Joel Kim Booster is the prince of unusual beginnings. As a baby, he was adopted by white, conservative, religious Midwesterners, an experience he sums up this way: “As you can imagine, it was a little weird growing up in the Midwest with this face and that family. I literally knew I was gay before I […]
Continue ReadingIn every great comic’s career comes a time where you have to do press for a thing you made. Sometimes it’s a new special, a big movie role, or a chart-topping podcast. And then sometimes a label decides to re-release your album from a year ago on limited edition blue vinyl. Such is the case […]
Continue ReadingThe notion that a Trump presidency would give comedians so much great material to work with has proven to be a tricky road to navigate. Yet comedians press forward by either addressing the issues head-on or by providing the world with a welcome distraction from the horror. This task proved to be immeasurably more difficult […]
Continue ReadingMark Forward has been performing standup comedy for two decades now, and he’s a bit of an anomaly in a number of ways. He’s a Canadian who doesn’t aspire to pack up and move to the United States to grow his career, instead choosing to remain in his native Toronto. From that base, he’s built […]
Continue ReadingFor Sam Jay, comedy is a pursuit of happiness. An unfulfilling job had her questioning what makes her happy. When she really thought about it she realized, “I’m happiest when I’m in a bar, drinking, talking shit to people. There’s a crowd of people around that I don’t even know and I’m ranting or pontificating […]
Continue ReadingWhite Famous, Showtime’s new Jamie Foxx-produced dramedy series, premieres this Sunday night at 10:00pm. The show stars Jay Pharoah as Floyd Mooney, a rising comedic star who is at a point in his career where he has to weigh his artistic integrity and personal principles against the calcified racism of the entertainment industry. As Floyd’s […]
Continue ReadingEvery notable comedian has their “brand” or style of comedy, but Demetri Martin stands out more than most. If you’ve caught one of his specials on TV or were a fan of his show Important Things on Comedy Central, then you probably remember his unique gift for discovering the humor in words and drawings and […]
Continue ReadingThe day before his Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents taping, comedian Josh Johnson sat down with me in the green room of New Orleans’ Civic Theatre. One thing I noticed very quickly was that he was there to work. New Orleans is an easy city to get distracted in, especially if you feel like celebrating your […]
Continue ReadingJeffery Self is honest. Painfully, painfully honest. He livetweeted his breakup-inspired nervous breakdown in 2013. Then when his ex became the star of the Logo series Fire Island, he recapped the show for Vulture. “How often in your life do you get to watch a garbage reality TV show starring someone with whom you had […]
Continue ReadingFor two decades, Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster have proven to be one of the most consistently funny and hardworking teams in comedy. The pair performs their scripted phone calls each week on The Best Show and these segments remain as hilarious as they were when they started. The premise of each bit has Scharpling, […]
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