Comedy Night at the Bagdad, 3702 SE Hawthorne, 8 pm, $5
w/Ian Karmel, Christian Ricketts, Scoot Herring, Aaron Hays, Jordan Casner, and Tristan Spillman

Tonight at East Burn, Oregon Art Beat will be filming the recurring Down to Funny standup comedy night for an upcoming segment on comedy in Portland. The free show starts at 8, and features:

Dan Duncan
Anthony Lopez
Shane Torres
Whitney Streed
Danny Felts
And host Katie Brien

I'm not familiar with Dan Duncan, but otherwise that's a solid lineup. (I particularly like Shane Torres, who took third at the Portland's Funniest Person contest at Helium over the summer.) East Burn also apparently offers beer discounts during the show; get there early if you want to great a seat and be part of an appreciative Oregon Art Beat audience. (A dream of mine.)

And in sketch news, Michael Fetters and Shelley McLendon have just announced a new duo called The Aces, who will debut their first show in March. Fetters and McLendon are veterans of basically every sketch thing that has happened in Portland in the last few years (3rd Floor, Sweat, and Road House: The Play, for starters), so this is promising.

After a long, boring holiday season, Helium's got some glimmers of hilarity on the horizon: I'm looking forward to Amy Schumer, Feb 14-15, and Jackie Kashian and Paul Mooney in March. And coming up soon, singing-sidekick duo Garfunkel and Oates. I'm not ordinarily a fan of comedians with guitars, but I really like these guys. Everything about this song is right and true.

They'll be at Helium Feb 9-11; tickets here.

Comedian Aaron Ross' has been hosting a weekly talk show at Dantes'—in the alter ego of a smarmy talk show host named Ed Forman—for three and a half years, clocking in 300+ shows and at least as many interviews with local musicians, athletes, performers, and more. At the end of the month his Tuesday-night reign comes to an end—he's moving south for a new gig in Silverlake. Portland fans have a few more chances to catch the show, as Dante's is hosting four back-to-back nights of send-off celebration.

Dec. 27 — Portland Send Off Pt. 1
Guest: Tony Tapatio, PDX Air Guitar Champ
Musical Guest: Basketball Jones

Dec. 28 — Portland Send Off Pt. 2
Musical Guest: Vursatyl, Lifesavas

Dec. 29 — Portland Send Off Pt. 3
Musical Guest: Boy Eats Drum Machine

Dec. 30 — Portland Send Off Pt. 4

"It's Christmas time and it's time to feel naughty for a good cause," says the press release for Blue Christmas Comedy, an Oregon Food Bank benefit featuring notoriously filthy-minded local comedians Kristine Levine and Lonnie Bruhn.

Quoth Levine, "We're not bragging when we say, we're probably the dirtiest comedians on the west coast. We're not trying to shock any one, the blue style of comedy is just what we do. We're alternative entertainment. Don't wanna see The Nutcracker? Come see the ball busters."

Tonight at 8 pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison, $7 plus 2 cans of food for donation to the Oregon Food Bank

Ron Funches has a joke about how when he and his wife fight, it's like superheroes fighting—"and Superman has to change his Facebook password, because Batman is a very good detective." I've heard the bit a few times, but it's never seemed more appropriate than when he told it last night at Floating World Comics, in front of a crowd of 25 or so packed a little awkwardly among shelves and spinner racks of comics.

The mic was busted, there were no chairs, and perhaps most distressingly there was no booze, but despite all that Jen Allen's new showcase Punch! Kick! Funny! got off to a fine start last night. Promised headliner Ian Karmel didn't materialize—he double booked with a commercial he's filming in California, faaaancy—but he recorded a brief apology to the crowd, which Allen played at the beginning of the show. Turns out Karmel really wasn't too missed, though: Allen is a likable host, and lesser-known local comics Jessie McCoy and Anthony Lopez both delivered solid sets. I was impressed by McCoy's grouchy-girl persona and controlled delivery, while the affable Lopez memorably describes himself as a "half Mexican comic who also has a speech impediment," and mined some big laughs out of the fact that he has a brother whose name is also Anthony Lopez. And while Ron Funches immediately offered the disclaimer that he was very, very high, he smartly made the crowd sit on the floor during his set (he even shamed Floating World proprietor Jason Leivian into sitting), which banished some of the awkwardness still lingering in the room and cleared the way for a really enjoyable set. I've heard some of Funches' jokes a kabillion times, so it was fun to see him delve more into crowd work last night, including a fake quiz show that invited two audience members onstage to discuss the relative shittiness of things like bad gifts and accidental animal murdering.

It wound up being a better evening than I expected when I walked in and saw how the space was being used—namely, that the "stage" was just a clearing between some shelves with terrible sightlines to the rest of the room. Standing five feet away from someone who is holding a mic and talking at you is awkward as an audience member, and I gotta imagine it's awkward for performers, too. That being said, I want to see more shows like this (and I want to see a microphone that works reliably, and maybe a folding chair or two). There seems to be a natural sympathy between fans and creators of comedy and comics—LA's fantastic Meltdown Comics, a comic book store with a comedy venue in the back, is a great example. It made me mildly furious a few years ago when the Stumptown Comics fest and the Bridgetown Comedy festival were on the same weekend and no one planned a single crossover event; I'm excited to see events that are starting to tap into that intersection.

Floating World Comics is without a doubt the best comic book store on the Westside (look what fine Zack Soto print I bought there yesterday—only $10). But it's about to get damn near chortled off the map tonight, with an invasion of Portland's finest comedians: Ian Karmel, Ron Funches, Anthony Lopez, Jessie McCoy, and hosted by Jen Allen. They're putting on a FREE show this evening at 7 pm. I have a feeling it might get crowded, so beat some feet down to NW 4th and Couch.

Those animation-crazy Taiwanese are at it again—this time giving the Sims treatment to comedian Louis CK and his recent "Ask Me Anything" interview with users on Reddit. (This is perhaps the most bizarre Taiwanese treatment yet, btw. Do they hate Louis CK? Why is he urinating on everybody??)

The AV Club just released the only best-of list I've been interested in reading this year. Their list of the Best Comedy Albums of 2011 features a lot of familiar names—Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Amy Schumer, Norm Macdonald, Michael Ian Black, and it's unsurprisingly topped by Louis CK. I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts but rarely delve into albums; I'm going to start working my way through this list as soon as my bank account recovers from this weekend's Crafty Wonderland gift-buying binge. (Mom's getting screen-printed tea towels AGAIN.)

h/t erik

I'm typically no fan of comedians with guitars, but Nick Thune gets a pass because he doesn't so much sing funny songs as just cradle his guitar like a giant security blanket while strumming gently and telling jokes. (It goes with the beard, I guess.) Anyway, he was funny at the Bridgetown Comedy fest last spring, and presumably he'll be funny again at Helium tonight. Tickets here.

Got the post-T-Bird blues? Turn that gastronomic frown upside down by winning tickets to see comedian Christopher Titus tonight (Friday, Nov 25) at 10 pm at Helium! Email me here, and put "Gimmee Those Titus Tix!" in the subject line, cuz I'm giving away a whopping 10 pairs of tickets! Deadline is 5 pm today And trust me, If you love your comedy angry and whip smart, you'll like Titus.

Here's a clip to whet your whistle!