New Show Alert! "Shameful Display" at The Magnet Theater

Hey, crazy political season, right? Yep, yep, yep. Lots of stuff going on. I bet there's a lot of comedy potential in this whole "electing the president" thing, and whatnot. Seems like someone should do something about it. I mean, other than The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, pretty much any monologue jokes on any late-night talk show (and some of the daytime ones), countless YouTube sketches, and pretty much every stand-up out there.

But most of those guys are on TV. What about if you want some live political sketch comedy, done by some people who have friends who work on a couple of the aforementioned television shows, but aren't successful enough to work in television themselves? Doesn't that sound AWESOME?*

Come to The Magnet Theater, one of NYC's premiere sketch and improv venues on Sunday, October 19 & 26 and November 2 & 9, to see SHAMEFUL DISPLAY, a series of political sketch comedy shows leading up to (and just after) the election. And the best part (well, I'm assuming, if you're reading my blog) is that I'll be co-writing and performing in the shows.

Watch this space for more information, as the dates approach.

*I'm mastering the soft-sell. Is it doing anything for you?

The Flop House is Getting Its Act Together

Hey all, remember The Flop House, the podcast I started last month? Well, aside from now having released two WILDLY SUCCESSFUL episodes (I now have a money bin that I swim around in, all thanks to podcasting), with a third episode coming early next week, there's more exciting Flop House news:

You can now find The Flop House on iTunes. This should be a huge boon to those of you who are physically unable to cut and paste our RSS feed into your podcatcher, due to a tragic case of ctrl-c/ ctrl-v-specific carpal tunnel (theflophouse.libsyn.com/rss, in case you forgot).

The Flop House now has its own blog (although I'll probably double-post everything here, since this is my clearinghouse site for all of my projects). So you can follow the show and post comments without all this Dan-centric jibber jabber. We all know you're just in it for Simon's sweet dulcet tones.

And lastly, we have an official show email -- specifically "theflophousepodcast (at) gmail (dot) com." So you can e-mail us there with any feedback. Maybe we'll read your letter on the air. Just, y'know, remember to send the email with the proper address format, and without all the spambot-flummoxing "ats" and "dots."

So jump on this bullet train to Podcast Success City (just east of Pittsburgh) and catch the number one Internet audio show hosted by three guys who talk about bad movies after having a few beers!*

*according to no-one.

Hey Everyone - I'm Podcasting!

So... what's new with you? Nothing? That's cool. Me? Well I'VE STARTED A PODCAST.

Yeah, sure, Captains in Space is technically a video podcast, but this is the first podcast that I'm personally producing. And it's free of all those pesky "pictures," which makes it all the easier to enjoy in a crowded subway, or while driving your car.

What's the podcast? It's called The Flop House. What's it about? It's about me and my friends Simon Fisher and Stuart Wellington getting together, having a drink or two, watching a bad movie (usually one released in the last few years), and then discussing it. And you get to listen. What fun for you! What could be more exciting than three dudes rambling into a cheap microphone? (Speaking of which, I apologize for the questionable audio quality of this first installment - I learned a lot producing and editing it, which will be applied to all future recordings).

What's on tap for the first episode? Let's read from the official Flop House blog:

The Flop House: Episode One - Stealth

In the inaugural episode of The Flop House, the team examines Rob Cohen's fighter-plane-run-amok film Stealth. Meanwhile, Simon discusses sex toys, Stuart does some video store filing, and Dan mispronounces "sentient" a lot.

Also, the gang recommends a few things that don't suck.

0:00 - 1:10 - Introductions, themes, and such.
1:10 - 21:30 - Stealth. Fun factory, or snore factory?
21:30 - 24:30 - Final Judgments
24:30 - 29:10 - The sad bastards recommend.
29:10 - 30:28 - It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday. Also to the Flop House.

Look for new episodes bimonthly (although the second one may be slightly delayed due to a Stuart business trip). To subscribe to have new episodes delivered directly to you as they're released, paste theflophouse.libsyn.com/rss into iTunes, or your favorite podcatching software.









The super-geniuses behind the Flop House.

NEW SHOW ALERT!

I've not been doing a lot of live comedy for a while, partly because I've been working on a screenplay (sure to remain unpurchased and unproduced), and partly because a few long-running projects I was a part of came to an end, and I never took the initiative to come up with replacements.

However, starting in May, I'll be part of a regular show again. And, based on the concept and the other people involved, I'm very excited.

Every Monday, starting on May 21st (skipping May 28th, Memorial Day) I'll be doing a new show called The 8-Track, at 49 Bleecker St., between Lafayette and Mulberry (formerly the Culture Project theater). It will consist of 8 musical performances and 8 comedy performances woven seamlessly into one another, much like a DJ set, or a mix tape. The show will be all-new every week, and each show will feature a guest host and guest musicians, in addition to the usual sketch performers.

The show is produced by Chris "Shockwave" Sullivan, of the improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, which has been featured at the Aspen Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The head writer is Erik Marcisak, named a Back Stage Comedy Best Bet in 2006 and the former manager of Juvie Hall, an Emerging Comics of New York winner for Best Venue in 2005. The director (at least for the first several shows-- this will likely rotate) will be A.J. Morales, winner of the ECNY award for Best Director in 2005, and the founder/director of The Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz which also won a ECNY award, was a Del Close Marathon selection, etc. etc. etc.

These are good folks.

My place in the show will primarily be on the writer's side, but I should also be appearing as a performer for one reoccuring segment.

More than that I cannot say, partly because I don't know how much I should spill at these formative stages (the show will effectively be "in previews" for the summer, as we discover more about the shape it will take and work out the technical niceties), and partly because I don't know much more at this point. But I wanted to let folks know what I could, because I believe this could be something great. I hope you can make it out to see for yourself, and I'll keep you posted as I get more specifc details regarding our debut.

I Will Be On the Radio On the Internets! Tonight!

Thanks to the miracle of streaming audio, the miracle of podcasts, or any other holiday miracle specifically dealing with the ability to hear stuff over the web, I can be heard tonight on the new show Fist City.

The show is hosted by my friends Elliott Kalan and Brock Mahan, whom you may remember from the just-ended Primetime Kalan (which I'm providing a link to, even though the final show recap was literally the post just preceding this one. Scroll bar be damned!). I'll be providing a guest essay on the first show, and will hopefully pop up from time to time thereafter, whenever they're desperate to fill airtime. I will, naturally, keep you posted.

Anyway, as always, when I'm involved in an Elliott project, I'll let him do all the promoting for me. What says he?...

--

Hello Kalan and Mahan fans,

Remember how much fun it used to be to see ELLIOTT KALAN (Metro columnist, Daily Show Segment Producer, and former host of "The Primetime Kalan") and BROCK MAHAN (TV writer and former host of "Top O' the Mahan To You") perform live onstage? And remember how unfun it used to be to actually travel to the theater they were performing in?

Well remember no more! Now, thanks to the magic of "internet radio", Brock and Elliott will appear LIVE in your house, TONIGHT!

No, we aren't breaking and entering using a magical computer device. We're performing a weekly radio humor show of sketches, bits, jokes, jackanapes, interviews, and an ongoing dramatic serial about pirates. The show's name? "FIST CITY"

"FIST CITY" will be streaming live at www.eastvillageradio.com , tonight and every Thursday night at 9pm . Can't be there for the broadcast? That's no excuse! Every episode will be available to podcast, through your regular old-fashioned iTunes, right after the show! Talk about convenience! You literally have no excuse not to listen to this show!

FIST CITY - 1st episode! Tonight! Thursday night at 9pm!






By the way, the show's the second half of a two hour block, the first hour being "The Rev. Clempson Show."

BIG doings, Tonight!

I have two shows at the Gene Frankel Underground tonight:

First, at 7:15 PM - The last of our "Captains in Space LIVE!" events:

Tonight we will be debuting an ALL NEW EPISODE, before it's available online. See it on the big screen first (you may even be privledged to see an "early cut" as Fed might tweak it based on audience reaction... so you can brag to your friends about all the great scenes that were cut from the release version, like the one where Fed crawls around on the ceiling like a spider, or the extended Frankie shower scene).

More importantly (to me, at least), this is the first Captains episode to be written by me. I helped punch up some of the other episodes, but this is the first one to be drawn entirely from my original script. So, if you didn't care for the first three episodes but love this one you can draw your own conclusions. If you loved the first three episodes, but hate this one, then clearly the problem was in the direction. You hear me, Fed!?

Both Captain Fed and I will be on hand to introduce my episode, "Future Shock," as well as episode three, "Double," and to do our little song-and-dance. But never fear if you miss the hilarity-- the new episode will be available online soon.

Second, at 10:00 PM - The final New Kalan Show at the Gene Frankel Theater

To quote Elliott's promotional email:

"Next week brings with it a momentous occasion. On thursday, May 25th, our beloved, small-audienced live fake comedy talk show will be saying its farewells to its longtime home the Gene Frankel Theater. Where's it going? Why, to a DIFFERENT underground theater, and a whole new day and time! Get ready for next month's unveiling of the all-new PRIMETIME KALAN!

But before we welcome the future, let's say goodbye to the past, with the last of 'The New Kalan Show''s and our final performance at the Gene Frankel. All your favorite Kalan characters (Erik! Brock! Dan! Devon! Elliott!) will be there! Special guest comedienne SARA SCHAEFER will be there! Shouldn't YOU be there, too?!

Plus more jokes, sketches, hijinx, emotional damage, and craziness! Help say, "Good riddance, you bastard!" to that crummy theater!"

Come see all the regular New Kalan stuff plus my tearful (?) reunion with my old SSIOWY boss. It should be great fun.






PLUS: It's not just the New Kalan's last night at the Gene Frankel theater -- it's the Manhattan Comedy Collective's last night at the theater. That's right, after tonight all the vestages of Juvie Hall and its children will be swept away forever (or to a bar a few blocks away. One or the other). To celebrate this, MC2 is putting on a special FREE improv jam at 11 PM, just following The New Kalan Show, complete with FREE Jell-o shots.

Captains.

Kalan.

Jell-o shots.

What more could you need?

The Gene Frankel Theater Underground
24 Bond Street (aka East 2nd St.)
In the East Village, on the north side of Bond Street, between Bowery & Lafayette. In the basement theater. Take the 6 to Bleeker, B/D/F/V to Broadway Lafayette, or R to Prince.

Cost:

-$5 for 10 PM show ONLY.
-$10 for entire night of shows (including both of my shows, at 7:15 and 10 and everything in-between). Includes 1 free drink ticket.