Dane Cook has performed his high-energy brand of stand-up comedy in some of the country's largest arenas including New York's Madison Square Garden, TD Garden in his hometown of Boston and the Staples Center, here in the city he currently calls home. On October 2nd the popular yet polarizing comedian will take the stage at one of Los Angeles' most historic entertainment venues -- The Greek Theater. more ›

After years of seeing other cities and towns across Southern California welcoming Chick-Fil-A to their community, L.A can finally join in on the fun. The long wait is over. The chain known for inventing and in my opinion, perfecting the chicken sandwich will open tomorrow at 3758 S. Figueroa St., on the southeast edge of USC's campus. more ›

Prior to his days as one-third of MTV's "Human Giant (LAist Interview)," co-star of FX's "The League," panelist on VH-1's "Best Week Ever" or guest starring on "30 Rock," comedian/actor Paul Scheer was making audiences laugh online as one of the stars of "Shutterbugs," a Channel 101 classic featuring fellow "Human Giant" stars Rob Huebel and Aziz Ansari (Seven Questions, LAist Interview) as cutthroat agents to infant Hollywood stars. Paul, who recently hosted "A Night of 140 Tweets" -- celebrity tweet-a-thon benefiting the people of Haiti, continues to make us all laugh online with his numerous Funny or Die.com videos and his must-follow Twitter updates. more ›

In the coming days, musicians and comedians from around Los Angeles will gather at Largo at the Coronet for three very special shows to raise funds for the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Haiti. After the charity events, Largo will update attendees on how much was raised and how the funds are being used to save lives. more ›

Aziz Ansari (LAist interview here and here) is the sort of comedian you want to be like, if wanting to be like a comedian is your thing. He’s written for and starred in his own successful cable television show (Human Giant, review here), he currently shines on a major network sitcom (NBC’s Parks & Rec), and he’s got a new Comedy Central special out on DVD called Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening. Oh, and he hangs with Kanye West, makes fun of his nephew Darwish and loves taco trucks. You don’t even HAVE a cousin named Darwish, do you? DO YOU?! more ›

You may recognize Aziz Ansari from his work on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," as one-third of MTV's "Human Giant," sharing the screen with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as "Randy" in Judd Apatow's Funny People or on stage as one of brightest new stars of stand-up comedy. For those who don't get out much or don't watch TV, but really love LAist, you may have recognized Aziz from this interview with our own Farley Elliot. more ›

Despite facing a brutal marketing challenge, Funny People managed to top the box office this weekend. Though it was the lowest-performing champ of the summer, the Judd Apatow-helmed laugher brought in $23.4M to hold off a resilient Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($17.7M | $255.4M). The awful G-Force was a hair behind ($17M | $66.4M), followed by the awful The Ugly Truth ($13M | $54.4M) and the, uh, awful Aliens in the Attic ($7.8M). Orphan ($7.2M | $26.7M), Ice Age 3 ($5.3M | $181.8M), The Hangover ($5M | $255.7M), The Proposal ($4.8M | $148.8M) and Transformers 2 ($4.6M | $388.1M) rounded out the top 10. more ›

If you're planning to see one movie this weekend, you should re-jigger your schedule and see four! Funny People would be an excellent place to start. It's Rogen, Apatow and Sandler's best film to date (LAist review here). Sure, it's not a straight comedy, but it is damn funny. You'll leave the film in a good mood, but that will quickly turn into righteous anger once you've seen The Cove. The best movie at the Sundance Film Festival this year (LAist reviews here and here), it's a thrilling and sad documentary about the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. I mean seriously, how many eco-documentaries have scenes inside ILM? The Cove is that cool. More to the point, it almost feels like a narrative film with all the intrigue and plot that go into capturing the wrenching footage of dolphins being mercilessly pitchforked in the water by giggling fisherman. See it! more ›

The lazy response to Judd Apatow's Funny People will be that it isn't as, well, funny as his two previous films, The 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. The subtext of that observation, of course, is that it isn't as good as those other films, and that is a howlingly wrong presumption. True, Funny People is not Apatow's funniest film, but -- true also -- it is his best. While not a straight comedy, it has plenty of laughs and inspired lunatic performances (Eric Bana, in particular, is a revelation). What it also has, though, is an interest in exploring the intersection of mortality and human failing, and it does so with great clarity and a requisite lack of pity. more ›

There's a few big events going on this week, from the LA Comedy Festival continuing over at Acme on La Brea, to the start of the Harold Competition at iO West. There's a bunch of good sketch this week at Acme and UCB, and some solid stand up around town. Not to mention Aziz. Always Aziz. If you want your stuff hyped, hit me up here. more ›

Around Los Angeles, Largo has long been known as a solid comedy spot to see great people doing exactly what made you love them in the first place. Six months ago, you probably wouldn’t have found as much experimental comedy going on there as you do know, and that is certainly a good thing. Lately, it seems, Largo is undergoing another comedy renaissance; with the arrival of the Doug Benson Interruption, the emergence of Largo from a once-or-twice-a-month spot into a weekly venue for great laughs is becoming unavoidable, and completely welcome. The Reno 911! Benefit Show last Wednesday is a great example of where Largo is headed, and the future looks bright. more ›

Great stuff this week, including a 2nd Aziz Ansari show (Aziz interview here), The Lampshades in limited engagement at iO West, and the Birthday Boys at UCB. Don't miss out, and email Farley your next show! more ›

It sure seems like Aziz Ansari is doing all of the right things at the right times these days, and he’s definitely getting noticed for it. For a few years now, he’s been steadily climbing the comedy ladder, doing stand up and stage work both here in Los Angeles and New York City. After Aziz paired with Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer to form the wildly popular Human Giant on MTV, he really began to take off and can now be seen in a few episodes of Scrubs, an Office-like show coming this spring, and touring with his Glow In The Dark stand up tour, coming tomorrow night to the Largo. more ›

Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody to be sure although none of it is familiar-feeling, "safe", or boring - which is perfect for Human Giant's 11:00pm slot (what, the kids can't handle this at 10:00pm?). more ›

Besides exposure for new and upcoming music, SXSW also serves as a launching pad for products, companies and shows like MTV's upcoming Human Giant. Starring funny men Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, the show kicked off a sneak preview party last night at Friends on 6th St. We ran into Sam Grossman, development exec at MTV. He talked about the new sketch comedy show with us over beers. “There’s a Bugs Bunny... more ›

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