Ayana Hampton, the “Kayne of Cabaret,” has a lot of zingers: For breakfast I had birth control. For lunch I had happy hour. And for dinner I usually get laid. How do you expect me to work when there is so much werk to do? If you love something let…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Jon Reep at Hyena’s in Fort Worth Born and raised in rural Hickory, N.C., Jon Reep has made his way across the nation, performing in comedy clubs and on TV. He’s been on…
You’ll have to take the afternoon off, and you should, to see the splendid new production of Greater Tuna at the Bath House Cultural Center. One Thirty Productions performs only at 1:30 p.m., and the company has found success with their matinee-only format. The house was packed for the opening…
The 12th annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival continues at WaterTower Theatre in Addison for one more weekend. Eighteen shows, most under an hour, are on this year’s schedule, which covers three acting spaces. (The Observer is a sponsor.) If you’re there, don’t miss The Ugly One, directed by…
If you saw CK play the Majestic last year, there will be some familiar material; he taped this on the same tour. But if you saw him play the Majestic, let’s be honest: You’re watching, even if you have to steal your parents’ HBO Go login, which isn’t stealing anyway…
There’s a distinctive meter to a Joan Rivers routine. A gap-filler, she’s quick to follow-up a joke or talking point with a rhetorical question. It’s a job most famously held by her “Can we talk?” catch phrase, tossed in to extend laughter until she pins it down with a punch…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Joan Rivers at the AT&T Performing Arts Center The Queen of the Red Carpet, the lady with the last word, the most foul-mouthed female of her generation (and maybe mine), Ms. Joan Rivers…
For the impatient theatergoer, festivals such as WaterTower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe are a good fit. Lots of short, provocative pieces. (Most performances come in under an hour.) A mix of dance, music, drama and comedy. Plenty of breaks to mingle with patrons and artists. Now in its…
In Death by Microphone, local Brit and barbecue blogger Gavin Cleaver attended stand-up comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House and reported back for our amusement and education. Then, on Friday, it happened: His stand-up debut, at DCH’s showcase for class graduates. Inexplicably sideways video evidence is above. Read his…
By now it’s clear that Dallas Theater Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty wishes he could fly. This season he has two shows back-to-back with “Fly” in the title: Fly by Night, set during the 1965 New York City blackout, opens at April 26 at Kalita Humphreys Theater; and Fly, opening…
There are child actors and there are real actors who happen to be children. At Fun House Theatre in Plano, a company we’ve praised before, 18 serious actors, ages 10 to 17, are doing an impressive production of Hamlet right now. The lead is played by Shepton High School ninth-grader…
In Death by Microphone, local Brit and barbecue blogger Gavin Cleaver attends stand-up comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House and reports back for our amusement and education. Check back next week to revel further in his failure. It’s all in the preparation, you know? You can’t just stand on…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Paul Reiser at Hyena’s in Dallas You’re hearing the Mad About You theme song in your head, aren’t you? Well, if you weren’t, you are now. Reiser is the author of three damn-funny…
Actor Kieran Connolly sits in full view for 20 minutes before the first word of Red, the two-man bio-drama about artist Mark Rothko now running at the Wyly Theatre. As patrons take their seats, Connolly leans back in a chair, silently, intently staring at a huge red and black painting,…
There are great gay playwrights like Tennessee Williams whose plays have become classics because they deserved to be. There are good gay playwrights like Terrence McNally whose work is perceived as great because it’s just a little better than a lot of other stuff out there. And there is Del…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Frank Caliendo at the Addison Improv You might think you’re watching FOX NFL Sunday or MAD TV, but it’s all Frank Caliendo, one of the best celebrity voice impersonators working. He’ll create an…
In Death by Microphone, local Brit and barbecue blogger Gavin Cleaver attends stand-up comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House and reports back for our amusement and education. Check back next week to revel further in his failure. The showcase thing, in which I’m actually appearing in front of an…
This weekend, SMU plays host to something called the North East Texas Humor Research Conference, pithily titled “Humor in the Professions, Psychology, Philology: Intercultural perspectives.” The conference is co-hosted by SMU and Texas A&M-Commerce, and features sessions like “Crowdsourcing Cartooning,” “Neuroscience of Humor” and “Evaluative Formulas Behind Psychology Jokes.” Sounds…
Some shows never change. Like Wicked, A Chorus Line, Chicago. Some do, however, and two that have changed for the better are big comedies with music on Dallas stages for one more weekend. The splashy Broadway tour of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes is at the Winspear. Set on a transatlantic…
What’s it all about, Aphra? Echo Theatre continues its season of plays by 17th century wit Aphra Behn with the Restoration farce The Lucky Chance, or The Alderman’s Bargain, directed by René Moreno, running one more weekend at the Bath House Cultural Center. Behn (rhymes with “rain”) is regarded as…
Lipstick red, heart ballon towers framed the stage of Hyena’s in Dallas. The lights went out, the spotlights came on, and a skinny Bangali kid named Usama Siddiquee took the stage. The Osama bin Laden joke? Immediate. The beat boxing? Unexpected. The Super Humor Funny show (Pt. 2) was underway…
If you missed On the Eve, the thrilling new rock musical by Dallas’ own Michael Federico (book) and Seth and Shawn Magill of the band Home by Hovercraft (music), during its sold-out run at the Magnolia Lounge last fall, you’ll get your chance to see it on a bigger stage…
