Dirty jokes. We’ve all heard them at the office, at school, at restaurants, and at the bar, but the one place you most certainly expect to hear them is a comedy club. But there’s dirty and then, we guess, there’s comedian Tracy Morgan’s version of dirty.

His version, it seems, is such that the management at Denver’s Comedy Works, one of the country’s best respected comedy venues – not to mention the site of classic album recordings from Dave Attell, Greg Giraldo and more – issued a warning and an offer to refund money to any ticket holders who feel they wouldn’t have been able to tolerate his show.

Two days before the refund deadline, Comedy Works sent a warning to ticket holders about Morgan’s shows (which happened last weekend) stating it is “the most extreme in nature that we can possibly express.”

Check out the full letter below, as published by Denver’s Westword blog.

Dear Tracy Morgan ticket buyer,

Thank you for your recent ticket purchase. We always appreciate your business and we especially want to make sure you are aware that Tracy’s show is very, very dirty. His stand up show is not what you might expect from seeing him on 30 Rock or Saturday Night Live. His show is the most extreme in nature that we can possibly express. If this show is not for you, we understand and will happily refund this show and recommend some other amazing shows. If you are interested in a refund, please REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL or call 720-274-6800 immediately. You must reply by WED Aug 4 at 12:00 noon in order to receive a refund.

If that’s not customer service, we don’t know what is.

Last Comic Standing host Craig Robinson and judges Greg Giraldo and Natasha Leggero share some advice with viewers in three behind-the-scenes interviews. Robinson contemplates the similarities of hosting the show to his work as Darryl on The Office, Giraldo describes his peculiar way of identifying new talent, and Leggero reveals that co-hosts Giraldo and Andy Kindler are her role models.

The three comedians also share their wisdom with people who want to pursue comedy, complete with a “That’s what she said” joke from Robinson. Among the all-star advice are suggestions to be yourself, get as much stage time as possible, and avoid hack jokes about holding in farts during sex. Oh, and don’t take anyone’s advice. That one’s from Giraldo.

For more from Robinson, Giraldo, and Leggero, check out the interviews below and tune into the premiere of Last Comic Standing season 7 on NBC Monday at 8 p.m EST.

After the show’s year hiatus, the premiere of Last Comic Standing on NBC is fast approaching. To be exact, it’ll officially stop approaching on June 7. If you followed the show’s six seasons, you’ll know that its created quite a divide among comedy fans and comedians alike. Some fans love that they were introduced to comedians on network television; other fans claim the show is fixed, that it waters down the art of stand-up, among other things.

There’s a handful of comedians who owe a lot of their success to the show; still other comedians find it a completely inaccurate gauge as to whether a comedian is talented.

But this much seems true: From what we’ve been hearing, producers have made an effort to address all concerns. Their choice of judges (Greg Giraldo, Andy Kindler and Natasha Leggero) speaks to that well—not to mention the new host, comedian Craig Robinson, of The Office fame.

Punchline Magazine writer Emma Kat Richardson recently chatted with comedian Kindler – who spends a lot of time onstage critiquing the comedy industry – and asked him what he thought of Last Comic Standing before and after his involvement.

“I do this speech every year in Montreal, the State of the Industry Address [at Just For Laughs]. I slam everything there, so I had many jokes about the previous years of Last Comic Standing. I was never a huge fan of anything to do with competitions, anyway. So yeah, I had a lot of things to say about it over the years. But they did say they were going to reboot it, and then we talked about it, and the other judges are so great. The host is great, so it just became a completely different thing.”

We’re looking forward to the revamped Last Comic Standing. Check out a pair of videos after the jump featuring Kindler and the other judges as well as host Craig Robinson. And be sure to look out for our full-length feature interview with Kindler next week!

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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!

On tonight’s episode of The Marriage Ref (NBC, 10 pm EST) — executive produced by Jerry Seinfeld and hosted by comedian Tom Papa — one of my top three favorite comedians Greg Giraldo will sit on the judges panel– next to friggin’ Gwyneth Paltrow. I never thought I’d see the day where these two were rubbing elbows. Paltrow is in one of those presumably fake Hollywood marriages to Coldplay mope Chris Martin; Giraldo is fresh off his second divorce. I love where this can go.

It seems, from the video below — a behind the scenes look at tonight’s episode — that it all went well between the two. That’s to be expected, I guess. I would’ve liked to see Giraldo strip Paltrow of all her hopes and dreams for an everlasting marriage, but something tells me that didn’t happen. That something is this video. Check it out!

In what I can only describe as one of the most pointless and ill-conceived analyses on the subject of comedy, Troy Media yesterday, in a pair of op-eds (“American Comedians Can’t Hold a Candle to their Canadian Counterparts” and “Why Americans Love Canadian Comedians”) makes the point that Canadian comedians are better than American comedians. “Better”— as if it can be quantified. I actually had to make sure, before writing what’s below, that Troy Media was not part of the Onion News Network.

To be clear, I’m not annoyed that Troy Media – an online news service that covers “issues shaping Canada and the world” – thinks Canadian comedians are funnier than American comedians. I’m annoyed that as a news organization, they feel that this is something that can be proven; they take an art as complex, personal and subjective as stand-up comedy and attempt – failingly – to compare the two camps (as if there are two camps and not just comedians from two different countries) as if they’re comparing sedans or bathroom cleaning products.

That said and out of the way, the most disturbing parts of the editorials are the reasons they give for Canadian comedians’ dominance.

This is my favorite: Canadian comics have “no need to spill their psychological guts.” It continues:

Why? Because they don’t have the need to talk about the psychological horrors of their upbringings the way American comedians do. Canadians are either free of them or throw themselves into their work and hide behind their characters in an attempt to avoid confronting them.

Listen, there are many American comedians that I love to watch who do not feel the need to share their inner most scars – see Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan – but the comedians who bare their souls artfully are the ones that fuel my passion for covering comedy and embedding myself into their world. Guys like Doug Stanhope, Jim Norton, Marc Maron and Greg Giraldo would no doubt fall into the “spilling of their psychological guts” categories Troy Media disdains. And that’s exactly why those comedians resonate so powerfully with their fans.

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Can you smell it, comedy fans? It’s getting closer. The premiere – and return after a year hiatus – of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, set for June 7, is fast approaching. And not just because we know how to read a calendar, but because we found out when and where the semi-final showcases are being filmed.

It’s going down April 13 and 14 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. If you’re in the area, you can get tickets here.

In the meantime, let’s quickly review what we’re looking forward to in the new season. Greg Giraldo, one of the greatest contemporary comedic minds makes up one third of the judges. Andy Kindler, who’s made a great career out of claiming he’s wildly unsuccessful and hated, joins Giraldo.

And rounding out the trio, is comedian Natasha Leggero, who doesn’t come close to owning a pedigree like Giraldo and Kindler, but has, in the last five years grown to be a well-respected performer. The Office’s Craig Robinson will serve as host.

We’re not saying we always agreed with ways of Last Comic Standing, but on paper, this season holds a lot of promise. We’re eagerly awaiting the premiere.

“Very Funny” Festival: Just For Laughs presented by TBS is returning to Chicago this June for its second annual event.

Boasting heavy hitters like Greg Giraldo, Aziz Ansari, Jim Norton, Ellen DeGeneres, Cedric The Entertainer, Denis Leary, and Russell Peters, the festival will be held over five nights at 12 different venues.

Along with stand-up performances, several popular sketch shows are scheduled including Lucha VaVoom, and The Not Inappropriate Show with Bob Odenkirk.

TBS is set to tape and then later air three of  the comedy festival events. Ellen’s Somewhat Special, Cedric The Entertainer’s Urban Circus, and a third yet to be determined will each  be taped June 16 and 18. Tickets for the festival go on sale through Ticketmaster on March 29 at 10am.

The Brits have done it again! The wildly popular island nation that offered up fabulous originals for fabulous Yank rip-offs like The Office, The Weakest Link, and Coupling (okay, maybe not Coupling) have now given us Have I Got News For You, a quiz show chock-full of political antics and hilarious hijinks.

Premiering on NBC and hosted by Sam Seder of Air America fame, the show will feature team captains Michael Ian Black and Greg Giraldo squaring off with celeb compatriots on topical questions and current events fare. A preliminary taping of the show will be held Friday, November 20 at 7:15 PM in Manhattan. Get free tickets here.

Yesterday, I wrote about Greg Giraldo’s first ever hour-long special Midlife Vices will premiere this Sunday, Aug. 16 at 10 pm EST on Comedy Central. Having seen an advanced copy of the special last night, I’d like to strongly suggest you plan your weekend around this television event. For the time being, here’s some audio of me yammering on about why Greg Giraldo is one of the greatest working comics of our generation.

Bonus. Enjoy another clip from Greg Giraldo’s Midlife Vices below.