Let these touring comedy acts tickle your funny bone.
Former Chelsea Lately mainstay Heather McDonald takes a break from hosting her Juicy Scoop celebrity gossip podcast to perform four stand-up sets at Laugh Boston on March 17-18.
A finalist in comedy competitions throughout New England, Boston-based comic Chris Pennie riffs on daily battles as a single dad when he heads to Nick’s Comedy Stop on March 17-18.
About Last Night podcast host Brad Williams, star of acclaimed stand-up specials Fun Size and Daddy Issues, takes his musings on sex, race and disability to the Wilbur Theatre on March 18.
Actress Bonnie Hunt joins Tony and Emmy winner Billy Crystal when his Spend the Night with Billy Crystal tour brings the laughs to the Boch Wang Theatre on March 24.
Donnell Rawlings of Chappelle’s Show fame headlines the third annual Comics 2 Cure event at Laugh Boston on April 19 to benefit Watertown’s Perkins School for the Blind.
TV talents Sasheer Zamata, Nicole Byer and Keisha Zollar—and their award-winning improv troupe Doppelgänger—headline opening night of the Women in Comedy Festival on April 19 at the Somerville Theatre, kicking off a week of performances, workshops, panels and Q&As running through April 23.
Emmy winner Sarah Silverman brings her provocative takes on politics and current events to the Wilbur on April 27-28 in advance of her new Netflix special due out in May.
Christine Hurley, Don Gavin, Orlando Baxter, Steve Sweeney, Tony V. and Will Noonan have a hometown reunion with the first Boston Comedy Blowout at the Boch Shubert Theatre on April 29.
British comedian and star of several eponymous TV shows Russell Howard crosses the pond when his fifth stand-up tour stops at Brighton Music Hall on May 7.
The Carmichael Show’s Tiffany Haddish stops at Laugh Boston on May 18-20 in advance of her summer feature film release Girls Trip, which also stars Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Regina Hall.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | DANCE | FILM
Laughing Stock
Your Spring '17 Comedy Preview
By Meghan Kavanaugh | Photo Credit: Billy Crystal: Steve Schofield | March 10, 2017
Laughing Stock
Let these touring comedy acts tickle your funny bone.
Former Chelsea Lately mainstay Heather McDonald takes a break from hosting her Juicy Scoop celebrity gossip podcast to perform four stand-up sets at Laugh Boston on March 17-18.
A finalist in comedy competitions throughout New England, Boston-based comic Chris Pennie riffs on daily battles as a single dad when he heads to Nick’s Comedy Stop on March 17-18.
About Last Night podcast host Brad Williams, star of acclaimed stand-up specials Fun Size and Daddy Issues, takes his musings on sex, race and disability to the Wilbur Theatre on March 18.
Actress Bonnie Hunt joins Tony and Emmy winner Billy Crystal when his Spend the Night with Billy Crystal tour brings the laughs to the Boch Wang Theatre on March 24.
Donnell Rawlings of Chappelle’s Show fame headlines the third annual Comics 2 Cure event at Laugh Boston on April 19 to benefit Watertown’s Perkins School for the Blind.
TV talents Sasheer Zamata, Nicole Byer and Keisha Zollar—and their award-winning improv troupe Doppelgänger—headline opening night of the Women in Comedy Festival on April 19 at the Somerville Theatre, kicking off a week of performances, workshops, panels and Q&As running through April 23.
Emmy winner Sarah Silverman brings her provocative takes on politics and current events to the Wilbur on April 27-28 in advance of her new Netflix special due out in May.
Christine Hurley, Don Gavin, Orlando Baxter, Steve Sweeney, Tony V. and Will Noonan have a hometown reunion with the first Boston Comedy Blowout at the Boch Shubert Theatre on April 29.
British comedian and star of several eponymous TV shows Russell Howard crosses the pond when his fifth stand-up tour stops at Brighton Music Hall on May 7.
The Carmichael Show’s Tiffany Haddish stops at Laugh Boston on May 18-20 in advance of her summer feature film release Girls Trip, which also stars Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Regina Hall.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | DANCE | FILM
By Meghan Kavanaugh
Ask Away
Award-winning actress, comedian and author Carol Burnett could be on her way back to television, as she’s filming a pilot for Household Name, a comedy produced by Amy Poehler that stars Burnett as a former movie star forced to share her mansion with a young family. But first, she’ll entertain a live audience when she stops by the Boch Wang Theatre on April 8 for An Evening of Laughter and Reflection Where the Audience Asks Questions. She gave us a backstage pass.
What’s the format of your show? All of it is improvised by the audience. I don’t have any pre-planned questions at all. … I open the show with clips of some of my favorite questions and answers that we did on my show, my television show, so the audience…knows what to expect and, you know, it puts them in the mood.
What do you like best about leaving space for that spontaneity? Well, it keeps the old gray matter ticking. I have to really be on my toes. I can’t be thinking about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. I have to be in the present, and hopefully I’ll give an intelligent and sometimes funny—I hope—answer.
What’s one of your favorite audience Q&A moments you’ve experienced? There was a woman who was in the audience and dressed kind of like Bea Arthur in Maude. She raised her hand and she wanted to come up and sing. We have our live orchestra and everything, so I said, “OK, come on up.” … She was fearless, absolutely fearless. She was so funny. I said, “What do you want to sing?” Without missing a beat, she pointed to the orchestra and said, “ ‘You Made Me Love You’ in the key of G.” [Laughs.] She was just wonderful and so that was one of my favorites. I joined her with the latter part of the song and everything. We had a good time.
You’ve won so many awards throughout your career—is there one that stands out for you? Oh gosh, it’s hard to say without sounding like I’m bragging or something. But I think the one that I hold separately than everything else was the first one I got. When I was a freshman at UCLA, I got the Most Promising Newcomer in the theater arts department. I have it in my office here at home.
What do you hope the audience takes away from your time together when you’re in town? I just hope they’ll have a good, fun 90 minutes. I never know what’s going to happen, but I just hope it’s an audience that comes armed with some fun questions.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | DANCE | FILM
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