We’ll call Wednesday nights in L.A. “Double Header Comedy Night” from now on.

I hit Tom Arnold’s show at the Laugh Factory at 8pm and then cruised over to the Improv for Comedy Juice at 10pm. It was a stellar night of comedy led by newcomer Hannibal Buress. He performed at both places last night and just killed it both times. I put his Fallon set in the video bar so you can get sense of how funny this dude is. Comedy Nerds will tell you, we get this weird Spidey Sense-like tingle when we see someone who has the goods. And this guy has it.

It was also fun watching Tom Arnold perform at his regular show at the Laugh Factory and then tighten it all up for a killer 15 minutes at the Improv. The guy just knows how to entertain. It’s fun.

Chris Hardwick is quickly becoming one of my favorite comedians. He did a set last night at the Laugh Factory. If you have G4, he hosts Web Soup. The guy is a web leader as far as comedians are concerned, so I dig that. But he’s just flat out funny.

Pete Holmes hosted Comedy Juice and was stellar once again. It’s a bummer that both he and Hannibal perform in NYC. I need to get to NYC for a comedy trip. There’s basically two things I need to do before I die (well, there are more than two, but these are important). I want to take the entire month of March off and travel the country to watch college basketball. Culminating the trip at the Final Four. And I want to go to NYC for a week and just watch comedy shows all over the city. That would awesome.

Comedy Juice was recording a compilation CD last night, so stay tuned for more info on that.

Melinda Hill’s “What’s Up Tiger Lily” show kicked off it’s 3rd anniversary with the Living Legend Brody Stevens doing his own rendition of the Black Eyed Peas, “I’ve Got a Feeling”. Brody is hands down worth going to a show just to see what he might do. His attention to detail, his memory, and his knowledge of our city is just awesome and hilarious at the same time. He actually called his mom during the show on two separate occasions to confirm John Daly (the golfer) lived next door to her at one point and that she was born in Michigan. There just happened to be a comedian performing named John Daly and some people from Michigan visiting the restaurant. Priceless.

I got to see Pete Holmes (not the former MTV VJ) and T.J. Miller for the first time also. Both were outstanding. Pete Holmes probably had the set of the night. Miller went up and riffed for 12 minutes about a homeless guy who happened to walk into the restaurant during the show asking to do karaoke. It was incredible.

Melinda Hill did some hilarious crowd work and practiced a speech to high schoolers. Had to be there for it’s excellence.

I highly recommend going to the show to catch some of the cities best comedians. In a way, it’s what comedy in L.A. is all about. Extremely talented people just throwin’ down jokes in a relaxed, intimate venue for the sake of making folks laugh. L.A. comedy is Ballgame’s Laugh Lounge, it’s What’s Up Tiger Lily, it’s The Trophy Room, it’s Funny or Thai. I dig it so much. Here are some pictures of the comedians from last night.

Anyone else find it ironic that they are holding an event that benefits a drug and alcohol recovery house at a venue that requires a 2 drink minimum? Or are they just serving water and Cokes all night long?

For Immediate Release:

FRIENDS OF LENNY BRUCE

COMEDY BENEFIT – LAUGH FACTORY

Wednesday, October 28th – 10PM
Auction of Rare Lenny Bruce Memorabilia Goes Up For Sale to Benefit Lenny’s House

Join comedians Richard Lewis, Paul Mooney, Rick Overton, Paul Provenza and Bobby Slayton for an All-star Comedy Show at the Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip to benefit LENNY’s HOUSE, a non-profit recovery house for women healing from drug and alcohol addictions, named in memory of the legendary Lenny Bruce.

In addition to the benefit, the event will conclude with an auction of rare memorabilia consisting of more than 25 items of from the comedian’s estate, overseen by his daughter, Kitty Bruce.
Complete auctions details are available at www.lennybruceofficial.com and to make reservations, call the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood at (323) 656-1336 ext 1.

Among the items going up for auction are Bruce family photos, personal letters, a typewriter from his early years, his bedroom set and one of his trademark trench coats which he was so famous for being arrested in.

Kitty, “For more than 40 years, I held on these items, but now I felt the time was right to honor my father’s memory in a way that will change lives. And with Lenny’s House, I have never felt so right about anything in my life.”

Lenny’s House is overseen by The Lenny Bruce Memorial Foundation a 501C3 organization.

Contact: Jeff Abraham @ Jonas Public Relations at (310) 656-3355 or jeff@jonaspr.com

# # #

Canadian comedian Todd Allen is on the cusp of doing something that thousands of people would love to do – sell a TV show. Next Wednesday, he is doing a live presentation of his game show concept in front of network execs with the hope that one of them will buy it and put it on the air. He has Merv Griffin Entertainment in his corner and a track record of successful shows performed live in Vancouver and L.A., so he’s hopeful. I thought it would be interesting to chat with Todd about how he was able to make this all happen.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY (PLAYER WILL APPEAR); RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

If you are interested in going to the live presentation:

WHAT: Live comedy game show presentation.
WHEN: Wednesday October 21st.
TIME: 730pm to 830pm.
WHERE: The Complex Theater – 6472 Santa Monica Blvd. (Upstairs in the Flight Theater)
FREE BEER/FREE VALET PARKING
CONFIRM ATTENDANCE: Call 310 598 0211 or email toddcallen@gmail.com. Seating limited.

Even though 3 Clubs is my favorite small room venue for a comedy show, I have not been there in a while. It’s intimate without being cramped, the room is situated in a way that allows for people to come into the show room without interrupting the comedians, seating is flexible, and there is still a bar for drinks. It’s very nice. I highly recommend checking it out.

Comedian Justin McClure invited me out to the show last night because he books and promotes the show there on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Brian Swinehart handles the duties the other weeks. The show is free and features mostly up and coming comedians, which I love. I have a tendency to frequent the same shows, so it’s good to break things up. I was really impressed with all the comedians for the night and how well McClure ran the show. It was packed too. 11 comedians performed, which is normally too many. However, the show was only an hour and a half, which was perfect.

Sammy Obeid and Kabeezy were stellar. Both comedians perform regularly in the Bay Area and are just down for a visit, which is a bummer, but they were very polished. From what I gather, neither has been performing stand-up for very long. I might have a soft spot for Obeid because he’s Lebanese like me. I’m on the Whitey McWhite side of Lebanese…but still…there aren’t too many of us around. He was great though. Kabeezy had great stage presence and his material was stellar. I put videos of both up in the video bar.

Laura Rosenberg, Justin McClure, and Candice Thompson were also great. I’ve seen Laura a ton and you can always expect great energy from her. Looking forward to seeing longer sets from McClure and Thompson.

The full line-up is below. Highly recommend checking out the show when you can. 9pm, Tuesday nights, 3 Clubs on Vine.

Laura Rosenberg, Ed Galvez, Tim Mars, Shawn Latham, Candice Thompson, Sammy Obeid, Chris Strait, Abby Stern, Brian Swinehart, Justin McClure, Kabeezy

Looks like it’s time to get Showtime.

The premium cable network is adding a comedian round table show called “Behind the Greenroom Door” in 2010. It sounds like a bunch of past stand-up legends, current headliners, and future stars sit around and BS about life, comedy, and showbiz in front of a small studio audience. This sounds amazing.

If you listen to the Howard Stern Show, one of the best parts of the show is when they have a comedian in as a guest. Usually Artie knows the comedian and they tell the best stories from road gigs and movies you’ll ever hear. I could listen to it for hours. If this show is able to capture the same feeling, it should be fun. They were filming this a few weeks ago, but I didn’t get down to see it, so it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out. Maybe we’ll see some local comedians talking it up with some big timers.

Dave Chappelle was spotted last night in L.A. I missed him again. Maybe one day.

Comedian Andy Peters gives us the lowdown:

Here’s what happened:

I was there to say hey to MC Mr Napkins and amazIng hip hop based comedy act from Boston. He was billed to headline the Super Secret Comedy show at the Improv annex – hosted by The Walsh Brothers. Well he didn’t go up and the show didn’t stay a secret. Here’s why:

Previous to the show, there was some buzz. Dave Chapelle was hanging out in the lobby. The rumor was that he might do a quick set at the late show on the main stage. The show was already pretty stacked: Aziz, James Adomian, and others.

The walsh brothers took to the annex stage to kick things off around 9:30, to a very thin crowd – maybe 20.

They did some riffing. About 5 minutes in, the door that leads to the famous Improv Hallway opened. A shadowy figure stepped in said, “Oh, sorry!” And exited. David Walsh said, “That was Dave Chapelle”. To which Chris responded, “I’m gonna go ask if he wants to do a set.”

He did exactly that. He popped his head out and said – you wanna go up. Then in sauntered Chris with Mr. Chapelle following. Dave, with no introduction, walked right up to the stage. He opened with, “I forgot about this room.”

This was the first line to what would be a 2 and a half hour set. It was a very laid back and conversational affair. Needless to say – the room quickly filled up. There was a bit of tension. The staff was not to happy that he was in the annex and not the main stage. The room was just too small. They had to turn people away. Dave embraced the intimate atmosphere. He tried out some new stuff and just had conversations with onlookers, all the while keeping the audience captivated. He discussed his new life living in Ohio to his attempt at a comeback.

By the end of the night Bud Friedman, Chris Tucker, and tonight show booker J P Buck were in attendance. At one point Chappelle announced his desire to launch his comeback on Conan. To which Buck exclaimed: “How about tomorrow!”

So he is on his way!

Comedian Matt Baetz left L.A. a few months ago to pursue comedy on the road full time. Ballsy to say the least. I thought it might be cool to check in with him and get some road stories and see how things are going.

In true LiveComedyLA.com podcast form, we don’t edit our calls. You get what you get. That being said…I lost Matt at the very end of the call. Probably a cell phone issue. Yeah…we’re raw and uncut here!

BTW…keep up with Matt’s road stories at his new blog.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY (PLAYER WILL APPEAR BELOW); RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

When I created LiveComedyLA.com 2 years ago, the goal was always to create a site where could find the best live comedy shows in the city quickly and easily. I only wanted to provide the best shows, so no one is wasting time or money. Not just generic listings. But an informed filter for whats good. It didn’t really exist. It’s taken a bit of time to get there but I think the LCLA Comedy Calendar is a resource people can use to find the best shows, the best comedic performers, and the best deals in town to just GO LAUGH.

Now the time has come for live comedy in L.A. to go viral.

I’m very excited to launch the LCLA Comedy Calendar Widget!

You can now get all the info on the best live comedy shows in L.A. on the websites and social networks you are already visiting.

Do you have your own blog or website? Boom…simply copy and paste the embed code from our widget.
Do you use Facebook (of course you do)? You can add our widget as an application on your profile.
Do you use iGoogle? Add our widget as a Google Gadget so you can see it when you do a search.
Are you a Mac user? Awesome…add our widget to your dashboard.

Basically, you can add or share the widget all over the internet. Just click the “Get & Share” button and you will get a menu with options-o-plenty.

If you are a comedian, a show producer, a venue, or you just love live comedy as mush as I do, its time to start spreading the word! Tell people to add the widget, add it to your social networks and websites, tweet about it, post about it…do whatever you need to do to help live comedy go viral. Don’t F around. Just do it.

If you are a website or Twitterer who covers the happenings of Los Angeles but aren’t really covering live comedy (which is basically all of them), we have solutions for you. Check out our LCLA Comedy Calendar syndication options. We’ll do all the work. You get all the content for none of the cost! Pretty sure that’s a sweet deal.

Hope you enjoy getting out to see more live comedy.

Live Nation recently introduced its “Club Passport”. For $49.99, you can go see unlimited club shows for the rest of the year in a participating Live Nation venue in your city. In Los Angeles, that means any of the House of Blues venues, the Wiltern, the Palladium, and Avalon. If you’re a music fan, this seems like a great deal.

For years, I’ve felt that this could be done with comedy. Why not lower the barriers for people to go see more live comedy and get them into the venues with an annual pass? For $50 (or whatever the amount may be), people could go see any show at a particular club or set of clubs (i.e. Improv Hollywood, Irvine, Brea, Ontario) they wanted.

In reality, how many of you go to see more than 1 or 2 live comedy shows a year? Probably a small percentage. More things need to be done to get people into the clubs more often and spreading the word. An annual pass is a great option. Amusement parks have been doing this for a long time. “Buy a day, come back for the rest of the year”-type of deals. Because they know it’s about getting people in the venue, having them purchase other products, and bringing their friends.

Special shows could be made available only to the annual pass holders. Create exciting exclusivity like the inside tip on club performances by Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock. At the end of the day it about creating buzz and word of mouth hype.

This is also a much better option than offering free tickets. Free tickets devalues your product. It basically says, “I know my normal prices are too high for people to pay and I haven’t done a good job promoting the product to create any demand.”

Now of course there would be some set of rules governing shows you can see, as I’m sure there are with Live Nation. I believe there might be a wait list for certain shows. And I can imagine clubs would have to work out any situations where comedians get a portion of the “gate”. But this can be done.

I wonder how many of you would be interested in buying an annual pass for live comedy?