Comedy Death Ray and I Love Movies This Week

Wow, was this a heck of an amazing show! You really missed out by not going. What's wrong with you? Both shows were at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles.

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I Love Movies

Doug Benson once again proves that he's being robbed by the fools running television for not having the foresight to give him his own show. This week his guests were "Weird Al" Yankovic and Chris Hardwick, and they were fantastic. As always, the show will be available via iTunes or whatever podcatching service you use in a few days, and this is one you won't want to miss. (Despite a tiny chunk of it being three men Twittering at once.)

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Comedy Death Ray

A fantastic show. Hosted by Mike Kaplan, who we have not seen previously, but will now go out of our way to see. Excellent work. Also on deck:

• Dave Anthony
• Charlyne & Armen (seemingly improvised musical act/sniper spitting)
• Rory Scovel (stand-up plus something involving clowns that courtesy prevents us from spoiling)
• Zach Galifianakis (a few jokes, a whole lotta great crowd work)
• Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak (a conceptual piece about Tom Bergeron's kids)
• Chris Hardwick

Hardwick brought a lot of brand new (to us) material, and never disappoints as a headliner. Mr. Galifianakis was fantastic to see, particularly because his ticket price probably just quintupled since the summer-- great stuff, very funny. We were expecting Hardwick to come out in a yarn beard in-character.

The evening was fantastic, the pacing was great, we're pretty sure you would enjoy it if you were there. Some kid in the front row was taping most of it so it wouldn't be a stunner to see this on the web some day, if we find out about it we'll link to it.

Comedy Death Ray This Week: All Singing, All Dancing

It seems music is increasingly the order of the day at Comedy Death Ray here in Los Angeles, as tonight's packed show was hosted by The Devil's Purse, or "a band with Charlyne Yi and Paul Rust." Dial up the quirk to 9, and you pretty much get the band's sound.

• Kicking off the show is Donald Glover, who you may have seen on NBC's Community as one of the students in the core study group. While not given a ton to do on the show's episodes which have aired so far, tonight's set shows that he's a fountain of material and should be absolutely handed some more screen time. This was the first of a three-week residency, meaning if you're in the neighborhood you can see him again next week. And you probably should.
  
• From Australia and/or the UK, Brendon Burns had a strong set with his new catchphrase "it's not racist where I'm from," which basically set the tone of the set nicely. Offering insight on the wonderful differences between the English-speaking nations of the world, the set was enjoyed by the audience and this is probably someone to see if you also enjoyed the works of Jim Jeffries.
  
• Maria Bamford held up the middle of the show with a ton of new stuff and a couple of classics, which, it turn out, have a strong visual component. If you've only heard her albums, you may be unaware that she does a great deal with her hands. (You've only been getting like half the show as a result, you poor schmuck.) The rapid-fire set was firing like crazy, with so many jokes you might have missed a few. Given Bamford just released a new album earlier this year, it looks like she's well on her way to having enough material for another one in the not-too-distant-future, and we're totally game if she decides to crank one out. Good stuff.
  
• Reginald D. Hunter-- a comic orignally from the south and then from the U.K.-- managed to slay the audience, repeatedly, and while we'd like to reprint the jokes here decorum (and the desire to not ruin his act) prevent us from doing so. If you have not previously seen him, make sure you do so. It's rare to see a set open with "I'm from the South" and "I have a very British sense of humor," particularly when the comic manages to destroy the audience. Well done, sir.
  
• Special surprise unannounced guest Aziz Ansari came in to do some material, most of which-- while excellent-- was performed at a recent show which we covered a few weeks ago, with a couple of new bits at the end. Very funny stuff, including an exchange/fight with someone online regarding the quality and price of the popular Gmail service. He does not disappoint, but he did allude to lengthening his set to make time for Nick Kroll, who did not end up showing. More on that in a jiffy.
  
• Ending the evening was Garfunkel and Oates, who played three songs in a very brief concert-let. As many of their songs are regularly featured on Comedy Death Ray Radio, a great podcast/streaming program, you may recognize a tune or two. The set included "Fuck You," "One Night Stand," and a third song, the name of which we didn't quite get. Ah well. The audience loved it, and they seemed to totally dig the entire show tonight.

So, about Nick Kroll-- he and comedy partner dude Jon Daly posted a new video to Funny or Die earlier in the morning and I assume the plan was for to have them come to the show and play it for the audience. Since I'm making a guess here, I have no way to know for sure, but I can embed it here for your amusement either way. Behold, The Ed Hardy Boyz!

The Ed Hardy Boyz: The Case of the Missing Sick Belt Buckle from Jon Daly