Comedy Death Ray: I Done Seen One!

If you're a comedy fan you've no doubt either heard of Comedy Death Ray or seen the surprisingly cheap double-CD at a fine record store near you. After dragging my feet this week, I saw that Todd Glass and Jen Kirkman were on, so I went. Jen Kirkman did not show up, and we were sad. I assume. Her CD was good and we wanted to hear more.

If you haven't ever been, here's the score: it's at the Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and if you want a decent seat you need to show up early. Conversely, if you want every performer to reference you, have you speak in their ass during crowd work, or make out with you, perhaps you'll want to be there late-- because you'll be sitting on the stage. As in, without a chair.

This week was hosted by Tig Notaro, a comic you may recognize as one of the cops on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program. Tig's ability to warm up a crowd and perform is nothing short of astonishing, and while we don't want to give away all of her jokes, as mentioned above, she did totally kiss some dude in the audience as well as perform in complete darkness for several minutes. If you have the opportunity to see Ms. Notaro, take it. Pay whatever she's asking. She's worth it, particularly since it's pretty likely you've never seen her perform before.

The roster included:

• Rich Dicks (Nick Kroll + another comic whose name I unprofessionally did not get), both live and filmed character segments featuring two coke heads. Good times.
  
• Greg Barris. Next.
  
• Aziz Ansarai brought video of an upcoming-- we presume-- DVD extra for Funny People, which was indeed funny and involved people. The in-character documentary is something I'll be making sure to remind you to go watch if it shows up somewhere because if you're the kind of person who is annoyed by some of the trappings of a few comedians in particular... you're gonna love this.
  
• Angry James Gandolfini (character, didn't catch the guy's name)
  
• David Feldman, a former writer for Bill Maher, very funny. Had an Ed McMahon joke. (Too soon?) Great set.
  
• Todd Glass. Obviously, if you read this blog, you must go see Todd Glass live at least once. Highlights: doing his jokes as both Colin Quinn and Brian Regan... and the audience totally loved it.
  

The whole set lasted about two hours, and cost $5 a head. And apparently everyone in the audience decided to sneak in booze. Next time I go I'll take better notes.