Comedy Madness Ensues: Final Four Remain
HOLLYWOOD – Last night’s most riotous comedy show carried into this morning as the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of March Comedy Madness at The Comedy Store left 4 standing. Dan Madonia, Jamar Neighbors, Bryan Dey and Adam Yenser all advanced in funny fashion to the Final Four which will take place next Friday, March 30th. Nail biters, some shockers, buzzer beaters, and joke-offs kept the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats and nearly out of them from laughter.
Referee, host and producer Josh Filipowski of Like 2 Laugh Productions tipped the show off, warming up the crowd before truly special guests Boom Shaka Laka in drag shocked and Crank Williams awed. Then the Sweet 16 took the stage with some close comedy competition. Adam Yenser power packed punchlines edged out Hanoch Serebrenik whacky charm in a 30 second joke-off after both having destroyed. Yenser’s superlative writing, impeccable timing and off the cuff callbacks carried him past maddening middle school math teacher –or- pot store clerk? Cornelius Peters in the following round.
Noteworthy New Yorker Joe Praino crushed with tales of late nights back in NY where his delivery guy was also his drug dealer. “Falafel with extra white sauce, huh? Extra white sauce?” He was followed by San Antonio transplant Bryan Dey who won the crowd over with his hilarious takes on the cute Mexican army and plenty more (see him for yourself next Friday). In a nail biting joke-off it appeared Praino had the bigger laugh, but the crowd held strong for Dey which propelled him through the Elite 8 where he continued to bring it, passing him on to the Final 4.
Around the other side of the brackets, the powerfully present what-will-she-say-next Faith Choyce fell to Brooklyn’s own Rome who got everybody wondering, “Where is Brooklyn really at? Seriously there is nobody there. They’re all out representing!” Rome’s Kingdom then fell to Jamar Neighbors who has been simply slaying his way through the Madness. Jamar’s tales have held true and his 30 second knack of knock-out joke-offs left the Belly Room belly aching.
The last puzzle piece brought us the battles of Madonia - Fager and then Madonia - Singleton. First round Doug Fager had the audience in his hand and slipped out of bounds with his final joke. Audience, uncomfortable from AIDS, was eager for a laugh and Dan Madonia granted more than one. His stony demeanor and awesomely funny attitude towards drugs and life, and doing drugs with him in your life, led to laughter and applause and a victory which continued past Jessica Michelle Singleton in the Elite 8. JMS had rushed over from Brea IMPROV where she had hosted for Bobby Lee. Unfortunately that rush seemed apparent as she raced the clock. Her outrageous flagrant attack on Adele and fat friends had everybody wanting more time for her to truly let lose and do her thing. Her rattling jokes-per-minute style was no match for the chill easygoing holy-shit-that-was-funny Madonia.
To break up the 16 and 8 rounds the Belly Room of The Comedy Store was blessed from right off the screen of Project X. Rick Shapiro brought on huge guffaws as he fired his fierce stream-of-conscious off the wall comedy. Get this man his own Comedy Central Presents already. And for the winner of the tourney TOO, to be determined by YOU, the audience, next Friday as the Final 4 and Championship alley-oop slam dunk in-your-face March Comedy Madness 2012 Champion is crowned.
Catch the final rounds of Madness Friday, March 30th, 10pm in the Belly Room of The World Famous Comedy Store, 8433 Sunset Boulevard. Visit www.LIKE2LAUGH.com or www.TheComedyStore.com for tickets and info.
MARCH COMEDY MADNESS 2012 LA
In honor of the NCAACollege Basketball Tournament, 64 comedians go one-on-one in this comedy competition hosted and refereed by Josh Filipowski and www.LIKE2LAUGH.com. In each round, two comics perform standup head-to-head and the audience decides the winner! As the field is narrowed down, sets get longer and more hilarious, until the final two comics perform and a champ is crowned 2012 March Comedy Madness Champion winning headshot’s by www.ThatHeadshotGuy.com, acting classes from www.NewBritishSchool.com, feature spot at La Jolla Comedy Store and more, CA$H, fame, glory and thus and such!
