More than just a funny comedian, Elon James White (myspace) is becoming a notable force for his efforts to introduce new audiences to the sometimes overlooked diversity of talent within the world of black comedians. In other words, there’s more to black comedy than you might think by watching Def Comedy Jam. By creating The Black Comedy Project with comedian Baron Vaughn, White has helped cultivate an expanding community of artists who might be classified......

THEATER: The fall theater season gets curiouser and curiouser with the start of The Alice in Wonderland Puppet Festival at HERE. (The festival, which is not recommended for children under twelve, will feature a tea party after every show.) Tonight curiouser & curiouser fuses text from Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll’s diary entries and his muse Alice Liddell’s memoirs to try to decipher what destroyed their unique friendship. - John Del......

READING: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards, will have the spotlight on her for the night as she reads from her memoir, Saving Graces. The tale of her teenage son's death and her current battle with cancer may have you grabbing for a box of tissues (and voting for her hubby?). 7pm // Borders [461 Park Ave] // Free MOVIE: Postponed until Monday > Head out in the rain for a screening of......

THEATER: Obie Award winner Adam Rapp has just unwrapped (sorry) his new play Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons. Set in a mean Midwestern town called Bloggs, the play has, fittingly, been generating big blog buzz. The “grim fairy tale” revolves around a disgruntled misfit “who takes a job as an attack dummy in a women’s self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to the repressed bookworm who’s beating on him. But all’s not well in......

FESTIVAL: Today marks the start of the Blip Festival. The arts fest that explores the medium "of the 8-bit scene - musicians and artists who use low-bit videogame and computer hardware as their creative tools. The festival is the widest-reaching event in the history of the form, boasting a roster of over 30 international artists performing and exhibiting from places as diverse as Austria, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and across the United States."......

Ever wonder what it's like to spend the day enjoying the hospitality of the NYPD? A couple of musicians got arrested this week for hanging posters and moblogged the whole thing: While putting up flyers for the International Chiptune Resistance show at The Tank this coming Saturday, Nullsleep and Bit Shifter were approached by two plainclothes police officers, arrested, handcuffed, informed that "a cleaner New York is a safer New York," and taken to......

Andres du Bouchet’s regular gig is that of Boliviguayan Entertainer of the Year Francisco Guglioni, MC of Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions and Also There is a Game!!! at Rififi. But beneath that vague mask of South American host con el most there is a real person. A man. With stories to tell. In the form of a one-man show. Tonight is the last night to see his show of assorted monologues entitled Naked......

Gothamist has had its ups and downs with champagne. That sweet Valentine's Day when we had a romantic candle lit dinner followed by strawberries and bubbly...our sister’s wedding where we had too much and now are taunted by the chants of “do your monkey dance again!” at family gatherings...But this isn’t about that. This is about Champagne, as in Seattle’s sketch comedy duo who will be at the PIT [154 W. 29th Street] on Friday.......

EVENT: The Tank is the latest in New York club casualties. This weekend they're trying to raise money for a new venue, so head over to one of these events or donate online here. Tonight at 7pm / $10 Air America's The Majority Report with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder will broadcast live from The Tank, which it also did during the Republican National Convention. This time the broadcast includes a live studio audience and......

Passover is considered the highest of holidays in Judaism, commemorating the Jew's Exodus from Egypt. And via Egypt many of them ended up in New York working the comedy scene. This year marks fifth annual Downtown Seder, held Thursday night. Among the 400 expected celebrants will be comedian Judy Gold, Daily Show writer Eric Drysdale, singing duo What I Like About Jew and via video, Al Franken and Lewis Black among many, many other performers.......

It's a week after Thanksgiving and you haven't started your holiday shopping yet!? You are so screwed. Luckily you can play catch up this weekend at the copious amounts of fairs, sales and craft shows going on around the city. First off an annual favorite of ours, the Small Press Book Fair. With about 150 indie presses exhibiting the Fair always has an exceptional selection. When?: Saturday, December 4, 10am to 6pm // Sunday, December......

Jon Friedman, Rejection Show Producer, Comedian and Writer...

Gothamist doesn't hate it when our friends become successful, and we have no shame when it comes to plugging their endeavors. A month ago, we told you about FOUND Magazine, a project that started small, but has ballooned to a book deal, television appearances and nationwide tour. Last night was the first of three nights of reading-performances by Davy Rothbart, the creator of FOUND. He performs again tonight and Saturday (two shows each night)......

Next month the ambitious "Slapdance Across America" 50-state FOUND book tour van will be pulling into an alley in Times Square next to The Tank for 3 nights of find-filled reading and song. FOUND Magazine is the brainchild of Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner, who had the why-didn't-I-think-of-that? idea to collect and publish found letters, notes, drawings, photographs, laundry lists and other items collected by Rothbart, his friends, and strangers across the United States. The......