Saturday 03.05.11: The Mr. FunnyPants Tour with MICHAEL SHOWALTER / DAVID WAIN @ Echo

Michael Showalter || Listen || Watch
Michael Showalter born in Princetion, NJ and a graduate of Brown University ’92, lives in Brooklyn. He was a founding member of the sketch comedy troupe, The State which ran for three seasons on MTV. He is a member of the comedy trio Stella, and starred in their eponymous COMEDY CENTRAL series, along with Michael Ian Black and David Wain. Stella’s recent national tour is coming out soon on a live DVD recording produced by SHOUT FACTORY. He co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the cult comedy “Wet Hot American Summer.” He directed, wrote and starred in the IFC FiILMS romantic comedy, “The Baxter” co-starring Michelle Williams, Elizabeth Banks and Justin Theroux. He has toured the country performing stand-up comedy and his stand-up comedy record, “Sandwiches & Cats” was released in November of 2007 on the JDUB RECORDS label. He has a popular web interview series on Collegehumor.com called “The Michael Showalter Showalter.” He is currently working on a new TV series for Comedy Central with longtime collaborator Michael Black called “Michael & Michael Have Issues.” “Michael & Michael Have Issues” is scheduled to premiere in July of 2009. He is on the faculty at NYU Graduate Film School, teaches screenwriting at The People’s Improv Theater and is working on a comedic memoir tentatively titled “Mr. Funny Pants” for Grand Central Publishing due out in Winter of ’09.

David Wain || Listen || Watch

Good lord there’s a lot of crap on Youtube these days. I know the whole point of the site is a space for anyone with a video camera to post their stuff, but I could really care less about some awful internet personality recapping pop culture news or some kid who is famous for making videos with his voice sped up so it’s high pitched. Yuck.

And yet, there are glimmers of hope amongst the piles of garbage. One of those glimmers is the absurd yet hilarious web series “Wainy Days”, an award winning “show” created by David Wain, writer, comedian, and one of the three stars of the awesome sketch group Stella, in addition to some various other acting and directing appearances.

The series is produced by a site called “My Damn Channel”, which produces a number of web series, including another gem called “Horrible People” that is a biting satire of soap operas. It’s written by and stars David Wain, a cult comedian of sorts known for his smart, absurd, and physical comedy. Wain got his start on the sketch comedy series “The State”in the early 90s, a show that is still revered for it’s alternative humor. Since the show, Wain has written and directed a number of projects, most notably Wet Hot American Summer and Role Models.Words Finest

6pm / $12 adv; $14 dos / all ages