Basketmouth, Mon. Oct 24
There’s simply not enough known about South African or Lagos, Nigerian comedians in America beyond Trevor Noah, so hopefully Bright Okpocha will right that ship. Better known as “Africa’s biggest comedy super star Basketmouth,” the comedy club boss is also a rapper and African high life musician who has won many a National Comedy Award for his stand up and for his comic web series, Papa Benji, for which he wrote and recorded its soundtrack. Hell, even if he’s not that funny, Basketmouth is busy and has multiple gigs to fall back on.
Laugh Factory Chicago, 3175 N Broadway, Chicago, IL
Dinosaur Improv with Paul Scheer and special guests, Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022
As far as faces you recognize and voices you know, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster Paul Scheer is preeminent. I don’t even need to refer to IMDB to say that I recall Paul sightings from series and streamers such as 30 Rock, Veep, Fresh Off the Boat and The Good Place, as well as being the best part of the late, great VH1’s Best Week Ever.
But as someone who made his bones on the comedy club stage in sketch and improv – in New York City for the long running show, Chicago City Limits, and as part of Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater with Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Jack McBrayer, and Dannah Feinglass or Los Angeles where his improvised audience members’ Facebook profile showcase FACEBOOK reigned supreme – live is where the caustic Scheer truly lives. Improv masters and longtime collaborators Huebel and Riggle – two more faces you’ll know as soon as you see them – appear with Owen Burke, Chad Carter, Seth Morris and Jason Mantzoukas (from FACEBOOK) in Scheer’s Dinosaur at Largo at the Coronet. No point guessing at what they’ll do or who will join them in the improvs. Just know that it will be Scheer genius.
Largo at The Coronet Theater, 66 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Side Stage Comedy presents: Jordan Jensen, Wed. Oct. 26
Brooklyn standup comedian, pick up truck enthusiast and Flat Bottom Girls podcaster Jordan Jensen is a dry comic, frank-as-fuck plumber of human sexuality, drugs, carpentry, lesbian moms, dippy millennials, her bizarre upbringing, personal confession and all-together too-young therapists – all in a literal and figurative voice so unique and icy it’s hard to believe that she isn’t ten times more popular than this phrase portends.
Punch Line, 33 E Laurel Street, Philadelphia, PA
Michael Blaustein, Thurs. October 27 through Sat., October 29
Known to cinephiles as the co-writer, co-director, and co-star of the film Up There, the actor-turned-comedian is now renowned for having one of the most successful comedy podcasts (“Stiff Socks” with fellow comedy club habitue Trevor Wallace) on iTunes and Spotify. So Blaustein eats, dreams, sleeps and thinks comedy 24/7.
Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave, Portland OR
Adam Sandler, Fri. October 28
Not a comedy club per se, but, for one night, Adam Sandler – the comic actor more known for his hardcore dramatic roles in harrowing films such as the Safdie Brother’s Uncut Gems then childish fare such as Happy Madison at this time – turns the Etess at Hard Rock into a brick pointed bar. Actually, the Saturday Night Live regular turned Netflix Hustle king used to do his Hannukah Song and Opera Man routine for years after he left SNL, so the stand up funny routine is not a foreign thing for The Sandman.
Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena, 1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ
Dandy and Friends’ Funeral Brunch, Sat, Oct. 29, 2022
Powdered wig cabaret clown figure-turned-TikTok influencer Dandy might as well have died and gone to comedy club heaven when you consider that he’s hosting his own post-funereal spooky brunch meant to roast his life and passing. Yes, Dandy takes his name very literally, encourages the audience to dress up and do the same, and welcomes old comedy friends such as Liam Haynes, Daniell Inks and Vancouver’s drag icon, Phyllis Hull to toast, roast, dine out on “revelry and frivolity,” play parlor games, and partake in El Cid’s Halloween weekend costume contest.
El Cid, 4212 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Steve Byrne, Sun. October 30
The Freehold-to-Pittsburgh stand-up comedian and filmmaker is a cool, calm, collective customer in the buttoned-up vein of a Bob Newhart. Yes, he does family-oriented humor about his background as the son of Korean mother and a bar-owning father of Irish descent, the dad that Byrne wrote about in his TBS series, Sullivan & Son. Cucumber chilly, Byrne is a must on a smooth Sunday evening in Vegas.
Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, The District at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
Just a word about the new Nick Kroll stand-up comedy special, Little Big Boy on Netflix
Kroll – better known now as the animated German pig in Sing and Sing 2. his autobiographical animated comedy Big Mouth, his “Rich Dicks” skits on Comedy Central and a starring role in Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles’ Don’t Worry Darling – hasn’t done the stand-up comedy bit in a comedy club for well over a decade. But finally finding a way into his own vulnerable self without the use of third person reference or too many character voices, Kroll – filming in Washington DC earlier this year – makes good, talking about his late bloomer syndrome, fruit smoothie farts, Jason Statham and falling in love late in life for a lively, truly satisfying stand-up comeback. Kroll will be at Largo at the Coronet Theater, Nov, 2 in Los Angeles.
