SOTY = Show of the Year.

And Lost Moon Radio ran away with it on Friday night at St. Nick’s Pub. I see a lot of comedy and this was by far the most creative show I’ve seen in 2009.

Lost Moon Radio is a one hour radio show hosted by 1960′s DJ, “Jupiter Jack”. In between Jupiter Jack’s ramblings of days gone by, the audience is treated to skits, commercials, and radio promos performed live by a company of actors and a 7-piece band.

The writing was off the charts. A show like SNL should just scoop up the entire cast of Lost Moon Radio. It would be 100x better.

One of my favorite skits was this song about Jesus being born:

I also think the theater at St. Nick’s pub added to the experience. I had no idea there was a theater there and it is the coolest place ever. Small, quaint, and perfect for comedy.

There have been 5 productions of Lost Moon Radio, including this latest run called “The Holidays” – all at St. Nick’s. I’m definitely looking forward to much more from these folks. And don’t be surprised if you see this thing made into a television show or a popular podcast or even a Sirius radio show. It’s that good.

Last week, I went to see SketchComedyShow.com’s final show of the year.

I don’t see as much sketch and improv as I should and that will change in 2010, but every time I have gone, I’ve had a great time. Last week’s show was no different. I was really impressed by the shear amount of writing the folks over at SketchComedy did.

Earl Baylon, Jeena Yi, Jason Owsley, and Jeremy Lalas kicked the show off with an operatic medley of 80′s cartoon songs and the entire cast closed the show down with a spoof on “Glee” called “ApocaGlee”. Both bits killed. I’m only slightly embarrassed that I actually knew what “ApocaGlee” was before my girlfriend. I leaned over to her and said, “It’s a Glee spoof. They just said “Mr. Schue.” Really??? I’m a man. And some how I know “Mr. Schue” from “Glee”. I need to make some changes in my life. Quickly.

Rounding out the cast was Surina Jindal, who was not only funny, but hot too (We love when hot girls do comedy here at LCLA. And by “we”, I mean “me”). Also in the group were Davis Choh and Kris Clemente. Clemente had one of the best performances of the night playing R&B singer Kay Jaxx. Check out the video below.

Overall, a great night of sketch comedy. They even threw in some improv to break things up which was hilarious. Big props to Earl Baylon for figuring out most of the audience suggestions in jibberish. Impressive.

I will post videos of hot female comedians talking about hooking up with other girls ALL DAY LONG! Let’s hope Dinah Leffert turns this into some kind of series…and HBO picks it up. I’m in. Like a man.

My girlfriend and I spent our Valentine’s Day evening at UCB LA watching Mookie Blaiklock’s “Comedy is for Lovers”. Mookie hosted the show in his underwear as Cupid “The God of Love”. He was hilarious. And disturbing.

While various “couples” came out to perform different skits, we discovered another duo at UCB that I recommend everyone see – Garfunkel and Oats a.k.a Riki “Garfunkel” Lindhome and Kate “Oates” Micucci. They’re cute, clever, and fun. I love discovering new acts. It’s awesome. And these girls are great. I expect big things from them much like we are seeing from “Ronna and Beverly”.

You can check them out at their next show:

Garfunkel and Oates
02-16-2009 8:00pm at Steve Allen Theater
4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90027
Cost: $10
Garfunkel and Oates is appearing in Kate “Oates” Micucci’s show, PLAYING WITH MICUCCI. It’s a magical night of songs and storytelling!

2009 Comedy Season Totals
Show Count: 8
Total Ticket Cost: $46
Total Min. Drink Cost: $12

Last week I couldn’t find a show to recommend for the weekend…and this week…I’ve been plain lazy with my recommendations.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore live comedy on your own.  See what’s out there.  Discover someone funny.  You know what I mean.

So, to help out, I decided to add the RSS feed from A Special Thing to the site.  There is a section on AST where many comedians list their comedy shows in Los Angeles.  You can see the feed in that widget thing on the right hand side on this site.

I don’t necessarily recommend all these shows…but hell…if you feel like being adventurous…definitely starting hitting a few up and let us know what you thought.  Maybe you can do a guest write-up or something.

January 26 – February 1, 2009

Monday – 1/26
What’s Up Tiger Lily / Cuba Libre Bar / 8pm / Free
Still haven’t seen this show, but I will be there this week. It’s a bigger line-up than I usually like but Maria Bamford and Duncan Trussell are in the house, and I love them a lot. Plus Matt Champaign who I really enjoyed seeing at Ballgame’s last week is also in the line-up. Looks like Dov Davidoff will also be there among others.

Tuesday – 1/27
CDR – Patton Oswalts 40th / UCB LA / 8:30pm / $5
Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Karen Kilgariff, and the great Dana Gould. No wonder it’s already sold out. But hey, if you’re in the neighborhood…give it a shot.

Ignorance is Bliss / Melrose Improv / 10pm / $14 (but hit up Daryl Wright on Myspace for a discount)
Another show with a bigger line-up than I’d like to see, but Bret Ernst, Ian Edwards, Wright, and Dov are all very good.

Wednesday – 1/28
Comedy Juice / Melrose Improv / 10pm / $7 (email guestlist@comedyjuice.com)
Dane Cook and Dwayne Perkins are good to go for this one. And Ben Gleib will be there. Comedy Juice is always a great show.

Thursday – 1/29
Shang / Melrose Improv / 8pm / FREE (email shangism@pacbell.net)
Shang is awesome and a really fun comedian. I dig him and recommend checking out this show.

Check our Weekly Picks page for more recommendations this week.

The Upright Citizens Brigade is a great place to go laugh in L.A. They offer great stand-up, improv, and sketch and the most expensive show they have is $8. Perfect for that newly created ’09 entertainment budget (try to stick to it at least till February folks. Then blow it all on Valentines Day on that guy or girl you just met…that’s always smart).

Check out UCBComedy.com for a glimpse at videos of the shows and the talent going through there on a nightly basis. It’s a terrific site. I would hope to see some of this content on Hulu sometime soon. The complete show schedule can be found at UCBTheater.com.

I like this set from Natasha Leggero.

I picked up the Rolling Stone Comedy issue in the Vegas airport this weekend on my way home from BlogWorld (yeah…I was at BlogWorld). If you can still grab it, it’s a good read. My biggest take away from the issue was how opinions differed on the importance of the internet to comedy.

It’s 2008 folks. This isn’t debatable anymore. The internet is extremely important to comedy and comedians. Some quotes:

Dane Cook
“It’s the most important tool any comedian can implement into their career. It’s up to you to gather your fans for your own personal personal programming. That’s powerful.”

Katt Williams
“I think it’s been wonderful for comedy – a gold rush. It happened with the comedy clubs in the Eighties and Nineties, and it’s happened again now with the internet. Whoever thinks differently is looking at it the wrong way.”

Craig Ferguson
“I think it’s actually bad for performers who are starting out. They’re not getting a chance to fail in private.”

Zach Galifianakis
“The little bit of success that I have is due to the internet. It has nothing to do with me guest-starring or being on a sitcom at all.”

Albert Brooks
“I think the internet is slowly going to take down all creativity.”