Best comedy events in NYC: Critics’ picks

Claustrophobes, beware: It gets crowded down here, especially on weekends, thanks to the immense popularity of this Village standby. Big names from Amy Schumer to Aziz Ansari will drop by for a set and on any given night, you can expect to see other local greats whose acts are more X-rated than at other clubs (and who will distract you from your bachelorette-partying neighbors).

NYC's unbeatable comedy bastion moved its Chelsea HQ to Hell's Kitchen in late 2017. Expect the same steady lineup of bonkers improv, sketch and solo shows every night from young and veteran performers. 

This free weekly getdown from Carolyn Busa, Julia Shiplett, Ben Wasserman and Emily Winter is a reliable night for solid laughs and surprise stars in Crown Heights. August 20's edition is a banger, with Myq Kaplan, Kevin Iso, Mike Drucker and Aminah Imani hitting the stage. 

Serious libations and serious laughs collide at this comedy club–restaurant hybrid in Gramercy. Sons of Essex’s Seth Levine turns out comfort-food spins—like cheeseburger pot stickers and duck-topped pizzas—in the upstairs dining room. After dinner, head downstairs to the club, where you can sip cocktails designed by Minetta Tavern vets, while catching regular acts like Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan and Tracy Morgan. Test your stand-up knowledge and try to name all the comedians on the wallpaper in the bathrooms. 

Emmy-winning former Late Show writer Ted Greenberg performs an hour of boisterous interactive stand-up that ends with one audience member being whisked home in a taxi by Greenberg, who is a licensed NYC cabdriver.

Heather Harrison delivers in Williamsburg at this throwdown, which brings established comics out to play with open-mic newbies. Harrison starts her Brooklyn takeover with Dara Katz, Pat Dooley, Maya Sharma, Ian Lockwood and Riley Taggart.  

Peter Smith and Sandy Honig—two of the most fantastic beasts in the NYC comedy stable—unleash their wildest friends upon the Slipper Room stage at this weekly stand-up showcase. Count on an always-diverse lineup of marvels from across NYC's alt-comedy spectrum, all giving it to you for free. 

Jo Firestone and her Rodney Dangerfield impersonator father, Fred, host this beloved competition, in which the first 18 individuals or duos to sign up at the door attempt to pun-up each other’s spontaneously-produced wordplay. Winners are determined by the Human Clap-O-Meter and go home with a Mystery Box prize. Get ready to laugh—and groan. 

Satanic and satirical sketch-cabaret trio Mike Albo, Nora Burns and David Ilku continue their twisted residency at Joe’s Pub. Delight in tongue-in-cheek jokes about trendoids, protest culture and our current president from wigged-out performers who have been at it for two decades. Time to submit to the masters.

Tickle your funny bone and satisfy your sweet tooth at this comedy night in Greenwich Village that boasts no cover and free ice cream. The thirty-third edition welcomes Jesse Eigner, Suzanne Lea Shepherd, Mike Feeney, Stu Melton, Janelle Draper, Max White and Aminah Imani to the stage. Jeffrey Emerson hosts.  

The first holiday in a season of forced family bonding can bring out some raw feelings, especially for New Yorkers not visiting their families. Stand-up powerhouses Joel Kim Booster and Sonia Dennis welcome you to scorch away your seasonal depression at this boozy hour of no-bullshit sets. The relentless duo welcomes fellow former Chicagoan Rebecca O’Neal to go off with them onstage and light up your long holiday weekend. 

First times: we've all had 'em. Some were better than others, but most make great comedy fodder. Hear host Angela Cobb and a slew of guest comics joke about the life milestone society's most obsessed with at Astoria's intimate comedy club.

The witchiest women of NYC's comedy scene gather to cast spells, talk hexes and share magical secrets at this monthly show. Host Lauren Maul welcomes her favorite funny sorceresses to unleash all hell on the PIT. For November's "Love Magic" edition, she invites Debbie Allen to exhibit new tools of the craft from Cult Party; David Goldberg to run down his astrological dating history; Ivan Lett to share poems and stories; and music from Michael Harren. Count on potions and crystals to send you laughing off into the demimonde. 

Anything goes at this variety show, at which demented characters, strange songs and nonsensical stand-up sets abound. Artist, video maker, surreal stand-up and indefatigably chill host Lorelei Ramirez reigns over the dark tidings, with comedy, video and music performances that you won't soon forget. For the November edition, the A Woman's Smile podcast co-host is joined by Devon Walker, Cole Escola and Alexandra Tartasky. 

Join fur-clad class acts Betty Blanche and Crystal Rogers Sr. (known in modern times as dynamite sketch duo Sam Reece and Becky Chicoine) at this warped musical variety show straight out of black-and-white TV fever dream. They'll sing gibberish Thanksgiving "classics" that will make you long for a brand of Americana that never existed. 

Wickedly funny web goon Mark Vigeant invites you into a world of gut-busting HTML nonsense as he builds a bizarre website for his favorite funny guests. At the October Hackers edition, he's joined by Marcia Belsky, Larry Owens and Michael Cruz Kayne.    

Some stars are made to shine over New York. Witness Cole Escola, the disturbingly talented character incubator as he gifts us with severely funny experiments from his downtown throne. Be sure to grab your tickets quick; Escola's fanbase gets more fiendish by the year. 

Loveable loony toon Addie Weyrich looks back on the bizarro-world behaviors of a single child home at her new comedy roundup. She invites some of her favorite stand-ups and performers, including Alex Song, Michael Cruz Kayne, Karolena Theresa, Zach Zimmerman and Tori Piskin, to go into their own familial mishegas at the November edition. 

They're taking over; get used to it. Defiantly dope comedians Jess Salomon and Sophie Santos invite their flyest queer friends to shut down Union Hall with unapologetically woman-oriented sets. They're joined by Jordan Kleine, Lauren Ashley Smith and Eman El-Husseini. 

If you think about it, history is a bit like a word in a Rick Ross rhyme: It tends to repeat itself. That’s not the only thing history and rap have in common at this hilarious show, inspired by that other hip-hop musical. Hip-hop improv group North Coast invites audience members to suggest a favorite historical figure—be it Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Bea Arthur or beyond—then performs a fully improvised and factually accurate musical based on that person’s life.