Bleav in The Comedy Bureau Field Report

There was a time where Dave Ross was doing seemingly all the things you could be doing in comedy in LA and doing them so well. While that was years ago, Dave has since transplanted himself to NYC, taken some much needed rest, and then revved himself back up to putting on his own live shows, putting out a record out once a month, and prepping for his very first special taping (on 6/22 @ The Gutter...

One of the best working comedy photographers out there, Noah Eberhart , returns to the The Comedy Bureau Field Report to not only update us on the NYC comedy scene, which he's firmly rooted in these days, but have an in-depth discussion on the ins-and-outs of comedy photography and working with shows/venues and building your notoriety (as well as taking care of yourself both financially and mental...

If you've ever wondered what it might be like to run a theater and a bureau at the same time (alongside running this very podcast), you're in luck as this week's episode is TCB's very own Jake Kroeger interviewing none other than himself with his involvement as the Artistic Director of the Lyric Hyperion Theater on top of running TCB for almost 14 years. (and being on the ball to a degree where he...

Over two years, Mike Bridenstine has transformed a very atypical space for comedy, the lovely neighborhood bar that is The Fable in Eagle Rock, CA, into one hell of a destination for a weeknight stand-up show, Microdose , at a bar in Northeast LA. We have Mike return to the TCB Field Report to break down the basics of what it takes to make a field-of-dreams-comedy-show out of a locals' favorite ta...

Kel Cripe is one of the very lucky few (along with their bright and shining talent/sweet demeanor that's deserving of the spotlight) to have been highlighted by the massive Netflix Is a Joke Festival that's currently underway. Cripe got picked as one of their "Introducing" comedians (essentially Netflix's answer to JFL New Faces) and we talk all about their journey to that very stage (bo...

Believe it or not, there is a world of sketch comedy outside of  Saturday Night Live  (and a thriving one at that). Hot LA sketch group  Rabble Rabble and the group's marvelous writer/performer Caitlin Linden are a splendid example of that, taking far more than a week (and rightfully so) to put together an hour-ish show of sketches that are narratively tied together and abjectly absurd in such a b...

As a comedian who was a science communicator who was a comedian, Shane Mauss has had a long circuitous road towards living kind of an idyllic comedy life by playing the venues he wants with crowds made up of his own fanbase (not to mention wheeling and dealing with his other passions by starting a legal drug company). Catching up with him on this episode of TCB Field Report was astounding as to se...

Kate Willett is not only coming out with a special that really stands out of the rest of the pack this year (and oh what a pack of dozens there is of YouTube specials uploaded every week), but is already working on her very next hour and a solo show as well as being as involved as possible in socialist communities and activism, which sometimes has its intersection in comedy. This week's TCB Field...

Of all the disciplines in comedy, improv might have had the longest road back from lockdown. Connected to that, improv festivals that used to be an annual celebration to be relied on are now having to be revived from the ashes. Thus, one of the oldest indie improv nights in LA, Mach Improv , is taking up the mantle from what used to be known and beloved as The LA Indie Improv Festival and throwing...

Together, Dakota Ray Hebert, Danny Knight, Dylan Jay Williamson, Ryan Moccasin, and Shawn Cuthand are the touring (mostly) indigenous sketch/stand-up comedy troupe, Red, White, & You ,  hailing from up above in Canada. They all found each other/bonded/made each other laugh (i.e. the best way to form a comedy group) in Saskatoon (and hopefully will put on the map outside of being a joke referen...

While it would seem that stand up and comedy clubs reign supreme in the NYC comedy scene, there are plenty of performers that defy that notion and not only go for alternative spaces and types of comedy, but find ways in between all of them. One such comedian is Sydney Duncan who constantly switches gears between performing in character, as herself, on stage solo, with other folks on teams, and so...

2005 seems both so recent and yet so distant, but that marks the time at which a happenstance pairing of Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal backstage at the Peoples Improv Theater in NYC eventually led to run of the longest running, most beloved weekly live comedy shows in comedy history, Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen . Coming up on its 20th anniversary (and subsequent swan song), Hot Tub has been...

Chloe Radcliffe has been taking radical honesty and capturing of the full breadth of the human experience to a new level with, rest assured, plenty of jokes, in her astounding solo show, CHEAT. Radcliffe shares, in the hour, an in-depth journey of her pattern of cheating and really getting into the nitty gritty of perhaps why it might be happening (and that's she still human and is not solely defi...

Club Video is the latest welcoming, short film/video/sketch showcase that's as inviting and low key as it is cool and the place to be in NYC, at the intersection of film and comedy and wanting a great weekend hang with good folks. This week's TCB Field Report is dedicated to how the hell one strikes that balance and we talk to Club Video's Whitley Watson and Micah Phillips how they manage to keep...

Intrepid indie comedy producers, Sam Varela , returns to TCB Field Report to talk the state of comedy with TCB's Jake Kroeger at this juncture of (still) early 2024. Varela produces shows in both LA and NYC (including the amazing Picture This ) as well as live-streams that are genuinely worth watching and definitely is one of the perfect people to weigh in on where the art form/community/scenes of...

After spending so much time in LA that it seemed like they already lived in Los Angeles, Hay Beacon has made the move on down from SF to the City of Angels and we here at TCB are personally grateful to have such a delightful addition to our ever evolving comedy scene. For this week's TCB Field Report, we talk to the freshly transplanted Hay and how they're acclimatizing and an insightful perspecti...

Part of the magic of live comedy, especially when it comes to just putting on stand-up, is that it seems like a lone person is captivating and inspiring spontaneous laughter to a group of strangers shrouded in darkness. Of course, the ingredients as to what make that magic actually happen are elusive and ever changing (not to mention, wholly impermanent). LA comedy torchbearer and beloved comedian...

There are many folks that make the magic of comedy really snap and pop and one of those groups of people are the technical directors/operators/stage managers that take the logistics of comedy of all ilks and make it seamless. Jimmy Jatho has made himself one of the foremost names in that regard with his 40 plus years experience, tech'ing at least a guess-timated 30K shows all around the country in...

Not that this podcast is a stranger to taking big swings or chatting with characters that might as well be from another galaxy, but, for a podcast that ostensibly pulls back the curtain, we go above and beyond with this episode by devising a show with a comedian live on tape. If you haven't gathered in recent episodes, TCB's Jake Kroeger is now also the Artistic Director at Lyric Hyperion and tapp...

There's way more that goes into being a clown than just doing something wild on stage with only a few things planned and messing with the audience, especially if you want to make a legitimately living as a clown. Rising star in LA comedy's clown scene, Natasha Mercado , is not only working on her latest solo show to tour, but is also juggling teaching clown classes and guiding incarcerated youth i...

Atheer Yacoub has survived starting in and coming up through the NYC comedy scene over the last 15 years, which is a daunting feat unto itself. Yacoub also happens to be Palestinian and has survived living in Palestine under the shadow of an ever-encroaching Israel as well as, of all places, Alabama, bringing her comedy to the forefront at this current moment. As one of the headliners of the upcom...

When one goes to see an improv show, the supposition is that your going to see comedy gold being born out of thin air, something that's almost beyond a veritable comedy alchemy. If you've gone to enough improv shows or taken classes, you ought to know that there is a precision and structure applied to much of improv to make it seem magical. One of LA improv's favorite sons, Jeremy Culhane, joins u...

Sachi Ezura has overseen, along with longtime host John F. O'Donnell, the comedy institution that is 50 First Jokes for well over a decade and is, for the first time ever, doubling up the show to feature 100 comics telling their first new jokes of the new year. Ezura joins us for the TCB Field Report to give us the rundown of the history of this show, now in its 17th year, and spread across more t...

While "daddy issues" are certainly well trodden territory in comedy, few, if any, comedians have gone to the level that Mo Welch has gone to with her new special  Dad Jokes . Not only does she dig up and recontextualize super dark "dad jokes" that she has written throughout her comedy career, but she goes above and beyond by seeking out her actual estranged father to, ostensibl...

Yep, it's the episode where we, esteemed comedian/author/historian/podcaster/GM Mike Bridenstine and TCB's Jake Kroeger, run down, as noted comedy experts, their 2023 comedy faves that come from several tens of thousands of hours of watching comedy (in person and on a screen). Essentially, whether you agree or not, the takeaway here should definitely be, as much as you can, catching comedy in pers...