seniority, and it’s hard to break through. The supply of comics totally outweighs the demand for stage time. There aren’t many clubs that are developing younger comics, but some are starting to.

When you’re in contact with high profile comedians in the city, how do choose to interact with them? (for example, do you ask questions, do you just observe, etc…?)
I don’t ever want to be that young annoying comic so I try to speak only when spoken to. It can be weird unless they initiate the conversation. I obviously want to earn the respect of those comics I admire. Hopefully I get it on the stage and not by bugging them or asking for favors. I feel that if a comic wants to help you, you usually don’t need to ask. There’s a lot of camaraderie in the business.

Many of the high profile comics reach out to the younger guys and offer advice because they remember what it was like. No one blew up over night. Also, I’ve been producing a show called “Sage Stand-Up” with my friend, Harrison Greenbaum for the last three years (currently at Bar 82). Through that, I’ve become friendly with comics I really admire by asking them to do our show.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about the comedy business?
Always be ready for hecklers, and be nice to the staff. I won’t mention the club’s name, but one night I got into a tussle with a guy at Broadway Comedy Club (oops), and I was on while the checks were dropped. This guy was blaming me for how expensive the drinks were and I was like, “Yeah, that’s not what I do here. I do the joke part of the show.” I should’ve mentioned that I was getting paid in chicken wings. It went back and fourth for a while, and things started to get mean.

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We’re happy to announce we’re giving away a few pairs of tickets to see the amazing Greg Giraldo live at Comix in New York City.The shows are going down Thursday through Saturday, with two shows each on Friday and Saturday. Simply email us at punchlinemagazine@gmail.com and tell us that you’d like to be considered for a pair of tickets; also be sure to specify which show you’d like to attend. All the info you’ll need is right here. That is all. Good luck!

Kathleen Madigan, of Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central and late night television fame, is filming a brand new hour-long comedy special this Saturday at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. And you, my friends, can be part of the taping. All you need to do is go here and lay some money down. There’s two shows that night.

Her longtime friend Lewis Black will be opening the show. Kathleen today told me that he lost a golf bet and his opening for her was her prize. Below I’ve dropped a video of Kathleen from a few hours ago at Comix in New York City, where we filmed an interview for our web series A Tight Five. So, look out for that. For now, check out the post interview breakdown below. Enjoy!

The Axe Twisted Humor Tour has been going from city to city the past few weeks, and made a stop at Comix in New York this past Sunday.

After Nick Kroll, Donald Glover, Chelsea Peretti and Whitney Cummings rocked a packed house, Punchline Magazine caught up with Kroll – who along with being one of the nicest guys in the ‘biz, is headlining for the first time. Check out the interview below to hear what Nick has to say about the possibility of groupies on tour, what to expect from season two of The League, and advice for those looking to succeed in the comedy world.

How did you feel about the show tonight, performing back in your home state?
It was really fun. It’s fun to come back to New York. You come up through open mics and slowly make your way through. You get intimidated by clubs and you come back now and its just fun – there’s no fear. The crowd was really good. It’s a really good show. There’s no crossover between Whitney, Chelsea and Donald.

How has the tour been so far?
It’s been great. We’ve been playing big colleges which is fun. I’ve never headlined before so this is a new experience for me. I do around 40-45 minutes. (At this point, fellow comedian Dave Hill interrupted our interview so the two could make dinner plans).

Any Groupies?
No. I’ve never really been on the road. I have a girlfriend (sorry, Internet ladies). I get up early. I feel like what I assume the rolling stones would say if they were not famous, medium talented, and had been doing comedy for seven years. “We just go home and go to sleep after shows cause we travel the next day.” It’s been nice. I will say there are people who are starting to know things that I’ve done and are beginning to shout things out.

There’s no heckling, its all positive. It’s weird cause I know they’re trying to be positive here but they’re breaking the rhythm of everything I’m trying to say on stage right now. But it’s always positive. It’s always people who are psyched about stuff. (Clearly not phased, during his set Kroll managed to eat two chicken wings from the front row, and have a one-on-one chat with a wanna-be entertainment lawyer).

What’s going on with season two of The League on FX?
We’re working on a bunch of stuff. It’s gonna be so funny man. The second season’s gonna be really good. I think it’s only gonna get better. People are catching up on Hulu. I think it’s gonna be really fun.

Certainly working with other stand-up comics on the show must help make it funnier?
Yeah, the whole show is improvised. I think it all begets one another. If you want to be a stand-up take an improv class. If you want to be an improviser, do stand up. It all helps one another. The improv helps your stage presence and your ability to collaborate. Your stand-up helps you write, formulate and structure jokes, as well as edit.

When you say a show is improvised, what it means is you’ll try something and then you’ll tighten it on the next take and tighten it on the next take, until you’ve got it. I think it’s the more you have proficiency in different aspects of comedy. If you’re a writer take an acting class. If you’re an actor, write. It all begets one another.

Check out more Kroll at his official site, nickkroll.com And you can catch Kroll and the rest of the Axe Twisted Humor Tour gang live as they round out the tour at the following venues:

4/27 @ Chicago Park West

4/28 @ Indiana University

4/29 @ Ohio State University

A few weeks ago, I sat down with comedian Patrice Oneal at Comix to film an episode of Punchline Magazine’s web series A Tight Five, which, as you might know, are five minute interviews with well known comedians. But to get that polished five minutes, we shoot much longer.

And sometimes we think the full, uncut version of these interviews are compelling for hardcore comedy fans. That’s the case with this one. So, remember: all of the awkward moments and mistakes are in here. Also note, that this is only one camera from a two camera shoot. Enough exposition. Sit back and enjoy.

Patrice Oneal interview w/ Punchline Magazine (Uncut!) from Punchline Magazine on Vimeo.

All over the country, artists of all kinds are producing benefits to raise money for Haiti. And comedians are no different. Last week, one of our favorite clubs, Comix, where we film our interview series A Tight Five, hosted a pretty stellar night of comedy for Haiti, featuring performances by Dave Attell, Janeane Garofalo, Eugene Mirman, Wyatt Cenac, Todd Barry and more.

Also on hand was Mike Mitchell, the creator of the “I’m with Coco” poster. A signed-by-Conan version of the print was auctioned of for $1,650 on Jan. 28, the night of the show.

The venue raised $7,625 on admission to the showroom, an extra $80 for bar admission, $2,100 on auctions, $780 in live raffles and more than $1,332 in eBay auctions. In fact, there’s still more live auctions on eBay. Check them out here. And check out some photos (above and after the jump) taken by Mindy Tucker from the fundraiser.

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One of Punchline Magazine’s favorite comedians Pete Dominick will be recording an album this Saturday in New York at Comix. And we highly recommend that if you are anywhere in the area, you snag yourself some tickets asap. We’ll be there for sure.

Pete, the host of SiriusXM’s political talk show Stand Up! with Pete Dominick on POTUS — that’s Sirius 110 and XM 130 — is in incredibly diverse stand-up comedian who can easily toggle between personal material to political to observational– he’s one stop shopping for all your comedy needs.

So don’t wait. You’re going to want to be part of this. Get your tickets here. And check out a few clips below of Pete in action.

During a weekend of New York Comedy Festival shows at huge theater venues like Town Hall and Carnegie Hall, there was something different happening downtown and appropriately off the radar. Doug Stanhope was doing a five-show, three-night stand at Comix.

Stanhope, a 20-year veteran of the underground comedy scene, is probably best known to people outside of his cult following as a former co-host of The Man Show. I went into the show not knowing much about the guy’s comedy, and I was completely blown away. Stanhope definitely comes from the offensive and pissed-off school of comedy. He also deals out brutal honesty, telling stories from his drink and drug-addled past (and present). Having seen a ton of comics who talk about the same things, that description makes him sound predictable. Not the case at all, and that’s what makes him so fucking funny.

I try to be open to anyone that can make me laugh, but unfortunately, a head shot of a dude in a jersey usually strikes me as kind of a red flag. I’m an idiot. Stanhope is hilarious. However many times I’ve been turned off by comics that cover similar ground, it’s been because they just don’t back up their grievances with big laughs. Stanhope does. Any short clips you’ve seen him in don’t do him justice. You have to watch him for a full set. He tricks you into thinking he’s a jackass, then catches you off guard by saying something sharp, insightful and ridiculously funny.

He’s also great at doing long bits. He’ll tell you what he thinks about a topic, and just when you think it’s about to devolve into unstructured rambling (he downed two beers over the course of his set), he drives his point home with a huge comic payoff. His punch lines aren’t “lines”; they’re machine blasts that go on and on and on.

His bit about sex, and how isn’t the most intimate thing two people can share, was so good I can’t really see anyone else having to talk about the subject ever again. I’m afraid to use quotation marks and get it wrong, but he talked about taking his friend home from the hospital after she’d had a mastectomy, and how intimate was. “After sharing that, I didn’t say, ‘Let’s take this to the next level. Let me hunch over you in a seahorse position…” His impression of a pathetic male orgasm is hilarious, and sadly accurate. I was slapping my table (my seat was too cramped for me to slap my knee).

Stanhope’s on the road into December. Do yourself a favor and see a show. His dates are on his website.

WitStream, the new Twitter-like site that focuses on the tweets of comedians, enjoyed a festive launch on Monday night at Comix in New York City. Michael Ian Black, who co-founded the site, hosted the show. He was also on-hand throughout, critiquing the live feed of his peers’ WitSream one-liners from a laptop at the side of the stage. He also gave the best explanation of WitStream I’ve heard so far: “It’s like Twitter, but without most of the people.”

The show featured stand-up from some of WitStream’s top “aristocrats.” Baron Vaughn, Morgan Murphy, Black’s collaborator Michael Showalter, Josh Fadem, the Sklar Brothers and Doug Benson delivered killer sets. All in all, it was a great kickoff for the new site. You can keep your Twitter addiction, but definitely open a tab for WitStream, which will most definitely guarantee more chuckles per minute of wasted time.

If you’ve never seen Doug Stanhope live and you live in the New York City metro area, we’re giving you an excellent opportunity to do. For you, dear readers, we’re giving away three pairs of tickets to see the living legend at Comix in one of his five shows going down this Thursday through Saturday.

Simply email us here: contest [at] punchlinemagazine [dot] com. Include the subject “STANHOPE.” The first three readers to get in touch will win a pair of tickets. In your email, please specify which show you’d like to attend: Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday at 8 pm or 10:30 pm; or Saturday at 8 pm or 10:30 pm. You must live in the New York City area and be able to attend the show you specify.