MONTREAL -- Though there is what seems like an infinite number of shows programmed each night at Just For Laughs, what I find most important about the festival – from the prospective of a site that covers what’s new and great in comedy – are the New Faces shows. As you...
If you didn't know better, you might mistake the title of Pat Dixon's newest comedy CD, Goodbye Forever, Fatty, as Dixon suggesting he's grown up from an awkward, pudgy former version of himself. You'd have taken the hook. When, seconds into the album, you find out it's actually...
Moshe Kasher stands onstage and makes people laugh, so the dictionary definition of comedian fits him, though the terminology needs some tailoring. After all, the description does not always suit Kasher snugly on his new CD, Everyone You Know Is Going to Die, And Then You...
"Always get the name of the dog." That's a common refrain among journalists, a reminder that the beauty of any story is in the details. On Half Breed, Al Madrigal's latest comedy album, the master storyteller gives you the dog's name, address, favorite color and Social Security...
Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal bowed for about a minute and a half in appropriate mock theatricality as they took the stage together for a rare co-headlining show at Boston's Wilbur Theatre on June 27. The Flight of the Conchords co-stars didn’t fill the 1,200 seat venue,...
If comedy were a science, then maybe the Albert Einstein would have changed his name to Albert Brooks and been an ingenious funnyman instead of a brilliant physicist! (Or maybe he would have combined both professions and still invented the atomic bomb — a devastating weapon...
There are many stand-up comics who are funny, but not exactly made-for-TV. Some comics have the likability for television, but might be a bit lacking in terms of quality humor. Few possess both traits. Enter Matt Kirshen, the 29-year-old comic who looks 16 (“I can go...
(Editor's note: While this item is in our review section, what follows is the liner notes for Marc Maron's new album, Final Engagement, which I wrote. If I had written a proper review of the album it wouldn't have looked much different than this. I wrote this in March while I...
If Dan Naturman weren’t a successful comic, he’d be the kind of persuasive salesman who could sell oil to sheikhs, clothes to nudists and a(nother) breast enlargement to Pamela Anderson. He’s that professional, that likable, that personable onstage. Although he sounds like...
