Culture and technology are splintering in every direction these days, but nothing brings us all back together like our collective memory of VHS tapes. “We want our videos to be the perfect crap storm of comedy, beauty and non-preachy social commentary,” says Commodore Gilgamesh of Everything Is Terrible!, the found-footage…
Having just powered through two local festivals within a week of each other, it’s easy for fans to forget that comedy shows exist outside the city limits of Denver. Hopefully you’ve saved a few laughs for the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival, which arrives in town tonight and stars Dave…
Mike Birbiglia is one dour clown. As the biggest star to come out of This American Life since David Sedaris, Birbiglia understands how to take the bitter flavors of life and sweeten them with humor. “There’s no subject that’s too sad and I won’t try to make funny,” says the…
With three comedy festivals lined up in four weeks, laughter conventions are becoming almost as common in the summer months here as music or ganja festivals. But none of them are as weird — or as free — as the Fine Gentleman’s Club’s Too Much Funstival. “We wanted something big…
Standup comedian Marc Maron said a few years ago that he once planned to kill himself in his garage — and now, in that same garage, he’s doing the greatest work of his life, in the form of his WTF podcast, which primarily features interviews with other comedians. Maron’s self-loathing…
Denver has been bursting at the seams with top-shelf comedy talent for the past several years. And so comic (and former Westword staffer) Adam Cayton-Holland feels it’s high time this city had a nationally recognized comedy festival to share space with music festivals like the Westword Music Showcase and the…
Free beer, free food and free entertainment: The annual Too Much Funstival was designed as a gift from the Fine Gentleman’s Club comedians (and their sponsors) to the comedy community of Denver. “When we first put it together, we weren’t as busy as we are now,” says Nathan Lund of…
If public speaking is the most common human fear — statistically, it ranks even higher than death — then Denver is chock-full of masochists these days. On any night of the week, you can find dozens of nervous people hanging around outside of bars and clubs, anxiously smoking cigarettes or…
Tyler Ludwick is nostalgic for things he’s never experienced. “I’ve always had an infatuation with the cultural emotion of different nations,” says Ludwick, the 26-year-old mastermind behind orchestral rock band Princess Music. “In Japan, they have the word ‘mono-no-aware,’ which is an obsession with the ephemeral, the transience of things…
“The Monkees — they were a major influence on the Beatles,” Jim Carrey asserts in Dumb & Dumber, delivering one of the funniest declarations in rock history, since the Monkees were an attempt to package a squeaky-clean, cookie-cutter version of the Beatles for family TV audiences. Even the Monkees themselves…
Known to history for bringing the working-class family into the prime-time sitcom world, Roseanne Barr is an unstoppable icon of low-class comedy. Returning to her Denver standup roots at Lannie’s Clocktower Tower tonight, Barr remembers what it was like for women in the male-dominated comedy world of the 1980s. “At…
See also: For those living off the grid, the world is full of free stuff — and freedom Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access…
See also: Dave Shapiro-Strano wants to teach people to help themselves Joshua does not feel guilty about the thousands of dollars he’s stolen. “Taking money from the government — is that stealing? Is that wrong? I don’t think so,” he says. “I don’t think we should have to work hard,…
It’s clear from the material on 3 that the members of Fingers of the Sun have greatly matured as songwriters. A tune like “Skinny Pert and Cool,” for instance, sustains the band’s signature knack for infectious melody while commenting on the beautiful ignorance of youth versus the depressing security of…
Critics have often hailed Radiohead’s OK Computer as one of the greatest pieces of popular music of the twentieth century. But how does it stand up next to nineteenth-century classical music? We’ll find out tonight when arranger and conductor Steve Hackman delivers a mash-up of the nineties rock album with…
Over the past year, Civilized Living, produced by Fancy Tiger boutique, has established itself as one of the most stylish events of South Broadway’s First Friday art walk. Tonight the store will launch a new version, called Modern Tiger, in which Mod Livin’, an East Colfax furniture store, will display…
Far from a novelty act or a Smothers Brothers ripoff, twin brothers Randy and Jason Sklar have spent the past two decades inventing their unique brand of two-man standup comedy. The brothers are best known for the heralded sports-comedy show Cheap Seats, on ESPN, and recently starred in the Freakonomics-style…
Pulling from the ’60s garage-punk sound of tube amps, organs and sweat-drenched tempos, Colfax Speed Queen is one of the most committed live acts to emerge in Denver over the past few years. The band impressively brings its chaotic sound into focus on its full-length debut, Satisfaction Intended, sustaining a…
The 16th Street Mall will come alive with the sound of music this afternoon when Denver musicians — performing in conjunction with musicians in hundreds of cities around the world — will gather to celebrate World Music Day with an eclectic variety of instruments and styles. “Music really brings a…
Debates of generations past were often stuffy, sober affairs for uptight balding men who smoked pipes, but over the past few years, the word sport has found new life in the form of bizarre comedy — as seen at Buntport Theater’s Great Debate. “I think this medium works super-well for…
If the ’60s were “the dawning of the age of Aquarius,” what does that make the 2010s? While we’re still figuring that out, the Town Hall Arts Center is bringing Hair, the classic hippie musical that’s a trans-generational story of love, dope and anti-war protests, to Denver. “If you really…
Tracy Morgan knows white people. As one of the more memorable comics during his seven-year run on Saturday Night Live, and as the self-aggrandizing Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock, he’s had his fingers in the Caucasian comedy pie for some time. Inevitably, his standup is chock-full of ethnic observations. “White…
