Around the Industry This Week in Comedy, Leguizamo, Kamau Bell, LCS and more!

The stories and news people talk about around the industry when the club closes and they’re sitting at the bar….

….John Leguizamo is reportedly working on his new show Latin History for Dummies but this time he’s doing something different- he’s working it out in clubs. Marc Grossman, owner of Helium Comedy Clubs in Buffalo, Portland, and Philadelphia as well as Goodnights Comedy Club in North Carolina is really excited to have Leguizamo performing at the clubs because it gives his fans a rare opportunity to see him in an intimate club setting as opposed to a big theater. Leguizamo was at Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo a few weeks ago, and will be in Raleigh at Goodnights Comedy Club this week and Helium in Philadelphia next week. Go to Goodnights.com for more information.

…Big news from the W. Kamau Bell camp, just in. If there were presses, this would be hot off of them. W. Kamau is on his Oh! Everything comedy tour right now. The tour started in November and its going to wrap in Seattle on January 24 with two shows, and now those two shows are going to be taped for an album that Kill Rockstars is going to release. It’s too soon to have even an estimate of a release date, after all it hasn’t even been recorded yet, but this very cool news to know that Bell’s current tour is going to be an album.  Follow everything happening with Bell on Twitter @wkamaubell

Colin Quinn will be at Helium in Philly this weekend, getting back to more traditional stand-up after a successful run of his one-man show Unconstitutional. He’s enjoying the new fan base that the show has brought in. Colin told us that they no longer judge him by his tough Irish exterior and they’re more interested in hearing the more political and philosophical material he likes to talk about. But don’t worry, it’s still funny, it’s a comedy show and he’s delivering the “boom, boom, boom” of jokes, not a lecture.  Go to heliumcomedy.com for info.

…Storytelling fans all over the country have a new reason to be excited. Soon Kevin Allison will be bringing his infamous and popular RISK! podcast across the country more often! Allison has been doing the podcast monthly in New York and the live show in Los Angeles every month too, and now Kevin has hooked up with a new booking agent who will be booking a lot more RISK! shows all across the country, so this year will be a really big year for the show to start traveling all over. Everyone on Kevin’s team is excited to know that people all around the country will have more chances to check out a live RISK! show and get to know Kevin. Follow Kevin and Risk on Twitter.

Kurt Braunohler has been up to more shenanigans. If you follow Kurt, then you know that awhile back Kurt had some fun with greeting cards. He’d buy greeting cards, and hide alternate messages inside, (like, ‘sorry I was such a lame dad’ in a birthday card) then take them back and puts them back in the rack. It as a way to extend his stand up act outside of the stage, and got a lot of press at the time.  Kurt’s Greeting Card Project was fun, but he’s moved on to a new project now. His latest thing is, he buys a six pack of beer, drinks one of the beers and puts a message inside the six pack that says sorry I drank your beer, and he takes it back to the store and sticks it back on the shelf. Actually the message read something more like, “Sorry I drank your beer, I owe you a beer, I’m not a weirdo. I mean I guess I’m weird but not in a stabby way. Anyway I owe you a beer, you can contact me and I’ll buy you a beer, or something like that.” And he will buy you a beer.  Kurt will also be at the Los Angeles Riotfest this weekend with a sneak peek party for his Roustabout Show this Saturday night LA and he is promising “the most insane shit.”  Kurts new Roustabout series for Comedy Central will be debuting later this month, more details to come soon. Go to @lariot or @kurtbraunohler for more information.

…Chicago Comedy Club Jokes and Notes is celebrating their tenth year anniversary and throwing a big party this Sunday night. Actually there will be a full year of celebrating from now until January 2016, and Sunday night kicks it all off. Owner Mary Lindsay has brought together some of the great comedians who got their start with Mary at Jokes and Notes or its predecessor, the infamous All Jokes Aside club. Rudy Rush is headlining all weekend and will be joined on Sunday by Damon Williams, Lil Rel, Jay Deep, Marlon Mitchell, Kellye Howard and so many others. George Wilborn will be hosting. These guys have not all been on stage together in years, so it will be a fantastic show. All of these guys started their careers with owner Mary Lindsay at the clubs predecessor, All Jokes Aside which was a legendary comedy club in the 90’s. Go to their website jokesandnotes.com for more info.

John Oliver is joining an already incredible line up of comedians who are set to appear at Madison Square Garden on March 28 to benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Performances previously announced include Lewis Black, Bill Burr, Dane Cook, Billy Gardell and JB Smoove.  Get information at gardenoflaughs.com.

…While we’re on the subject of JB Smoove, Last Comic Standing has been wrapping up their search for competitors for Season Nine. Our friends at The Hollywood Improv told us that LCS was in the house this week, working on picking the last 20 competitors. They’ll be back for two final showcases next week. Wanda Sykes was in the house, and reportedly the level of talent showing up for the showcases has been great.  Get information on upcoming shows at the Improv at hollywood.improv.com.

…Speaking of Last Comic Standing, Joe Machi is finally back in New York City after the grueling Last Comic Standing tour and recently got passed at The Cellar and has been getting a lot of spots there now. Sean Donnelly also just got passed. Congratulations.  Follow Joe on twitter @JoeMachi.

…This week, Jim Tews’ comedy documentary Make Fun gets its official release. Make Fun is Tews first feature length film. He’s a comedian living in New York, but he got his start in Cleveland, and put together this great documentary about the interesting people who have collaborated to create and maintain a vibrant comedy scene in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Jim made the movie with the help and support of kickstarter, friends and fellow Cleveland-ites, and the final result shows a real labor of love, not only in the creation of the film, but the creation of a tight comedy scene in a smaller city. We talked with Jim and will share more on Make Fun later this week. And you can get more information in the meantime at jimtews.com.

Jay Baruchel has been doing press for his new FXX series Man Seeking Woman, and during an interview touched upon the upcoming Cameron Crowe movie that he has a small part in. He said he’s in two scenes of the new movie, much like his role in Almost Famous which Baruchel did when he was only 17. Baruchel said they’ve kept in touch since then, and that Cameron was one of the first people to congratulate him after This is the End came out. Cameron told him, “I’m going to put a part in this new movie I’m making for you. It’s not a big part, but it would be real fun to have you come out and do it,” and that’s how Baruchel ended up cast as Bradley Cooper’s stepbrother.  Watch man Seeking Women on FXX Wednesdays at 10:30pm et.

Riotfest starts tomorrow in Los Angeles and Abby and her team are still adding more shows and performers. Friday night if you head over to An Evening of Musical Comedy, and we just found out Pat Regan is bringing his entire band The Baby Boys which includes a banjo, drummer, bassist and trumpet player! That will be super neat which actually translates to amazing event in festival-speak. Another added highlight, Ken Reid will be bringing his podcast– and he’s a great host with an incredible mind for TV and films and he’ll be talking with Billy West who oldtimers will remember from The Howard Stern Show and everyone else knows as the voice of just about everything. Go to riotla.com for all the info and check out our insiders guide to riotfest.

And congratulations to Wes Anderson who got well deserved and long overdue Oscar nominations for best director and best picture and seven other nominations.  Congratulations and good luck to The Grand Budapest Hotel.

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