We live in an age that’s ripe for biting satire fueled by a sea of bottomless negativity. It seems like it would be hard not to just spend an hour on stage yelling into the mic about how much things suck. Comedian Tom Papa makes the art of positivity look…
The first time you have sex will most likely be a memorable one. The anticipation, the awkwardness, the fear, the excitement — all of these emotions make even the slightest details of the night crystallize in your brain. My First Time, a comedy being performed at Theatre Too one night…
For the last 30 years, your television has been able to access at least one episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, whether it’s a rerun, a DVD or an unauthorized upload to the internet from the show’s original seven-season run. The critically acclaimed comedy creation concocted by writer and comedian Joel Hodgson,…
Youth group teenagers laughed and chatted while wrenching their feet out of a trail of mud, freshly stomped in by the hundreds who’d come before them. They step onto the pliant wet wood porch of what appears to be a cabin in the woods. Volunteers shout warnings for liability’s sake…
Simon & Garfunkel’s folk-rock sound was emblematic of much of the music of the 1960s. They made five albums in five years filled with chart-topping hits. They were invited to perform at Woodstock, the seminal musical event of the century. The duo declined because they were “too busy.” The Simon…
At the beginning of One Tough Cookie, it’s easy to think it will be a lighthearted comedy about a Girl Scout trying to get a prestigious badge. But as a battle of wills draws out between an angry, old suburbanite, Martin Sinise, and a Girl Scout willing to go to…
It’s about 40 minutes after 7 p.m. and the Beyond Belief Dance Company dance moms are wondering where owner and director Justin Johnson is. “You know he always has to make an entrance,” one mom says to the other. Johnson is fashionably late to his own party celebrating the opening…
There’s more than a twinge of excitement in comedian Tom Arnold’s voice as he talks a mile a minute about his adventures with some of America’s most powerful political leaders. They’re even more impressive to hear when you realize he’s not a political comedian. Even Arnold doesn’t seem to understand…
You’ve already missed your chance to see Piff the Magic Dragon perform live unless you can afford to drop everything and go on a road trip to his next gig. But don’t worry, we’ve found the next best thing. The Las Vegas comedy magician, who performs regularly at The Flamingo,…
Comedy is hard. Musical comedy is harder, much harder. Musical comedy requires great timing and delivery for the comedy part. The other half requires a dancer’s build, a strong voice and hours of sweaty rehearsals and run-throughs. Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino, the hosts of Earwolf’s musical comedy podcast Off…
The new comedy film The Oath would sound like a totally unthinkable dystopian world at any other time in history. Except now. The Oath, written, directed and starring Ike Barinholtz, who came to town for an advance screening and Q&A last month at The Angelika before its limited release Friday,…
When the Canadian sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall formed back in the 1980s in a weekday slot at a Toronto rock club, comedy troupes were a rare commodity. Now thanks in part to The Kids in the Hall’s massive rise as a comedic touchstone, more of them…
It’s hard to know where to start a discussion about Neal Brennan’s career with the man himself. In fact, the idea makes him laugh. “I didn’t really have an end goal,” Brennan says. “I guess I always wanted to be a popular comedian. I’ve always thought that’s the coolest thing,…
The sounds of children’s amazement and the adults’ laughter rise in mixed harmony and respectfully fades as the man onstage focuses on his next illusion. The magician’s broad smile evokes the confident demeanor that the crowd is right to trust in him, to believe him, but his eyes tell the…
On Thursday night Dallas Comedy House will host a sex education class. The instructor — while not certified by the state of Texas, or any state, or actually any medical board real or imaginary — is described as having read, “dozens of pamphlets and blog posts on sex and sexual…
Starting Saturday night at Dallas Comedy House, audiences will get their first chance to see the newest all-female sketch show, Self-Aware? I Hardly Know Her. The show is a high-energy character-study filtered through a comedic lens; a non-stop revolving door of costume changes, original characters, and razor-sharp jokes. “A lot…
It turns out it actually doesn’t take long bouts of cocaine-fueled creativity or brainstorms produced by heavy-duty hallucinogens to come up with some great sketch comedy material — unless of course you count the first writing staff of Saturday Night Live. What it does take is creativity, numerous revisions and hard…
Stomping Ground Comedy Theatre’s newest sketch show, Consumed as Directed, will travel down some dark paths to find its laughs when it opens Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a new state-run children’s showy. An ardent Second Amendment supporter debates an elementary school-aged kid about gun violence in America. A…
This Labor Day weekend marks the second running of a marathon broadcast that’s destined to raise thousands for a worthy cause. The second annual Who Needs Sleep streaming charity telethon starts at 8 a.m. Saturday and will run 36 consecutive hours of live programming from Vokal Studios, the broadcasting hub…
Think you can get out there and shake your pom-poms and smile every time Jerry Jones says something? Think all it takes is a high kick here and there? Each season during CMT’s show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team, panelists and judges ask potential cheerleaders a round of questions…
A profile on Nick Florez, a DFW native who has worked as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for everyone from Celine Dion to Katy Perry.
Hannibal Buress is one of the most unique, original voices in comedy today, stand-up or otherwise. Blending absurdity with the benign, Buress can take what’s on its face a simple premise, like talking about the mixed drink “Flaming Dr Pepper,” and create a full history of how it was made…
