It’s about 40 minutes after 7 p.m. and the Beyond Belief Dance Company dance moms are wondering where owner and director Justin Johnson is. “You know he always has to make an entrance,” one mom says to the other. Johnson is fashionably late to his own party celebrating the opening…
There’s more than a twinge of excitement in comedian Tom Arnold’s voice as he talks a mile a minute about his adventures with some of America’s most powerful political leaders. They’re even more impressive to hear when you realize he’s not a political comedian. Even Arnold doesn’t seem to understand…
You’ve already missed your chance to see Piff the Magic Dragon perform live unless you can afford to drop everything and go on a road trip to his next gig. But don’t worry, we’ve found the next best thing. The Las Vegas comedy magician, who performs regularly at The Flamingo,…
Comedy is hard. Musical comedy is harder, much harder. Musical comedy requires great timing and delivery for the comedy part. The other half requires a dancer’s build, a strong voice and hours of sweaty rehearsals and run-throughs. Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino, the hosts of Earwolf’s musical comedy podcast Off…
The new comedy film The Oath would sound like a totally unthinkable dystopian world at any other time in history. Except now. The Oath, written, directed and starring Ike Barinholtz, who came to town for an advance screening and Q&A last month at The Angelika before its limited release Friday,…
When the Canadian sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall formed back in the 1980s in a weekday slot at a Toronto rock club, comedy troupes were a rare commodity. Now thanks in part to The Kids in the Hall’s massive rise as a comedic touchstone, more of them…
It’s hard to know where to start a discussion about Neal Brennan’s career with the man himself. In fact, the idea makes him laugh. “I didn’t really have an end goal,” Brennan says. “I guess I always wanted to be a popular comedian. I’ve always thought that’s the coolest thing,…
The sounds of children’s amazement and the adults’ laughter rise in mixed harmony and respectfully fades as the man onstage focuses on his next illusion. The magician’s broad smile evokes the confident demeanor that the crowd is right to trust in him, to believe him, but his eyes tell the…
On Thursday night Dallas Comedy House will host a sex education class. The instructor — while not certified by the state of Texas, or any state, or actually any medical board real or imaginary — is described as having read, “dozens of pamphlets and blog posts on sex and sexual…
Starting Saturday night at Dallas Comedy House, audiences will get their first chance to see the newest all-female sketch show, Self-Aware? I Hardly Know Her. The show is a high-energy character-study filtered through a comedic lens; a non-stop revolving door of costume changes, original characters, and razor-sharp jokes. “A lot…
It turns out it actually doesn’t take long bouts of cocaine-fueled creativity or brainstorms produced by heavy-duty hallucinogens to come up with some great sketch comedy material — unless of course you count the first writing staff of Saturday Night Live. What it does take is creativity, numerous revisions and hard…
Stomping Ground Comedy Theatre’s newest sketch show, Consumed as Directed, will travel down some dark paths to find its laughs when it opens Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a new state-run children’s showy. An ardent Second Amendment supporter debates an elementary school-aged kid about gun violence in America. A…
This Labor Day weekend marks the second running of a marathon broadcast that’s destined to raise thousands for a worthy cause. The second annual Who Needs Sleep streaming charity telethon starts at 8 a.m. Saturday and will run 36 consecutive hours of live programming from Vokal Studios, the broadcasting hub…
Think you can get out there and shake your pom-poms and smile every time Jerry Jones says something? Think all it takes is a high kick here and there? Each season during CMT’s show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team, panelists and judges ask potential cheerleaders a round of questions…
A profile on Nick Florez, a DFW native who has worked as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for everyone from Celine Dion to Katy Perry.
Hannibal Buress is one of the most unique, original voices in comedy today, stand-up or otherwise. Blending absurdity with the benign, Buress can take what’s on its face a simple premise, like talking about the mixed drink “Flaming Dr Pepper,” and create a full history of how it was made…
The infamous photo Kathy Griffin released May 30, 2017, in which she held an effigy of President Donald Trump’s severed and bloodied head by its fluffy, blond mop of hair earned her the kind of fame that no former D-list celebrity would ever want. “This was another level,” Griffin says.
Michael and Carol Garland may be in their 70s, but they’ve spent most of their years on dance floors, and something as meaningless as age hasn’t stopped them. “If you put us behind the silhouette, people think we’re in our teens,” Michael says. “We do some crazy routines that even…
Texas-born playwright Robert Askins grew up going to church where puppet ministries were used to teach life lessons from the Bible. In his play Hand to God, Askins explores the complex duality of human nature and the battle against the self. He created a little puppet named Tyrone to ask…
There’s nothing worse for a stand-up comedian than seeing someone in the audience pull out a cellphone. “I’d rather someone get drunk and start throwing things at me during my set then pull out a phone,” says Dallas comedian Wes Corwin. It’s not uncommon to be at a live venue and…
The AT&T Performing Arts Center has plenty of space. Its website says it is the “largest contiguous arts district in the United States.” It includes the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, Annette Strauss Square, and Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. In 2014,…
When Alfred Kainga started doing stand-up comedy 13 years ago in Dallas, there wasn’t much thought of anything other than making the crowd laugh. This weekend, as Kainga headlines the Arlington Improv for the first time, he and the crew reflect on the journey that led to his name on…
