Results tagged “review”

Regina Spektor emerged onto the stage of the Greek Theatre Wednesday night like a child at her first "grown up" party. Her flame-red hair hung in loose ringlets about her face, she wore a poofy white dress adorned with a cartoonish black bow, and her bright red lips suggested a slightly off-kilter leaning towards the naughty. When she spoke she seemed baffled and awed that so many people would don scarves and hats and sweaters to sit out under the stars on such a chilly October night just to see her. "Thank you," she repeated, when shouts of "I love you Regina!" or "Marry me!" or "Play 'Samson'!" gave her room to get a word in edgewise. But when she sang...

Nick Swardson, for those of you not familiar, is funnier than you. That’s pretty much all you need to know to enjoy his latest Comedy Central Special, Seriously, Who Farted?, as LAist was invited to do. Believe me when I say, if you have an even vague notion of who Swardson is before watching this special, you will be quite familiar with him once the hour is over. And if you are completely blanking on one of the best young funny men of this decade, don’t worry, he’s more than happy filling in those blanks for you.

Monday nights have long been mentioned on LAist as, surprisingly, a great night for comedy. There’s Harold Night at UCB, the Armando Show at iO West, and plenty of other random shows around town to assuage your already work-weary brain. But there’s one show, in the heart of Los Angeles, that doesn’t really fit the Monday bill. It’s as established as the improv shows mentioned above, and has bigger names attached to it than any random show you’re likely to find. And yet, it still flies under the radar. Or, rather, it’s tucked away, both figuratively and inside the Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill at the Gower Gulch on Sunset / Gower. Hell, even the stage is tucked not-so-neatly into a corner, right by the entrance. But you’re not coming for the ambiance or even the food; you’re coming for the world class stand up. This is Tiger Lily.

       

New York-based As Tall as Lions opened for Mutemath last night at Club Nokia at LA Live. After chatting with lead singer and guitarist Dan Nigro last week, it was a treat to see the band dive headlong with gusto into their 45-minute set which showcased the best of their latest full-length release, You Can't Take it With You, and one indulgence into the back catalog (the wonderfully haunting "Ghost of York" from their 2006 self-titled release).

       

I feel like I can't help but use a phrase from the lyrics to Brooklyn-based Chairlift's most well-known song to describe how I feel in putting together a write-up of their show this Wednesday night at the Troubadour: "I tried to do handstands for you."

When you hear the phrase “the Japanese Step Brothers” used to describe a movie, you’re probably a least a little interested. That is, if you’re anything like me, but you probably aren’t because my parents say I’m one in a million, so eat it. Not that the American version of Step Brothers is all that spectacular, it’s just that imagining the role of an inept, aging, homebody loser being played by a Japanese man is - intriguing. And Jimmy, the comic lead in White On Rice, certainly is all of the things described above - but this movie is no Step Brothers.

Whether or not you really ever believed Hip Hop was Dead, there’s no denying the changes it’s undergone in the past decade. Bass-y beats and mean muggin’ thug rhyme runners are so cliche they’ve become a caricature of themselves; how else can you explain 50 Cent having his own video game? So where does a real hip hop head turn? Like an ostrich: underground.

The opening shot of The Burning Plain is a stark one: a fully engulfed trailer in the middle of the desert, backed by rocky, dry mountains. The next scene is equally strong, as Charlize Theron awakes to gloomy surroundings, sporting a hangover and nothing else. There’s a moment where she makes it to a window, topless, in time to see a few school children notice her as they scurry off down the wet pavement. And then the next shot is...and then...followed by....

On Tuesday night “The Upsetter” and one of the founding fathers of reggae dub, Lee “Scratch” Perry, played to an enthusiastic crowd at the Key Club in Hollywood.

You know Jim Breuer, if not by name then at least by his perpetually stoned-looking mug or his outlandish Saturday Night Live characters, most notably Goat Boy. This is the Jim Breuer you recognize, from Half-Baked and Chappelle’s Show and even Clerks. But a lot of people don’t know that Breuer also has a long love affair with stand up, dating back many years and several TV specials. And those specials, while rarely game-changing, have been good, sometimes great; the AC/DC hokey pokey bit is pretty magical. Unfortunately, Breuer’s new special Let’s Clear the Air lacks all of the magic and most of the funny that you could previously expect from the man you thought you knew.

So many cultures can tell their stories through their food, and for Los Angeles, the same can be said for a landmark like the Original Farmers Market. Not only does the historic meeting place for farmers, cooks, foodies, locals, visitors, and shoppers alike offer delicious fresh produce and tantalizing eats and sweets, it also is a vital part of our city's history.

In general, a web series can be a hard thing to get into, even though its short, any time / anywhere format would seem conducive to today’s youth-driven media market. Maybe there’s something inherently sketchy about the sustainability of online sketch comedy, like the media moguls who control television are just finding new, more subversive ways to lure us in. Or, maybe a lot of it is just bad, because the internet is boundless and video upload sites are plentiful. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see groups like Derrick Comedy make it out of the online jungle alive, because they have a knack for comedy and a belief in total quality that is so often lacking elsewhere on the interwebs.

There are plenty of movies out there that pay homage to their forefather films, those exceptionally well made pieces that stand the test of time and help to define a genre. However, this is perhaps seen nowhere more than in horror film vein, where hat-tips to the Evil Deads, the Braindeads, and even the Shaun of the Deads are practically mandatory. But these exist for a very specific reason: those movies kick ass.

Most of the iconic images we see - the ones that define an era or change a social tide - come without much of a footnote at all. Unless it’s in your nature or your profession, there’s a good chance that Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz are about as deep as you’re willing to wade into the photo pool. But there’s also a good chance that all those other photographs you don’t have a name to put with, those real images from war or those celebrities or presidents out of their element and yet so comfortable...there’s a good chance Eddie Adams did those.

       

Beau Willimon's Farragut North, now onstage in its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, begins first with a burst of layered noise courtesy a handful of media outlets and their various talking heads rehashing political talking points, and then is followed by the noise of a group of four ambitious people talking rehashing politics and the media--their bread and butter--in an Iowa bar.

For the most part, eco-documentaries follow a pretty narrow pattern; either they’re well funded and a little boring or guerrilla style and probably a bit nauseating, but either way you’re supposed to be so outraged you get out of your seat and punch the richest asshole you can find. That’s the gist. But there’s often a disconnect between the images of the film and the actions of the audience because, ecologically, problems tend to be so big any given person feels powerless.

Of all the pressing medical issues in America today, Lyme disease doesn’t usually rank very high on the list of things to worry about. That is, unless you believe the startling new documentary by Andy Abrahams Wilson, Under Our Skin. In it, the filmmaker postulates that Lyme is not only more prevalent than most people realize, it is a rapidly growing problem across our nation that leaves behind it missed diagnoses, insurmountable medical bills, crippling health issues, and sometimes death.

Ah, Dane Cook. Regarded by some as the aggressive and rugged face of fun, energetic comedy. Sort of the anti-Mitch Hedberg. For others, Dane is a posterboy for an altogether different type of comic: the plagiarizer, the man without a punchline. Personally, I have long held that Dane Cook is a performer and not a stand up comedian, in the way that Bob Villa was a TV show host and not a licensed contractor. For the better part of a decade, you couldn’t be handed a transcript of a Dane Cook set, read it, and think it was funny. There just weren’t any JOKES in the conventional sense, just a lot of stage direction and exclamation points where the punchlines should be.

Hello, web readers. If you’ve managed to find this small bit of writing out there in the vast internet, then there’s a good chance you’ve also heard of YouTube. That is, unless you’re my grandmother, whom I send links to and she opens without questioning where she is being taken to, and couldn’t get to google if you spotted her the ‘-oogle.com’. And since you’re familiar with YouTube, you undoubtedly know the phrase ‘YouTube sensation’, as a label to anyone who has managed to make a name for themselves through their posted videos. From Lisa Nova to LonelyGirl15, BaratsAndBereta to Chocolate Rain, there’s no shortage of people who’ve managed to turn video views into financial viability. Welcome to the club, Bo Burnham.

Comedian Jo Koy has become an absolute staple in the mainstream stand up comedy circuit over the past five years. Fans really seem to appreciate Jo’s honesty and enthusiasm on stage; he’s like Dane Cook after you give him a horse tranquilizer and a joke book to calm him down. After touring with Carlos Mencia (for better or worse) on his Punisher Tour, Koy even got listed in Daily Variety as a top 10 comic to watch. He'll be at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach at the end of the month, and now he’s got a Comedy Central DVD to back it all up.

            

Albuquerque-bred and Portland-based rockers The Shins played to an enthralled crowd Sunday night at the historic Hollywood Palladium. Although their last album is nearly two-years behind them, the boys in the band proved that they are intent on building on their quirky alternative rock legacy and moving their sound ever-forward, as the evening's nearly 2-hour set included some new songs likely to appear on a future release.

If you live in Los Angeles and you like to see cheap comedy, more than likely you’re spending your time and money in the ‘alternative comedy’ scene, for better or worse. Now, I’ll be the first to promote the benefits of lesser known comedians in more intimate venues, but every once in a while it’s nice to take a step back towards more mainstream comedy, just to retest the waters and see if you really still find the same things funny. Enter Adam Ferrara. As a stand up comic, Ferrara has been around for years, honing his craft on stage in front of larger and larger audiences and, as of late, working on the the FX show Rescue Me. On June 12th, Ferrara will be taking a slice of airtime on Comedy Central to show his new stand up special, Funny As Hell.

In 2004 the documentary buzz was all about Born Into Brothels, a stark look at the Calcutta prostitution ghettos that are a part of daily life for eight unassuming and wonderful children. The level of humanity, depth, and sorrow found in the crowded streets and scenes inside Born Into Brothels earned it the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in the year’s awards, not to mention global notoriety. Well, as one might imagine the producers of such a groundbreaking and charitable film weren’t content to sit around and shine their accolades, so they went out and worked on a project that hits much closer to home: misogyny in the art world.

“She looks so beautiful with her top down / Let’s hop inside and take a ride to town.”

iO West, formerly of the ‘ImprovOlympic’ namesake, has been a true comedy institution in Los Angeles for more than a decade, and it’s heritage with the original Chicago outlet goes back much further. From Chris Farley to Bill Murray and every Tim (Meadows), (Andy) Dick, and Del (Close) in between, iO has been an instructional springboard for many famous names and thousands more who just want to learn the art of improv.

How GOOD is Steve Zahn?! LET'S TALK ABOUT IT. Photo courtesy Magnolia Pictures. Showmanship in the long-held traditional sense just keeps getting moved more and more to the fringes of contemporary entertainment. Circuses, for all of the revelry and majestical wonder they inspired only a decade ago, are in serious decline. David Blaine and Criss Angel are the magicians and mentalists of our day. Indeed the horizon looks bleak. That is, unless you ask the Great Buck Howard. Or, rather, see the film.

With the heightened sense of urgency that exists throughout the world today, it is easy to be uncertain or afraid. There is a gimme gimme attitude, built partly out of necessity in today’s climate, but also out of generations of relaxed approaches to consumption and spending. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see true stories of unbelievably strong people sacrificing everything they can to help others, many of whom they have never (and may never) meet. With such an ambitious goal, the success is often not in the end result, but in the trying.

When deciding to take on a career in the arts, the one thing that will separate you from a herd of like-minded cattle is ‘finding your voice’. This, simply, means getting comfortable with yourself, your medium, and your material. Once you reach that easygoing level, you can maneuver within it to truly discover the reasons you were drawn towards your creative craft in the first place.

The EP, named after the district in central London that is almost the epicenter of Imperial British Culture (home of, for example, the British Museum, University of London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), is 4 songs inspired by prominent persons of letters whose intellectual contributions helped define the last decades of the Pax Brittania. While the songs themselves are largely free of political overtones, one can't help but wonder if their focus on the end of the British Empire (including a song about the greatest economist of the 20th century), might indicate commentary on our own ailing nation at this particularly scary time in our history.

UCB is blowing it UP this week, with Billy the Mime, new Harold improv teams, and some lovely lady stand ups to close out the weekend. Also, the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival starts on Thursday and runs the weekend, so head downtown for 30 mins. or less of laughing. And in keeping with my journalistic integrity, my sketch group The Seven Year Plan will be rocking a free show (+ bevvies?!) on Saturday night in Santa Monica at the Westside Eclectic. Now all you internet snoops can’t hound me for not having full disclosure. Blow me up if you want to rep your own shit shamelessly, too.