A rising tide lifts all comedians: After a six-year hiatus, Robin Williams is going back on tour with his stand-up act "Weapons of Self Destruction," bravely setting aside his film career which has reaped flicks like "License to Wed" and "August Rush."
"It's an election year, which is basically Christmas for stand-up comics," Williams says, but the show will be mostly a personal affair covering his struggles to stay sane.
The tour kicks off August 25 in Minneapolis and ends November 25--by which time he'll be able to test his new presidential material, knock wood--at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston.
Ivan and Jason Reitman opened the final weekend of Montreal's comedy festival last night with reminiscences of working with Bill Murray (Reitman the elder) and turning down "Dude, Where's My Car?" (Reitman the younger).
Our picks for this weekend may not be as funny as "Ghostbusters," but they will make you laugh more than Ashton Kutcher:
Russell Brand: US audiences know him as Kristen Bell's new boyfriend in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" but the British comic, currently filming a movie with Adam Sandler, is poised to hit it big over here any minute now. Fri. and Sat., 9:30 pm, Centaur Theatre
Patrice O'Neal: Some call the former "Best Week Ever" comic confrontational; maybe in his solo show he'll do it in a sweet way. Fri. and Sat. at 11 pm, Theatre Ste-Catherine
Apatow for Destruction: Speaking of "...Sarah Marshall," producer Judd Apatow drags Canuck buddy Seth Rogen for--well, we're not sure exactly, but it's bound to be hilarious. Sat., midnight, Metropolis
Jaunted remembers George Carlin, who looked like our grandfather while saying some very ungrandfatherly things. Murmur the seven words you can't say on television as you visit these places which were key to Carlin's comedic career:
519 West 121st St., New York, NY :: Carlin grew up here in the then-rough-and-tumble NYC neighborhood of Morningside Heights, or what he referred to as "White Harlem." On his website he writes of this address: "First everything occurs here: sex, drugs, rhythm and blues."
We here at Jaunted love to laugh, so we were saddened to read of the passing of Paul Sills, a founder of Chicago's venerable sketch-comedy institution The Second City. Sills may not have been a household name, but he worked with some of the most famous names in American comedy, from Nichols and May to John Belushi, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey in classes and nightly topical performances.
In the Chicago sanctum, anything goes--and often does at the adults-only shows. The drinks are great, too!
Catch a Second City show at permanent theaters in Chi-town, Detroit, Las Vegas (inside the Flamingo), Toronto and LA, or on tour.
Calling all Church of Saget members! HotelChatter is giving away two sets of tickets for HBO's Comedy Festivalshows, which are taking place in Vegas this weekend. Up for grabs are a pair of tickets to Bob Saget and a pair for the Maxim Real Men of Comedy show. Anyone who enters HotelChatter's Las Vegas Map Contest is eligible to win the tickets, which must be given away by 5 pm today.
Now that you're armed with some hotel picks for a Vegas mancation, don't you think a free comedy show would go perfectly with one of your evenings out? Sure, if you're not already set to be in Vegas this weekend, it's a bit last minute, but spontaneity is kinda macho anyway. Not that we're reserving those freebies just for the gents. HotelChatter's love, like Bob Saget's, is universal and knows no conditions.
The 3rd Annual New York Comedy Festival, not to be confused with the New York Underground Comedy Festival, kicks off today in NYC. The event runs through November 12 and features headlining shows from Dane Cook, Denis Leary, Mario Cantone and more, at venues throughout the city.
Other supporting events include a "Comedy Cares" benefit for the homeless, featuring Patrice O'Neal, Paula Poundstone, Caroline Rhea, and some possible surprise guests. Thursday sees a Q&A with "TV Funhouse" creator Robert Smigel at the Museum of Television and Radio, as well as the Andy Kaufman Award finals at Caroline's. Tonight's kickoff is a Mario Batali comedy roast at Capitale, to benefit the Food Bank for New York City. Poor Mario--they'll never let him go on the orange clogs. We actually had a pair ourselves in middle school, but they were suede, not rubber. That does make it better, right? RIGHT?
Sitcoms not doing it for you? Seen every episode of Family Guy and the Simpsons?
Head to the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal from July 6th-31st and catch acts with Jim Belushi, Dame Edna (the scariest drag queen ever) or an "Inside the Writer's Room" series with the peeps who put on the recently defunct "Everbody Loves Raymond."
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by egw
Sitcoms not doing it for you? Seen every episode of Family Guy and the Simpsons? 
