God of Carnage. Let’s start with the setting, so pristine, white, minimal and tasteful — chairs with gracefully curving legs, a glass table on which art books are meticulously arranged, a vase of white tulips, nicely grouped, with just one flower swaying slightly out to the side. Even if you…
Amazon gave the green light to several video series this morning, but Those Who Can’t, created by Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl and Ben Roy of the Denver-based Grawlix comedy group, wasn’t on the list. Instead, Amazon will go forward with two other comedy pilots, Betas and Alpha House, as well…
The Erotic Fan Fiction competition will bring its twisted competition to Denver this Thursday. Led by Bryan Cook, comedy writer for Joan Rivers’s Fashion Police, the contest tasks professional comics to arrive with their own piece of erotic fan fiction on anything from Facts of Life to Of Mice and…
After ingesting almost nine straight hours of the newly revived Arrested Development series, I’ve come to two conclusions: 1) The cast and creators of AD still got it, and 2) This show was made for hermetic losers like me. The “story of a wealthy family who lost everything” was nothing…
Dividing the Estate. Dividing the Estate is a quietly incisive play about a large and contentious family. Stella Gordon, the 85-year-old matriarch, rules over a grand old house in the fictional town of Harrison, Texas. She is strong-willed and authoritative but essentially kind — and she’s determined that the family…
At the end of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the audience members at Germinal Stage did something I’ve never seen at that theater: They stood up and applauded. It’s not that Germinal hasn’t staged excellent works in the past — works worthy of a standing ovation. It’s just that audiences…
While big-name comedy acts like Aziz Ansari will draw a large crowd in Boulder, getting a local comedy scene going in Colorado’s hippie hamlet has faced some challenges — whether money, politics or apathy. Now James Gold is hoping to put Boulder’s anti-comedy stigma to rest with his Dairy Comedy…
Denver native T.J. Miller can be a polarizing character in his hometown. Many in the comedy community see him as a local hero who’s helped bring national eyes to the scene; others think he’s a bro-down braggart who erroneously claimed civic pride with his “Denver” music video. Either way, though,…
If you want to join the ranks of the dozen or so local comics who have gone on to national recognition, then Comedy Works New Faces Competition is the perfect place to start. “A lot of comics use it each year to see where they are as comedians, judging by…
Governor Jack — a group comprising James Clark, Rollie Williams, Jason Metter, Asa Erlendson and Max Schwartz — is campaigning to make improv a more visible part of Denver’s burgeoning comedy scene. The group produces the improv show Governor Jack Watches You Sleep at Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, with material growing…
Tonight The Office bids farewell after eight seasons and 200 episodes. Series finales have a complicated history; final episodes have left viewers with tears of joy as well as fists of fury as beloved characters have ended up in prison, happily in love, having mental breakdowns…or alone. Keep reading for…
Comedy writing pioneer Bruce Vilanch is bursting with gayness. One of the first openly gay comedians, he’s known for his continuing role on Hollywood Squares and as a head writer for the Academy Awards show, as well as writing jokes for Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor, The Brady Bunch, Donnie and…
Dividing the Estate is a quietly incisive play about a large and contentious family. Stella Gordon, the 85-year-old matriarch, rules over a grand old house in Harrison, Texas — the fictional small town where author Horton Foote set most of his sixty plays. Stella is strong-willed and authoritative, but essentially…
The power of mothers — for good and ill — is a theater trope that never quite loses its potency. In Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water, three daughters convene for the funeral of their mother, Vi, who has, in different ways, ruined all their lives. Mary was the repository…
You probably remember him as the “grandpa’s old cough medicine,” urine-drinking cop from Dumb & Dumber, or the serial killer hitchhiker spouting “seven chipmunks twirlin’ on a branch, eatin’ lots of sunflowers on my uncle’s ranch” in There’s Something About Mary. But you may not know that Harland Williams improvised…
Ben Roy has some catching up to do: While his mates in the Grawlix — Andrew Orvedahl and Adam Cayton-Holland — are both promoting brand-new solo CDs, Roy is still recording his followup to last year’s I Got Demons. Tonight at 8 p.m., he’ll perform at the second of three…
Overhearing two pop-culturists argue about this comedy series, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a debate over gun-control or Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Passions can run high when a U.S. Office apologist clashes with a U.K. Office purist, leading to heated exchanges about whether David Brent was…
There have been a handful of standup comics with cerebral palsy over the years, but few have transcended the “inspirational” novelty and gone on to achieve legitimate credibility in their field. Not like Denver’s Josh Blue, who conquered the fourth season of Last Comic Standing and released his own Showtime…
If you’ve been keeping up with the reports, you already know that Grawlix comedy partners Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl have been extra-busy for the last six months: In addition to Cayton-Holland’s Conan appearance in January and the more recent release of the Grawlix’s Amazon pilot for Those Who Can’t,…
Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists…
Shayna Ferm, a prodigal Coloradan returned from years in the New York comedy scene, hosts and organizes a monthly show called Pump and Dump, designed to engage with young moms and provide a sorely needed evening of fun. Ferm, young mother herself, was frustrated by the lack of entertainment opportunities for new moms and created a show specifically suited to their unique needs. In so doing, she has not identified an underserved demographic, but brought cathartic laughs to many overstressed local mothers. I met with Ferm to discuss Pump and Dump, moving back to Denver and the Highlands mommy mafia.
Maria Bamford has long been a comedian of choice for those who enjoy offbeat humor grounded in absurdist, sharply observed character sketches. Over the last decade and a half, Bamford has raised her public profile with appearances on the Comedians of Comedy Tour, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!…
