Even after the sketch comedy gem The State was grounded prematurely (and where’s that DVD already?) it hasn’t stopped Michael Showalter or Ian Black from bounding into many more comedic projects in the ensuing years....

Only two weekends remain for local actors improvisers comedians hooligans The Frank Mills to bring you sketch comedy every Friday and Saturday in May, 8pm at the Blue Theater. The other day, we chit-chatted with Frank Mills member (and Austinist writer) Erika May about the show, improv in Austin, and some of Winning Dirty's more famous audience members. Here's what she had to say. What's up with the name "The Frank Mills." Was Frank Mills......

We're OK when television networks choose to curb the amount of gratuitous "adult" content in prime-time programming, but we've always figured that such stuff, within reason, was fair game on cable networks. After all, Comedy Central has a sketch comedy show starring a naked trucker, FX's Nip/Tuck once had one of its stars engaging in gross raunchy sex with a mother-daughter duo, and Fox News regularly gets away with putting Bill O'Reilly on the......

The following films played Saturday, March 10th as part of the SXSW Film Festival: Campaign - This Japanese doc follows the travails of a "parachute" candidate for the Kawasaki city council. He's called that because he moved to the city specifically to run for office through his allegiance to the powerful LDP party. Japan is as big a character as the candidate, as the candid shots of life there offer revealing snippets of the......

That's right: it's time to heat up your winter nights again, with the 14th season of FronteraFest. The Short Fringe, the Long Fringe, or Mi Casa es su Teatro -- FronteraFest is five weeks of alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre presented by Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works. For complete FronteraFest 2007 information, including times and locations for the Short Fringe, the Long Fringe and Mi Casa es su......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

Comedian/author Chelsea Handler comes to Austin this Saturday to deliver her unique stand-up routine at The Paramount. A regular on Oxygen Network's "Girls Behaving Badly" and host of her own sketch comedy program, "The Chelsea Handler Show," the 31-year-old recently published a memoir entitled My Horizontal Life, which recounts in hilarious detail her various one-night stands. [Chelsea Handler's Official Site] We're giving away a pair of tickets to the show. Fill out the form, and......

A couple of shows with big phatty hype open this week. So ph-ph-phatty, that we’re bringing back the word phat (with a p.h. homeslice!) just to emphasize how phatty it really is. PHAT. PH. AT. Ok. Our Austinist Pick of the Week is a toss-up. Red Cans is the show the press just can’t get enough of. Josh Meyer and Matt Hislope, the delightful duo behind Rubber Repertory – the company producing the project......

Continuing our weekly series on sketch and improvisation happening within Austin (in the lead up to the 5th year of the annual Out of Bounds Festival), Austinist continues to profile some of the sketch comedy and improvisation groups around town. This weekend's recommendation (and, coincidentally) our Out of Bounds Tip of the Week Latino Comedy Project, a group of 10 actors (of which we are personally unfamiliar...that's krunk, right?) are holding court at Esther's......

We are soaked, soaked we tell you, in Frontera. This week, we've attended Best of Fest Bill A (to be repeated tomorrow night, and highly recommended), and the first Wild Card bill -- which won't be repeated, but we definitely suggest you take a stab at the second Wild Card bill, 2pm Saturday. It happens to be the only remaining Frontera show that's not sold out. Yikes! (A tip: If you want to try......

Because, in their own words, "there are no amendments banning same-sex comedy," the Dallas-based sketch comedy group Queertown is rolling into Austin tomorrow night only (8:00 pm) at Esther's Follies. The group, comprised of some of "Dallas’ most gifted straight and gay comic actors," covers such treacherously delightful ground as "Gay Trekkies, what REALLY goes on in those gay recovery meetings and some good old fashioned fun with George W." The show includes a......

If you’re looking to have your funny bone tickled this weekend and you can’t get us on our cell phone, head on over to The Hideout Theater for the Out-of-Bounds Comedy Festival. We checked it out last night, and as you would expect, some groups were stronger than others. Both the upstairs and downstairs stages run acts simultaneously. Last night there was improv upstairs and sketch comedy downstairs. The absurd and cute Rat Girl......

Do we like political satire? Yes, we do. Do we like a little bit of raunchiness in our comedy? Why the hell not. Are we fans of the sketch comedy of SNL? Mos’ def. Does the improv of Second City make us blow beer out of our noses? Well, we’re going to Chicago this weekend if that tells you anything. So, with all that said, we have been promised we will love the “Austin......

Are you wondering where you will get your sketch comedy funny now that the Chappelle show is on “hold”? How about by supporting your local Latino Comedy Project ensemble. The LCP is performing two shows a night Thursday – Saturday at 8PM and 10:30PM over at The Hideout Theatre downtown. We caught the early show of "Citizen Quién?" last night and we laughed and cried laughed the whole night. "Citizen Quién?" takes the audience......

Shocking news has surfaced revealing that Dave Chappelle, star of Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show,” has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in South Africa. It may seem like just another Kaufman-esque type joke , but all signs point to Dave Chappelle and his show not returning to its sketch comedy throne anytime soon. Chappelle, who received a new 2-year 50 million dollar contract for seasons three and four, has pushed production back several times......