Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Free Stand Up Comedy Downtown?! Holy F*ck!
Not the Downtown Independent, but you get the idea. Photo by nevercoolinschool via LAist Flickr pool.
‘Free’ is a much heavier word than it sounds. Free as a bird, you say, or free thinker. But there is another side to free, filled with warnings and buyers doing their best to beware. When it comes to free, you get what you pay for, they say, and usually that’s true. But every once in a while, a freebie comes along that is so pure, so honest, and so worth the price of admission ($0) that the only words you’re left with are: Holy Fuck.
And boy are you in luck, because a show by any other name would not smell as sweet. Nor would it be as funny as Holy Fuck, the new bi-monthly stand up show at the Downtown Independent Theater. Recent drop-ins have included Jimmy Pardo (LAist interview here), Aziz Ansari (LAist interview here), The Sklar Brothers (LAist interview here), Nick Kroll, Matt Braunger (LAist interview here) and even the amazing Louis CK, unquestionably the hottest comic of the past twelve months. There’s no telling how show founder / booker / fellow stand up Dave Ross is able to gather up such great comedians every other week, but isn’t that the magic of free? Some things are better left unknown.
What can be quantified is the amount of enjoyment to be had at a Holy Fuck show. Beyond the free admission, there are drinks for cheap, mingling to be done, and a great atmosphere permeating from one of downtown’s cooler spaces. The theater itself, primarily built for film screenings, is a wonderful blend of modern architecture and classic theater comfort. The oversized drapes still hang, the chairs are stuffed and buoyant, and every seat is slanted forward just enough so as not to miss the action. On this night, Liz Stewart hosted the festivities, bringing each act on with a wry bit or clever tangent that kept the audience motivated and ready to laugh. Rob O’Reilly from NY started the night off with a bang, absolutely slaying the audience, before getting into longtime favorites Maria Bamford and James Adomian. Let’s just say that in a sea of ‘hits’, you’d be hard-pressed to find a ‘miss’.
Support for LAist comes from
If there is one quibble with Holy Fuck, it is this: the show is not popular enough…yet. Notwithstanding the 150 people who packed the Louis CK show at the end of last month, most audiences have been decidedly smaller. Which, in more conventional free comedy spaces, would be a great thing; he audience is able to become a cohesive and unified force that interacts with the comedian on a very direct level. At Holy Fuck, because of the size of the venue and its slight detour from the mainstream (it’s downtown, it’s on a Tuesday, etc.), some jokes just can’t build up enough steam to hit the smattered back row with any gusto. This is changing, slowly and based solely on popular demand, but much work remains to be done. Until those days come, and Dave Ross decides to wise up and charge admission for one of the best new nights of stand up comedy in Los Angeles, we should all be looking to enjoy the finer side of ‘free’.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist