Amy Poehler

Improv Olympic Creates a Comedy Festival That's...Scripted?

Over the weekend, Improv Olympic became a Scripted Olympic. From Thursday through Sunday, Hollywood's iO West Theater hosted its first annual L.A. Scripted Comedy Festival, featuring a collection of talent from across the country showcasing sketch, variety, storytelling, stand up and short films. ... More >>

A Three-Stage Comedy Circus

How a USC Film Student Tried to Get Bill Murray to Star in His Film -- By Creating a Bill Murray Holiday

See also: *More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage *Our Bill Murray Appreciation Day Slideshow *Our Report on Bill Murray Appreciation Day Christopher Guerrero, a 27-year-old USC grad student, wrote one of the main roles in his thesis film for actor Bill Murray. The problem is what it always is: Actually ge ... More >>

Adventures of a UPS man

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 1/7 - 1/11

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Among the topics? Secret burger menus, fair food, ostrich omelets and plenty of old guys in the desert." Top 5 Huell Howser Food Episodes: In Memoriam. "4. Eat a meatball sub any time someone thanks Harvey Weinstein." Tina ... More >>

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Drinking Game for the Golden Globes

Those zany gal pals Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have come up for a drinking (and eating and stripping) game for the 70th Annual Golden Globes, which they will be hosting this Sunday on NBC. As Fey told the Hollywood Reporter, "When you get a bunch of people in a room who don't eat much, and you give th ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Renegade Delivery Man

See also: *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. *Best L.A. Novel Ever: The Tournament This week, there's a symposium on what it's like to live at a time when real life is like sci-fi, a portrait of Jayne Mansfield's car on view and a cutout UPS ... More >>

Why James Adomian's Debut Is A Lock For Comedy Album Of The Year

On comedian James Adomian's debut album Low Hangin' Fruit, his celebrity impressions are so well-developed that it's sometimes hard to tell where they end and when his true voice begins. After honing his craft at Groundlings and the UCB Theater, the 32 year-old L.A. native has made his mark in rece ... More >>

Rashida Jones on Celeste and Jesse Forever, Her Debut as a Screenwriter

In terms of looks, charisma, and talent, Rashida Jones should have been a star a long time ago. But in terms of what she's ready to offer Hollywood (and what Hollywood finally might be ready to let her accomplish), her belated ascent seems well-timed. Bittersweet breakup comedy Celeste and Jesse For ... More >>

10 Best Standup Comedy Shows in Los Angeles

Live comedy is once again enjoying a boom period, even if some of the bigger clubs and bloated chains around the country are going bust. Thanks to the internet's generous enabling of DIY promotion, production, talent booking and ticketing, who needs a humorless industry gatekeeper when one can simpl ... More >>

Make Us Laugh, Funny Girl!

Catharine Whelpley, Northridge Mom, Allegedly Aided Girls in Anti-Semitic Poop-Smearing Spree

Remember the Northridge "Mean Girls" who allegedly scrawled swastikas on their classmates' front walkways and smeared poop on their cars in April? Well, according to the L.A. City Attorney, they had their very own Amy Poehler on hand to drive the getaway vehicle. (Refresher course: Poehler was the ... More >>

Elite Troupes

Jessica St. Clair: Sitcomely

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. There's never dead air when you're with Jessica St. Clair, who has a giant personality to go with her big blue eyes and blond hair. Taking a break from filming her new NBC sitc ... More >>

Secret World of Arrietty Review

Will Arnett and Amy Poehler give voice to Studio Ghibli's latest hand-drawn feature

Two White Chicks Sitting Around Talking Funny

Ron Swanson of Parks & Rec vs. Nick Offerman: The Food Interview

The Ron Swanson food pyramid.​Like the character he plays on Parks & Recreation, Nick Offerman is a man with a magnificent mustache. Something of a libertarian, most certainly a contrarian and definitely not a vegetarian, Ron Swanson is the gruff but goofy patriarch who viewers have come to id ... More >>

Marc Maron on KCRW: LA Weekly's Ultimate Guide to the Top 10 Comedy Podcasts

Doug SadlerHost Howard Kremer, guest Zach Galifianakis and co-host Kulap Vilaysack fart up, err chart up the room on the podcast Who Charted?​ As the Buggles once forecasted in their 1980s pop single: "Video Killed the Radio Star." Today, it's more accurate to say that the podcast resurrecte ... More >>

Emmy Nominations Day: 10 Standard Types of Reactions From Award Show Nominees

Tina Fey got nominated this year! (Or at least we assume -- we haven't checked yet)​ Guess what? HBO dominated the Emmys again. Another way the Emmys are predictable: the nominees' reactions. Or at least how they convey their reactions. We don't really know people's real reactions -- we know ... More >>

This Headline Was Entirely Improvised!

Vegan Bacon: Your Parks and Rec Scene of the Day

Fans of Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler's comedy series on NBC, already know that the show provides hilarious proof of The Midwest As Dystopia. What some of us didn't realize until it became the topic of lunch conversation was that it also delves into food commentary. If you didn't see the epis ... More >>

Stars of Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared Converge at Paley Fest Reunion

Many beloved television series get asked back to the Paley Festival during their runs. Then there are those short-run shows whose brief lives on air have been surpassed by their staying power with audiences so that a retrospective draws passionate fans back for more. Such is the love for Judd Apatow ... More >>

Q & A: Upright Citizens Brigade Founders Matt Besser, Ian Roberts And Matt Walsh Celebrate UCB Theatre's Five Years In Los Angeles

Steve La(L-R) Upright Citizens Brigade Founders Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts​Since opening in 2005, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has been the epicenter of comedic influence in Los Angeles. Some of the funniest comedians ranging from Sarah Silverman to Patton Oswalt are all r ... More >>

MAKE US LAUGH, FUNNY GIRL! CHELSEA PERETTI

Movie Reviews: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Creation, Sherlock Holmes

Also, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

THE LAND OF GIANTS: PMK-HBH AND BNC

A new Hollywood PR merger and best-ever box office

LA People 2009: The Lovable Douche Bag — Parks and Recreation's Aziz Ansari

Buddies with Kanye, filming with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan, the standup guy is making his name as Amy Poehler's new right-hand man

NBC's Bad Sitcom, Lionsgate's Badass Battle and IATSE's Badly Handled Contract

Musical Comedians

Phrancly, Tommy, I Don't Give a Proops

What to do in L.A., June 13-19

Why Won't Warner Bros. Embrace The Women?

It could cash in on the Sex and the City female frenzy

Nobody’s Baby

Tina Fey’s stillborn surrogate- mommy comedy

Movie Reviews: Body of War, Four Minutes, Shotgun

Plus, Baby Mama, Deception and other April 25 releases

When Hollywood Goes After White Whales

Thar she blows

Striking TV: DVD Sets for a Season Without Writers

Berlin Alexanderplatz, Twin Peaks, Johnny Carson, Larry Sanders and more

Film Reviews: King of California, Mr. Woodcock, Shadow Company

Also I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Ira & Abby, December Boys and more

Film Reviews: Meet the Robinsons, Blades of Glory

Also, The Hills Have Eyes II, Air Guitar Nation and After the Wedding

Battle of the Network Stars

It’s East Coast 30 Rock against the West Coast heavyweights of Studio 60

The Funniest Guy On TV

When Shelley Met Harold

Less Sugar, More Spice

Mean Girls, though entertaining, could be meaner