New York Comedy Festival

by Georg Szalai, Nov 4, 2009

NEW YORK — Laughs for a serious cause filled the air Wednesday night as the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Foundation presented this year's edition of “Stand Up for Heroes,” which has become an annual fixture at the festival.

Hosted by NBC News anchor Brian Williams, the event at midtown Manhattan's Town Hall featured surprise guest Elvis Costello as well as performances by Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert (in camouflage suit), Lisa Lampanelli and Bruce Springsteen. Video messages from Jon Stewart, first lady Michelle Obama and President George H.W. Bush rounded out the program.

Lee and Bob Woodruff kicked off the event in style as the former thanked sponsors and others by comparing the night to a mullet: “We are business in the front, party in the back.”

She also welcomed the uniformed men in the audience, before looking at her husband and deadpanning that if he wore one, “you'd have more game with me.” Replied her husband: “Next Halloween.”

Bob Woodruff spent five weeks in a coma after sustaining injuries while reporting for ABC News from Iraq.

Following an inspirational video about the foundation's work, Stewart added a video thought for those not willing to donate now: “You may be made of wood!”

Lee Woodruff introduced the show's host with the words: “You might think of him as an uptight white guy reading the news,” but he is also very funny, she said.

Williams walked onstage with a laptop and opened his monologue with the words: “Yankees 2, Phillies nothing.” There was loud applause from the New York crowd missing Game 6 of the World Series.

He quipped that he wanted to be a full-service provider onstage and offer sports and weather updates in addition to covering the news. Williams also shared jokes about military food and being from New Jersey.

Springsteen threw in a few jokes, including one about Pepsi having created a drink that includes Viagra and that is called “MountAndDo.”

One of his guitars and four Madison Square Garden tickets were then auctioned off by auctioneer Jamie Niven, the son of actor David Niven, for $50,000. “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay walked away with the goods to much applause.

Louis C.K. had the audience in stitches with edgy material about divorced life and his kids.

Colbert offered some topical humor, talking about his experience visiting the troops in Iraq, which he described as hot and dangerous, “like Texas with fewer guns.” He also described a former Saddam Hussein palace as mindful of a house decorated by “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”

“Give it up for Tom Brokaw,” Lampanelli said when Williams brought her onstage to kick off the finale.

Last year, Regis Philbin hosted the Woodruff Foundation benefit, and Conan O'Brien led the show in 2007.

All proceeds from the event go to the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

Co-chairs for the event included such industry executives as CNN's Jon Klein, CBS' Sean McManus, ABC's Anne Sweeney and David Westin, HBO's Richard Plepler and NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker.

Laughs abound at Comedy Fest event

Stephen Colbert, Bruce Springsteen entertain at benefit

Laughs abound at Comedy Fest event: Stephen Colbert, Bruce Springsteen entertain at benefit

by Michael Love, Nov. 3, 2009

The New York Comedy Festival is, in a word, big. Over the course of five days, Nov. 4-8, there are industry panels, book readings, storytelling shows, TV tapings, an amateur competition, a best-of sketch show, a best-of musical comedy show, and of course, lots of stand-up. With the wide variety of talent appearing everywhere from the UCB Theater to Carnegie Hall and so much potential laughter to be had, the most pressing question a prospective comedy consumer must ask is: What kind of laugh am I seeking? Herewith, The A.V. Club surveys six different sorts.

The Convivial Chuckle Of Discovery: Mike Birbiglia (Thursday, Nov. 5, Town Hall)

When you want…: A little kid to sit you down and tell you stories about his day, wide-eyed and bemused by their awkward twists.

Why: Mike Birbiglia seems to be still discovering the world and how it works, so when he talks about his confronting a bear beside his sister, playing shows for golfers, or his inadvertent nocturnal adventures—as he did in his highly successful one-man show Sleepwalk with Me—he comes off as genuinely full of wonder. Birbiglia's demeanor is easygoing and casual, and he allows an audience to see his vulnerabilities. It’s not just that he recognizes the potential for humor in small, pedestrian moment—everybody can do that. The key to his allure is his elegant ability to articulate and shape chaotic happenings into something everyone can recognize.

The Tittle Of The Naughty Schoolchild: Ricky Gervais (Thursday, Nov. 5, Carnegie Hall)

When you want…: To join that keenly perceptive teacher who knows the world beyond the classroom and therefore can’t stop giggling at the stupidity of the proceedings within.

Why: Ricky Gervais purports to examine larger phenomena in the titles of his stand-up shows at home—Fame, Politics, or, recently, Science. (They must lose something in translation because all we get stateside is Out Of England.) And he does, at least obliquely. He’s political, polemical, and proves his erudition with flurries of facts. Ultimately, though, he’s a scurvy dog. He impishly takes the piss out of the self-important parade of culture and makes the audience his accomplice. He swigs lager, gets physical, and plays with words until the crowd squirms with the kind of luscious, inappropriate laughter usually saved for quiet churches.

The Public Release Of Private Fantasy: Bill Burr (Friday, Nov. 6, Town Hall)

When you want…: Someone to lift those secret thoughts and unspoken feelings out of you and make you accept their absurdity.

Why: Bill Burr is not a misanthrope—he’s just more honest about his feelings and 99 percent of the populace. He’s combed through his life and located exactly what bothers him about relationships, race relations, and pretty much whatever’s on his mind. He doesn’t think an audience should necessarily subscribe to what he believes in, but he asks them to acknowledge the shared impulses underneath. If they resist or refuse, well, he’ll just have to push their faces in.

The Full-Body Hemorrhage: Tracy Morgan (Friday, Nov. 6, Carnegie Hall)

When you want…: To be overwhelmed by a creature of unabashed id.

Why: Talking about going to see Tracy Morgan is like talking about going to see a typhoon. An evening with him is as much about stand-up as it is about experiencing an inarguable a force of nature that an audience is simply beholden to. The dude is just naturally funny. He’s willing and quite capable of delving into his hungers and his needs, and he’ll do it whether you like it or not. Sex, drugs, fame, or his life before it—he’s uninhibited in talking about all of it. And you can tell from the steady, serious look in his eyes that it’s not just fun and games: He knows that talking about this stuff is going to help you.

The Startled Geek Snort: Patton Oswalt (Saturday, Nov. 7, Town Hall)

When you want…: To revel in the company of a supreme fanboy who’s so crafty and articulate that it makes your own dorkdom look cool.

Why: It’s no wonder that frustrated geeks everywhere turn to Oswalt. He’s like everyone: He’s consumed a lifetime of popular culture and now stands deep in its detritus, slowly examining item after item and obsessing over minutiae to help make sense of what he has become. Technology doesn’t work, childhood icons are crushed, and grown human beings eat the KFC Famous Bowl. His is a bleak landscape, but, in the end, Oswalt’s passions, intellect, and command of language manage to save him and his fans from a sad fate in their mothers’ basements.

The Dark Cackle Of Recognition: Louis C.K. (Sunday, Nov. 8, Carolines On Broadway)

When you want…: To experience the crying of your own damned soul.

Why: Louis C.K. is a man who gives the impression that he is telling his truth as simply as he can. He’s not wringing his hands or hammering jokes together; he just ushers you around, day by day and moment by moment, being sweetly brutal about everything he finds. He doesn’t placate his kids, doesn’t hold a candle for his wife, and doesn’t maintain any illusions about a glamorous life in show business. On the surface, it may seem that C.K. lacks sympathy. But give him a moment and it’s easy to see real warmth under there, struggling for time in an otherwise baffling existence.

by Vanita Salisbury, Nov. 3, 2009

Stand Up for Heroes

Town Hall ; 11/4 at 8 p.m.; 123 W. 43rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-840-2824

It's funny for a good cause when an all-star lineup including Stephen Colbert, Lisa Lampanelli, Louis C.K., and host Brian Williams take the stage of Town Hall, with proceeds to benefit the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

Mike Birbiglia

Town Hall; 11/5 at 8 p.m.; 123 W. 43rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-840-2824

With contributions to This American Life and the critically acclaimed one-man show Sleepwalk With Me under his belt, Mike Birbiglia is no stranger to storytelling. He'll regale us this week at Town Hall, which is also part of his current I'm in the Future Also tour. Bonus: He's keeping it hush-hush, but his website promises a super-awesome band as the opener.

For those not willing to drop dough on tickets, MySpace Comedy is hosting two “secret shows” for free. Catch Tom Green in his stand-up debut on 11/4 and Rob Schneider taking the stage for the first time in nineteen years on 11/5. Also, hope you weren't planning on getting much sleep, because the shows are at midnight. (You wanted a deal, right?)

Ricky Gervais

Carnegie Hall; 11/5 at 8 p.m.; 154 W. 57th St., at Seventh Ave.; 212-247-7800

Following last year's U.S. tour, Out of England (filmed for an HBO comedy special), the multi-talented Brit will play for one night only, with opener (and hometown hero) Todd Barry.

Tracy Morgan

Carnegie Hall; 11/6 at 8 p.m.; 154 W. 57th St., at Seventh Ave.; 212-247-7800

Tracy Morgan's not really known for his restraint, so it's worth checking out this show just to see what will come out of the unpredictable mouth of the 30 Rock star and author of the new memoir I Am the New Black.

Patton Oswalt

Town Hall; 11/7 at 8 p.m.; 123 W. 43rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-840-2824

Before he hit it big as a lovable animated rat in Ratatouille, he was the lovable alternative comic who founded the well-received Comedians of Comedy tour. This year, he's added movie star (Big Fan) and father to his résumé, but takes time off from daddy duty to tell jokes about geekdom and the KFC Famous Bowl.

Andy Samberg and Friends

Town Hall ; 11/8 at 8 p.m.; 123 W. 43rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-840-2824

We're not sure what “friends” are going to join the SNL star on his stage show, but if they're the kind that helped him produce songs like “Dick in a Box” and “Lazy Sunday,” we're onboard.

Louis C.K.

Carolines on Broadway; 11/8 at 10 p.m.; 1626 Broadway, at 49th St.; 212-757-4100

The Emmy award-winning comedian (and writer and director of the movie Pootie Tang) is one of the most honest and hilarious stand-ups working today. This one-off show is sure to sell out, so we recommend getting tickets, like, yesterday.

Read more: New York Magazine—Picks From the New York Comedy Festvial, Nov. 4-8 http://nymag.com/nightlife/barbuzz/61825/#ixzz0wfyrxppi

By the Gatecrasher

Barack Obama can take a joke, which is clearly the reason he has joined the New York Comedy Festival's Stand Up for Heroes Committee. Our 44th Prez will join Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, who have all supported “Heroes” in the past. Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Colbert will provide entertainment when the charity affair kicks off Nov. 4.