COMEDY MELTDOWN

Comic book geek or hip alt-comedy scenesters? The line is pretty blurred on the fourth Friday of the month at Meltdown Comics. That’s when the back room stays open after hours for a nonglamorous, harshly lit evening of standup comedy. The show is free, as is the plentiful Asahi beer, which is notable not only because the talent lineup is cover-charge/drink-minimum-worthy, but also because the show takes places only blocks from the Laugh Factory and Comedy Store, where parking costs almost as much as half a tank of gas. There’s no valet for Comedy Meltdown, and you should arrive early to fight for a space, but you can peruse Alison Bechdel’s latest graphic novel while you wait. You’ll be rewarded with intimate performances by such established comics as Craig Anton, Blaine Capatch, Jackie Kashian, Morgan Murphy, Howard Kremer, Duncan Trussell, Melinda Hill and Maria Bamford. The show’s put on by Linda Pine, who longs to book Eddie Izzard, Louis C. K., Emo Philips and Tom Kenny. Says comic Melinda Hill, a Meltdown regular, “I love performing at Meltdown because Linda packs the room with comedy fans equipped with all the free beer they can handle, sells your merch online for you, and hands you a scarf she knitted herself. It’s like doing a comedy show run by your grandma, if your grandma was a comedy-loving hipster with a cute haircut.”
—Libby Molyneaux

October 16, 2008 at 8:34 pm 1 comment