MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

John Wenzel

  1. The Brutal, Beautiful Birth of the Late Mike DeStefano’s ‘Puppies & Heroin’ Trying to place Mike DeStefano in the present day has become both a pastime and an obsession for his fans. “Mike would’ve hated social […]
  2. The 15 Best Comedy Clubs in North America In partnership with Humber College’s Comedy Writing and Performance program. For the last four decades, live standup has defined itself in […]
  3. The 10 Best Standup Specials and Albums of 2015 Of all the things to celebrate in comedy this year, the resilience and power of standup’s cherished documents – the album and the TV special […]
  4. How to Watch ‘W/ Bob & David’ in the Shadow of ‘Mr. Show’I had a single thought fixed in my head as I fired up my laptop to preview Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s first post-Mr. Show series, W/ Bob […]
  5. The 20 Best Underrated Standup Specials You May Have MissedNow more than ever, it’s easy to miss a great standup special. Despite social media’s role as the new word-of-mouth, there are specials […]
  6. The 20 Best Comedy Movies of All TimeThe funniest movies tend to burrow into our brains like no other form of popular entertainment. Through repeated viewings and earworm quotes, […]
  7. The Definitive Guide to One of the Greatest Prank Calls of All TimeIn the pre-internet age, the best prank calls and underground videos were passed hand-to-hand on cassette and VHS tapes, creating a subculture […]
  8. The 20 Greatest Standup Specials of All TimeModern standup has been around in one form or another since vaudeville, but it’s only been since the late ‘70s that the standup special has […]
  9. The Enduring Legacy of Phil HartmanAs much as Phil Hartman’s work and influence lives on, the Ontario native has so far escaped the kind of mainstream legacy re-appraisal that so […]
  10. Jokes on Wax: Inside Comedy’s Vinyl ResurgenceMarc Maron hasn’t exactly built his career on happy memories. But when the WTF host thinks back on his comedy education, he fondly remembers […]
  13. Inside Pandora Comedy: Three Years In, the Promise and Limits of Streaming […]“Before I started working here, I didn’t realize there was an entire genre of comedy marketed specifically to truckers,” says Kelly Anneken, […]
  14. ‘The Humor Code’ and the Science of How Comedy WorksWriting about comedy has become a cottage industry in recent years as the swelling popularity of live and online humor has birthed a new […]