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Next Week in Comedy: Seinfeld, Space and Singing

TUESDAY

(Flyer via Facebook)

Mary Houlihan & The Yellow Dress in “This Could Be Anything”
Tuesday September 6, 8 p.m. at Over the Eight: FREE. 
As the name suggests this one is a bit of a mystery. It’s a musical, but who knows what about? Written by indie pop musician Dan Weiss (with his band the Yellow Dress) and comedian Mary Houlihan, whose regular show, Cartoon Monsoon, usually includes a fair amount of funny singing, it definitely has a lot going for it. Sure, “comedy musicals” don’t always end well, but I have a feeling this one is going to be good.

It’ll also feature comedians like Carmen Christopher, Susan Casey, Pat Wise, Tim Platt and Joe Rumrill. As if that’s not enough, there’ll also be songs about “friendship and bravery.” If you’re curious to know any more details, then I guess you’ll just have to go and find out for yourself on Tuesday.

FRIDAY

(Flyer via UCBtheatre.com)

(Flyer via UCBtheatre.com)

Improvised Seinfeld
Friday September 9, 7:30 p.m. at UCB Chelsea: $10. 
Do you ever imagine Seinfeld still on TV? It’s a pie-in-the-sky dream so long as Seinfeld is busy getting coffee and complaining about college students, but it’s nice to think about, right? If, however, that’s not enough to scratch your Seinfeldian itch, then fear not, because there’s always Improvised Seinfeld.

At this semi-regular show, former UCB Maude team, Bellevue (who wrote a pretty good new episode of Seinfeld a while ago), perform a fully improvised episode of Seinfeld based on an audience suggestion. I’ve seen the show a few times myself and it is startlingly close to the real thing—the tone, the episode structure and even the actors playing the main cast (the Elaine stand-in, Cathryn Mudon, is an especially close dead-ringer for Julia Louis Dreyfus). So if you can’t even imagine it, then stop thinking about it and see it for yourself.

(Flyer via the Annoyance Theater)

(Flyer via the Annoyance Theater)

Deep Space Live!
Friday September 9, 8 p.m. at the Annoyance Theater: $10. 
In an effort to cope with the impenetrable loneliness of space travel, NASA scientist Sam Weiss (played by comedian Sam Weiss) has taken to hosting a weekly late night talk show. Because, honestly, what better way to deal with the existential ennui of being thousands of miles away from any other human beings than hosting a talk show?

This week also happens to be your last chance to catch Deep Space Live, which will feature guest appearances from the likes of the voices in Weiss’s head, some aliens and comedians including Sam Taggart and Ben Hosley.

SUNDAY

(Flyer via Facebook)

(Flyer via Facebook)

The Famous Awards
Sunday September 11, 6 p.m. at the Bushwick Public House: FREE. 
Next Sunday, comedian Kady Ruth Ashcraft will host the first ever Famous Awards—a one-of-a-kind award show that will celebrate and crown the world’s most famous individuals. You know, those traditionally unsung heroes of this world. Selfless and brave, every one of them.

The event promises to feature “a red carpet, step and repeat, champagne toasts, and most importantly, awards celebrating the 2016 accomplishments of famous people.” The show itself is free, but also be aware that it is 100% black tie mandatory.

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You Don’t Need to Be a Mind-Reader to Know Psychic Twin From Psychic TV

(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Psychic TV, Psychic Twin)

(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Psychic TV, Psychic Twin)

Ok, give me your hands and I’ll read your mind. Hmmm. Interesting. You don’t know the difference between Psychic Twin and Psychic TV? That’s understandable, really—their names are pretty close, and they both have new material out and upcoming shows. I don’t know why you put this shortcoming in the “deepest shame box” in your subconscious, but I do know that the latest installment of Bands Apart can help you get it out of there.

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Like a Game of Glazer Tag, All the Glazers Are Beaming Into Bell House

(Flyer courtesy of Shark Party Media)

(Flyer courtesy of Shark Party Media)

As part of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, happening in two weeks in Park Slope, comedian Eliot Glazer is taking his popular show, Haunting Renditions, to the Bell House. The Sept. 17 event is part comedy show/part karaoke show in which comedians take on the vapid, popular music hits of today with the help of a backing band and reimagine them in order to “find new, deeper meaning in otherwise lightweight compositions.”

Basically it’s like a more judgmental (and probably funnier) version of Carpool Karaoke. Joining Glazer on this installment of the show are comedians Ilana Glazer and Jon Glaser. Glazer, Glazer and Glaser will—oh jeeze. I am honestly not even sure which one the host is anymore. Wow, ok we’re gonna have to suss this whole thing out.

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BK Bazaar: Hire Me As Your New Karaoke Manager

The old Brooklyn Night Bazaar

The old Brooklyn Night Bazaar

The much anticipated BK Bazaar (formerly Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Night Bazaar) is beefing up its staff in preparation for its opening in the Polonaise building in Greenpoint. In addition to the staff needed to run events—like their stacked opening weekend, featuring Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah and Pissed Jeans on September 9 and 10, respectively—they also need people to staff the “bazaar” part of the venue, which includes a restaurant, arcade and, of course, karaoke rooms. As Greenpointers reported earlier today, that means they’re looking for, among other things, a karaoke manager. I, John Ambrosio, believe I should be that karaoke manager.

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Week in Comedy: Orgies, Dancing and… Murder?

(Photo: via Union Hall)

(Photo: via Union Hall)

MONDAY

Pasic and Platt: The Orgy
Monday August 29, 8 p.m. at Union Hall: $5
Mo Fry Pasic and Tim Platt are two comedians who have teamed up a few times in the past to disgust, bring dread and even break up. Now, the two are moving their show to Union Hall where they’ll be taking the next logical step and hosting an orgy. Sort of. As the event description explains, they’ll be hosting this show as “a modern couple trying to organize an orgy for, undeniably, the wrong reasons.” It’ll be a show with fewer fast, ridiculous comedy scenes and more slow, serious acting around a ridiculous idea. They’re also joined by a bill packed with other great comedians and actors, including Carmen Christopher, Aaron Jackson, Betsy Kenney and Anna Drezen.

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Backyard Wrestling Has Come to Brooklyn

(Photos: Endrit Slaughter via The Sloodge's Facebook)

(Photos: Endrit Slaughter via The Sloodge’s Facebook)

If you were recently enjoying a peaceful night in your quiet apartment in Park Slope when, all of a sudden, a crowd of nearby 20-and-30-somethings start chanting “U.S.A” and beating each other up and ruining your evening, well, Matt Proctor might be the person to blame.Proctor, an artist and member of the performance collective/show house the Sloodge, recently staged a DIY wrestling show—the first of the new Brooklyn Backyard Wrestling promotion—in his backyard in Brooklyn where, of course, things got weird.

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Parsing Out a Pair of Proficient Pop Players, Peaches or Porches?

large-white-background

(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Peaches, Porches)

Now, I know that my excellent Photoshop skills have no doubt tricked you into believing that this (see above) is simply your average, un-doctored photo, but— and you’ll have to just take my word on this— it’s actually a composite of two promotional photos. The image on the right was used in ads for indie band Porches’ latest album, Pool, whereas the hotdog’d one on the left was used by performance artist/electronic musician Peaches.

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Week in Comedy: Summertime Stories and Imaginary Films

THURSDAY

(Photo: Summer Fling)

(Flyer via Summer Fling)

Summer Fling
Thursday August 25, 9 pm at Union Hall: $10

Hosted by Lacey Jeka and Kristen Buckels (Between Two Bushes), this show is stacked. I mean seriously, you’re telling me that you’ve got Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone– who by the way also host some great shows together— and Brett Davis, the cult-obsessed audience antagonizer, plus a great young man named Gary Richardson, all on the same bill?

Also, the show is only $10? And it’s on a Thursday and at a reasonable hour? Wait, there’s a flyer for it? Uh, yes please. Like, on all accounts. This show might only last one night, but, oh man, what a summer fling it will be.

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How a Film About Traversing Boundaries Begot a Film Series, Imagined Boundaries

(Photo: Courtesy of Jess Thoubboron)

(Photo: Courtesy of Jess Thoubboron)

When Jess Thoubboron wanted to screen her new short film, Strangers, she thought about how to showcase it in a way that connected to her motivation for making the film in the first place.

Strangers, Thoubboron’s directorial debut, is about two strangers who meet and instantly form a special bond and encourage one another to traverse their self-imposed boundaries and reexamine how they perceived themselves.

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Twillerama, the Trillest Film Festival for Animations and by Animations

(Via Twillerama)

(Via Twillerama)

A quick hypothetical for you: if real people host film festivals with “real films,”  then wouldn’t it make sense that an animated film festival should be hosted by animated people? Crazy, I know, but filmmaker Morgan Miller seems to think it’s worth a shot.

After completing an animated short starring the characters Jeff Twiller and Randy—two coarse guys who enjoy the simple things in life and “like to hang out at the dump” in a place “kind of like Queens”—Miller decided that they’d be perfect hosts for their own film festival.

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