One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
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’.
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’.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
