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Conan Writer and Comedian Laurie Kilmartin on Her Mother's Death from COVID-19

When Comedian Laurie Kilmartin's Mom Was Dying of COVID-19, She Tweeted Her Way Through the Pain


Laurie Kilmartin writes jokes for a living....

Los Angeles Magazine

Aug. 7, 2020

Artists Create Murals During Quarantine

A Platform That Matches Muralists with Walls Has Kept L.A. Beautiful During Quarantine

In 2013, artist and self-proclaimed "actioneer" Evan Meyer launched a neighborhood beautification project to spruce up a single Santa Monica corridor.....

Los Angeles Magazine

​May 26, 2019

Photography Exhibit on Undocumented Immigrants 

A Janitor in an Immigrant Detention Center Turned Confiscated Items Into Works of Art

One man's trash is another man's art. In Tom Kiefer's case, the photographer has taken belongings seized from migrants detained at the U.S.-Mexico border and turned them into an art project that's also an commentary on America's immigration policy.... 

Los Angeles Magazine

Oct. 21, 2019

Netflix Documentary on West Hollywood's Circus of Books

In Circus of Books, A Filmmaker Explores How Gay Porn Became Her Family's Business

In her new documentary, Circus of Books, filmmaker Rachel Mason, asks her parents, Karen and Barry, owners of the defunct West Hollywood institution for the which the movie was named, to describe their business.....

Los Angeles Magazine

July 17, 2019

Exhibit of Art by LGBTQ Prisoners

A New Exhibit Allows LGBTQ Prisoners to Reach Out from Behind Bars

America has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world - more than 2 million people, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics....

Los Angeles Magazine

May 31, 2019

Exhibit on Late African-American Artist and NFL Player Ernie Barnes

Ernie Barnes: An Artist and a Sportsman

Professionally, Ernie Barnes was a football player for the NFL. Creatively, he was an player.....

LA Weekly

May 23, 2019

Parody Rock Opera Spoofs '80s Heavy Metal

The People vs. Hell Kross Recalls Metal's Satanic Panic

In the 1980s, heavy metal was dangerous. Hard rock's subgenre became a societal scapegoat, blamed for corrupting young people's minds and inciting deaths. Bands went to court and even the Senate to defend lyrics about Satanism, violence, drugs and beastly sex....

LA Weekly

Nov. 1, 2018

UCB's South Asian Sketch Comedy Team

The Get Brown at UCB Brings Down Stereotypes By Bringing Them Up On Its Own Terms

“I don’t wanna trade on racial stereotypes,” says one of the comedians in The Get Brown, UCB’s first all–South Asian sketch comedy show, just before another of the comedians pretends to be an IT specialist and another pretends to be a doctor....

LA Weekly

Aug. 13, 2018

L.A.'s First Exhibit by Gay Armenian Artists

Glendale Gallery Celebrates "Queer Armenian-Art"

In April, a teenage boy was stabbed in Yerevan, Armenian, by a man who suspected he was gay. A few months earlier, a transgender woman was beaten in the capital city, her apartment set on fire. In both cases, the attackers were released. These are just two of the many hate crimes that have targeted LGBTQ Armenians in recent years in the former Soviet republic, which didn't decriminalize homosexuality until 2003.....

June 7, 2018

LA Weekly

RuPaul's Drag Race Winner Bianca Del Rio's New Book

RuPaul's Drag Race Winner Bianca Del Rio Has Some Advice for You

In the four years since winning season six of RuPaul's Drag Race, Bianca Del Rio has rightfully become the Joan Rivers of drag comedy...

Los Angeles Magazine

May 10, 2018

UCB's Inaugural "Comedy Yard Sale"

Sarah Silverman's Obama Vibrator and 9 Other Things We Saw at UCB's Comedy Yard Sale

Over the weekend, UCB hosted its inaugural two-day Comedy Yard Sale, benefitting the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California....

LA Weekly

June 6, 2017

The Queen of Versailles Director Lauren Greenfield's Photography Exhibit

Lauren Greenfield's Photos of the Wealth-Obsessed Will Make You Rethink Everything

One of the first images in Emmy-winning filmmaker and photographer Lauren Greenfield's expansive monograph, Generation Wealth, is of a group of seventh graders at Crossroads School in Santa Monica waving around $100 bills...

LA Weekly

April 7, 2017

Bitter Homes and Gardens, A Comedy Web Series

How One L.A. Couple Turned Their Endearingly Antagonistic Relationship Into Comedy Gold

The new web series Bitter Homes and Gardens begins with a couple arguing over their DVR....

LA Weekly

March 23, 2017

Drag Queens Read to Kids

Kids Get a Lesson in Self-Expression at L.A.'s First Drag Queen Story Hour

On a Sunday at Stories Books in Echo Park, Michelle Tea takes the stage to introduce a room full of parents and kids to Pickle, their storyteller for the day....

Feb.14, 2017

LA Weekly

Forest Lawn Museum Photography Exhibit of David Bowie in Mexico 

Rare Photos Capture David Bowie Soaking Up Mexican Culture

Mexico City–based photographer Fernando Aceves has spent the past 25 years shooting an impressive assortment of rock icons, both onstage and off: Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Joel, The Scorpions. His photographs of The Rolling Stones were part of an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art of Mexico City in 2000 and were included in two photography books celebrating the band’s 40th and 50th anniversaries. Aceves also has published his own photography books, including Ilusiones y Destellos: Retratos del Rock Mexicano (Illusions and Sparks From Mexican Rock) and 50 Jazzistas Mexicanos (50 Mexican Jazz Musicians)...

Jan. 19, 2017

LA Weekly

The Search for a Female MacGyver

Meet the Writers Who Are Trying to Make Next MacGyver a Woman

Most millennials might be more familiar with MacGruber, the Saturday Night Live skit turned 2010 movie with Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, than MacGyver, the 1985-92 ABC series that spawned the parody. The titular character was a mulleted, secret agent hottie who went from Russia to the Amazon getting rid of bad guys and saving tied-up ladies. He could diffuse an explosive with a paper clip, turn a casket into a Jet Ski and patch up a hot air balloon midair. He never used guns, only his resourcefulness and trusty Swiss Army knife. He was an American hero with one flaw: a fear of heights...

July 28, 2015

LA Weekly

Exhibit on Male Quilters

Dudes Who Make Quilts

“If women can be the CEOs of companies or do construction and pour cement, why can’t guys make lace or quilts, and take on those traditional feminine things?” asks Joel Otterson. Otterson is among the eight artists who are part of the Craft and Folk Art Museum’s new exhibit, "Man-Made: Contemporary Male Quilters," running through May 3. The group show, which also includes Joe Cunningham, Luke Haynes, Jimmy McBride, Aaron McIntosh, Dan Olfe, Shawn Quinlan and Ben Venom, aims to not only add a male point of view to a traditionally female-dominated hobby, but turn function into art...

Feb. 4, 2105

LA Weekly

Exhibit on Rock 'n' Roll Billboards


The Heydey of Rock 'n' Roll Billboards on the Sunset Strip

Before video killed the radio star—and the Internet killed the video star—billboards were used as a major promotional tool. In the capital of entertainment and car culture, they were conversation pieces for commuters and pedestrians. So where better than on the city's most famous street for record companies to erect 14 ft. versions of their biggest artists?....

March 21, 2015

LAist

Interview with The Big Bang Theory's Eric Kaplan

Does Santa Exist? A Big Bang Theory Writer Says It's Not As Simple As You Think

Fans of The Big Bang Theory know the character of Sheldon Cooper as a nerdy, Klingon-speaking manbot who, according to his friends, is one lab experiment away from turning into a comic book villain. He’s a theoretical physicist who has no use for human contact, feelings or sentimentality, especially around the holidays; he calls Christmas “a bunch of bologna created by the tinsel industry.” Naturally, he doesn’t believe in Santa...

Dec. 22, 2014

LA Weekly

Interview with Martin Short About His Memoir

Martin Short on His New Memoir, And Turning Tragedy into Comedy

In his new memoir, I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, Martin Short writes about the string of tragedies he’s endured over the years: His brother died in a car accident, he was orphaned by the time he was 20 and he lost his wife, ex-girlfriend Gilda Radner and close friend and director Nora Ephron all to cancer. But the famous funnyman insists he’s never been an angry guy. He maintains he’s an inherently happy person – it’s in his DNA. That and Canadians aren’t boring, they’re kind....

LA Weekly

Nov. 8, 2014

Grammy Museum's Rodney Dangerfield Exhibit

Respect Grammy Museum Spotlights Rodney Dangerfield

Among the Grammy Awards’ 70-plus categories, the winner of the best comedy album is seen only on the awards ceremony’s pre-telecast. But the Grammy Museum is finally putting the spotlight on comedy, beginning with an exhibit on the life and career of no-respect-can’t-catch-a-break comic Rodney Dangerfield, which is part of the museum's inaugural Comedy Month in November, and will include programs with Grammy-winner Kathy Griffin and Richard Lewis....

LA Weekly

Nov. 1, 2014

Interview with Online Comedian and Actress Jessie Kahnweiler

Jessie Kahnweiler Combines Dark Comedy with Judaism

Seldom have the words hummus and hand jobs been uttered in the same sentence, especially by a nice Jewish girl. But Jessie Kahnweiler is not your typical nice Jewish girl. In less than two years, the 29-year-old filmmaker has become an online favorite of the Girls generation, with a series of autobiographical web shorts on topics ranging from Judaism to dating hipsters to sexual abuse. She’s quick-witted, unfiltered and endlessly quotable, with the kind of humor that would’ve made Joan Rivers laugh tears while clutching her QVC jewelry.Can we tawk?...

LA Weekly

Oct. 30, 2014

L.A.'s Year-Round Halloween Stores

5 Stores Where It's Halloween All Year Long

Shopping for Halloween doesn't have to end after the pumpkins have dried up. Unlike the seasonal, pop-up shops that disappeared last November along with Miley's VMA twerking ensemble, there are several Halloween stores around town that cater to your dress-up and decorating needs throughout the year. Bookmark this when the urge to wear a Freddie Krueger mask or dress like a slutty nurse strikes in March...

LAist

Oct. 8, 2014

Hollywood Costume Exhibit

Epic Exhibit of Hollywood Costumes Returns to Los Angeles For Your Viewing Pleasure

A touring exhibit of iconic Hollywood costumes that started in London returns to its roots in Los Angeles at the future Academy Museum of Motion Pictures this week....

LAist

Sept. 30, 2014

Former Tonight Show Producer Dave Berg's Memoir

A Tonight Show Producer on His Memoir, Including Difficult Celebrity Guests

“It was the easiest job I ever got and the hardest job I ever had,” writes Dave Berg in his new book,Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show....

LA Weekly

Aug. 29, 2014

An Arab/Israeli Sketch Comedy Show

She's Israeli. He's Assyrian. They're Putting on a Comedy Show Together

Comedians poking fun of the Middle East isn't the minefield it used to be. The Axis of Evil comedy tour helped spread post-9/11 humor, and clubs now devote entire nights to comics of Middle Eastern heritage. If all good comedy comes from pain, what better material than war, terrorism and bloodshed?....

LA Weekly

July 22, 2014

Author Lilibet Snellings on Her Job as a Model at The Standard Hotel 

A Girl in the Box at the Standard Hotel Speaks

There's never a shortage of half-dressed ladies on the Sunset Strip, and that includes the lobby of the Standard, the boutique hotel just west of the Chateau Marmont and east of the Comedy Store. But there's always one girl at the Standard who stands out above the rest...

LA Weekly

March 7, 2014

Artist Alice Toohey's One-Woman Show on Marilyn Monroe

The Last Day of Marilyn Monroe

Outside the Pieter Performance Space is industrial, modern-day Cypress Park, but inside it's Brentwood on the morning of Aug. 4, 1962. A small crowd sitting on folding chairs quietly watches Marilyn Monroe in bed, her hand peeking out from beneath the sheets. She tosses and turns, answers the phone and takes a sip of grapefruit juice. She then sits up and announces in that soft, signature, childlike voice: "I didn't know that when I started this day, it would be the last day."...

LA Weekly

Aug. 29, 2013

The Comedy Central Roast of James Franco

James Franco's Comedy Central Roast: The Highlights

Last night, James Franco was the guest of dishonor at the Comedy Central Roast of James Franco (airing Labor Day) at Culver Studios in Culver City. The network normally roasts celebs who've become pop culture punch lines, like Charlie Sheen, Joan Rivers, Donald Trump and David Hasselhoff. Sure, Franco screwed up hosting the Academy Awards, and he was caught falling asleep in a university class. But he's an Oscar-nominated actor, not to mention director, professor, painter, published poet and a straight guy who's very, very comfortable kissing other guys on camera...

LA Weekly

Aug. 26, 2013

Former '90s MTV VJ Kennedy on Her Memoir

Kennedy, The MTV VJ Everyone Loved to Hate, Has a New, Salacious Memoir

You know you're a polarizing figure when Courtney Love takes a liking to you.

For anyone who regularly watched MTV from 1992 to 1997 during the height of grunge and gangster rap there was no presence on the network more memorable (or more irritating) than the single-named Kennedy, she of the nerdy glasses and hair as unruly as her mouth, who was once voted most hated MTV VJ in a Rolling Stone readers' poll....

LA Weekly

July 30, 2013

Sock Puppet Sitcom Theater

How to Stage Classic Sitcoms....With Sock Puppets

The dozen or so people gathered at Atwater Crossing on this Wednesday night are watching the first episode of Friends.

LA Weekly

July 5, 2012





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