LA comedy calendar: Upcoming stand-up and comedy shows in LA

Every Saturday and Sunday, the UCB franchise’s longest-running, most beloved showcase starts when a base cast of the theater’s current top-brass—including founding UCB members Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts—takes the stage. Then they introduce the surprise celebrity alumnae and friends who will be joining them (think Horatio Sanz, Ben Schwartz, Adam Pally). And finally, another special guest takes the stage, a non-improviser (think Flea, Cat Power, Rebel Wilson, Lena Dunham) who opens the show with a personal story, that’s deftly mined for laughs by the players. But you have to go to find out who’s there—that’s part of the fun. Looking for a cheap night out? Sunday shows are free, but seating is first-come, first-served, so be sure to arrive early.

Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler host their variety show, Hot Tub, every Monday night at the Virgil. Expect a fresh, oddball lineup each week of stand-up comics, sketch performances and new music.

Arguably L.A.’s two finest improv performers, Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), team up together for this long form two-man show.

Zach Galifianakis and Sarah Silverman headline this benefit for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, held on the late stand-up Brody Stevens’s birthday.

Animation meets live comedy at this stand-up series from Brandie Posey and Sam Varela. Comedians perform on-stage as local artists sketch them—and cross their fingers for a smooth reveal of the drawing. Of course, since this is L.A., you can expect top-notch talent among both the comedians and animators.

Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone are taking their parody rap trio on the road, and they’re kicking things off with a small warm-up show at the Observatory. You know you want to hear “I’m On a Boat” live.

Hannah Gadsby isn’t done with stand-up after all. The comedian’s boundary-pushing solo show Nanette was an award-winning revelation, a deconstruction of her memories of growing up gay in Tasmania. Its complexity gripped Netflix viewers, as did its twist, of sorts, that Gadsby was quitting comedy. That’s seemingly not the case, though: Gadsby tweeted that she’s “working on a new little something something on stage,” and luckily for us, it’s going down here in L.A. See her work out material during a nearly two-week residency at Dynasty Typewriter. Who knows, you might end up getting a peek at the early stages of another lauded solo show.

A trio of funny friends—Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael—celebrate truly awful movies in their podcast How Did This Get Made? The crew and a few special guests goof off while dissecting some atrociously bad film along the lines of The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Occasionally the podcast takes to the road for a live show, which adds in some video clips and, sometimes, first hand accounts from actors involved in literally the worst movies ever.

With the verbal fury of Nicki Minaj and the fearless attitude of Joan Rivers, Wong made her name with her 2016 Netflix special Baby Cobra, which she performed seven months pregnant, taking on menstruation, Sheryl Sandberg and sex with Asian men. Now, the Fresh Off the Boat scribe and American Housewife co-star attacks the Wiltern for eight nights of stand-up.