An early scene in the coming season of HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” showcases the newest product in a long and somewhat troubled line of consumer goods from the fictional first family of televangelism. These “luxury” enclosures, called Prayer Pods, offer sanctuary from the din and prying eyes of public spaces, …
Inside a spacious room on Manhattan’s West Side, rehearsal for the latest Broadway revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” was full of macho bluster and trash talk. And that was before the actors started running their scene. It was a Friday morning, and the show’s British director, Patrick Marber, …
After a half-century of comedy and music (and what at times felt like an equal amount of buildup and hype), how do you at last kick off a prime-time 50th anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live”? Calmly and serenely, it turns out. The long-awaited “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” opened on …
In the days after Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of last year’s presidential election, Allison Reese began having some strange interactions with strangers. “People at my coffee shop were looking at me and approaching me as if I had died, which is kind of funny to me,” said …
‘Show and Tell With Liza Treyger’ Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. at Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn; unionhallny.com. Hot off the heels of the debut of “Night Owl,” her hourlong comedy special on Netflix, Liza Treyger is presenting this showcase in which her funny friends joke about their most …
In 1969, the British comedy writer and performer Michael Palin, then building a career out of being extremely silly, did something utterly sensible: He quit his 40-cigarettes-a-day smoking habit and began keeping a diary instead. Over the years, his meticulously maintained journals captured the rise of Monty Python — the …
‘Margaret’s Gay Sons Featuring Dylan Adler and Sam Oh’ Jan. 31 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, Manhattan; publictheater.org. As part of her residency at Joe’s Pub, the comedian Margaret Cho has been presenting artists whom she finds inspirational. Next in Cho’s lineup is a show featuring …
‘Margaret’s Gay Sons Featuring Dylan Adler and Sam Oh’ Jan. 31 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, Manhattan; publictheater.org. As part of her residency at Joe’s Pub, the comedian Margaret Cho has been presenting artists whom she finds inspirational. Next in Cho’s lineup is a show featuring …
In 1994, Bob Kulhan was in his early 20s and on the path to becoming a marketing executive at a top ad agency. The financial stability of his blossoming career comforted his parents. That year, he also began taking improvisational comedy classes at Second City, a renowned comedy institution based …
“We probably won’t fall through,” Tom Green said as he stepped out onto an expansive frozen lake that sits along his bucolic 150-acre farm in the hinterlands of Ontario, periodically stamping his foot to be sure. I followed his lead, bundled in a polar-rated Baffin snowsuit he’d wisely insisted I …
