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.

Over the past 3 or 4 years I have watched Bret Ernst and to a lesser degree John Caparulo, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Ahmed Ahmed work the L.A. comedy scene. I actually remember the first time I saw Bret at the Laugh Factory in 2004 do his roller skating joke…it was unreal then…and it was even more unreal watching him do it on a gigantic screen that is currently showing in theaters across the country in Vince’s Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show. Needless to say…I loved the film. But more than anything…I love the fact that these four gentlemen have the opportunity to show their skills to millions of people across the country. It’s great that Vince Vaughn felt compelled to take the time to help these guys out. It’s something that I would love to be able to do one day as a supporter of stand-up. He didn’t just lend his name either…you could tell he was working hard to promote each show and was with the comedians through out the 30 days. I thought director Ari Sandel did an incredible job of capturing who the comedians were on a personal level…giving the audience a sense of what their insecurities are…and delivering a very real experience for the audience. It didn’t seem contrived. Just fun…and very funny.

I encourage everyone to go see this movie…but more importantly…I encourage everyone to go see these gentleman live in the clubs. In addition, I hope it is clear that great comedians like Bret Ernst, John Caparulo, Sabastian Maniscalco, and Ahmed Ahmed are performing in clubs everyday…especially in our great city. Get out there and see them…support them…and tell your friends about them. We’ll do our best here at Live Comedy L.A. to keep you in the loop on who’s going to be where and when.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS TO SEE ARTIE LANGE ON APRIL 5

Who: Drew Carey, BJ Novak, Bret Ernst, Kyle Cease
What: Comedy Juice
Where: Hollywood Improv
When: Wednesday, January 16 @ 10pm.

The Good Word:
RSVP at the Improv Guestlist and get on the list for $7 – tell them Live Comedy L.A. sent you. That’s a stellar discount at the Improv. And just a quick word…most of you will be going to this show to see Drew Carey and BJ Novak from the Office. Get ready for Bret Ernst if you haven’t seen him before. He’s a 5 tool guy…and probably the best comedian in the line-up (although I don’t like to compare).

Line-up:
Matty Ballgame
J. Chris Newberg
Iliza Shlesinger
Bret Ernst
Sam Tripoli
Adam Gropman
Andrew Norelli
Bone Hampton

Nice to see the line-up card making a second appearance at the Laugh Lounge…and in color. I’m diggin’ it. And I saw people taking it with them…I think it’s going to catch on. Also, cool to see a special slot on the line-up card dedicated to me for my birthday…no I didn’t do the card this week…thanks Matty! Loved the new seating set-up…I probably should have thought of this…but I’m glad someone did (I can’t think of jokes, line-up cards, how to deal with a guest appearance by Bret Ernst…and new seating arrangements – however – I think we should take Franjola’s advice from the last show and put a table up there for the comedians). They took one of the “couches” from the “Judges” section and put it out front. Good call. Sweet crowd…late arriving L.A. crowd as usual…but whattaya gonna do…ask the Dodgers. People don’t come till the third inning for their games…people don’t come till the third comedian for this show. On to the comedians…

Matty Ballgame – myspace.com/balaker
Ballgame kept it to a tight two minute set last night because of a stop in by Bret Ernst (more on him later). Gotta love Matty for sacrificing himself for the good of the show. No joke…he knows what’s good for the show…he knows Ernst is one of the best…and one of my favorites ; )…so he cut his own time. He did some standard jokes…kept it tight…and nailed his Lindsey Lohan joke. Can’t ask for much more than that. Ballgame knows how to wear the promoter hat when he needs to and that’s clutch. It is exactly why this is the best room in the city.

J. Chris Newberg – jchrisnewberg.com
At some point, I’ll give you my thoughts on what I believe a host of a comedy show should be. I believe it’s a special position that plays a pivotal role in the evening’s events. I won’t get into it now…but stay tuned for it. What I do know is that J. Chris Newberg is not a host. His material is good…I liked the short musical bits…but he’s not a host. And the notebook on the floor by the mic needs to go. Fitzsimmons, Silverman…even Gillearn can pull off the notes like that…but they are very special cases. This isn’t that type of room. I’m not trying to knock the guy…but truth be told…ditch the notebook and bring it back around for a smoother set.

Iliza Shlesinger – ilizashlesinger.com
Two takes on Iliza (who I’ve now seen 4 times) – even with a shortened set…she did new material. I like the house party jokes. And there is nobody in comedy better at handling non-laughter than Iliza. That may sound bad…but it’s not. Sometimes…you tell a joke…and it doesn’t work. Sometimes…you tell a great joke…and the crowd isn’t into it yet. Sometimes…shit just happens. Iliza handles those situations better than anyone I’ve seen because she has this sarcastic, “I don’t give a shit” attitude that works so well on stage…and actually helps loosen the crowd…and can create funny moments. She just powers through…it’s really incredible if you are paying close attention. Telling a joke and not getting a ton of laughs is tough…she says “Fuck it…you didn’t like that one…I got another one right here.” I like her a lot.

Bret Ernst – breternstlive.com
Bret has reached a point in his career where he doesn’t even have to think when he’s on stage. You can just tell…it just flows out of him. He’s hilarious. His jokes about his “guido” friends back on the East Coast are priceless…especially the jokes about bottle service. Christ…those had me rolling. And the “old man jokes”…just awesome. I love Ernst…loved him since ’04…and it’s great to see him just pop into places like Red Rock to help out Matty Ballgame. That’s a good guy. Because he’s top notch folks. If you ever get a chance to see the roller skating joke…it kills.

Sam Tripoli – myspace.com/crimefighter
I love the “Crime Fighter”. He’s really starting to be very consistent every time he goes up. Tripoli did a short set…but make no mistake about it…this guy has the ability to go on for a long time. Still love the “300″ joke…just makes you want to go to Westwood and beat the shit out of Persians, he says. Hilarious!

Adam Gropman – myspace.com/gropman
First time seeing Gropman. He had a lot of material…but I just don’t think the tech jokes were playing with the crowd. His Sandler impression was good. And he definitely got thrown by some silent moments…tough set this time. No worries though. He’ll bring it back around.

Andrew Norelli – andrewnorelli.com
Norelli had such a great set…last time he performed…I performed…so I wasn’t fully concentrating on his stuff…but I did this time. His joke about wishing the Indians would just move here so we could just pick up the Mexicans and Indians outside of Home Depot in one trip might have been the joke of the night. Also, the chin to shoulder ratio being the determining factor of how gay you look in pictures is unreal. Plus his AIDS jokes were stellar. Norelli is great. So glad I could see him again and pay attention this time.

Bone Hampton – bonehampton.com
I just love this guy. Not just because he knows I write this blog and talked about during his set…but because he’s a riot and a hell of a good guy. There are very few comedians that I quote on a consistent basis…Tosh, Sickler, Gaffigan…and Bone. “FO’ FIFTY….BYE!!!” My girlfriend and I say that at least once a week. Now Bone grabbed me after the show and said he thought I would write something about him needing to do new material. The fact is…I could listen to his material all the time…just like a good song. But I want to hear new material because he’s that good. Just like I want to hear new material from Sickler and Gillearn. Because when they write new stuff…it’s awesome. Lookin’ forward to new material from Bone!

Next Show: August 7th