With the abundance of great things going on in Milwaukee’s burgeoning comedy scene, we rarely go more than a few days without devoting a post or two to recognize someone or something happening that adds to the city’s ever-growing and continually-improving comedic output. Some weeks in particular yield a wealth of occurrences in and around the comedy scene that deserve attention, but don’t necessarily warrant an entire post on their lonesome. Enter Comedy Crumbs, a sporadic new Friday round-up wherein Milwaukee Record collects some of the smaller-but-significant morsels that popped up in local comedy over the course of the week that, alone, might fall through the cracks.
• Milwaukee Comedy announced the date and sites of the Milwaukee Comedy Festival. The 10th annual MCF will take place from August 6 through August 9. Most of the laughs will be confined to the Fest’s usual Next Act Theatre digs, but unlike other years, the event will culminate with a show at Turner Hall (signaling some bigger name acts than in recent years). Submissions for comedians will be accepted starting March 1. Submissions cost $15 for stand-up and $20 for improv/sketch.
• Yesterday marked the launch of Shepherd Express’ “He Said/She Said” podcast, where co-hosts and local comics Tyler Menz (of Local Coverage hosting fame) and Liz Ziner dole out romantic advice in five- or six-minute increments. We can’t attest to either ‘casters level of expertise in matters of the heart or the bedroom, but they’re both damn funny people. I can’t wait to hear Menz talk about pegging and cosplay in the weeks to come. Email questions to them at [email protected]. The dirtier, the better.
• Stand-up comics and Levity Radio co-hosts KC Michelson and Josh Ballew have been churning out installments of their “Having A Few” YouTube series, which captures an opinionated excerpt of a comedian at his or her drunkest moment. The latest “Having A Few” episode is also the most controversial in the young series’ short history, as the always-opinionated funnyman/sci-fi author Patrick Tomlinson drunkenly delves into local church scandals.
Other Milwaukee comedians to hit the bottle for “Having A Few” include: Sammy Arechar, Liz Ziner, Christopher Schmidt, and Lisan Wood.
• Speaking of Tomlinson, he’ll be hosting for Chad Daniels at Comedy Cafe through Saturday in one of the club’s thrice annual weekends with a headliner I’ve actually heard of before.
• Comedian and legitimate mad genius Ryan Lowe does it all. In addition to his absurd and intellectual stand-up act, film projects, puppetry, and adapting cinematic classics, the scene stalwart also reprises the old time radio program with his periodic “Lone Wolf Comedy Radio Theatre” show. The recently-released fourth episode features Lowe and a side-splitting stable of other Milwaukee stand-ups, including: Jason Hillman, Lisan Wood, Jacob Woelfel, Nick Firer, Rebecca Richards, Jessie Mahne, Shawn Shelnutt, Tim Hunter, Tim Higgins, Angie Campbell, Erik Koconis, Jeff Lampton, Rev. Ron Swanson, James Boland, Joshua Ballew, Liza Marie, Will Krolowitz, JJ Harris, Greg Bach, and Stacy Pawlowski
• Sammy Arechar isn’t just on the very short list of Milwaukee’s funniest inhabitants, he’s also showing his comedic chops in Wisconsin’s capital city. The 22-year-old phenom has cracked the final 10 in Madison’s Funniest Comic contest, despite the whole not living in Madison thing. Round 3 takes place at comedy Club On State on Wednesday, and the finals are Thursday. Before he conquers Madison (and eventually the world), you can see Arechar perform a set at tonight’s Retro Comedy Show at the Underground Collaborative.