Last night I got to attend Comedy Bang Bang at the UCB Theater in LA. I like to go a lot, but it’s popularity has grown the last 2 years and tickets are harder to get. Set your alarms for every Friday at noon (PST) and click on THIS website to get tickets, but know they sell out really fast. CBB is also a weekly podcast and now they are also developing it into a television show for IFC. They are currently filming and you can check out Scott Aukerman’s (Host) twitter feed for photos from the set.
This past Friday I was crazy-lucky and got ahold of two tickets to this weeks Comedy Bang Bang, which starts at 8:30p on Tuesday. Often times Doug Benson does a free live taping of his podcast in the hour before CBB. If you can make it through the long line to get in to the podcast show, this gives you priority seating for the CBB show later that night. My sister and I were lucky enough to make it in to the Doug Loves Movies Podcast at 7:30p. Doug always has cool guests, and I highly recommend seeing a live taping of the podcast as well as listening to it on itunes (or through his website).
Can you tell who the guests were, from my grainy cell phone pics? From left to right, it’s the host Doug Benson, Zach Galifianakis, Rachael Harris, the director of Rachael’s new film Robbie Pickering, and Jeff Garlin. What a hilarious group of guests.
You can check out the podcast when Doug posts it on his website. After Doug Loves Movies, we had to step out in the lobby to confirm our tickets for Comedy Bang Bang, where Bob Odenkirk walked past us. We could tell this show was going to be awesome. Once again, I apologize for the blurriness/graininess of these cell phone photos. I had an great seat in the second row center, which meant for great viewing, but made taking photos especially difficult. With such a small theater, the comedians often comment on audience members, so I do what I can to not to draw attention to myself.
Seth Herzog was the host for the night, so he does the opening act and then comes out between each comic to do little bits and introduce the next stand-up comedian. Most shows at UCB are improv shows and some skits, but Comedy Bang Bang is all stand-up. I didn’t record any of the nights show, but I did find this clip of Seth on youtube doing the same skit he opened with last night, but at a different event. It was hilarious. Also, I caught his pants.. or I should say, I got slapped by his pants when he ripped them off.
Jeff Garlin was up next.
A bearded Leo Allen hit the stage after him. Each comedian really killed it. Some weeks there are a few duds, but the audience was really feeling each comedian.
Next up, was Jena Friedman. She’s one of the few female writers that has been on staff on the Letterman Show (pretty impressive). I’ve never seen her perform before, and I’m glad I have now because she was excellent.
Jon Daly came out and did his set in character as a smoooooth jazz musician (who’s big in Japan). He actually played the saxophone really well. He invited 3 women on stage so he could “play their vibe”. And of course he picked one obnoxious girl who’d been talking to the comedians mid-act on stage all night. She was a terrible audience member. The best part was when she had no clue who Rick Santorum is. She made me embarrassed for women not just in her not knowing who Rick is, but because of her attitude and need for attention. Thankfully Jon Daly was so funny, that it was all worth it.
It was getting late and we still had three comedians to go. Kumail Nanjiani came out next. You might remember him from my post about Portlandia, where he performed with them at the Echo. Check out that post HERE.
Eddie Pepitone was up next. I’ve seen him perform many times (as he often does at set as part of Marc Maron’s live podcast taping of WTF). I’ve never seen him as funny as he was last night. He was on his game and the crowd was loving it.
Last up was Reggie Watts. He’s a comedy musician and also co-hosting the tv show Comedy Bang Bang with Scott Aukerman. Think of him at the Roots to Jimmy Fallon. He kept moving and putting his head down so images were hard to get.
He performed music that he was generating on the spot, with that green instrument/equipment of his. He’s so talented and getting to see him perform live was very cool treat. I’m eagerly anticipating the premiere of the Comedy Bang Bang show on IFC.
The show finished just at 11p, where my sister and I walked outside the theater and commented that we never saw Bob Odenkirk perform. The CBB live show not only brings famous/hilarious comedians to the stage, but it also brings their friends out to come “chill” in the green room. Throughout the show we could see comedians watching from the sidelines and see guests headed backstage. Just outside the theater we passed Rob Huebel and Jason Mantzoukas where talking with friends and probably just left the theater’s green room.
With all those comedians, I would call last night a giant success. My next comedy adventure is Largo this Friday night. Tickets are still available and you can get them HERE.
