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Update #16: LATM to LA!
Friends,
If you're in LA on Monday, April 30, come see Laughter Against the Machine do two shows (730 & 930) at the Improv Comedy Lab in Los Angeles. Advance tickets here. There are some half-price tickets with the code "LATMfan."
For the 730pm show, Kamau, Janine and Nato will be joined by Greg Proops, Maria Bamford, and Jimmy Dore. Woah!
For the 930pm show, we'll be joined by Maria Bamford, Aparna Nancherla, and Hasan Minhaj. Boom!
Also, on Tuesday, May 8th at the New Parish in Oakland, Nato will record his debut comedy cd with Rooftop Comedy over two live shows at 7 & 9pm. These shows will also feature Kevin Camia and Dhaya Lakshminarayanan. Advance tickets here.
We look forward to releasing our tour documentary on June 9 at Netroots Nation in Providence, Rhode Island.
For funsies, this interview with Kamau about his forthcoming Late-Night Show on FX is entertaining and easy on the eyes.
And Janine co-wrote a hilarious list of suggested legislation by women to regulate men's reproductive health. Dig it.
Update #15: Laughter Against the Machine's big news, various
Dear Zapatistas,
Are you sitting down?
We're pleased to announce that we'll be premiering the Laughter Against the Machine tour documentary (yes, this one) at Netroots Nation 2012. The conference runs June 7-10 in Providence, Rhode Island. We'll also be teaming up with Laughing Liberally for a standup comedy show.
Also, our own W. Kamau Bell will be starring in a new late-night show on FX, slated to premiere in August, which will be executive-produced by Chris Rock.
We're performing in Portland, Oregon and showing clips from the documentary at the Rebooting Democracy Conference on April 19. The show is open to the public.
The first-ever Laughter Against the Machine shows in Los Angeles will be Monday, April 30 at 730pm & 930pm at the Improv Lab. Advance tickets here.
Nato is recording his first comedy CD at 7 & 9pm on Tuesday, May 8 in Oakland at the New Parish. Advance tickets here.
The last chances for people in the Bay Area to see Kamau before the FX show kicks off will be with Nato on Mondays at the Comedy SuperPAC at the Hemlock Tavern or on Tuesday, April 17 with a new edition of the W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour. Advance tickets here.
Thanks for making all this possible! You can stand up now.
--Kamau, Janine, Nato
Update #14: First Laughter Against the Machine documentary teaser!
Dear Rebel Alliance,
We're so excited to share our first 1-minute teaser for the Laughter Against the Machine tour documentary. Our friend Baratunde Thurston showed it last weekend during his keynote at South By Southwest. We hope you like it!
This was only possible thanks to you. So, thanks. Look for more video soon and the film to be released this summer.
Meanwhile, in other Laughter Against the Machine news: we'll be performing at the Rebooting Democracy conference in Portland, Oregon on April 19 and at the Improv Lab in Hollywood on April 30.
Kamau and Nato have started a weekly comedy residency called Comedy SuperPAC: Promoting Good Comedy & Great Causes Since 2012! It runs Mondays at 7pm through May 7 at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco. Partial proceeds to benefit Colorlines. More info and our schedule of guests here.
Janine will be criss-crossing the globe via the Women In Comedy Festival on March 23, the Glasgow International Comedy Festival on March 31, and then reuniting with Nato in Portland for the Bridgetown Comedy Festival on April 12-15. Kamau will perform his solo show at the Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas April 25-28.
Finally, Nato will record his debut comedy CD in Oakland at The New Parish on Tuesday, May 8. Two shows at 7 & 9pm. Advance tickets here.
One way or another, we'll see you soon.
Best,
Kamau, Janine, Nato
Update #13: Laughter Against the Machine doc sneak peek this week
Hey Freedom Fighters,
THIS THURSDAY 2/2, Laughter Against Machine is presenting a special show for SF Sketchfest at the Eureka Theatre. W. Kamau Bell, Janine Brito, & Nato Green will give you a first look at clips from our upcoming tour documentary, a Q&A moderated by writer Hiya Swanhuyser, and ye olde stand-up comedy. Even if you've seen us recently, there will be plenty of new LATM material for you to enjoy, and we have no more LATM shows in the Bay Area on the docket in 2012. Info and tickets here.
Huffington Post recently ran a great interview with Kamau about our take on "political" comedy. Read it here.
In other HuffPo news, Nato has a new blog we hope you enjoy: "Fighting Cynicism Without and Within," about how Occupy Wall Street achieved something historically unprecedented by getting Nato to shut up.
Dig it!
Kamau, Janine, & Nato
Update #12: Documentary first looks at SF Sketchfest 2/2 and other LATM news
Happy New Year!
We can't wait to finish the documentary and get it to you soon.
In the meantime, SF Sketchfest is presenting a special evening with Laughter Against the Machine on Thursday, February 2 at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco. In addition to stand-up, we'll be showing the first clips from the forthcoming tour documentary that happened because of you, and there will be a Q&A moderated by writer Hiya Swanhuyser. Hope you can come.
Also, we've been busy lately, collectively and singly.
Janine had the 3rd installment of her joint venture with Emily Heller: Girl Talk at the SF Punchline. The SF Weekly saluted Janine & Emily for their "commitment to boundary-pushing, brutally funny comedy that's staunchly populist but could still send a grad student looking for her well-worn copy of Gender Trouble."
Meanwhile, Kamau wrote a piece in Colorlines with the journalistically objective title, "5 Signs You’re Acting Like a White Guy (Or, How To Not Be Gene Marks)" about the white Forbes columnist who decided to hold forth on what he would do if he were poor and black. According to Marks, black poverty could be solved if only black kids had the good sense to realize they need good grades and to watch TED talks. Kamau's response, while simultaneously funny and profound in the way we can rely on from Kamau, also offended some white guys who didn't want to be lumped together with jerks. Or something.
Kamau also wrote about how Louis CK is in the rare position of being both the comedian the mainstream media is most interested in while comedians generally agree that he's the MAN.
Finally, our 4th Annual New Year's Eve shows at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco were sold out, fun, and raucous as usual. They were also attended by great press coverage by the likes of the SF Examiner, the Bay Citizen, and the East Bay Express. For example, the East Bay Express described "the consistently thought-provoking content and the performers' keen ability to stay on top of pop culture."
We do our best.
More soon.
Love,
Kamau, Nato, Janine
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a warm fuzzy feeling for helping us make a great movie + exclusive updates about the film and tour + your name in the “special thanks” of our movie and website!
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
all of the above + an autographed copy of W. Kamau Bell’s “Face Full of Flour” (named one of the Top 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010 by iTunes and Punchline Magazine).
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all of the above + a special edition DVD of the film, autographed by Kamau, Nato & Janine + we will send you a personalized postcard from the road!
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all the above + a special edition Laughter Against the Machine poster (pictured here: http://www.avrodesign.com/dima/illustration.html), from acclaimed designer Dimitri Drjuchin, autographed by the artist and by Kamau, Nato and Janine and special tour guests!
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all of the above + LATM friend Boots Riley (frontman for The Coup and Streetsweeper Social Club) will help us record a song that includes your name, which we will put on YouTube.
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all the above + Janine will write and record a personalized cat-themed ditty for your beloved feline pet, or a personalized “hate poem” for the ridiculous/entitled group of your choice and post it on YouTube + Nato will send you a photo of his "package."
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all of the above + 2 tickets to a LATM show of your choice (travel costs not included) and a shout out at that show proving to everyone else in the room how down you are with LATM!
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all of the above + LATM will take you and a guest out for a fancy cocktail after the show (Location chosen by LATM gourmand, Nato Green. Pre-requisite: Must be in same town as the group.)
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all of the above + Kamau will read and post a 500 word review of a book written by the reality star of your choice (Snooki, The Situation, one of the Khardashians, Tila Tequila, etc.) + an autographed copy of an album or other memorabilia from LATM friend Vernon Reid (2 time Grammy Award winner and founder of the seminal rock band Living Colour)
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all of the above + one or more members of LATM will cook dinner for you and up to 7 more people on a mutually agreeable date and location. Some of us are really really good cooks. It’ll be like a nineteenth-century salon.
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all of the above + two tickets and meet & greet passes to a Margaret Cho (friend of LATM!) show of your choice (excluding festival appearances) + artist and LATM friend Dimitri Drjuchin will design a one of a kind illustration of you based on a submitted photograph. Come on people - this is priceless! Check out his work here: http://www.avrodesign.com/dima/
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all of the above + Associate Producer credit in our film, and isn’t credit for our good works all any of us really wants?
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all of the above + we will get ourselves on a plane and come to your house or workplace or school (as long as it is in the 50 United States) and do a private show for you and your friends/family/colleagues/animal companions. PLEASE BE FROM HAWAII OR SOME PLACE TROPICAL IF POSSIBLE.
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W. KAMAU BELL is one of the fastest-rising socio-political comics in the United States, best known for his critically acclaimed solo show "The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.” Praised by Punchline Magazine as “one of our nation’s most adept racial commentators with a blistering wit,” Kamau has been voted San Francisco's best comedian by three different publications. His new stand up album, Face Full of Flour, made the 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010 list at iTunes and Punchline Magazine. Kamau recently performed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, where his set was filmed for HBO Canada. He also performed at the New York Comedy Festival, where he was a critic’s pick in Time Out NY, who gave his solo show “FOUR STARS” and offered that, “Bell finds comic gold in the wide range of material he mines, offering provocative insights into an ugly reality.” The SF Weekly has called Kamau “smart, stylish, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho,” though he was more excited that they called him “handsome.” Visit him online at www.wkamaubell.com
NATO GREEN, San Francisco native was recently named the SF Weekly's Best Comedian of 2010 for putting on "legendary" shows that keep audiences "doubled over." He continues the tradition of hard-hitting brainy Jewish comedians like Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Joe Lieberman. Nato is the creator of Iron Comic, the Iron Chef-spoofing hit comedy game show that packed houses at SF Sketchfest four years in a row and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival 2010 and 2011. The East Bay Express reported that onstage Nato "has a knack for pushing boundaries," the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Nato "had the hordes howling." Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket said Nato is, “Righteous and hilarious, bracing and a hoot, Nato Green is like finding a shot of bourbon at your co-worker's stupid vegan potluck.” His website is http://www.natogreen.com/
JANINE BRITO started doing standup comedy in St. Louis and has performed at clubs and theaters throughout the US and Hong Kong. Now a rising star on the San Francisco scene, she is a regular at the Punch Line, winner of the 2009 SF Women's Comedy Competition, recipient of Rooftop Comedy's 2010 Silver Nail Award, and member of the Laughter Against The Machine Comedy Tour. A sarcastic, snarky smart bomb of comedy funk straight from the 80's, Janine has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and The SF Weekly called her “a mean lesbian”. But she’s pretty sure that they meant it in a good way. Janine's website is www.janinebrito.com
