Live Comedy L.A.

Katt Williams
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Gibson Amphitheatre
Doors: 7:30 pm | Show: 8:15 pm
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

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Public Sale - Saturday, March 29 at 1pm

ALL TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

Jim Gaffigan hits The Wiltern on Saturday, November 8th. Tickets officially go on sale tomorrow according to Live Nation. However, Ticketmaster already has tickets on sale right now as part of an “internet pre-sale”. No code necessary. Gaffigan is a spectacular comedian and 100% clean so you can take the entire family. He tours so much that it is tough to see him do stand-up comedy in Los Angeles. The link to Ticketmaster is below.

GAFFIGAN TICKETS HERE

From what I can gather…it looks like Artie is bringing the great Greg Fitzsimmons and the Rev. Bob Levy with him to do some time at his show on April 5th at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City Walk. It’s going to be a great show.

Family, Friends, Live Comedy, and College Basketball…that’s what life is all about…well, at least in my world. And during the month of March…barring death…College Basketball rules all…so bare with me on the slow updates on the world of live comedy in Los Angeles. Nothing in sports…and very few things in life…beat Davidson knocking off Georgetown or San Diego taking down UConn. It’s not just about basketball…it’s about setting a goal, believing in yourself, and fighting against all odds to come out on top. Ask a stand-up comedian…they might be able to tell you what it feels like ; ).

I wanted to wrap-up a few loose ends from last week. I went to Ballgame’s Laugh Lounge at Red Rock on Tuesday to see Shang perform for the first time. I can’t lie…I had preconceived notions about Shang (I’m human). I saw the headshots…the big time pub…and I thought…”Who the heck is this guy?” Here’ is the truth - Shang is the man. Very cool, down to earth comedian…so comfortable on stage. He wasted no time in letting the jokes fly. I am not sure how long he has been doing stand-up…but I would venture to say it’s forever because the stage looks like it’s home. He reminds me of Joe Rogan…I have a feeling these guys would get along. Just doesn’t give a shit…and tells it like it is. So great to see him do his thing in an intimate setting like Ballgame’s.

The rest of the line-up was good. I think Brian Keith Etheridge went on too long about sucking dick. His material is too good to be talking about sucking dick for 7 minutes. It’s uncomfortable. It’s not Gaffigan talking about bacon…you get a different vibe. Saw Ed Galvez for the second time in the last week…I’d like to see Ed do improv or sketch…I think he would kill in that environment. Josh Wolf was stellar…his jokes about his kids are unreal. He tells a joke about wrestling his teenage son and using “old man strength” that had me screaming. Bryan Erwin is always good. And Ballgame had Jay Montepere in the house for the first time. He was solid. Looking forward to seeing him again.

Calendar updates coming soon. Let me know if you saw Attell last week.

The GREAT Dave Attell is in L.A. this week. Normally a New York guy…Attell gets out to L.A. a few times a year to do stand-up comedy in the our clubs. You can catch him:

Tuesday - “Life of the Party with Jay Davis” at 10pm at the Laugh Factory

Wednesday - “Comedy Juice” at 10pm at the Hollywood Improv

Thursday - 10pm at Hollywood Improv

Friday - 8pm at Hollywood Improv

Saturday - 10pm at Hollywood Improv

That means he MAY be at the Laugh Factory at 8pm on Saturday…but I will have to check on that. If you have never seen Attell…he is arguably the best club comedian in the country. Meaning…if you are going to experience live comedy at a club…and you have one comedian to go watch…it’s Dave Attell. Two of my favorite comedians…Artie Lange and Greg Fitzsimmons both said the same thing last year on the Howard Stern Show…and I have to agree. He’s the man. Make the calls…book the tickets…and go see Attell this weekend.

We hit up No Name Comics on Sunday at Room 5. Host Brad Stewart puts on the show every Sunday and usually gets a decent crowd from what I hear…but always a very solid line-up of funny comedians, including the likes of Aisha Tyler and Brody Stevens on a regular basis. No difference last night as far as comedians are concerned, but the room was absolutely packed - which was terrific to see. I really hope we can help keep this room full every Sunday night. Last night featured 4 of my favorite comedians in Los Angeles - scratch that - in the country and the discovery of 3 more terrific talents.

Favorites: Andrew Norelli, Iliza Shlesinger, Christina Pazsitzky, Ryan Sickler
New Discoveries: Carlos Kotkin, Andrew Orvedahl, Alex Nussbaum

You’ve heard me talk about the favorites over and over again. But I’d like to make something clear…great comedians are like fine wine - you can experience them many times but enjoy them just as much as you did the first time…and notice new things every time you see them…and appreciate the nuances that you never recognized previously. It’s really incredible. I’ve seen Ryan Sickler do the same set at least 10 times…to the point where he apologized to me before going on stage. But the reality is you will never see a comedian do the same set, the same way…ever. And last night, Sickler performed his set better than I’ve ever seen it. He truly has evolved as a comedian in terms of his delivery and pacing. His material has always been amazing but watching him last night was just awesome. The same is true for Norelli and CP (CP is how we will refer to Christina Pazsitzky from now on). I love watching them because they are on-point every single time. I am so happy that Norelli is filming for the Late, Late Show tonight and CP is going full steam with stand-up. Please do yourself a favor and get out and see them at your earliest convenience. I will pay you money if you do not enjoy their performance.

Carlos Kotkin was an interesting change-up as far as stand-up comedy is concerned. He is more of a story teller. I dug it…and so did the rest of the crowd. He had a bit about herpes and HIV that was off the charts. Andrew Orvedahl and Alex Nussbaum were great surprises as well. Nussbaum’s jokes about his Russian mother were killer and Overdahl’s Riverside jokes were great. I’ll definitely get out to see these guys again.

Good night of stand-up comedy on a Sunday night. Now it’s time to pick my brackets.

Besides fiance Tom Segura…Christina wants us to know that Daniel Tosh makes her laugh more than any other comedian in L.A. CP forgot to answer our question from last week but I met up with her, Ryan Sickler, and Dana Min Goodman for dinner tonight after a great show at No Name Comics (review coming tomorrow) and nailed down the answer we were all clamoring for over the past week.

Largo is moving to the Coronet Theater in a few months according to Soundboard at the L.A. Times. The new theater includes a 280 seat theater and a smaller 90 seat theater located on La Cienega. The question remains, what portion of the programming will be dedicated to live comedy? However, it’s quite possible that a bigger Largo with two rooms will put more pressure on the other major clubs in the city - Laugh Factory, Improv, and Comedy Store - to step-up their game in the form of promotion, quality of product, and innovation i.e. getting on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. Additionally, the right amount of crossover promotion by Largo between its music shows and comedy shows will no doubt drive more fans to live comedy - at least from an awareness perspective. If I’m a stand-up comedian, I’m contacting owner Mark Flanagan right now about helping him promote his comedy shows. Have to imagine that if you put the foot work in, you’ll get the time. Take advantage of the cross-promotional opportunities that Largo offers.

If you look to your right, you’ll see a link for a new Live Comedy Calendar. It isn’t exactly how I want it to look, but it’ll do for now. I’m not an HTML expert…and I’m learning all this as I go…so bare with me. But I can promise you that I will only put up good shows and good deals that are worth your time. If it’s a crap show, it’s not going up (or I’ll just give you a big warning - we’re always honest around here). It’s a Google Calendar, so it’s very functional. You can add shows to your own calendar so you don’t forget, map directions, invite friends…the whole drill. Just click on the show…and then the link for more details. I’ll put the line-up info there and any other details I think are relevant. I’ll use this as a more permanent location for shows that I recommend. There may be shows here that I do not talk about in the blog…so you’ll want to check-it even if you read the blog. Plus, if you use any Google accounts…you can just add the whole calendar to your own Calendars and not even think about it. It will show up in your list of calendars. Boom…we’re full service over here at Live Comedy L.A.

Comedian Andrew Norelli will be filming for the Late, Late Show on Monday. Norelli is of the country’s best comedians and his appearance is well deserved. On Tuesday, I appeared on Stuart Paap’s internet show “Live From the Future” and gave a list of comedians that I thought were going to be big in the very near future. I was remiss in leaving Norelli off this list. It was a huge oversight. If you read this page, you are aware that I think Norelli is just as good as bigger name comedians like the great Daniel Tosh. Norelli is professional and will be big time. It’ll be great to see him on the Late, Late Show.

If you are interested in seeing the set live before he performs it on the Late, Late Show, Andrew will be doing a run through on Sunday at No Name Comics. We gave you all the details here. Hope to see you there.