One week away!!! And for this installment of Countdown to SFNYC I asked Elizabeth Ellis of MEAT (and co-producer of SFNYC) to interview one of her favoritest sketch women around. She picked the totally amazing, wonder woman of a human being Jordana Barnes of Portland’s The 3rd Floor (playing Friday the 8th). Read as they wax philosophical on women in comedy, childhood fantasies, and talk about their sketch relationships. […]

Two Girls for $5 is a comedy duo birthed in Boston and performing all over this great nation. Self described as a “portrayal of lonely ladies who do desperate things”, they have a way of making that fun to watch (and read!) instead of just sad and uncomfortable. You may have caught them during their run last year at The PIT or more recently at the LA Comedy Festival. They will […]

Jesse Thorn’s podcast, The Sound Of Young America, featured two great interviews with notable female comedy writers last week.
Download the May 1st show to hear Anne Beatts (the creator of TV’s Square Pegs) talk about her time as head writer for the National Lampoon and as one of the original writers of SNL.
The May 3rd show features writer and actress Sarah Thyre discussing her tragically hilarious new memoir, Dark At The Roots.

–ems

In one month (June 7-9th) SketchFest NYC is returning for it’s third year. SketchFest NYC is one of many Sketchfests (sketch comedy festivals) popping up around the nation and Canada since 1999, the first of which was Sketchfest Seattle. There are festivals in Chicago, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, etc. The talent is supreme and the community something I will cherish for the rest of […]

You’ve seen her work everywhere. Maybe you didn’t know you saw it, but you have. Anya Garrett is responsible for making some of the most average looking comedians look balls to the wall sexy. Make no mistake, Anya may be very, very, young, but she knows a thing or two about how to make sex sell.

Let’s start with the basics, Anya, like most people, finds big eyes and big lips sexy. But not everyone has these […]

Donna Lynne Champlin is more than a triple threat. She can dance, sing and act, for sure, but she’s also a musician, writer, composer, choreographer and more…which makes her a whirling dervish of threatening artistic abilities. Plus, she’s super-bright.

I first saw Champlin as the barber Pirelli in last year’s revolutionary revival of SWEENEY TODD. She stood out, which is no small feat in such a heartstopping ensemble. I left thinking “That gal […]

by Julie Klausner & Renata Espinosa

Apparently, it’s Pet Fashion Week.

I got a call to this effect at around 5 PM on Saturday, just as I was about to go into a yoga class. Leslie Padgett, editor-in-chief of The New York Dog Magazine, to which I am a regular contributor of dog-themed comics, left me this voicemail:

“Hey Julie, it’s Les…just wanted to let you know that I have extra tickets to this black tie dog fashion show…it’s an event for […]

I had booked a nice post break up vacation to sunny Los Angeles, where strangely enough, my first subject for my new column was also summering. I sat down with fellow recent break up participant, Kimmie Gatewood for a chat about comedy and heartbreak.

Kimmy Gatewood: First of all Margot, you look fabulous. How funny to be here in LA – and what are the chances we’d both be dating people […]

Adira Amram is sitting across from me. We are seated outdoors at a cafe that I can never remember the real name of, and we’re trying to have a serious interview despite the fact that I’m friends with her and despite the fact that we start seeing everyone she knows. I get a little nervous about asking serious, hard-hitting, journalistic questions since this is my first interview. I have no idea how do get […]