Bleav in The Comedy Bureau Field Report

Unfortunately, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the world in 2022 is still not a fair, equitable, or even hospitable place for women. Things for women in comedy are objectively better than they were in the 70s or 80s, but that doesn't mean there's actual equality and true inclusion. The beaming delight that is comedian Bailey Norton has a chat with us about how she gets death threats from men...

It's one thing to be a rising star in the comedy scene and navigating all the terrain that comes with that, but it's a whole other thing entirely to also navigate your identity, especially if you're openly transitioning between genders at the same time. If you've seen one Max Beasley recently, you'll agree that they're balancing the two journeys exquisitely and getting funnier every time you see t...

The issue of identity in comedy is more prevalent than perhaps it has ever been in comedy. That's actually a great thing even though the seeming explosion of varying perspectives and backgrounds that all have their different takes and stories may feel overwhelming to some. Both Sophie Santos, wonderful comedian/creator of The Lesbian Agenda , and TCB's Jake Kroeger delves into their own intersecti...

Though the comedians today aren't as unhinged as those of decades past, the community of comedy is one that is still very much in need of supportive infrastructure rather than the less blind leading the more blind as it is now. Thanks to Comedy Gives Back , working comedians have some sort of a safety net as CGB is dedicated to making sure that comedians (who so often help folks get through the da...

While the reverberations of the pandemic are still being felt and both the commercial and artistic sides of comedy have been changed forever, there is hope springing eternal in new venues that have blossomed. Thanks to the blood, sweat, tears, and compassion of one Nicole Blaine, a longtime producer and comedian, her club, The Crow, represents a new oasis for comedy in a veritable comedy desert  o...

One of the key things in running an actually great open mic is consistency. Well, having a proper stage in a proper venue, great sound system, actual staff, drinks and snacks, not charging to go up, and audience helps too. Avry Ross and the rest of the good folks at Third Wheel Hollywood/Podcast Studio have actually done all of that and do it on a nightly basis at midnight with what has been coine...

The prospect of doing your first nationwide tour as a comedian is as thrilling as it can be daunting. So much of it is a mystery that you can't really prepare for ahead of time. That said, to actually play to folks that specifically came to see you across the country is part of the electrifying feeling of doing comedy that makes up for all the other numerous hardships you go through in trying to m...

Many great sketch groups did survive to this side of the pandemic, but were left to figure out things in a whole new world of comedy with new theaters or old theaters with new owners and have to, like every single on the planet, rebuild. Fortunately for the scrappy, DIY trio of  Business Casual (Jeremy Elder, Corey Peter Lane, and Hunter Saling) adapting to unforeseen change has been the name of t...

As it has been for years and years now, the world is so absurd that trying to be absurd comedically is an incredibly daunting challenge. That still doesn't stop such brilliant and amazing folks such as Cricket Arrison from finding ways to satirize the world and be comedically ludicrous in such the ridiculous, preposterous time that we live in. We chat with Cricket about how the gauntlet of the las...

While it's rare, there are folks that go and see almost the same amount of comedy that we do. It should go without saying that we enjoy the company of those folks, which is exactly why we had a splendid chat with the YARD Theater's uber-friendly co-manager Brett Johnson . With his involvement, Brett has made a home for some of the more genre and tone bending types of comedy and, thusly, we have sp...

Though roasting in comedy has taken on a new chapter via the Comedy Central Roasts and Roast Battle, it's rare to see actual fury channeled into comedy. It has also even been rarer that the predators and monsters within comedy are held accountable in a meaningful way. Alice Hamilton, a rising comedian in the LA scene, struck both rare chords with her self-produced and self-released half hour speci...

These are the days of the comedy multi-hyphenates. Not only does that mean that taking a 100% focus on one direction within comedy isn't very feasible anymore, it has inspired many comedian of the current and recent generations to expand their repertoire into all sorts of different corners. This week, we chat it up with one of our favorite comedy multi-hyphenates, Sara June. A writer/comedian/dire...

While the primary focus of The Comedy Bureau is in LA and NYC, there is plenty of great comedy to be had and shared all around the country (and the world). In fact, there are so many folks in smaller cities/markets that would love to see more than whatever the comedy club in the biggest city near them offers them that there would seem to be a niche to be filled. That's where Chris Copen and Bottle...

Helen Levenson, a rising person in the inner-workings of comedy, might be the freshest LA from NYC transplant we've ever had on The Comedy Bureau Field Report. As such, we catch her perspective on the LA comedy scene (and LA in general) in the very first days of living in the City of Angels. Helen herself works at one of the biz's top management companies and is an intrepid fan of comedy (as it sh...

Love it or hate it (and so many people hate it while being obsessed with it), social media has become throughly woven into the fabric of comedy. Gianmarco Sores i has not only honed his skills as a stand-up and sketch comedian as well as storyteller and podcaster, but meticulously and tirelessly built up a very enviable social media following (across all the platforms to boot) on top of that. Gian...

When having your late night TV debut, it's an affair framed with bright lights, an applause sign, a big TV audience, and a sharply dressed late night host. Due to COVID-19, the amazing Kenice Mobley made her Tonight Show debut on a rooftop in wintry temperatures and still managed to kill anyways. Mobley talks her journey getting to the very set as well making space for black weirdness in comedy an...

Though you might be skeptical, there are indeed, real, honest, good industry folks that are less about the industry than their job title might suggest. Cue in one of our favorite industry folks, producer Danielle Lee, who has brought great and wonderful things to stages and screens of all sizes across the country and is a fierce supporter of the best, forward thinking comedy out there. TCB's Jake...

Of all the grandiose comedy goals one might have had over the last two years, starting a comedy festival in a national park in Utah was probably both far out of sight as well as far from being a potential reality. The effervescent and determined writer/comedian/producer Val Douroux truly pulled off doing a comedy festival in Zion National Park with the Electric Comedy Festival, not once, but twice...

There is and has been some sort of prevailing narrative as to the trajectory of a comedian's career for decades. The milestones of doing late night or doing specials, getting your show, playing theaters/stadiums, etc. are just some of the trappings that many have thought is some sort of path for the artist that is a comedian. That said, it doesn't have to be that way and the very funny and very th...

Yes, it is The Comedy Bureau Field Report's 100th Episode. This podcast started at the beginning of the pandemic and the pandemic has been going on this damn long. That said, it's quite the milestone and, as such, we have Yemi Afolabi , a comedian who TCB's Jake Kroeger started out with back at the turn of the decade to the 2010s, who has had an astounding journey himself going from finding himsel...

This week's TCB Field Report has the marvelous Will Miles takes his through his journey that has seen him start out in stand-up in Chicago and brought him to writing and acting in an acclaimed sitcom, South Side , about Chicago. Miles came full circle with this path while having a family with a great full time comedian, by the way. Also, "hot" takes on this year's White House Corresponde...

Katrina Davis has not only charmed the LA comedy scene in the years since she moved here, but has become a trailblazer for being one of the first comedians to have both a virtual audience and live audience together at her show. In general, her passion to continue with both in-person and virtual comedy ought to light the way for more stubborn or purist comedians. She shares her pandemic era comedy...

If you've listened to the nearly 100 episodes of The Comedy Bureau Field Report that have been recorded and released, you ought to know that there are an unbelievable amount of forces pushing and pulling at each other underneath the shiny, delightful surface of comedy. As of 2022, there is stil no real union that comedians have largely organized behind and, as such, fairness and equity for labor i...

Littlefield's Gabe Henry not only helms the treasured comedy and music venue in Brooklyn for years and years, especially throughout this darkest timeline of COVID-19, but has gathered many of the best comedians to write haikus all for a book,  Eating Salad Drunk , featuring all sorts of artfully hilarious morsels in the form of 5-7-5. Henry talks with TCB's Jake Kroeger about the journey to actual...

It's one thing to think of young people as the future, but it's a whole other thing to actually talk to them about what the prospect of the coming years has in store for them. Taking a cue from C'mon C'mon, we talk to Ruby Karp, a comedian who is both Gen Z and has had more experience in doing comedy than people in their 30s and 40s. Karp has an inspiring passion for comedy that is both captured t...