Comic Number 20: Maria Bamford

This might seem like a cop-out, but...I don't want to give you free Maria Bamford. She's the best lady comic there is, and quite frankly the one of the absolute best comics of any kind. So.....buy her stuff

She has three brilliantly beautiful cd's, all available on iTunes

Do it.....eh, I realize this is a shitty post. I'll edit it tomorrow with more great stuff about my favorite lady in the world, Maria.

Comic Number 19: 'Weird Al' Yankovic

I don't feel obligated to list all of Al's music, because we're all super familiar with him. I do feel obligated to prove why he deserves to be on a blog about alternative comedy.

Here are the two episodes of Comedy Death Ray Radio he was a part of:

First with Scott Aukerman, and Paul Scheer

Then with Paul F. Tompkins, and Tig Notaro

Speaking of Comedy Death Ray, here he is in the Comedy Death Ray "Do They Know It's Christmas" music video:



And, let's not forget that he plays a vital role in Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as Uncle Muscle



So, even though he's been doing comedy and music forever, he's stayed fresh and original and wonderful through it all.

Comic Number 18: Jimmy Pardo

"I'm one of the best"- Jimmy Pardo. Truer words have never been spoken. Jimmy Pardo is like a comedy savant. After hearing him do what he does, he immediately becomes everyone's favorite comedian.

So, how might you know him? Well, he has a very popular podcast called Never Not Funny, that if you are interested in comedy enough to be reading this, you can afford (it's like, less than a dollar an episode if you buy a season at a time). Here's some snippits of what that's like:



You can also get the first 20 minutes of each episode (minus the bonus live episodes) on iTunes

So, if you want hours and hours of free Pardo entertainment, 6 episodes of You Bet Your Life, one of his many live shows, is avalible on MonkeyGoLucky.com. Here's an example:



You get HOURS AND HOURS of that!

He has two albums...one of which myself and billions of other fans can't find anywhere (Uno), but the other, Pompous Clown, is avalible on iTunes. He's constantly doing cool shows at the UCB such as You Bet Your Life, Running Your Trap, and the very popular Match Game. He'll be at MaxFunCon and probably the Vancouver Comedy Festival. Do whatever you can to check him out, he is an absolute utter genius.

Sketch Number 3: The Weekender

So, as I keep talking about comics, I hope you'll be able to start picking them out of videos and sketches and whatnot. So, let's see how good you are:



So, who did you see that you know?

Schedule for this next week...and you guys, it's a great one. The theme, honestly, is GREATNESS. Comics and professionals who are the absolute finest at what they do
Friday- Every stand-up comedian's favorite stand-up comedian, Jimmy Pardo
Saturday- The only guy who can do song parodies and be respected by all, "Weird Al" Yankovic
Sunday- Arguably the funniest woman in the country, Maria Bamford
Monday- The most likeable, enjoyable younger comic I've ever heard, Matt Braunger
Tuesday- Writer for Mr. Show and creator of the amazing Comedy Death Ray, Scott Aukerman
Wednesday- Improv, character actor, stand-up, all over genius Andy Daly

Comic Number 18: Arj Barker

So, you know that friend of yours who you think you know really well and think you're totally aware of all his friendships, but then you see him hanging out with another group of people that you're also friends with and it's all "I didn't know you were friends with those guys?" and he's like "Yeah of course" and this happens 4 or 5 times.

That's how Arj Barker is.

Arj is absolutely one of my favorite comics out there, and he has a special airing THIS SUNDAY! CHECK IT OUT!

Arj is part of so many comedy crowds. He performed with Tony Camin and Doug Benson in The Marijuana-logues. He was a secondary character on Flight of the Conchords with all those guys that we talked about last week (I switched Arj and Aziz in my calendar because I wanted to advertise them before they had their specials). I've heard both L.A. comics and New York comics talk about how much they like him.

So...let's get to the funny. Here he is with one of his funniest bits, AND addressing a heckler which he is fabulous at:



He has an animated web series called Arj and Poopy about himself and a cat who only speaks in farts. Here's an episode where Patton Oswalt appears!



Now, I love comedy as an art form, but often I don't find political or religious humor as funny as like....fart jokes and references to Charles in Charge. But Arj can do it in a way that kills me:



So, plugs. He has two albums. The first I can't find online, but it's called Issues Were Here. His most recent one is called LYAO which I have pre-ordered and am super pumped about.

Comic Number 17: Bobby Tisdale

This week we've been highlighting some awesome New York comedians, so we must discuss the great Bobby Tisdale.

There are certain comics who just seem to be friends with everyone. Bobby is one of them. As co-creator of Invite Them Up (which, blah blah blah, yet again, blah blah blah, you should buy the album of) he is friends with New York's finest stand-up comics, improv artists, sketch players, etc.

If you search for his name on Youtube, there are about a hundred videos, only some of which include him. That's because he's involved in so many shows in New York.

There are a few tracks of his stand-up on Invite Them Up, which I quite enjoy, but other than 5 to 10 minute introductions, his stand-up is not very available online. So yet again, I encourage you to buy Invite Them Up.

Comic Number 16: Kumail Nanjiani

For the most part, I hear about comics in whispers for several months (or years) before I actually start hearing their stand-up. With Kumail, only weeks after I first heard his name I started hearing how he was a genius stand-up who was going to change the comedy landscape. I couldn't agree more.

He did stand-up on The Sound of Young America which is available to listen to for freezies if you click RIGHT HERE

Kumail also participated in Eugene Mirman's album "God is a 12 Year Old Boy with Aspergers" which was fantastic. He was featured on Comedy Central's "Hot List" for new young comedians.

Here he is opening for Zach Galifianakis:



So....he's been featured on Comedy Central, he's worked with Eugene Mirman and Zach Galifianakis.....I think it's safe to say that he's going to be massive in the next few...weeks or so.