J. Keith Van Straaten, host of the live game show and podcast for Maximum Fun, Go Fact Yourself, met up with me earlier this summer while scouting locations for taking his game show on the road to New York City. Live shows of Go Fact Yourself are happening this weekend (July 21-22) at Caveat, with […]
Continue ReadingWhen Sacha Baron Cohen first burst onto the scene with Ali G, Borat and Bruno on British television in 2000 (and then HBO in 2003), you have to remember what America was then. No social media. No hyper-awareness. When he filmed Borat, he could still fool most of the people most of the time, even […]
Continue ReadingAlumni from Boom Chicago reunited in Amsterdam over the weekend to celebrate 25 years of American improv comedy by the celebrated company. Among the attendees you’ve seen on TV and the movies: Seth Meyers, Josh Meyers, Ike Barinholtz, Heather Anne Campbell, Matt Jones, Amber Ruffin, Colton Dunn, Holly Walker, and Boom Chicago founders Pep Rosenfeld and […]
Continue ReadingWhere can the Upright Citizens Brigade go after playing Carnegie Hall? Hollywood, apparently. The UCB4, as co-founders Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts are lovingly called by their students and improv comedy fans around the world, started performing ASSSSCAT in New York City in bars, former strip clubs, their own theater underneath […]
Continue ReadingThe Nerdist School may be dying this Easter weekend, but it’ll rise from the dead next weekend as The Ruby LA, a new, more inclusive training center for comedians on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. The Ruby LA’s launch will coincide with a 12-hour comedy festival, The Ruby Assembly, on April 7, 2018. Jen Curran, Lindsey Barrow […]
Continue ReadingTwo comedians who helped launch and run the former Brooklyn branch of the Annoyance Theater have announced a new venture together: The Brooklyn Comedy Collective, a theater and improv comedy school that’ll begin hosting shows and teaching classes in March in The Brick Theater in Williamsburg (579 Metropolitan Ave.). Philip Markle (artistic director) and Annie Donley […]
Continue ReadingiO West, the Los Angeles branch of Chicago’s iO Theater (formerly ImprovOlympic) founded by Del Close and Charna Halpern, is closing its doors for good next week. In an email sent to performers today, iO West Managing Director Zach Huddleston announced that the theater, which has been in operation for over two decades, is shutting down, […]
Continue ReadingYou know Jeff Hiller, or you recognize his face. His disapproving, glowering mug can be seen in every customer service position in every auteur sitcom of the past 15 years. Hiller has played a disapproving flight attendant on 30 Rock, a nude ghost in Ghost Town, and more waiters than you can shake a stick […]
Continue ReadingBudd Friedman has let go of owning The Improv. Levity Entertainment Group, which already runs six of the Improv comedy clubs in addition to producing stand-up specials and comedy series, as well as managing comedy clients, has bought the legendary Improv franchise brand from Friedman and Improv co-owner Mark Lonow. “We are very happy,” Lonow […]
Continue ReadingBudd Friedman has let go of owning The Improv. Levity Entertainment Group, which already runs six of the Improv comedy clubs in addition to producing stand-up specials and comedy series, as well as managing comedy clients, has bought the legendary Improv franchise brand from Friedman and Improv co-owner Mark Lonow. “We are very happy,” Lonow […]
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