Monday
Rajiv Satyal
Rajiv Satyal is a standup comedian from Cincinnati, Ohio, whose witty, universal, and TV-clean act resonates around the world by covering everything from racial issues to soap bottles to his favorite topic — himself. This University of Cincinnati engineer and former Procter & Gamble marketer has toured with Dave Chappelle, Tim Allen, Kevin Nealon, and Russell Peters. He co-founded the world-touring Make Chai Not War, a Hindu/Muslim stand-up show that traversed seven Indian cities in 2012, sponsored by the U.S. State Dept. Rajiv has earned 3 million+ YouTube views, performed on three continents, and been featured on NBC, NPR, Nickelodeon, Fx, Netflix, and Pandora, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, The Huffington Post, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and the LA Times. He has done stand-up at more than 70 colleges and is a regular at all major comedy clubs in LA. His corporate clients include P&G (10 times), GE (6 times), General Mills, Quaker, Cisco and more. His favorite sites in the whole wide world are facebook.com/funnyindian and rajivsatyal.com. This LA-based pocket pundit challenges people to see a new point-of-view. Most of all, he talks about what it’s like to be Rajiv. And we all have some Rajiv in us, even if we don’t want to admit it. See his new one man show, “No Man’s Land!” Follow his Twitter here.
Tuesday
Roy Wood Jr.
The Hollywood Reporter called him “A Standout”, and Entertainment Weekly described it as “charismatic crankiness”. The thought-provoking comedy of Roy Wood Jr. crosses cultural lines and has entertained millions nationwide by stage, radio and television. Wood currently appears in the TBS‘ hit comedy, Sullivan and Son, guest-starring as the likable sidekick and best friend of bar owner Steve Byrne, who returns to Pittsburgh to run his parent’s local pub.
Wood, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, began his comedy career in 1999 at the age of 19 while attending Florida A&M University. In 2002, Wood earned a slot as one of 10 national finalists in Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots competition in Los Angeles. In March 2003, Roy was selected for Star Search on CBS where he advanced to the semi-finals. He also appeared on It’s Showtime at the Apollo, Live in Hollywood and the 2005 season of Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and BET’s Comic View.
Wood appeared at the 2006 Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in the “New Faces Showcase” where critics awarded him top honors. The Montreal Gazette said, “Roy Wood Jr. gives tremendous show” taking “the top spot”. In 2006, Wood appeared on the Bob and Tom Radio Show: The Comedy Tour a one-hour special, which aired on Comedy Central. In 2007 Roy performed on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and BBC America’s The World Stands Up in London.
In October 2006 Wood made his network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman. In 2008, Wood appeared on HBO’s historic Def Comedy Jam. In 2010, he was selected by America as one of the top three finalists on Last Comic Standing and followed that up with the first of numerous appearances on CONAN.
Wood has recorded three nationally-released prank call CD’s: My Momma Made Me Wear This (2003), Confessions of a High School Bench Warmer (2005) and I’ll Slap You to Sleep! (2009). And has recently released his first comedy CD Things I think, I think (2013). Visit his website here. Follow him on Twitter here.
Wednesday
Greg Warren
Greg Warren, most recently seen on “Comedy Central Presents”, “The Late Late Show” and“Last Comic Standing”, has been building a strong fan base around the country with his act inspired by stories from his Midwestern upbringing. His newly released CD “One Star Wonder” (Comedy Central Records) hit the ground running as #6 in iTunes TOP Comedy Albums (June 2009) and together with Greg’s colorful perspective and amazing characters, is destined to be a favorite. Greg attracts a diverse audience spectrum, performing on networks such as BET (as a finalist on “Coming to the Stage”)Country Music Television’s “Comedy Stage”. and Greg is also a favorite on the nationally syndicated “Bob and Tom” radio show, which led him to tour theatres across the country with the “Friends of Bob and Tom Comedy Tour”.
Greg Warren hails from St. Louis, MO, where his father was a high school wrestling coach and his mother made him play clarinet in the band. Greg has captivated audiences with anecdotes about the conflict inherent in meshing two high school identities—varsity wrestler and band geek. Greg’s “Flute Man” bit is a perfect capsulation of the insecurities of high school and the ongoing quest to be cool, and is one of the most requested bits in the history of the “Bob and Tom” radio show. Greg was also a West Point Cadet, where he distinguished himself by amassing an impressive tally of demerits and endless hours of pointless marching. After moving on to the University of Missouri, he studied journalism and was named an All-American college wrestler.
While in college, Greg won a comedy contest and was invited to perform at a local club in Columbia, MO, Déjà Vu. After a stint selling Jif and Pringles for corporate giant Procter & Gamble, Greg made the decision to become a full time comedian. This bold move led to an invitation to the prestigious “Just for Laughs Festival” in Montreal in 2002, where Greg performed as one of their featured “New Faces of Comedy”. He has also been seen on the Comedy Central show, “Premium Blend”. Greg has an arsenal of characters that he brings to life in his act. He also highlights his current life struggles with the service industry, moderation, and “One Star People”.
In addition to his television and festival appearances, Greg can currently be seen on Comedy Central Presents, heard on Sirius/XM Comedy and will continue to tour across the country with “Bob and Tom’s All Stars” in addition to performing his act at Improvs and Funny Bones. Greg’s background recently resulted in a gig doing color commentary on college wrestling for Fox Sports Midwest. Greg’s Midwestern upbringing and his ability to provide humorous social commentary gives him a wealth of material that continues to gain him fans throughout the country. Visit his website here. Follow him on Twitter.
Thursday
Greg Hahn
A favorite on the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Radio Show. He has appeared on Late Night with Conan Obrien,Comedy Central, CBS, ABC, FOX, MTV and CMT.
Greg Hahn has parlayed his absurdly energetic, all out style of physical humor, one liners and crowd work, into a performance of immediate pandemonium and fun! His crazy, likeable stylings have led to numerous television, club, corporate and now theater appearances throughout the country.
Developmentally arrested, Greg was raised in South Florida where in high school he amused the Catholic nuns by poking holes in his pockets enabling pens and pencils to shoot out of his pant leg.
As a college basketball player his tendency for half court shots got him benched.
As a Captain in the Marines Corps, Greg kept his men highly motivated and could not overemphasize that camouflage is continuous.
While a buyer for Lockheed Corporation, he thought “Why make $200 a day, when I can be a comedian and make that in a week!”
After several serious jobs where he refused to be serious, Greg turned pro as a stand up comedian and landed the absurd gig as emcee for a lumberjack show at Six Flags Great America. This show supplied him with a microphone, four huge audiences a day, drunk ax swinging lumberjacks, and a log rolling dog.
Soon afterwards, he worked as stuntman in the Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show at Universal Studios. “For $20 an hour, I’d run out, fall down a few times and get hit in the head with a stick”.
He continually honed his unique style of comedy and headed to New York City.
While in New York, Greg developed into a touring headliner and costarred in the independent film Tomorrow Night which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Then, after successful shows at the Montreal and Chicago Comedy Festivals, Greg enjoyed hit television appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC), Premium Blend (Comedy Central), Make Me Laugh (5 episodes, Comedy Central), Louis CK’s Pulp Comics (Comedy Central), 30 Seconds to Fame (Fox), Cedric the Entertainer Presents (Fox) and Star Search (CBS).
When appearing on Star Search, Greg was spotted by Tom Griswold of the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom Radio Show. Greg has since established himself as a favorite guest on the show and starred on the Bob @ Tom Comedy Central Special. He also headlines the Friends of The Bob @ Tom Theater Tour, which included a stop at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival.
A return appearance to the Montreal Comedy Festival along with the Halifax Comedy Festival and appearances on Country Music Television’s “Comedy Stage”, “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen” and being tasered on “TOSH.O” (Comedy Central) have also added to Greg’s popularity across the country.
Continuing to advance his career in film and television, Greg now lives in Los Angeles where in between shows, he goes ballistic on the drums, destroys his pathetic fellow comics in ping pong, and flies indoor helicopters into his ceiling fan. Visit his website here. Follow him on twitter here.
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical brand of hard rock that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood and boa constrictors. He continues to tour regularly, performing shows worldwide with the dark and horror-themed theatrics that he’s best known for.
With a schedule that includes six months each year on the road, Alice Cooper brings his own brand of rock psycho-drama to fans both old and new, enjoying it as much as the audience does. Known as the architect of shock-rock, Cooper (in both the original Alice Cooper band and as a solo artist) has rattled the cages and undermined the authority of generations of guardians of the status quo, continuing to surprise fans and exude danger at every turn, like a great horror movie, even in an era where CNN can present real life shocking images.
Cooper was born in Detroit Michigan, and moved to Phoenix with his family. The Alice Cooper band formed while they were all in high school in Phoenix, and was discovered in 1969 by Frank Zappa in Los Angeles, where he signed them to his record label. Their collaboration with young record producer Bob Ezrin led to the break-through third album “Love It to Death” which hit the charts in 1971, followed by “Killer,” “School’s Out,” ”Billion Dollar Babies,” and “Muscle of Love.” Each new album release was accompanied by a bigger and more elaborate touring stage show. 1974 saw the release of a “Greatest Hits” album, and then Cooper, in 1975, released his first solo album, “Welcome to My Nightmare” in 1975, accompanied by the legendary groundbreaking theatrical Welcome to My Nightmare concert tour.
Associated with that album and tour was the ground-breaking network TV special Alice Cooper: The Nightmare. Other film and television appearances include The Muppet Show, Mae West’s last film Sextette, Roadie, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearst Club Band and appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show. The original band also made an appearance in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife in 1979, filmed the full-length feature film Good To See You Again Alice Cooper, and Alice appeared in a 1972 episode of The Snoop Sisters.
Alice’s solo career skyrocketed in the late 1970′s, with a succession of hit singles, including “You & Me,” and classic albums, including “Lace And Whiskey” and “From The Inside,” and bigger and even more elaborate concert tours.
In the ‘80’s Cooper explored different sounds, highlighted by the new wavish album “Flush The Fashion,” the heavy metal “Constrictor” and “Raise Your Fist And Yell,” and then 1989’s melodic hard rock album “Trash,” which featured the massive hit single “Poison” and became his biggest selling album and single worldwide. During this period Alice also appeared in the horror films Monster Dog and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, and recorded songs for the soundtracks to Roadie, Class of 1984, Friday the 13 Part VI: Jason Lives and Wes Craven’s Shocker.
Cooper’s most memorable movie appearance was as himself in Wayne’s World in 1991. He also played (fittingly) Freddy Krueger’s wicked step-father in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and appeared on Gene Wilder’s TV series Something Wilder as well as on That ‘70’s Show. The 90’s also saw the release of the albums “Hey Stoopid,” “The Last Temptation,” and “Fistful of Alice,” a live album.
1999 saw the release of the definitive historical 4 CD box set “The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper,” from Rhino/Warners.
In the new millenium, Cooper has been very productive and busy, writing, recording and releasing the albums “Brutal Planet,” “Dragon Town,” “The Eyes of Alice Cooper,” “Dirty Diamonds,” “Along Came a Spider,” and 2011′s “Welcome 2 My Nightmare,” plus “Old School 1964-1974,” a box set celebrating the original band.
He also wrote and published a memoir, “Golf Monster,” in 2007, which tracked his life from childhood to rock stardom, and his journey from alcoholic to golf addict, and was = featured in the Tim Burton film “Dark Shadows” in 2012.
Alice, Dennis, Neal, Michael, and Glen (posthumously) were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in March, 2011.
With his influence on rock & roll long since acknowledged, there is little that Alice
Cooper hasn’t achieved in his remarkable career, including platinum albums, sold-out tours and any number of honors and career achievement awards.
As he heads back out on the concert trail each year, Cooper insists he’s still motivated to continue touring and recording albums, as well as making time for such side projects as Cooper’stown (his Phoenix-based restaurant/sports bar) and his Nights With Alice Cooper nightly radio show, syndicated domestically and worldwide on over 100 stations. Visit his website here.
As announced earlier this month, the upcoming official ALICE COOPER documentary, Super Duper Alice Cooper, will premiere at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and will hit theaters nationwide beginning April 30, 2014. Super Duper Alice Cooper will officially premiere on April 17, 2014 and is presented by Banger Films, in association with Eagle Rock Entertainment, and distributed to theaters and venues by SpectiCast (As The Palaces Burn, Aerosmith: Rock for the Rising Sun, Morrissey 25: Live). Catch this special “doc opera” at a theater or venue near you! Super Duper Alice Cooper will screen in over 250 U.S. cinemas and venues following the premiere. Visit the website to see the trailer and find show times.
Friday
Jimmy Pardo
Jimmy Pardo is as funny talking to a stranger in an elevator as he is talking to a crowd from the comic stage. That’s because everything he observes or thinks, he immediately scans to find the funny. And he always finds the funny. After Jimmy was told for like the thousandth time that he was even funnier offstage than he was onstage, he dropped most of the jokes from his act. Now he spends nearly his entire set interacting with, and making fun of, his audience. And they love it.
Jimmy stands at the very center of the comedy world. That’s not only because he’s the ultimate “comic’s comic,” (as he’s often called), but also because he represents where comedy is going, and everybody wants to come along.
Jimmy’s raucous-but-smart weekly podcast, “Never Not Funny,” has revolutionized the way comedians use the internet to connect with their audiences. It’s the No. 2 paid podcast hosted by a comedian, after Ricky Gervais’s. His guest list reads like a Who’s Who of comedy: Conan O’Brien, Ricard Lewis, Patton Oswalt, and Sarah Silverman have all been guests. Actors Jon Hamm, Ty Burrell and Craig Bierko have appeared on several of the funniest episodes.
“Never Not Funny” was voted by both iTunes and USA Today as one of the top podcasts of 2006. Visit his website here. Follow him on twitter here.
Pete Dominick
Sean Patton
Sean Patton is a comedian based in Los Angeles and New York, by way of New Orleans. Sean began doing standup in the Crescent City, and has since performed in comedy clubs across the US and Canada. Sean also performed at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2011), and twice at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival (2008, 2010). In the TV world, Sean has appeared on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham (2009), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2010), and twice on Conan (2011, 2013). The year 2013 also marked the release of his own Comedy Central Half Hour Special. As for acting, Sean played a guest starring role on IFC’s Maron and a co-starring role on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer. Sean also shot an unscripted travel pilot in 2013 for The Esquire Network, entitled Best Bars in America. The show has been picked up for 10 episodes and is currently shooting across America. Follow him on Twitter. Visit his website here. (Photo Credit: Seth Olenick)
