Featured stories about comedy, comics, comedians, funny people, funny movies, and comedy wherever it exists.

June 17, 2015

Steve Rannazzisi’s 5 Worst Places to Get Stoned

Steve Rannazzisi is a New York boy whose near miss on September 11, 2001 inspired him to quit his corporate job and head to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. He quickly began performing and working at The Comedy Store, where he was discovered by the producers of Punk’d and has been working steadily ever since.
June 15, 2015

Mike Birbiglia is Really Busy, Jimmy Carr in NYC and News From Michael Che, Jay Pharoah and More

Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York. This week, Jeffrey visited Gotham, The Cellar, The PIT and UCB.
June 11, 2015

The Ultimate Guide to Comedy In Los Angeles

Los Angeles has hands down the most diverse and dynamic comedy scene in the country. It has to be, thanks to The Industry that calls the city home. Every show is packed with headliners, TV stars, D list celebrity freak shows and a boatload of solid talent who don’t get their names in bold in Variety or Deadline.
June 9, 2015

Zach Sherwin Looking to Bottle Lightning Again With His New Album “Rap!”

"Rap!" is the latest record by Los Angeles based rapper-comedian Zach Sherwin. Sherwin has been featured on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and The Pete Holmes Show, and he also writes and performs in the blockbuster YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History. The new album drops today, June 9th and features songs about pill bugs, a funny dentist, and a track that samples the infamous YouTube video Charlie Bit Me. But though this record might transcend the "comedy-rap" genre, it's something that Zach Sherwin takes very seriously as he told me when we sat down to talk about the release.
June 8, 2015

Regis Takes Stage at Charles Grodin Charity Event, Tom Shillue Gets Red Eye Gig, and News from Godfrey, Sam Morril, Seth Herzog and More

Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening […]
June 4, 2015

Innovators: This Comedy Management Team May Change The Business of Comedy

As part of our series on innovators in the business of comedy, we sat down with Rick Dorfman, Conan Smith and Steve Wettenstein from New York based management company Converge Media Group to find out where the business is going and how they are serving their comedy clients in the digital age.
June 4, 2015

5 Things We Learned About Making a Great Comedy From Spy Director Paul Feig

Earlier this week Paul Feig stopped by SiriusXM's "Bennington" to talk with Ron Bennington and Gail Bennington about his new movie "Spy" which hits theaters this Friday. Feig talked about working with Melissa McCartney and why they have such a great working actor-director partnership, the return of strong women to the big screen, and why "chick flicks" aren't good movies (and why his movies aren't "chick flicks"). Paul also shared some of his secrets to a successful action-comedy movie, and we took careful notes. We chose five things we learned about how to make a great action comedy movie to share.
June 2, 2015

How To Beat The Unbeatable LeBron James

LeBron James has reached his fifth straight NBA Finals. The four-time NBA MVP and two-time NBA champion seemingly has the entire sport in the palm of his dunking hand. Yet King James is not invincible — no one is. Here are clear-cut ways to exploit LeBron’s weaknesses and win a basketball game.
June 1, 2015

Sam Morril Recording His First Album Tuesday Night

Sam Morril is a tremendously funny young comedian who is a staple of the NYC comedy scene. After a brief stint in the controversy spotlight a few years ago over a rape joke, Sam’s poised to make a more meaningful impression on America, following his recent appearance on Adam Devine’s House Party with an upcoming Comedy Central Half Hour special and a new album. He’ll be recording the album Tuesday June 2 at The Village Underground. We spoke to him about being as funny as possible all the time and the death of journalism while he sat poolside on a road gig in Arizona.
June 1, 2015

Richard Lewis Headlines Carolines, Gary Gulman Gets Ready for Conan, and Much More This Week in the NY Clubs

Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York. This week, Jeffrey visited Carolines on Broadway, The Stand, The Producer's Club and more.
May 29, 2015

Talking About the Dark Side of Stand Up With The Hosts of ‘Dark Spots’

This Saturday night a new monthly comedy show, "Dark Spots" makes its debut at New York City's infamous "Creek and the Cave" comedy club. "Dark Spots" is a stand up comedy show, where the theme is dark comedy. With the rise of storytelling forms of comedy, dark humor is increasingly making its way into comedy clubs, and onto podcasts, albums and specials. But you haven't heard much about dark stand up shows until now. So we talked with the shows producers and hosts Alison Zeldman, Shane Torres and Nate Fridson, and asked them, what is dark stand up, and why is it something they decided to put into a comedy show.
May 29, 2015

Jim Breuer’s Extreme Makeover For His New Special

The great comics have the ability to turn tragedy into comedy. On paper, a set that touches upon a mother’s descent into dementia and an elderly father’s inability to control his bowels doesn’t seem to be a laugh-a-minute affair, but Jim Breuer owns it and makes it work.
May 27, 2015

Richard Lewis and J.B. Smoove Share Curb Set Stories at New York Event Promoting Richard Lewis’ New Book

Last night at the 92nd Street Y J.B. Smoove and Richard Lewis shared some amazing stories about being on the set of Curb Your Enthusiasm, especially about how important it was to them to please Larry David, and how Larry would break into hysterical laughter, while both of them struggled to maintain their composure during the shoots. J.B. berated Richard for not having had to audition like he had to. He said that Richard didn’t have to audition because he was Larry’s friend but he had to audition and that fortunately Larry broke up during his audition, which made him feel so good!
May 26, 2015

Lisa Lampanelli Gearing Up for 92nd Street Y Talk and New Special

Lisa Lampanelli has undergone a real transformation. In the past two years, she has not only changed her physical appearance, shedding more than 107 pounds and cutting her hair short, but she's also changed her entire way of thinking, living and performing. She ended an unhappy marriage, and has gone from the "queen of mean" to wanting to focus on service, happiness and gratitude. On June 22, she's going to be talking about it all when she sits down "in conversation" with Ron Bennington at the 92nd Street Y.
May 25, 2015

John Mulaney Recording a Special, Steve Buscemi Taping with Jim Gaffigan and News From Dan Soder, Joe List, Nick Vatterott and More

Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York. This week, Jeffrey reports from The Soho Film Festival, Gotham Comedy Club, The Stand, The Actor's Temple and More.
May 21, 2015

Celebrate Red Nose Day With Us Today

Today is the very first official red nose day in the United States and NBC is going all out to raise money for kids in need. Seth Meyers, David Duchovny and Jane Krakowsi will be hosting NBC's Three Hour "ALL-STAR CHARITY EVENT ‘RED NOSE DAY’ tonight from 8pm to 11pm.
May 18, 2015

Inside New York’s Bar Shows, an Interview With Lake Bell, Plus News From Michael Kosta and More

Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York. This week, Jeffrey reports from some of the smaller shows around the city in addition to hitting up The Stand and, Gotham Comedy.
May 14, 2015

This Week Around the Industry in Comedy: The Turner Upfronts Edition

This week the IBang headed out to the Turner Upfronts at Madison Square Garden, where we got to watch what's coming up at Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and truTV as well as Turner Sports, HLN, CNN and Boomerang.
May 13, 2015

Sex, Lies, and Reunions With The Writer and Directors of The D-Train

Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel have been working in Hollywood for years in the studio system. Together they co-wrote (with Nicholas Stoller) the Jim Carrey vehicle Yes Man, and followed it up with a TV gig for Fox on Allen Gregory. But neither have directed before writing their screenplay The D-Train. But that didn’t stop them from landing A-listers Jack Black and James Marsden in a comedy about a high school loser trying to get the most popular guy in school to return. The movie, out in limited release this week, co-stars Kathryn Hahn, Jeffrey Tambor, and Mike White. I spoke with them about their dark comedy.