Results tagged “juviehall”

Gothamist’s family has never been the type to take to the yard after our Thanksgiving meal for a rousing game of touch football. That’s so Kennedy’s in Hyannisport, and so the opposite of everything our sedentary upbringing represents. Our family is less competitive, opting to sit quietly before getting what we lovingly refer to as our “second wind” where we continue our Pilgrim and Indian inspired binging. This week we’d like to suggest some shows that will remind you of all the competition, drama and dysfunction Thanksgiving can inspire, hopefully with less bloated regret.

Chengwin is exactly what it sounds like, a creature that is half penguin, half chicken. Less obvious are the motives behind Chengwin’s public displays of theatrics when he takes to the streets of New York City to create scenes. He has been known to race his arch-nemesis Chunk (half chicken- half skunk) in a quarter mile marathon and has tried to break up Chunk’s public wedding ceremony, all while thousands of spectators participate in the pageantry. The video release and screening party for the latest Chengwin video, Homecoming 2004: The Chengwins vs. The Chunks is tomorrow night and will be a spectacle in itself, with an appearance by Chabio (yes, half-chicken, half…Fabio), 2 DJ’s, drinks and book-signings. The party starts at 8pm Thursday, November 10th at North Six in Williamsburg, admission is $5 which goes to help fund the next Chengwin event which will occur on a snowy winter day in 2006.

With just two new episodes so far this season, the NY Post wonders if Saturday Night Live is really dead. It's a good, if evergreen question. Horatio Sanz is certainly no Tina Fey during Weekend Update, though Gothamist has been impressed he's been able to hold it together this long. With Maya Rudoph's pregnancy, it seems like most sketches with a female character involve Amy Poehler (who rules, but maybe she needs a break). There are always dark periods of SNL (the years after the original cast left and before Eddie Murphy arrived; after Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and David Spade left), but it's still TiVo worthy, if not stay-at-home on a Saturday night. There's always a chance there's a watercooler moment in a broadcast, and that's what keeps people watching. Gothamist hopes there will be a sketch with this week's host, Catherine Zeta-Jones, that either involves overeating or being married to a jowly old man.

Gothamist loves that on any given night, the performers and writers who create shows like SNL, Conan and the Daily Show are performing live at other venues around the city. It’s just one of the many reasons we love living here and this week it seems like there are more opportunities to check them out than usual.

Topping Gothamist's short list of things we can't get enough of are a nice cold Hoegarten, sample sales and the priceless humor of Flight of the Conchords. Though billed as a folk-parody duo, their songs have little to do with the typical issues addressed in folk music...unless you count their story of Albi, a racist dragon who cries jellybean tears and teaches us all a real life lesson. The rest of their songs tackle more hard hitting matters like David Bowie's song catalog, Hobbits and giving "something special" to the ladies. So yeah, we are excited that the Conchords are infiltrating the city this week.

Obviously Labor Day is the weekend to kick back and squeeze out the final drops of summer before retiring your Nantucket Reds in favor of muted browns and tweeds. Obviously. And obviously the last thing you ought to do on a weekend such as this is put any effort into anything. However, Gothamist highly recommends you take action as soon as possible to snag the now-on-sale tickets to see Elliot Kalan’s interview with Stephen Colbert at Juvie Hall. The show will take place on September 9th but tickets are available and selling quickly now at SmartTix. Long live Mr. Noblet!

Gothamist loves this time of year when the city clears out. The city was so empty this morning that even our local AM New York distributor by the F train was on vacation and we had to pick up the paper instead of having it handed to us. Thankfully there is plenty to do this week as a reward for our hard work.

In L.A., Un-Cabaret has been a fixture of the alternative comedy scene for over a decade. Founder Beth Lapides started it after growing tired of what mainstream stand-up comedy was offering, and brought in friends over the years like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, Michael Patrick King, Scott Thompson and Patton Oswalt to break new ground and showcase their material. Today it has grown into a tiny empire with live shows, writing classes and contests for aspiring writers. This week several venues around our fair city play host to The Uncabaret Micro-Festival where never before seen TV pilots will air and comedy workshops will be held, and for comedy nerds (redundant, I know) the lineup is pretty great.

Everyone in New York, it seems, wants to make it big. But with so many people competing, work falls by the wayside, dreams get dashed and people get rejected. Which is the foundation for Jon Friedman’s Rejection Show, this Wednesday at P.S. 122. The show embraces the rejected material of professional and amateur writers, comedians, cartoonists, artists, and human beings, who display their creative “failures” live on stage. Of course many of the performers are contributors for The Daily Show, The New Yorker and even star on Arrested Development, so quit feeling sorry for yourself, even these guys have their critics. This week the show welcomes comedian Liam McEneany, cartoonist Matt Diffee, mayoral candidate Andy Horwitz and many more.

If you aren't in Indio, California this weekend then you aren't seeing Nine Inch Nails, the Arcade Fire or Spoon. You also aren't going to be suffering from heat stroke in a desert and buying $8 bottles of water, so we think you made a wise decision to skip Coachella. This weekend in New York we say goodbye to April, which if the old saying is correct - no more rain! Right? So throw away your umbrella and head to the May Day Festival in Tompkins Square Park this Sunday. And in the meantime, check this stuff out:

Did you get shut out of the "secret" Beck show? Don't be sad, we did too, but there is plenty more to do this weekend. The weather will be nice, and at least your taxes are done, right. Right?

Gothamist is in Austin at the moment, but we've still got our finger on the pulse of the city we love most (that's you New York). This weekend while we rock, roll and get tans you are welcome to do one of the following (and we'll promise not to show off our sun kissed skin when we get back).

Sara Schaefer (is Obsessed With You)