AZIZ ANSARI IS A STANDUP COMIC BASED IN NEW YORK CITY.
SKETCHFEST IN SAN FRANCISCO - THIS WEEK!
Though I've been stuck in the ATL airport forever, I'll soon be in sunny San Francisco for Skethfest! My solo shows are Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm at the Punchline. Tickets are only $10. CLICK HERE TO BUY!
Sorry I haven't posted, been somewhat busy. This weeks show of Aziz Ansari Punched a Wall should be great, I got a nice plug in the big UCB Mailing List email, so it should be a nice crowd.
BV found that NPR has a RealAudio stream of a Bloc Party show in Washington. I saw them at Webster on Tuesday and thought it was a good show. Webster was hot though. One nitpick is I don't like how Bloc Party throws all their hits in the beginning of the set, I wish they saved a few bangers for later in the set, but they are such a great band, its a minor gripe.
If you missed em', this Washington set sounds good. The drums on "Positive Tension" sound great on it. Check it.
Invite Them Up! - Huebel and I return as the Shutterbugs...
In case you missed the first "Crash Test," you missed a presentation from Rob Huebel and I's new talent management company - Shutterbugs. Don't sleep. We're bringing it back tonight at "Invite Them Up" and you shouldn't miss it.
Invite Them Up TONIGHT! 8:30ish Cinema Classics/Rififi 11th Street btw. 1st and 2nd Ave..
Also performing: Cracked Out (Brett Gelman and Jon Daly) and Michelle Biloon 1:06 PM-Permalink
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Crash Test Recap... the $cientolo&y Adventure...
Great show last night! Big ups to Nick Kroll, Chelsea Peretti, and Christian Finnegan. My co-host for the evening was Paul Scheer. For those that didn't attend the show, know this - Paul and I had quite an insane afternoon yesterday. When we met that afternoon, we decided we were going to play characters that were really into $cientolo&y. (For Paul Scheer's protection, $cientolo&y is disguised to avoid $cientolo&y Googling his name and finding about this shennanigan)
One idea led to another and pretty soon, for the sake of comedy, comedy that was pretty much for one night only, we found ourselves on an adventurous, and at times quite scary, field trip to the Church of $cientolo&y near Times Square.
I thought the place would be a little weird, but oh man, it was really weird. We ended up watching a ridiculous, I mean RIDICULOUS, 45 minute $cientolo&y video, and interacting with some VERY scary $cientolo&y folks. Paul and I actually got split up for a while and it was quite frightening to be alone with these folks.
Hopefully we'll refine it up and tell it at another show sometime, it was so absurd. I unfortunately did not have my video camera on hand, but it was a really fun tale to tell, maybe next week at Nick Kroll and Jessi Klein's show Welcome to Our Week, we'll give another recap and film it.
Thanks again to those that came down, next week should be great fun as well. 2:50 AM-Permalink
Monday, June 13, 2005
Goofaround Gang - Tonight at 9:30! Don't Miss It!
Last week before Crash Test, I watched the Goofaround Gang an improv show featuring a group of veteran Chicago improvisers. It f'n blew me away. These folks are on a whole other level.
The night I saw it, the group featured Brian Stack (writer for Conan, does Frankenstein and "Fantastic" guy), Brian McCann (Preparation H Raymond), Miriam Tolam, Jodi Lennon, and Jon Glaser (of Benjamin and Glaser, the Fuggetabuddies, etc.). It was unreal watching this crew work. I used to think my favorite improv was quick montages of scenes a la ASSSSCAT, but Goofaround Gang had me floored with their slow building style.
Several improvisers from UCB had told me that Brian Stack was their favorite improviser ever. They were big words, but Stack lived up to the hype. I hope he's there tonight too. Kevin Dorff, another ASSSSCAT regular/Conan writer, should be there tonight too and he's' also amazing.
Seriously, go to UCB and watch these guys at 9:30, unfortunately this may be the last night they do it.*
Wow. LCD Soundsystem dominated Webster Hall Friday night. Seriously.
I remember reading an interview with James Murphy like a year ago when he said something like "my band is fucking incredible." It didn't seem like a "Losing My Edge" type ironic pretentiousness for some reason, and I was like "yeah James Murphy, turn it down a notch" -- but man, duder was dead on. That band was incredible.
They rocked out every single LCD jam at 11. Every song hit real hard, I loved it. "Tribulations" and "Losing My Edge" were amazing. And my god, the freak out at the end of "Yeah" is one of my concert highlights for the past few years, it was so awesome.
Unfortunately I left my camera at home and the photo resource we all take for granted, BV, passed on the show. I did snap some shots with my camera phone though...
On a related side note, I meant to post about this a few weeks ago, but Jason Productshop brought up something I've been curious about as well, where the hell are the Rapture?Echoes has aged brilliantly in the Aziz collection, I really would love to hear more stuff from these guys and at least see them play a one off gig in NY (missed them everytime back in the day). James, if you Google yourself and come upon, drop me a line and let me know what the deal is with your old pals. 1:16 AM-Permalink
