WEDNESDAY
Oops!
Wednesday, April 1 on @harajukubk Instagram Live, 10 pm: FREE (suggested donation)
Typically happening at queer bar The Rosemont, drag show Oops is one of the events that immediately flocked to a virtual setting. Hosts West Dakota and Harajuku have been drawing digital crowds in the hundreds to witness their antics, which have ranged from more traditional lip-syncs to leaning into the virtual format by playing with the split screen video feeds that come with an Instagram Live. In lieu of the dollars tossed at IRL drag shows, the queens accept Venmo tips, of course. After a couple weekly shows, this will be the final Instagram Live version of the show, according to their social media. Is it a savvy April Fool’s joke or is the novelty of virtual shows already starting to fade? Presumably, the only way to find out is by tuning in.
THURSDAY
TV Dinner
Thursday, April 2 on TVCO App, 9 pm: FREE (suggested donation)
This show usually happens at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, which up until a couple weeks ago (I think; time is an illusion these days) operating out of the back of Williamsburg bar and restaurant Cantina Royal. Now, the place to be is the streaming app TVCO, where the BCC offers free programming nightly, with chances to tip the performers. Thursday night is for TV Dinner, an unconventional improv show born from The Annoyance’s Holy Fuck Comedy Hour. Now, I’m not sure how exactly improv works when no one is in the same room, but this group of performers seems creative enough to figure something out.
FRIDAY
Can I Live?
Friday, April 3 on Zoom, 9 pm: $5
If you only know Zoom as that platform you have work meetings on, allow comedian Amber Rollo to expand your horizons. Starting this Friday, she will be hosting Can I Live?, a comedy show happening every week on Zoom. Interestingly, it’s modeled after a show of the same name Rollo did in the past, which was performed live and simultaneously livestreamed. A pioneer! Though only the latter option is possible these days when it comes to performances, the show must go on. Friday’s inaugural show features sets by Kate Willett, Chanel Ali, Ben Wasserman, Gabe Pacheco, and Josh Gondelman. If you drink a cheap beer while you watch, maybe it’ll help things feel more authentic.
SATURDAY
Vocabaret: The Livestream
Saturday, April 4 at Caveat on YouTube, 7 pm: FREE (donation suggested)
Maybe, with all the free time you now have, you’ve been thinking about words a bit more than usual. Maybe, if you’re me, you’ve started doing crosswords, a process that involves staring furiously at letters until maybe you figure one out. Maybe you’ve been doing none of this but still appreciate a pun or two. Whatever you’ve been up to, you can find the wordiest, punniest show in town live from your computer screen this Saturday when the crew behind Caveat’s Vocabaret takes their semantic stylings to YouTube. This brainy bunch may not get to be in the same room right now, but they’ll be joined by New Yorker cartoonist Jeremy Nguyen, uniting remotely to unpack the puns, etymologies, and more surrounding the theme “colors.”