For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Star stand-up Lynne Koplitz headlines with Pete Correale tonight at the Comix Comedy Club

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

[TOP PICK] 7:30 pm ($10) and 9:30 pm [FREE]: UCBT’s signature improv comedy extravaganza, which typically includes stars in the improv world, and sometimes even TV & movie stars such as Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz: ASSSCAT 3000

[FREE] 7:30ish pm: Typically superb stand-ups performing at a free weekly LES show at Pianos hosted by Greg Johnson: The Comedians

[$] 8:00 pm ($25 & 2-item min.) Star stand-ups Lynne Koplitz (NBC, Comedy Central Presents) and Pete Correale (David Letterman, Comedy Central special The Things We Do For Love, Sirius Satellite Radio) headlining at Comix

[FREE] 9:00 pm: NYC comics Sean Donnelly, Allison Castillo, and Dan Mintz, and Ronald Reagan (80’s Sax Attack from Boston), performing in the East Village’s Beauty Bar at Vince Averill’s & Jesse Popp’s free weekly show Beauty Bar Comedy

[FREE] 10:00 pm: Stand-ups Ali Wong, Jessimae, Susan Alexander, and Danny Siegel performing at a free weekly gay-themed show at Therapy hosted by Brad Loekle: Electro Shock Therapy Comedy Hour

[$] 10:00 pm ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who’s written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle’s Show and David Letterman, headlining at Carolines: Paul Mooney

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Pat Baer hosts the semi-finals and finals of tonight's spectacular annual event running from 8:00 pm to midnight: 3-On-3 Improv Tournament

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

7:30 pm ($5): John O’Donnell tells lots of comedic stories in his long-running one-man show The O’Donnellogues

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm, 9:30 pm & 11:00 pm ($10 for the entire evening; hang onto your ticket and go to the stand-by line for each subsequent show): The not-to-be-missed two semi-final rounds at 8:00 & 9:30 pm, and the finals at 11:00 pm, of a beloved annual tradition pitting the top improv trios in NYC against each other until one champion emerges at Pat Baer’s way fun 3-on-3 Improv Tournament

[$] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($49.00 & 2-drink min.) One of the most memorable characters on Chappelle’s Show, and the writer/star of feature film Norbit, performing with comedy friends tonight at Carolines: Charlie Murphy’s Crash Comedy

[$] 8:00 pm ($40 & 2-item min.) Wonderfully sharp and vibrant rising star Ophira Eisenberg as the opener, and a 1960s comedy icon as the headliner, tonight at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Ophira Eisenberg and Robert Klein

[$] 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm & 11:45 ($22 & 2-drink min.) A razor-sharp comic who’s performed on HBO, Comedy Central, and IFC headlining tonight at the Gotham Comedy Club: Joe DeRosa

9:00 pm ($5): Organic & energetic improv by the four guys of 4 Track!

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): Always fresh and imaginative world-class sketch troupe that uses song, movement, and clever scenarios to turn familiar rituals on their head (for a video about awkward goodbyes at the end of a party, please click here): The Harvard Sailing Team

[TOP PICK] [$] 10:00 pm ($15): Ted Greenberg (Emmy-winning David Letterman
writer) performing a fun, quick-paced theatrical comedy show—complete with audience rides home!—at The Complete Performer

[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 10:30 pm ($15 both online and at the door using discount code BECKYD, otherwise $20): A Chicago-based troupe that’s wowed audiences around the world with their skill at creating a completely improvised hour-long musical. The plot and characters, the musical accompaniment; even the song lyrics and the “choreography” are made up on the spot, with no pre-planned structure. Come see why BWC won a FringeNYC Award this August for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Event at the magical Baby Wants Candy

10:30 pm ($5): Vibrant improv from Nick Kanellis & Peter McNerney (Statues of Liberty) and Leslie Korein, who’ve formed the new troupe Trike

[$] 12:30 am ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who’s written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle’s Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

I recently headed to a match d’impro (an improv match) between Lyon and Montreal. Improv matches, as they are played here, were invented by a Quebecois, so hockey references abound. It’s played in a fake ice rink, with a ref and two linesmen who give out penalties (majors and minors), and goes on for three periods with the possibility of overtime. The players wear jerseys:

Montréal team huddle

Two teams battle for supremacy in an improv match. At the beginning of each round, the ref draws a card and names the criteria for the sketch. At the end of the sketch(es), the members of the audience vote for the team they feel did better, and the winning team is awarded a point.

Scoreboard

The big numbers are points; the smaller ones are penalty points. Penalties are called by the ref at the end of the sketches, for things like non sequiturs and going off-topic. As in hockey, only the captain can discuss calls with the ref:

And sometimes they do strange things

Unlike hockey, the spectators are given slippers to throw at the refs in order to express their discontent with calls.

Oooh, it's a close one!

[Silly side note: At one point I noticed one of the Montréal women was wearing Lululemon pants, and that we might have been the only two people in the building wearing Lululemon.]

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Charlie Murphy, who became a comedy icon on Chappelle's Show, performs stand-up tonight with friends at Carolines

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

7:00 pm ($10): A new sketch show from Chris & Rebecca Smith, two members of world-class sketch troupe The Harvard Sailing Team who are married to each other: The New York Smiths

8:00 pm ($10): Nick Ross performing a show about his combating cancer, with a deliciously vibrant and adorable performance by actress Leslie Meisel as a variety of secondary characters (including the cancer itself…); and Ryan Karels (stellar improvisor in troupes Krompf, Decoster, Creep, and more) detailing the travails of riding a bike in NYC, in the double-bill Highly Evolved Human and Don’t Honk at Me

[$] 8:00 pm & 10:30 pm ($49.00 & 2-drink min.) One of the most fun characters on Chappelle’s Show, and the writer/star of feature film Norbit, performs with comedy friends tonight and Saturday at Carolines: Charlie Murphy’s Crash Comedy

[$] 8:00 pm ($40 & 2-item min.) A 1960s comedy icon headlines tonight and Saturday at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Robert Klein

9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): NYC stand-up comics performing stand-up in Ochi’s Lounge at a gay-themed show hosted by the lovely Jenny Rubin: The Back Room

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($10): Some of the finest improv in NYC from the comedy genius members of The Stepfathers

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): The last quarter-final round of a beloved annual tradition before the not-to-be-missed semi-finals and finals Saturday night—Pat Baer’s 3-on-3 Improv Tournament

[$] 12:30 am ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who’s written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle’s Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

On this day of thanks

I find myself

Thankful

For a small woman

Sitting thousands of miles

Away

From me

On a small island,

Visiting her family

And sending messages

Of her love

Across the miles-

The texts

Reminding me

Of my blessings

As I think of her

And miss her toes

Under the table

Touching mine.

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 26, 2009

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in NYC live comedy are sparse,
as most of the usual suspects are dark for Thanksgiving.
If you aren’t at home with loved ones, though, there are a few shows to consider:

[$] 8:00 pm ($26.75 & 2-drink min.) A comedy potpourri of stand-up comics who, for whatever reason, are skipping turkey dinner to be on stage making you laugh: Carolines Thanksgiving Day Show

[$] 10:00 pm ($15 & 2-item min.): A stand-up who’s performed at Showtime at the Apollo, Def Comedy Jam, and BET’s Comicview bringing along some of his pals to entertain you at the elegant Comix Comedy Club: Drew Fraser and Friends

[$] 10:00 pm ($31.25 & 2-drink min.) A provocative comedy star who’s written for Richard Pryor, Red Foxx, and Saturday Night Live, and performed on Chappelle’s Show and David Letterman, headlining through Sunday at Carolines: Paul Mooney

For this site’s typically more extensive listings, please tune in here again on Friday. Meanwhile…

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The new blog is up! Improv and D&D!

http://www.dungeonmastering.com/blogroll/you-want-to-do-what-the-art-of-improvisation-in-gming-part-2

Sleep

Sits across the room

From me

And taunts me-

Staring quietly,

But refusing to

Speak to me.

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 25, 2009

McGill Law’s Radio show LEGALEASE on CKUT 90.3 FM is available online now! Unlimited quantity. Here is a look at some of the trouble we’ve been stirring up this summer. We are a collective of law students at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1. EPISODE 1: Wrath (July 10, 2009) -

http://www.archive.org/details/Legalese-Ckut90.3Montreal-July102009

This week we first look at the situation in Iran post the 2009 elections and popular protests. In the second portion we read law into J. Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath.

2. EPISODE 2: Judges and Improv (July 31, 2009) -

http://www.archive.org/details/LegalEase-Ckut90.3Montreal-July312009-JudgesAndImprov

Here we consider the following question: is the Judge an improvisatory virtuoso?

In our first half, LEGALEASE takes a look at the recent conference ‘Lex Non Scripta, Ars Non Scripta: Law, Justice and Improvisation’ which took place at the Sala Rossa on June 19th and 20th, 2009, featuring an address by Jonathan Neufeld, an assitant professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/philosophy/faculty/neufeld.html

In the second half of the program we speak with Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice Fernando Vegas Torrealba on being a revolutionary lawyer, the 1999 Constitution, and other fun topics (i.e. socialism). http://www.tsj.gov.ve/eltribunal/magistrados/fernandovegas.shtml

Being a little busy as my Graphic design class ends on December 22nd. Can’t wait for Christmas, woot!

In the meanwhile, I thought you’d like to see a poster I did for the Café Robert Improv group. I drew the 4 comedians with the Grinch for their Christmas special. 

The sketch was drew and inked on paper, then scanned and colored in Photoshop & Illustrator.

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Janeane Garofalo performs with such comedy giants as Nick Kroll and Anthony Jeselnik tonight at ComedyJuice

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

[FREE] 6:00 pm to midnight: Six free hours of improvisation in The PIT’s Super Free Wednesday

[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($5): A hilarious comedic performer trying out her new one-woman show: Jill Donnelly

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): Brilliant character performer Kate McKinnon (co-star of Logo’s Big Gay Sketch Show) plays five very different actresses waiting to hear which of them won an Oscar (keep an eye out for the old lady, who’s one of the funniest characters you’ll see this year, anywhere); and foreign-born Greg Tuculescu (member of stellar sketch troupes Quiet Library and Stone Cold Fox, and superb improv troupe The Law Firm) performs a one-man show, in the double-bill Best Actress and F@#&ing Foreigners!

[TOP PICK] 9:30 pm ($5): A small army of UCBT performers—well, 18 of them, including such stellar talents as Jeff Hiller, Gil Ozeri, and Jill Donnelly—performing an annual improv tradition: The Macy’s Day Before Thanksgiving Day Parade

[TOP PICK] [$] [DISCOUNTED] 10:00 pm ($15 online using code LAFF, plus 2-item min.): A blowout monthly gathering of top comedy talent—tonight featuring thoroughly wonderful stand-ups Janeane Garofalo, Nick Kroll, Anthony Jeselnik, Kumail Nanjiani, and host Sean Patton—all performing at ComedyJuice

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Oct. 28, 2009
The Baldwins are Jen Curran, Meg Griffiths, Chris Griggs, Sarah Nowak, Patrick Shepherd, Shelly Slocum, Steve Soroka and Brett Wean.

The bed she usually sleeps in

Is empty and still-

The covers still in place,

The pillows still propped up.

Her grunts and snorts,

Like a little animal,

Unheard here for now

Until she returns again.

***

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 24, 2009

By now

She’s probably

About 30, 000 feet

Above the earth

And halfway

Between our home together

And her home in Taiwan.

Normally,

I’m the one

Leaving

Home behind and below

As I go

Somewhere.

But this time,

It’s her-

Leaving me to sit

And worry,

And wait for her call,

To tell me that

She has arrived

Safely.

In several more hours

She’ll be sitting with her family-

My new family-

Telling them of us

And our home

And how she misses

Them and there.

Until I hear her voice again

I will sleep only partially

And I will

Toss around

In our bed-

My left leg permanently searching

For her right leg

To touch

With a toe or two.

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 24, 2009

It’s in the dark and quiet that things get scary-

Not because of the dark

Or the quiet,

But because

Of the lack of distraction

That serves as a cover

For all the thoughts

And fears

That always lurk

Just beneath

The surface.

Without the convenient

Veneer

Of just getting through

The day,

The complications

And the worries

Return

To stake their claim

To my time.

It is in the dark

That the fatigue sets in

And the quiet

Of tiredness

Cracks

Through.

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 24, 2009

It’s simply too quiet

In this small apartment

Filled with a life,

A family,

Too much crap

And innumerable memories

From now

And before.

Sharing this space

With nobody

Other than the fish

And the turtle,

The room feels larger-

And yet choking

In its powerful

Silence.

Timothy Vance Jackson

November 24, 2009

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Samm Levine (Inglorious Basterds, Neil on Freaks & Geeks) joins fellow comedy TV/film stars Nick Kroll, Jason Nash, Seth Herzog, and more tonight at Sweet

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Joe Rocha of top Web film site Atom.com joining in on a lively & hilarious discussion about four-color pop culture at Comic Book Club

8:00 pm to midnight ($5): Four full hours of improv for only five bucks—tonight featuring UCBT house troupes Penthouse Riot, DeCoster, The Law Firm, Bastian, and Scootch followed by UCBT advanced students improvising a movie—all at Harold Night

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 8:30 pm: Comedy genius & TV/movie star Nick Kroll (I Love You Man, Cavemen, The Life & Times of Tim, The League, Reno 911, Human Giant), wonderful sketch comic & comedic performer Kurt Braunohler (co-creator of Penelope Princess of Pets, Comedy Central), Morgan Murphy (staff writer for Jimmy Fallon), and stand-up comedy icon Judy Gold performing at the Housingworks Bookstore Cafe for a free weekly show hosted by brilliant stand-ups Jessi Klein (Comedy Central, VH1, NBC, CNN, Adult Swim) and Pete Holmes (Comedy Central Presents, VH1’s Best Week Ever, ComedyJuice, The New Yorker): Punch Up Your Life

[TOP PICK] 9:00 pm ($5): Comedy genius & TV/movie star Nick Kroll (I Love You Man, Cavemen, The Life & Times of Tim, The League, Reno 911, Human Giant), comedy genius & longtime Conan O’Brien writer Andy Blitz (also recently a writer for Important Things with Demetri Martin), TV/movie Samm Levine (Neil in Freaks & Geeks, Inglorious Basterds, Entourage), popular LA stand-up & TV actor Jason Nash (House, Reno 911), and more performing at The Slipper Room for the LES weekly show hosted by the wonderful Seth Herzog (Jimmy Fallon, VH1): Sweet

9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): Delightful stand-ups Leah Dubie and Amy Beckerman in Ochi’s Lounge hosting guest comics Desiree Burch, Jessimae Peluso, and JC Alvarez at Dykes on Mics

9:30 pm ($5): Stand-up comics who are also TV and/or print writers—and tonight include Hannibal Burress (Saturday Night Live), John Knefel (The Onion), and host Mike Drucker (SNL, The Onion): Writers Room

[FREE] 11:00 pm: Free open-mic stand-up show that’s seldom much fun for audience members but is a nice opportunity if you want 4-5 minutes to test out your comedy material on stage: Bring It

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Colin Mochrie (Born 1957 in Kilmarnock, Scotland) is an Award winning Canadian Actor, Writer, Producer, and Comedian. Though born in Scotland, he moved to Canada at a young age and was raised in Montreal and Vancouver. He is best known to American Television audiences as one of the talented Improv Actors on the Drew Carey hosted show “Whose line is it Anyway?”. He and “Whose line is it Anyway?” co-star Brad Sherwood continue to actively tour around the globe doing a Improv Comedy Show. His Television credits also include “The Drew Carey Show”, “King of the Hill” and a number of Canadian Shows including “This hour has 22 minutes”, “Getting along Famously”, “Seven Little Monsters”, “Blackfly”, “Royal Canadian Air Farce”, “The Ron James Show” and others. His Film credits include “Lucky Numbers”, “Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl”, “The Real Blonde”, “The January Man”, and others. He has won a number of comedy awards in Canada over the course of his career. I got this autograph in person at the DFW Airport when I discovered that Mr. Mochrie was seated about 5 feet away from me. I badgered, stalked, and harassed the poor man for the next 8.2 seconds at which point he broke down and agreed to sign this card for me. (Just kidding) Actually he is a very nice man and was very kind to give me an autograph. Thanks Colin!

Autograph #253 in Collection.

Truly great art makes me want to make art myself. Knowing me for the conceited bastard I am, you’d think the opposite: that I’d be inspired by Dan Brown novels or Oliver Stone movies or Nickelback songs to create my own rebuttals, showing them up. But bad art just depresses me. Good art entertains me. And great art compels me to run and catch up.

I thought I’d have a handle on Sleep No More, the interactive theater installation sponsored by the American Repertory Theatre. The CCE, the premier collegiate-level interactive murder mystery theater troupe, did this sort of thing twice a year. Sure, Punchdrunk Theatre, the British troupe that originated Sleep No More, probably had a higher budget and better actors. And taking Macbeth as inspiration would make things creepy. But I knew what to expect.

I had no idea what to expect.

After idling in a packed bar, Misch and I, along with twenty other audience members, were ushered into a long hallway. We were given white plastic masks, instructed not to talk but to touch anything we liked, and then led up a flight of stairs. What had been an abandoned Brookline high school a moment ago became a decaying hotel, covered with odd photographs, stuffed chairs, marked-up books and other knicknacks. Misch and I poked around the hotel lobby and the adjoining sitting room until a Hitchcock blonde with a pillbox hat hurried through the hall outside. We followed her.

We followed her down two flights of stairs, where she ducked into an office. A dozen audience members crowded along the walls, watching her rifle through a desk for something – a photograph. She stared at it, lost in shock, until a short man with a small mustache, dressed in dinner jacket with suspenders, stalked in. He snatched the photograph from her hands. He glared at her; she smiled at him, pleadingly; no words were exchanged. He seized her in his arms and kissed her. The air filled with feathers.

The two of them separated. I followed the man; Misch followed the woman.

And that’s the real genius behind Sleep No More. Not (just) the atmospheric minutiae with which they strew every room in the “hotel” they’ve created. Not (just) the wordless performances, acrobatic gyrations and haunted looks that recreate the story of MacBeth. Not (just) the nightmarish surreality created by the artful use of light, sound and space. What makes Sleep No More work is that the story changes drastically depending on whom you follow.

And you have to choose, because the characters don’t wait for you. The man I followed most of the night (Malcolm, I believe) took off at a sprint several times, forcing me to hurry in turn. This led to the image of a man in a dinner jacket fleeing down the halls of a hotel, pursued by white-masked figures: a bit of theater which the audience helped in creating. I followed Malcolm as he and the other courtiers carried off the King’s body, where it lay in state. When Malcolm and the others went to drink in a basement speakeasy covered in sawdust I followed them. Therein they played a card game of unclear meaning, which I endeavored to understand until one of them charged me with a hammer. I backed out of the way, but he wasn’t going for me: he was going for the wall behind me, to which he tacked a Nine of Spades.

And this was all before the banquet.

If these proceedings sound like a nightmare, that was the effect intended. Every element – visuals, sounds, staging, timing – contributed to a reality that looked recognizable but jerked to a different rhythm. At times I found myself standing in a crowd, watching one woman try to feed another poison. At time I found myself alone in a room with a woman and an empty crib. Had I been in another room, I might have seen a murder, or a still birth, or a drunken dance. Without a meticulous attention to detail and a genius grasp of the surreal, it wouldn’t have worked. But it worked perfectly.

See it with someone you trust.

Oct. 20, 2009
Maybe Sherman (above) is Zach Norton, Miles Klee, Mark Stetson, Deborah Gross, Shira Danan and Dan Selz. Friends of the Museum is Dan Abrams, Sarah Kozinn, Moniquea Marion, Whitney Meers, Uwasha Member, Erin Merrill and Paul Wielunski.









Help yourself to my photos. But if your repost them anywhere, please add my name (Keith Huang) as credit. Thank you.




Friends of the Museum is Dan Abrams, Sarah Kozinn, Moniquea Marion, Whitney Meers, Uwasha Member, Erin Merrill and Paul Wielunski.

Hollywood Film & Acting Academy is making movies a reality for actors… Every 6 Months.  With the introduction of HWFAAs’ 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program, an actor enrolled in this particular program is not only taking classes to learn both the creative side and business side of acting, but are preparing themselves to shoot a movie in four months.  The students study improv, scene study, movement/voice, the business of acting and the Journey of the Actor all with the expectation of starring in the movie that will be professionally produced by Hollywood Film & Acting Academy.

Located in the Heart of Hollywood “it is a prime location for what we do” says Director of the Academy and Filmmaker Josh Sands.  ”Not only do we have creative and business classes for the actors, we help them build up their show reel for agents and managers, they also are exposed to networking with Directors, Producers and other filmmakers that come in and hold screening and special guest speaker nights here at the Academy.”  Sands also noted that housing is included in the 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program saying, “Aspiring actors and filmmakers would move to LA with every intention of following their dream.  Most ended up stuck in the grind of working a full time job, or two, to pay for rent and bills. Then, disenchanted, they would move back home and put their dreams on the sideline.  It is time that an actor do what they came to LA to do…  ACT!”

“With the 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program a student can come to LA, begin classes, and in 6 months star in a movie.  That is unheard of in LA” added Sands.

“With our 6 Month Ultimate Acting Program and 16 Week Feature Film Program, we expect to make at least 3 movies a year.”

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.

Thoroughly wonderful comedy superstar Janeane Garofalo performs stand-up tonight at Tell Your Friends

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

6:30 pm & 9:00 pm (no cover, 1-item min.): The perfect show for short attention spans—open-mic stand-up with 4½ minutes per set and 25 comics crammed into 2½ hours—at John Morrison’s Ochi’s Motel

[FREE] 7:00 pm: Stand-ups Pat Stango, Blaine Perry, Ray Marshall, Travis Irvine, Julia Lundy, and Aalap Patel performing at a free weekly show in the Manchester Pub hosted by Phoebe Robinson: Case of the Mondays Comedy

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($10): A spectacular and unforgettable demonstration of the artful power of mime when combined with a wickedly sharp modern sensibility, executed with great wit and style. Street performers have given mime a bad rep; but if you think about it, what mime does is boil a situation down to its essential elements, and then express those elements in a manner that’s instantly and universally understood. That’s really what art is all about; and that’s also what Billy the Mime does, often brilliantly. (For my review of his FringeNYC show in 2006, please click here.) Don’t miss this special event at UCBT: Billy the Mime

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Movie & TV comedy superstar Janeane Garofalo, The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac, guitar comic Rob Paravonian, and more performing in the Lolita Bar with producer Liam McEneaney at Tell Your Friends

9:30 pm ($5): “A parody jukebox musical that gives new life to the most popular songs of Tupac Shakur. Join us for a romp through all the themes held most dear to Tupac’s heart: economic oppression, dreams deferred, and mall food courts” and ” Characters! Impressions! Breaking News! Audience Interactions (the classy kind)! Stephen Soroka and Mamrie Hart are Best of Friends, and they are taking their hit Web series to the stage” in 2Pac: The Musical and BoF in This Old Thing

[TOP PICK] [FREE] 11:00 pm: A blowout gathering of some of the most brilliant and hilarious stand-ups in the country—Nick Kroll, Andy Blitz, Pete Holmes, Brooke Van Poppelen, and Sean Patton—hosted by the wonderful Leo Allen (Saturday Night Live, Conan O’Brien, HBO, Comedy Central) at Whiplash

For full details, please visit HyReviews.com.