Tim Meadows needs very little introduction. One of the longest-running cast members of Saturday Night Live, Meadows was part of the late night comedy show from 1991 to 2000. He was known for his celebrity impersonations and for the character Leon Phelps, The Ladies Man, his perpetually horny radio talk show host. But that was a decade ago. Since then, Meadows, 50, has continued to appear in film and on television. (One of our favorite Meadows characters of late is P.K. Winsome, a black Republican who makes regular appearances on The Colbert Report.) Meadows has also made a somewhat surprising return to his roots in improv comedy. He's in Austin tonight and tomorrow for the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, performing with Uncle's Brother, a three-man troupe based out of Chicago with Brad Morris and Joe Canale, who are both based out of Second City. Austinist caught up with Meadows while was driving around Chicago with a friend from out of town, navigating from the passenger seat between questions. more ›

Hunicutt & Grace are an improv duo made up of (surprise!) two comedians: Eric Hunicutt and James Grace, both based out of iO West in Los Angeles. Hunicutt started performing at the Comedy Sportz improv theater in Raleigh, North Carolina when he was still in high school, and ended up in Chicago after college, training and performing at iO (Improv Olympics) and Second City. Though he's now based in Los Angeles, he has been a member of the Chicago-based troupe The Reckoning for the better part of a decade. He's way hyphenated: a teacher-actor-director-writer, his film-stage-screen-commercial work might make you wonder how he had time to start one more performing gig with his iO coworker (boss, actually) James Grace. Grace is Artistic Director of iO West, which was founded by improv legends Del Close and Charna Halpern. You might recognize him from his many film and television appearances, including Super Troopers, Reno 911!, Beerfest, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Austinist caught up with the duo in advance of their performance at The State Theater tonight for the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. They're also part of Stool Pigeon for Out of Bounds, and each are leading workshops: Hunicutt on Sunday at noon, looking at group scenes, and Grace on Saturday at noon, working on the improv tactic The Herald. As a way of distinguishing voices during the following phone interview, Grace assured Austinist he was the one with the "really good looking, studly voice." more ›

Austin's answer to the New York Film Academy, Austin Filmworks is a unique technical school entirely devoted to the development of filmmaking craft and aesthetics. AFW's debut production, Fall To Grace, screens tonight at the Regal in Arbor Hills--for those of us eager to support the local film scene, it's a can't-miss. Created by two of Austin's leading theatre talents--the film was written and directed by the State Theater Company's Mari Marchbanks and produced... more ›

:: FRIDAY :: [art] Art Party, 7pm @ 708 Congress Avenue :: SATURDAY :: [politics] DemocracyFest 2005 with Howard Dean and Neal Pollack, 7:30pm @ Stubb's - $20 [sports] Longhorns play the College World Series, 6pm on ESPN [art] Summer Fashion Party, 8pm @ Art Studio Studios [music] The Teenage Pajamas From Outer Space Tour featuring The Aquabats and The Epoxies @ The Backroom - $12 [culture] Pop Nation! @ The Austin Convention Center... more ›

We approached the State Theater’s latest production with a bit of skepticism, as we saw an inherent difficulty in trying to translate this book to the stage. “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America,” struck the American social and literary scene with force seven years ago. Written by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, the book examined, with outrage and indignancy, the sad fate of many of the millions of women around the country who... more ›