Hey all, you asked for this. What, you say? It’s best described as a screening of 10 short films featuring interactive elements (Phantom of the Opera style sing-a-long anyone?) Some of the films include: A lascivious magician that makes husbands disappear and then beds their wives, The awkward moments after an inter-racial swingers party, Paula Deen facing off against the Busch Bean’s Golden Retriever, A tribute to porn’s greatest boom operator, A tickle fight that goes on for too long, and at least one of the films feature Michael Cera and Elaine Carroll. How are you not intrigued? This Saturday there will be a screening of these gems at Synchronicity Space; the event is the culmination of General Delight’s creative output thus far. General Delight is, well, click on the photo and read for yourself. Oh yeah, and, open bar!

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WHAT: General Delight; new video works, comedy and otherwise screening/reception

WHEN: Saturday June 26th, Screening @ 8:00pm; reception to follow
WHERE: Synchronicity Space, 4306 Melrose Ave
$$$: gratis

In a world where Blockbuster Video is getting slaughtered by Netflix, Red Box, and my cousin Tito who sells DVD’s out the trunk of his 1996 Nissan Sentra (email me, I’ll hook it up), it takes an LA institution like Laser Blazer to thrive. Formerly co-joined with Kevin Smith’s comic shop Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (before Smith went off to make his documentary about gun owners with Down Syndrome) Laser Blazer is an old-school, brick-and-mortar movie-aficionado haven, with regulars ranging from Benicio Del Toro and Laurence Fishburne to Matt Groening and Jonah Hill (even Michael Jackson used to stop by back in the day.) Think Amoeba Records, but less overpriced and with fewer people who look like this hanging around. I love it; it’s like the barbershop from Barbershop for geeky film guys.

Another reason to love it: this Saturday at 2 PM, the brilliant internet sketch group Derrick Comedy — creators of such genius bits as a self-defense video made for sociopaths and a 24 parody that somehow manages to be more ridiculous than 24 – will be at the store for a Q&A and a DVD signing. They’ll be autographing copies of Mystery Team, their debut comedy that blew up the Sundance Film Festival and plays like a mash-up of Encyclopedia Brown and Superbad. (Watch the trailer; do not watch it at work.)

You’ll also get a chance to high-five the guy who could (if there is any justice in this world) become the next Spiderman. Team-member Donald Glover, of NBC’s hilarious Community, has just become the center of a Betty White-style internet campaign to make him the star of the Spidey reboot. (My two cents: Peter Parker is from Queens. Tobey Maguire would get his ass kicked in Queens. Donald Glover would not. Edge – Glover.)

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WHAT: Derrick Comedy DVD signing
WHEN: Saturday June 5th, 2 PM
WHERE: Laser Blazer
$$$: Free

I think you people out there need to laugh a little. Maybe even a lot. Yup, you people out there need to laugh a lot. You also happen to be in luck, because I know just the way to make that happen. On Tuesday, April 27 (the one coming up), the sketch group Tremendosaur will be putting on a free show at The Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood.

I’ve seen some rough variations of the sketches they’re planning on performing and I can guarantee you will laugh at every single one. I am so confident, I’ll give whoever doesn’t laugh their money back. And if you don’t think that was funny, well good. The show is nothing like that.

This is an important show for the duo, as they have some important people showing up to watch and it’s taking place at a pretty cool/big spot. One thing, however, is that you have to call a number and make reservations in advance, like now. The number to call: (323) 960-5519. Listen to the message and follow the instructions. I think they’ll want your name, phone number, and the show you’re going to see (you can say Tremendosaur).

Go check these guys out. It’s free, it’s something to do on a Tuesday night, and you will leave laughing.

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WHAT: Tremendosaur Sketch Show
WHEN: Tuesday, April 27th @ 8:00PM
WHERE: The Comedy Central Stage
$$$: Free! (BUT RSVP at (323) 960-5519)!!
Ages: All.

“I should warn you that I sometimes lie. I do it when it will make a story funnier. I don’t do it to protect the innocent; I don’t know any stories that feature innocent people.” That’s the opening salvo from storyteller Jeffery Ruddell, performing his terrific bit of short non-fiction “Under The Influence” at The Moth.

What is The Moth, you ask? It’s a gathering of storytellers who get together every two weeks (usually somewhere with a lot of booze), and perform their work live before an audience, all based around a predetermined theme. It was founded in 1997 by New York poet George Dawes Green, in an attempt to recapture the freewheeling energy of his days on St. Simon’s Island, where he and his writer pals would gather on the front porch and spin spellbinders. Since then, it’s become a nationwide institution, with chapters popping up in Detroit, Chicago, and thankfully enough, Los Angeles. The next one is happening on April 20th at Silverlake’s fabulous El Cid, a Spanish tavern vaguely reminiscent of the vampire bar in From Dusk Til Dawn — the kind of place where the concrete steps leading down to its entrance are slanted at an odd angle, but by the time you leave, you will be too.

The theme for this next reading is “Spring.” You can listen to some sample stories here, and if you want to get your raconteur on, you can sign up to perform here. Otherwise, feel free to just listen, laugh, and get drawn in like a moth to a flame.

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WHAT: Short-Story Slam
WHEN: April 20th, doors open at 6, readings start at 7:30
WHERE: El Cid
$$$: $7

Miracles are not manufactured — they just happen.  Take for example, Birdemic: Shock and Terror, director James Nguyen’s cult horror phenomenon that explores the question: “What happens when the two worst actors ever born come under attack by an unstoppable mass of horribly CGI’d birds?”

Shot over the course of 5 years for $10,000, with special effects apparently done on a 1982 Commodore, this movie is nothing if not a labor of love.  The flick debuted (though a better word would be “crashed”) at the Sundance Film Festival last year, when Nguyen rented a private screening room after driving to Park City with a van full of fake birds and flyers reading “WHY DID THE EAGLES AND VULTURES ATTACK?” Its trailer is the funniest thing I’ve seen since the GOP website went live, and it gives weight to Vice Magazine’s summation of the picture: “If this a joke, it’s the JFK assassination of jokes.”

James Nguyen himself will be there to introduce the film when it plays at midnight on April 16th at the Silent Movie Theater. He has recently had himself legally trademarked as “The Master of Romantic Thrillers” (I am not kidding), so feel free to address him as such during the Q&A.  Respect!

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WHAT: “Where-is-your-God-now”-level bad horror movie
WHEN: April 16, midnight
WHERE: The Silent Movie Theater
$$$: $12

The Speakeasy Comedy Club, a Thursday-night shindig in the back-room of Hollywood Billiards, is an anomaly in the LA stand-up scene: it’s got no cover, no two-drink minimum, and its comics are hand-picked by the organizers (so you can avoid the face-melting badness that goes along with most open-mic nights.)

Contrary to its moniker, it’s not going unnoticed — even Paul Scheer, of Human Giant and FX’s The League, is getting in on this.

The brainchild of Dan Borrelli and Kirill Baru (the former an Emerson grad who’s been called “Eddie Izzard without the drag”, the latter having cut his teeth on the USC sketch comedy scene and now writes for Comedy Central), Speakeasy is all about variety.  Amongst other things, tonight’s show features the quirky, Emo Phillips-ish stylings of Marly Halpern-Graser, the old-school one-liners of Jay London, gay humor guru Eric Hahn, and an imaginary (?) grandfather’s diary used as a demented joke engine.  The beers are two bucks all night, and the inside of the joint looks like a place Mickey Rourke would’ve brawled in back in the 80’s.  What’s not to like?

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WHAT: Underground comedy club
WHEN: Thursdays, 9-10 PM
WHERE: Hollywood Billiards
$$$: Free

To get to L’Scorpion, you must first pass by three tattoo parlors, five souvenir shops, eight dead celebrity’s names on the Walk of Fame, a strip joint that looks like it should’ve been shut down back when aforementioned dead celebrities were still alive, and innumerable alleys emanating fluffy clouds of piss.  It’s the kind of place only an idiot or a tourist would end up.

Luckily for me, I am the former.

Because L’Scorpion, let me tell you, is l’sweet.

A long, high cavern with giant mounds of melted candlewax spilling down the walls and a towering bar stacked with every type of tequila ever fermented, the place looks like a combination of Dracula’s castle and wherever Danny Trejo is going when he dies.  There are tequila drinks here that violate the laws of both man and God.  You can almost hear The Almighty calling down, “No, L’Scorpion, I command thee, do not make a martini out of mescal and canned pineapple juice.” They do it anyway.

Which is good — you’ll need it.  Because Monday nights are when they turn the back-room into a defiantly fly-by-night comedy club, featuring one mic, two speakers, about thirty jolly hipsters, and a motley crew of aspiring stand-ups.  You will not be bored.  Even when the comedy’s sucking, it’s being delivered by somebody unfailingly memorable, i.e. a white dude with an unnerving talent for aural blackface, or a fearless middle-aged gentleman cracking wise about the congenital birth defect that makes his head look like something created while playing around with the distortion effects on your webcam.  You can’t get this stuff at The Laugh Factory.

Tequila and open-mic comedy: has there ever been a more fitting combination?

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WHAT: Open-mic comedy at tequila speakeasy
WHEN: Every Monday starting at 10 pm
WHERE: L’Scorpion
$$$: $10 for mescal-based cocktails

When I tell people about Prayer of the Rollerboys, they usually refuse to believe me that it actually exists.  “No,” they say, “There cannot possibly be a movie where Corey Haim battles an evil gang of Rollerblading crack dealers lead by a direct descendant of Hitler. That would be like Christmas, my birthday, and Free Chocodile Day happening simultaneously.  It’s scientifically unthinkable.”  And then I bust out the trailer on Youtube, with its glorious slow-motion shots of the Haimster skating away from explosions, and I’m all like “BAM! Now what, motherfucker?”

Fools!

On Saturday March 20th, the Silent Movie Theater is hosting a screening of this 1990 straight-to-VHS masterwork as part of its “Stoopid Futures series.”  All month long, the Cinefamily will be exploring different not-terribly-bright cinematic visions of days to come, bestowing upon us the Schwarzeneggerian delights of The Running Man, the 80’s sci-fi flesh-flick Galaxina, and of course, Idiocracy (which I like to think of as “the prequel to The Road.”) Director Rick King will be there for a Q&A after the showing, to clear up any lingering questions about Rollerboys’ plot and to provide living proof that this film was, in fact, made by an adult.

Rest in peace, Mr. Haim.  As far as I’m concerned, this movie has earned you backstage passes in heaven.

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WHAT: Dystopian Rollerblade flick
WHEN: Saturday, March 20th, 10 PM
WHERE: Silent Movie Theater
$$$: $10

It’s time to air your dirty laundry.  Mortified, happening every month at the King King Club, offers an exhilarating night of live performance that turns oversharing into an art.

Each month, brave souls submit artifacts from their awkward adolescence — journal entries, home video footage, 8th-grade poetry that will make you want to cut off your ears and fill the holes with dirt — to the event’s organizers.  The six best are then selected be read aloud. Before a club full of complete strangers.

And the most memorable thing about the whole experience?  Its sweetness.

A hip 30-something screens horror films he made at age six (featuring him getting “attacked” by his too-affectionate-for-the-role golden retriever.)  An acid-tongued Echo Parker shares the lurid details of her sophomore-year trip to South America and her trio of “fiery” Chilean host-brothers.  Another guy reads a “Saved by the Bell” script he wrote at 14 — before being joined onstage for conciliatory hug by “Bell’s” executive producer. All the while, we silently remember own cringing teenage embarrassments, most of which pale in comparison to what’s being brought on the mic.  We laugh and cheer for their survival, and our own.

Each night closes out with a Dixieland orchestra swinging out a cover of The Faces’ “Ooh La La” – and as young Rod Stewart said, “I wish that I knew what I know now.” But if we did, we’d never get to experience the cathartic awesomeness that is Mortified.

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WHAT: Mortified
WHEN: Wednesday, March 17th @ 8 PM
WHERE: King King
$$$: $15 in advance, $20 at the door

Indie classics & 80’s flashbacks grace the screen at the New Beverly Cinema this month.  In operation for over 30 years, it offers refuge from the Hollywood world of 30-second intervals and overly action-packed sequences to provide familiar faces and quotable lines at a fraction of the cost.  Here’s what’s in store for you:

Join guest-programmer, Jason Reitman (best known for his director roles on Juno and Thank You for Smoking) as he highlights such decade decadents as: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Boogie Nights among others the 19^th-22^nd.

For a nitty-gritty night full of rare 35mm cult/exploitation films and trailers, plus a free DVD raffle, be sure to check out February’s edition of the Grindhouse Film Fest and enjoy: Penitentiary III & Disco Godfather on the 23^rd.   50’s swooners and crooners are proposed a full night of the amazing Judy Holliday the 26^th-27^th with the award-winning, Born Yesterday and fifties-favorite, It Should Happen To You.

Regardless of your mood, this revival house will leave you cinematically-satisfied with enough left in your pocketbook for noodles and sake after the show. Granted, you could fall into full-on nostalgia-arrest, but with every showing a double feature at just $6-$8 a pop, won’t it be worth it?

View the full calendar HERE.

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WHAT: double-feature flashback flicks
WHEN: daily
WHERE: New Beverly Cinema
$: $6-$8, plus free DVD raffles

While I’d like to say I came up with that line myself, it’s the name of a comedy benefit to be held at ComedySportz LA next Wednesday (the 24th). All proceeds from the $25 tickets will go towards providing mammograms to uninsured women, an important and probably oft-overlooked cause. The stand-up features Cat Davis, Megan Mooney (Comedy Central Presents), Whitney Cummings (Chelsea Lately), Sarah Silverman, and Garfunkel & Oates. Make your next Wednesday a funny one and do some good, too.

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WHAT: Breast Cancer Be Trippin Comedy Benefit
WHEN: Wed. Feb. 24th 8pm
WHERE: ComedySportz LA 733 Seward St.
$$$: 25 + cash bar (all benefiting charity)

Okay, so maybe not ghosts per se, but you can get a chance to meet your favorite dead authors at Upright Citizens Brigade.  For only five bucks, you can experience the wonders of reincarnation as H.G. Wells leads a discussion (and perhaps a brawl?) between the recently-deceased JD Salinger and the king of Romantic mysteries, Edgar Allan Poe.  Ever wondered why Poe married his 13-year-old cousin or what made Salinger give up Scientology in favor of Christian Science?  Well, you can ask them in person because the event is all about audience interaction.  The whole thing promises to be hilarious (UCB events always are) and, best of all, it helps raise money for 826LA, a really awesome organization that’s dedicated to helping kids become creative thinkers and strong writers.

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WHAT: 826LA’s Dead Author Readings
WHEN: Friday, February 19th, 7-8 PM
WHERE: Upright Citizens Brigade Theater
$$$: 5

Tonight, the American Cinematheque is blowing up the internet. That’s right, they will have a special screening of many of the internet audience’s favorite Funny or Die clips up on the big screen. You do have to pay to see this, but how often will you get to watch Zach Galifinakis’ Between Two Ferns on a massive screen in front of you? Not too often, that’s for sure. I’m positive it will be a really funny night and get a big turn out so don’t wait until the last minute to decide if you want to experience the Internet blown up!
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WHAT: American Cinematheque Blows Up The Internet
WHEN: Friday, December 11th @ 7:30pm
WHERE: Aero Theatre
$$$: $7-10

Some of you may know who Dave Malki ! and Kris Straub are already, but for those that don’t, you have a great chance to find out.

For those less familiar with their work, you mayhaps will recognize the names of their respective webcomics, Wondermark and Starslip.  Well on top of all that greatness, they have joined forces to create Tweet Me Harder, a “smash hit comedy podblast” crafted by the two gents.  Things to expect:  rapier-sharp witty repartee, rampant exuberance, an appearance by America’s Favorite Funnyman, Dave “Duckman” Kellett, nemesis (perhaps Arch Nemesis, even) Fake Stan Lee, and many, many pandora’s boxes of comedy sure to be opened.

Note to Antarctic scientists: if sunny Southern California is too far away for you, you can also tune in to tweetmeharder.com to watch a live stream of the show.

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WHAT: Tweet Me Harder LIVE!
WHEN: Saturday, November 14th @ 8pm-10pm
WHERE: The Complex (map)
$$$: FREE!

Yet another thing for you to do for free this weekend! Thursday night, Shadowscene is presenting, in collaboration with Jelly NYC and +1 (just to make this sound more like the opening credits to a movie), a private screening of The Men Who Stare At Goats.

Inspired by a Jon Ronson’s non-fiction book about the efforts of the U. S. government to harness paranonmal abilities for national defense, we follow a writer and a alleged member of an experimental U. S. military unit as they search for the program’s leader after he goes missing. Dodging psychics, a legion of “warrior monks” who, amongst other talents, can pass through walls and kill goats with their minds, and some bad guy’s militia of super soldiers (wait…monks who can kill goats through telekinesis wasn’t super enough?), all for a good story to write about? Sounds like my kind of adventure!

RSVP to rsvp (at) shadowscene.com with your name, and be sure to show up early for good seats!

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WHAT: Free Private Screening: The Men Who Stare At Goats
WHEN: Thursday, November 5th @ 730pm
WHERE: The Grove, 189 The Grove Drive
$$$: Free with RSVP!

Speaking of Falcor and Soapbox Derbies, here are some pics from the Redbull event this last weekend.

EXTREME advertising.
Submitted by Jeremy N.

Faaallllcoooorrrr!
Submitted by Smokey Cloud of CubicleGM

He may have been on giant mushrooms.
Submitted by Smokey Cloud of CubicleGM

Competitors crashing right out of the starting gate.
Submitted by Smokey Cloud of CubicleGM

LA is awesome.  Prove it with your pictures.  If you have an LA Blink you’d like posted, send it to marksy [at] boredla [dot] com. Make sure you include your name, where you took the photo, and anything you want to say about your pic.

This Thursday at Echoplex see 10 of LA’s best comedians for $10 bucks. Shang- from Comedy Central, BET’s Def Jam and Comic View, Iliza Shlesinger- the winner of last season’s Last Comic Standing, Christina Pazsitsky- from Comedy Central, Ian Edwards- one of the writers for Adult Swim, and a surprise special guest are just a few on the list. Comedy nights put on by Comedy is the New Black are usually a fun deal; the last ELLE O ELLE event was supposed to be off the chain. So check it out for a good laugh; it’s a nice switch-a-roo from the ol’ show/dance scene at the echo/echoplex.

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WHAT: Stars and Stripes of Comedy 2: Electric Boogaloo
WHEN: Thurs. Oct. 2nd, 7:30pm
WHERE: Echoplex
$$$: 10

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@everybody, have you guys heard of twitter? #dumbquestions here’s a link to the site check it out http://bit.ly/17MgN8

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Well FYI there’s a Twitter Festival (aka #Twestival) and it’s going on this Sun Sept 13 at Level 3 Hollywood!

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So DM all your followers and tell ‘em to get on down there! @superfriend, @cooldude15, you heard me!

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It’s for charity, there will be music, comedians, etc! #so0ofun

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#threewordsaftersex I wet myself! hahaha Where was I… haha another three words!!

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So quit being a totally lame FAIL WHALE! Plus, it’ll give you something to do while twitter is down again #twittersucks : (

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WHAT: #twestival with comedy, music, etc for charity http://tiny.cc/xbfAO

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WHEN: Sunday, September 13th 6pm-12midnight

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WHERE: Level 3 at Hollywood x Highland http://tinyurl.com/mjw284

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$$$: 20 donation, up to 100 #mad$pen$ive

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as this is a concept post, I have not formatted the what/when/where properly ON PURPOSE, and for the visual confusion I apologize

As in LOL. Get it? Well, it’s Bust Magazine and Comedy is the New Black’s tribute to laugh-out-loud female comedians this Thursday at echoplex. Featured females include Whitney Cummings, Natisha Anderson, Sardia Marley, Hannah Gansen, Jackie Jones, Selene Yuna, and Charlyne Yi (did her and Michael really break up? sad.) among others. Plus a VERY SPECIAL GUEST (supposedly a comedy legend. I’m hoping Jeanine Garaffalo. Is that at all likely?) There’s also free gift bags and t-shirts. Get your $10 tickets through ticketweb or you can apparently save money by ordering through your celly- text “lawl” to 467467. Mkay.

WHAT: LOL the Funniest Females in Los Angeles
WHEN: Thursday 7:30pm
WHERE: echoplex
$$$: 10

Community Pool is one of those fantastic events, where the community comes together to share a great time for a great cause.  Tonight, if you’re looking for a humanitarian effort to motivate you to leave air conditioning and queen-sized beds on a smokey Sunday evening, head down to Venice to celebrate proximity with the Ahimsa Collective (a-him-saw?) – a performing arts organization devoted to spreading non-violence through art.   A music/art based event in Los Angeles?  But, of course!

There will be music from The Voodoo Fix, Andrew Heringer, Magza C. Creature, and BaulPointPen.  People will be funny, including the handsome Younger Statesmen improv group and Carly Nykanen.  There will be clowns (I’m sorry if i just scared anyone by writing the word “clowns”), a DJ, and a visual installation game.  I don’t know what a visual installation game is, but I can take some guesses.  I bet it’s pretty dope.

Just in case the above isn’t enough stimulation for our humdrum minds, there will also be tarot card readers, live art, energy consulting (?), lego’s, trivia, video games, and massages.  I like all of these things.  This is fantastic.

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WHAT: Community Pool: An Art Party
WHEN: SUNDAY August 30th, 7-10 PM
WHERE: The Talking Stick in Venice
$$: $5