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

January 14, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 14, 2015

Rainn Wilson to Guest on Unmasked with Ron Bennington

Rainn Wilson will be the next guest on Unmasked with host Ron Bennington. You know Rainn of course as Dwight from The Office, and he's about to debut a brand new show, Backstrom, on Fox. Ron and Rainn will be sitting down in front of live studio audience to tape the hour long interview at SiriusXM's New York studios on Wednesday, January 21st at 1pm.
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January 13, 2015
Published by Amy Hawthorne at January 13, 2015

Ari Shaffir, Home at The Comedy Store

Comedian Ari Shaffir is having a big month, and no, it's not because of the kiss cam video that went viral with Duncan Trussell last week. This Friday at Midnight Comedy Central Presents Ari Shaffir: Paid Regular, Ari's one hour special which was filmed in the original room at the world famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and then later this month, his new series "This is Not Happening" debuts on Comedy Central on January 22nd. TiNH may be new to Comedy Central, but it's not new to anyone who loves live comedy. Shaffir's series which has funny people telling funny stories has been performed for two years now as a web series, and live at clubs and festivals since 2010. Ari's podcast, Skeptic Tank also had the distinction of being named one of our "Podcasts You Absolutely Have to Listen To." In honor of Ari Shaffir month, writer Amy Hawthorne talked with Ari about his upcoming special and his comedy.
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January 12, 2015
Published by Jeffrey Gurian at January 12, 2015

New York City PodFest, Going Inside ‘Inside Amy Schumer’, Rain Pryor’s New Documentary and More This Week in the NYC 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 checked in from NYC Podfest, Rain Pryor's new documentary, and of course all the NYC clubs.
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January 12, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 12, 2015

Comedian Rick Shapiro Talks About Doing Comedy With Parkinsons

In April 2012, comedian Rick Shapiro was very sick, and didn't know why. He was completely immobilized for about two months. He had spent ninety days in a hospital, sixty days in a nursing home, two weeks in a rehabilitation facility, and was continually misdiagnosed throughout the process. Rick and his wife went through a frustrating ordeal, with some doctors not returning their calls for months, others suggesting that Rick's problems stemmed from an identity crisis. One doctor even told Rick-- under his breath-- maybe you should take up basketball. A year later, for the first time, a doctor told them that she felt Shapiro needed a doctor who knew more than she did, and referred Rick and Tracy to the Mayo clinic.
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January 11, 2015
Published by Andy Fargnoli at January 11, 2015

5 Comedy Books That Can Help You Have a Shiny 2015

It’s a new year and time to convince yourself you have potential and are able to achieve so much more. Luckily you’re not in it alone. We’ve rounded up some comedy books that will help you get it together. These 5 books belong to a rare genre, comedy-slash-self-help, with one of them fresh off the presses last week. Here are 5 great comedy self help books, to hep get your New Year started on a high note.
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January 11, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 11, 2015

The 2015 Golden Globe Awards Comedy Preview

It's Golden Globes day! It's Golden Globes day! The country is only 24 hours away from talking about who won, who lost, who looked really drunk and who did hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler destroy in their monologue? The 72nd annual Golden Globes Awards presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press will be given out tonight on NBC. Here's a preview on what to look for in movie and television comedy tonight.
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January 10, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 10, 2015

Truth In Comedy; Or, The Myth of ‘Punching Up”

Ajai Raj is a writer and stand up comedian living in New York City. He grew up in Texas, the son of Indian immigrants. His name means "invincible" and he has a lot of strong opinions that he likes to express through various mediums. This is his first time writing for The Interrobang but you can also find his writing in places like Affect Magazine, Business Insider, and Popular Science among others.
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January 9, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 9, 2015

Robert Kelly, It’s His Time

Robert Kelly is already having an amazing 2015. His brand new comedy hour, Robert Kelly: Live at the Village Underground debuts Friday at 12 am et on Comedy Central, and he's incredibly proud of the special, which he produced on his terms. He's also shot the new Denis Leary FX series, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll which is set to premiere this summer. And just last spring he had an unforgettable guest role on Louis CK's Louie. His podcast, You Know What Dude is a huge hit on RiotCast.com. After 25 years of working at it, it's all coming together for Kelly.
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January 7, 2015
Published by Amy Hawthorne at January 7, 2015

Los Angeles Gearing Up For An Amazing RIOT LA Fest: Here’s Your Insider’s Guide to the Best Shows at the Fest

RIOT LA enters its toddler phase this month, with the third outing on Jan 16, 17 and 18. This weekend-long comedy festival packs a lot into a little, in terms of both time and space. In only three days and a few square blocks of Downtown LA, RIOT offers about 35 shows featuring almost 100 comedians from around the country.
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January 5, 2015
Published by Jeffrey Gurian at January 5, 2015

Artie Lange’s New Podcast, Details on Wet Hot American Summer, Tammy Pescatelli Working on a Sitcom, and a Prestigious Club Sets a World Record

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. After missing two weeks to make some room for year end specials, this week, Jeffrey found out what's new with Janeane Garofalo, what Artie Lange has planned for his first podcast, the story behind Greer Barnes' new CD and a full report from the Metropolitan Club's 60 hour world record breaking show marathon.
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January 2, 2015
Published by Interrobang Staff at January 2, 2015

Incredible Line Up Announced For New York Comedy Club Crawl to Fight Parkinsons Disease

Come help New York's funniest comedians fight Parkinson's Disease on January 13th with a three club all night comedy crawl. An all star lineup of some of New York's funniest comedians are getting together on Tuesday January 13th for a six hour plus comedy crawl marathon, for a great cause.
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January 1, 2015
Published by Mike Bocchetti at January 1, 2015

A New Years Inspiration, Mike Bocchetti’s Transformation

Comedian Mike Bocchetti was not happy. He had recently lost his dream gig with the Artie Lange show, and was feeling bad about that. He was was overweight, and out of shape. He decided to do something about his unhappiness. He made up his mind to take up kickboxing, with a friend who was a trainer, and get in shape. Mike wanted to share his story about deciding to make changes in his life, just in time for New Years when everyone is making New Years Resolutions.
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December 31, 2014
Published by The Editor at December 31, 2014

The Very Best of 2014 on The IBang

It's been a tremendous year of change for all of us. At the end of our first year devoted full time to comedy, we wanted to thank everyone who has helped the site grow. The contributors, the developers, the writers, readers and commenters, and everyone who helps us out by retweeting, posting on other sites and boards, we can't thank you enough. We have big plans for 2015 to continue and grow and hope you'll all stick around.
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December 29, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 29, 2014

The Ten Best Comedy Movies of 2014 (Vote!)

Our picks for the ten greatest comedy movies of 2014 are all over the map. There is a blockbuster, and bunch of indie films among our picks, and we chose several films that you might argue aren't actually comedies. But we stand by the notion that often the best comedies are films that are dark, or mixed genre, so we didn't get details like that get in our way of picking some great films that skirted the edges of being pure comedies. Let us know what your favorite comedy of the year was this year by voting or leaving us a comment.
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December 29, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 29, 2014

Nine Great Artists Share Their Memories of Nine Incredible Comedic Talents

2014 was a year where comedy news dominated the headlines regularly, and that was in no small part because we lost so many comedy legends this year. The empty spaces at the comedy dias this year are large and unfillable. Literal legends, people who created modern comedy who we were lucky enough to have in our midst just a year ago like Joan Rivers, Sid Ceaser, David Brenner, Mike Nichols and Robin Williams, are no longer here. We also lost younger brilliant comics who should have had decades ahead of them, like John Pinette, Otto Petersen, and Tim Wilson. All eight of these tremendous talents have left behind great work for this generation and future generations to enjoy for years to come.
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December 29, 2014
Published by Jeffrey Gurian at December 29, 2014

Jeffrey Gurian’s Favorite Comedy Things! A 2014 Year in Review

Any time you try to make a list of the "top" anything, it's always a little bit subjective, due to the point of view of the writer. With the understanding that it's not an exact science, and really just an opinion, I will give you my top 15 comedy events list of 2014, of all the events that I covered during the year. Some of the events I was involved with in some way, but most of them not! I tried to be as impartial as I could.
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December 28, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 28, 2014

The Best Stand Up Comedy Tours of 2014! (vote)

The heart of stand up is of course working the clubs, and the culmination of working all those club dates is the comedy tour. We picked six tours that everyone was talking about this year. These five single acts were the hot tickets this year, and of course we couldn't talk about great tours without bringing up Funny or Die's Oddball comedy tour, which brought together the biggest names in comedy on stages across the country. We picked six standout tours but you will pick which was the biggest, the best and funniest tour of the year. Vote below!
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December 27, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 27, 2014

The Very Best Comedy Series on Television in 2014

The great comedy in 2014 wasn't just limited to stand up. There was also outstanding comedy on television. Comedy Central really upped their game this year, with five of our top ten programs coming from the all-comedy network. All five of those shows -- Dave Attell's Comedy Underground Live, South Park, Review, Inside Amy Schumer and Key & Peele -- brought completely different elements of comedy to the channel. Brooklyn Nine Nine, Last Week Tonight, Comedy Bang Bang, Silicon Valley, and The Pete Holmes Show all created must see television too. And we've left off many great comics-- more proof of the strength of comedy in 2014.
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December 25, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 25, 2014

The Comedians Call It: 22 Great Comics Tell Us Who Will Be the Next Big Thing

For a week we've been talking about who was great, who excelled and who out performed everyone in 2014. But 2014 is sooooooo 2014. What really matters is who is going to kill it, crush it, wrap it up and take it home in a nylon sack in 2015. We wanted to know who is going to be the big ticket next year and so we went to the people who know best- their closest friends and competitors, other stand up comics.
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December 22, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 22, 2014

The Best Comedy Albums of 2014

As our celebration of the best comedy in 2014 continues, we are looking at the best comedy albums released this year. There were many strong contenders this year, and we picked ten favorites. Albums by Sarah Silverman, Big Jay Oakerson, Chris Gethard, Mark Normand, Cameron Esposito, Tommy Johnagin, Joe Mande, Nick Thune, Mike Vecchione, and Weird Al Yankovic topped our list for the funniest albums of 2014. We picked our top ten but we need you to vote for who had the #1 comedy special in 2014.
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December 22, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 22, 2014

Vote for the Best Stand Up Comedy Special of The Year in 2014

We're continuing our celebration of all things comedy with a look at the best comedy specials released this year. It was an incredibly strong year for comedy specials, with many specials taking untraditional routes, without being gimmicky. Our picks for the freshest, most creative and funniest comedy specials this year include strong writing, different tone, and incredibly strong material.
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December 21, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 21, 2014

The Top Ten Comedy Books of 2014

It was 2014. The Greatest Year in Comedy since the Beginning of Comedy had great stand up, great movies, great shows, and it also had great books. These ten comedians wrote ten books while they were killing it in their respective comedy arenas. And now we need you to vote, on who had the #1 book. Jim Gaffigan, Amy Poehler, Joan Rivers, Andrew Dice Clay, Russell Brand, Carol Leifer, Todd Glass, Megan Amram, John Cleese, or Marin Short.
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December 20, 2014
Published by Interrobang Staff at December 20, 2014

The Official Unofficial Timeline of Comedy in 2014

It was a big year for comedy in 2014 with gigantic shifts in the Late Night arena, tremendous heartbreaking losses of great comedic voices, and many ups and downs for those who make us all laugh. We put together this timeline to highlight the momentous ups and downs the comedy world shared this year.
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