news, show listings, contests, ticket give-aways and slander about Nashville's comedy community
Breaking news!
Before launching their sold out tour in Florida next week, Flight Of The Conchords showed up at Zanies in Nashville to put on a surprise show. More information as it becomes available.
UPDATE:
“They went on around 10:45 after Mitch Fatel finished up his show,” says Nashville-based comic Brian Bates. “After Mitch was done, the emcee said ‘folks stick around, the show is not over. We’ve got a surprise guest that has dropped in. If any of you need to go, the wait staff will bring your checks. But if not, stick around.’ While they were setting up the equipment for Flight of the Conchords, the emcee drew names out of a milk crate to see who wins Mitch Fatel CDs. Then he said ‘you’ve probably seen them on the HBO hit show Flight of the Conchords, give it up for Flight of the Conchords!’
They played four songs. All together they were probably on stage for about 15-20 minutes. I love Flight of the Conchords and have seen all their shows but I question how many of the audience members even knew who they were. They seemed to get a mixed response from the crowd.”
The Conchords will return to Nashville Friday, April 10th to play to a sold out show at The Ryman Auditorium.
The Ryman Auditorium just announced that Bill Mahr will be performing live in Nashville on June 27th. Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow but there is an amazing presale discount TODAY ONLY, until 10 p.m. tonight.
Manchester’s four day festival of commercialism, filthy stinky crowds and incredibly bad traffic runs June 11-14, and the published Comedy Tent line-up looks pretty good: Jimmy Fallon, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Presents Bonnapoo 2009, An Evening (or Afternoon) with the Daily Show featuring John Oliver & Rob Riggle, Michael Ian Black & Michael Showalter, Aziz Ansari, Kristen Schaal, Arj Barker, Todd Barry, Rory Albanese, Wayne Federman, Nick Thune, Nick Kroll, Kurt Braunohler, Amy Schumer, Kumail Nanjiani, and Pete Homes.
As always, we’ll do our best to add all the Comedy Tent shows to the N’Sup schedule, but for specific times and line-ups and the latest info, you should probably check the schedule at Bonnaroo.com. Tickets are on sale now.
Enrollment is now open for the April “Improvisation for Beginners / IMPROV 101” classes at ZANIES. If you are interested please request a registration form asap. You need to have this form returned to me to save your spot.
If you have any questions about any of the classes feel free to e-mail me and ask.. otherwise here’s a look at what’s coming up..
Improv 101 Classes are scheduled for Mondays, April 6, 13, 20 & 27 from 5:30-7:30pm at Zanies. Registration for the Improv class is still a bit away. I will start taking pre-registration on March 16th. I thought I’d up date everyone so you can make some tentative plans. Class fee is $200.
Stand-UP Writing Class is tentatively scheduled for Mondays May 4, 11, 18 & June 8th from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Class fee is $200. Sign ups start April 21st.
The Bu$ine$$ of Comedy class is getting closer to a confirmation date in May. Thanks for your patience. This will be a one day seminar, cost is $75.
All of the classes listed above will meet at Zanies Comedy Showplace in Nashville, TN.
Click http://www.schooloflaughs.com for class descriptions.
SPECIAL EDITION CLASSES:
Toastmaster Classes
If you are a Toastmaster, please e-mail me for a special announcement!!! I have a two class session designed just for you in April!
Christian Comedy Association
I am proud to announce I will be teaching a course at the upcoming CCA Conference May 31-June 2 in Murfreesboro, TN. This one hour session will focus on “Perfecting Your Performance.” Visit www.christiancomedyassociation.com for more information.
DID YOU KNOW …
If you take the writing and performing classes you are granted a spot on a graduation show at Zanies?
Students who successfully navigate the two courses will be invited to perform a set onstage at Zanies. This is the absolute fastest way to get on their stage. You are not REQUIRED to perform in any way. But most students are pretty fired up and ready to get under the spotlight.
That graduation set is recorded to a DVD for you to have forever and share with friends or even online.
Stage time for former students at ZANIES!
Zanies has asked if I would run an open mike twice a month on TUESDAYS specifically designed to get my graduates more stage time. THIS IS AWESOME NEWS FOR YOU!
Set lengths will vary from 3-5-7 minutes and there will be opportunities to emcee the shows as well. These shows are a direct result of all the quality new faces who have taken the classes and taken it to the next level.
The still has a few limited slots available on the “off” nights as it always has. But, your odds of getting stage time has increased radically with this development.
I will be hosting the OPEN MIKES on March 24 and April 7th. Show starts at 7:30pm.
Extra Stage Time
Cross Bright puts on some comedy shows in White Bluff, TN. If you are interested in getting stage time please contact email cross.bright ( at ) yahoo ( dot ) com.
NashvilleStandUp.com has a complete list of all the open mikes in the Nashville area.
ALSO.. If you have any news you’d like to share with the rest of the School of Laughs please send it on to me and I will put it in the next newsletter.
Gift Certificates
Don’t want to spend the money on yourself for classes? Have someone else do it! You can let people know you want to take these classes and have them pay your tuition with a gift certificate. Just have them e-mail me and I will guide them through it. The gift certificate is available for any of the 4 week courses for $200, and for the Business Class for $75. All pre-paid certificate are fully refundable if you decide not to take the class.