New York Comedy Festival

Calling all comic tweet-a-holics!  To make even more laughs at this year’s festival we’re launching the first-ever #EmergingComedian Shorty Award to honor an up and coming comedian on Twitter and social media.  The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations producing short-form, real-time social media content.  Previous winners and hosts have included: Neil Patrick Harris, Conan O’Brien, Jerry Stiller and The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi.

Six finalists will be selected from the #EmergingComedian nominees and the winner will be chosen by the the Real-Time Comedy Jury.  The winner will perform a live, 10-minute stand-up set at the Laugh More NYC showon November 13.

If you or someone you know is the next #EmergingComedian, submit your nomination today!  Nominations can be made at the Shorty Awards website or by tweeting “I nominate @TwitterUser for a Shorty Award in #emergingcomedian because…”  now through November 4th; and don’t forget to buy tickets to see the live show!

And if that weren’t enough, Joel also tours the country as a stand up comic! With his biggest date yet happening this November 5th when he headlines the 2010 New York Comedy Festival (performing at no less than Carnegie Hall!).

Joel is such a hard working comic that scientists speculate that comedy is to McHale as swimming is to sharks: if Joel stops making people laugh, he will literally stop breathing.

That’s why we were not surprised – though thoroughly elated – to see Joel, the Great White Shark of comedy, appearing in the opening number of the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards! Joel starred in an amazing “Glee”-style version of Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” The jaw-dropping performance – called one of the best openers in Emmy history – featured Joel alongside Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, the cast of Glee, John Hamm, and, for some reason, Kate Gosselin. (Given “Kate Plus 8”’s rep on ‘The Soup,’ one would expect putting Gosselin and McHale on the same soundstage would be like putting a hamster in a snake’s cage. And if you balk at the comparison of Kate Gosselin at a hamster, remember, she did give birth to a litter of 6 and her kids’ father is definitely a rodent.)

COMEDY CENTRAL, the preeminent brand in comedy, is teaming up with the New York Comedy Festival, to produce “Comics To Watch,” a live show featuring the best up-and-coming young comedians from across the country!

The comedians, selected by the all-comedy network and the festival organizers, will be chosen for their unique strengths including writing, delivery to stage persona.  The showcase will take place at the famed comedy venue Carolines on Broadway during the 2010 New York Comedy Festival, which runs November 3 – 7.

The com-testants will be judged by JoAnn Grigioni, vice president, talent, COMEDY CENTRAL and Louis Faranda, Talent Producer at Carolines on Broadway and the New York Comedy Festival.

Interested in trying out? Of course you are! Tickets available at https://www.carolines.com/event/282/comics-to-watch/

Monday night saw the NY premiere of Due Date, which had the distinction of being held in one of the few bedbug-free movie theater in the city.  The film, directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, attracted the likes of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Russell Simmons, Darren Aronofsky, and Pablo Schreiber (alias Nico Sobotka).  After a few opening remarks from Andrew Saffir of the Cinema Society and Caroline Hirsch of the NYCF the lights were dimmed and Due Date began.  That was when the real spectacle started.

From their introductory remarks (“Zach?  Want to say anything that will lose someone else a job?”) to their on-screen chemistry, Galifianakis and Downey Jr. are what makes the movie work.  Galifianakis’ delivery saves even the emotional scenes from growing too dark, and RDJ somehow turns “garbage face” an endearing term for a French bulldog.  The narrative keeps a frenzied pace, with plenty of pathos interspersed between slapstick gags.  Several elements were reminiscent of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the classic by John Hughes which acts as the gold standard for road trip movies.  Still, Phillips’ signature touch is omnipresent and the dialogue feels as though written specifically for the film’s affable stars.  Considering the success of the actor-director pairing in the past, we’re not surprised.

When the first posters of Downey Jr. and Galifianakis came out the pairing seemed odd, like beer and cereal.  Though both are wonderful on their own, they don’t initially seem like a good combination.  Welcome, friend, to the delicious world of beereal.  All in all, it was a great way to kick off the seventh year of the week-long New York Comedy Festival.

Monday night saw the NY premiere of Due Date, which had the distinction of being held in one of the few bedbug-free movie theater in the city.  The film, directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, attracted the likes of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Russell Simmons, Darren Aronofsky, and Pablo Schreiber (alias Nico Sobotka).  After a few opening remarks from Andrew Saffir of the Cinema Society and Caroline Hirsch of the NYCF the lights were dimmed and Due Date began.  That was when the real spectacle started.

From their introductory remarks (“Zach?  Want to say anything that will lose someone else a job?”) to their on-screen chemistry, Galifianakis and Downey Jr. are what makes the movie work.  Galifianakis’ delivery saves even the emotional scenes from growing too dark, and RDJ somehow turns “garbage face” an endearing term for a French bulldog.  The narrative keeps a frenzied pace, with plenty of pathos interspersed between slapstick gags.  Several elements were reminiscent of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the classic by John Hughes which acts as the gold standard for road trip movies.  Still, Phillips’ signature touch is omnipresent and the dialogue feels as though written specifically for the film’s affable stars.  Considering the success of the actor-director pairing in the past, we’re not surprised.

When the first posters of Downey Jr. and Galifianakis came out the pairing seemed odd, like beer and cereal.  Though both are wonderful on their own, they don’t initially seem like a good combination.  Welcome, friend, to the delicious world of beereal.  All in all, it was a great way to kick off the seventh year of the week-long New York Comedy Festival.