March 14: Irish Stories

Hi, I'm your host Missus Kane. You might have noticed from my name, skin, shame, humor, this stone cottage in Western Ireland that some of my relatives used to live in, and the fact that I'm always mentioning it, that I am an Irish (American). So I decided to honor St. Patrick's Day in a manner at least slightly more reality-based than you typically see in America. The theme this month is Irish Stories, and the following lineup will bring tales from Ireland and here in America, of comedy, tragedy, and ultra-violence, all on the night's theme.

Matthew Callan can be found griping on a daily basis about the Mets at AmazinAvenue.com and about everything else at Scratchbomb.com. You may have seen his writing at McSweeneys, the New York Press, and Best American Non-Required Reading; if so, please return it to him. He is currently working on a novel.

SM Shrake, the "pint-sized storytelling powerhouse," has been heard on "This American Life" and was a GrandSlam finalist for The Moth in Detroit, as well as having appeared on 12 different stages in 5 cities in his first year of live story performances. He is also a longtime contributor at The Huffington Post and UsedWigs. Read more at YouWannaKnowWhat.com. Photo by Abby Greenawalt.

Currently laying his weary head on a queen size somewhere in Brooklyn, Sean can be seen performing nightly, at clubs like Comix, Gotham Comedy Club and various other gigs up and down the East Coast.He has also performed in the New York Underground Comedy Festival and was a finalist in this years Mangers’ Comedy Festival in Boston. In addition to his various performing duties, Sean produces and hosts a monthly stand-up show at The P.I.T in NYC called “The Lil’ Seany Boy Show. You can learn more about Sean at www.seandonnellycomedy.com

Brendan Sullivan is a writer and storyteller. You can find his word in NPR, Vice and Esquire. He lives in Brooklyn with the rest of them.

OK this is me again, back when I was young miss Kane. One more thing-- I'm making soda bread and will share if you are nice. See you on the 14th at 8pm at Union Hall.

Loved It

We had a great turnout for February 14th’s Love Stories edition of Show and Tell, and I hope everyone had fun hearing about all kinds of twisted nonsense and embarrassment…and also some nice love business.

Photos by Trey Pentecost, www.treypentecost.com

Missy Brown read an amorous artifact from the old days.

Garry Hannon, who had to come out four different times to his family, talked about his hubby.

Emily Spivack harvests vintage clothes and found stories from eBay.

Audience member ECS anticipates imminent hilarity.

We had the time of our lives during Andy Ross' high school talent show tale of trying to impress a crush.

Christen Clifford busted out the box of relics from her first love, and yes, those are unwashed tighty-whiteys.

See you at Union Hall for the kickoff to St. Patrick’s Week on March 14th for Irish Stories!

Valentine’s Night Lineup for February 14

Our obvious topic this month is Love Stories! No need for a schmancy dinner out. Just cozy up by the fire upstairs, then after doors open at 7:30, pull up a chair and get ready to get your ear bent starting at 8.

Oh, and there will be home-baked cookies, thanks to reader Missy Brown.

Tickets are $5, buy ‘em here.

Now meet the people who will rock your world with their true tales, presented with visual (and audio) evidence.

Missy Brown is an art librarian currently living in Brooklyn with her husband and her 18 month old daughter. Her formative years were spent breaking hearts, taking names and never throwing anything away. Missy claims to be a nicer person now, but the jury is still out. She also likes to bake for her friends.

Boston Born Comedian and Actor, Garry N. Hannon currently resides in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn with his husband, Aaron Sciandra and their female Jack Russell named Frank. We have a online bag and pillow business called Brooklynbags.com I like long dinners and candlelight walks on the beach. I think that I am still a Gemini and my favourite colour is green. (Catholic Survivor btw.)

Andy Ross is originally from a small cheesemaking town in Wisconsin. As a storyteller in New York, he's appeared at TOLD, The Liar Show, The Moth GrandSLAM, and he curates a show called Real Characters every third Tuesday at Belleville Lounge in Park Slope. As a comedy writer, Andy has contributed to the Onion News Network, Comedy Central's Indecision Forever, and MAD Magazine. He also writes a daily comedy blog at his website www.andyrosscomedy.com.

Emily Spivack’s work spans social innovation, culture, and fashion. She is the Editor-in-Chief of PopTech, a network of world-changing people, projects, and ideas. She’s also the Editor of Sentimental Value, a collection of interesting anecdotes people tell about clothing in eBay posts, and Worn Stories, a collection of stories about clothing and memory. Emily founded Shop Well with You, a body-image resource for women with cancer. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Christen Clifford is a writer, actor and performer in New York. She has been a Moth Mainstage storyteller, a detective on a soap opera and her solo show BabyLove premiered in Ljubljana, Slovenia before touring and landing for 3 months Off B'way at 45 Bleecker where it was named a "Critic's Pick" by Time Out New York and New York Magazine. She has written for Salon, Nerve, and The Huffington Post and her story "After 10 Years" just came out in the anthology Gotta Have It, by Cleis Press.

Home Ec was the Best Show and Tell Yet

I’m so pleased with Monday’s Home Ec-themed show. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and to the wonderful presenters. If you’d like reminders about future Show and Tells, please like Show & Tell on Facebook, and one of these nights I promise to figure out the mailing list thingy to email announcements on a polite and non-annoying basis.

Here’s what it looked like:

Your hostess read an essay called Colleen vs. Southern Food and showed my collection of unfortunate cookbooks, including the Anita Bryant Family Cookbook.

Kurt told of raising poultry while making egg salad.

Brandy told about her domestic yet nontraditional grandmother, while making her grandma's icebox cake.

The crowd listened, laughed, then ate the yumms made by Kurt and Brandy.

FIT grad Kyle represented the fashion aspect of Home Ec, with a gallery of his high school polyester disco shirt treasures that culminated in a jaw-dropping fantastical prom getup that landed him on the front page of the paper.

Giulia told about her mean girl best friend from high school, and conveyed a valuable lesson about grooming and not burning your face.

Thanks to all who came and please come to the love-themed Show and Tell on Valentine’s Day, at 8 p.m.!

January 17: Home Ec

For his month’s show, we have presentations on grooming! food! and fashion! As usual, doors 7:30/ show at 8 at Union Hall.

Here’s the lineup:

Giulia Rozzi

Giulia Rozzi is a NYC based comedian, actress and writer. She’s appeared on MTV, Vh1, Italian Mtv, and CNN and is the co-host of the popular and highly acclaimed sex-themed storytelling show Stripped Stories at the UCB Theatre in NYC. Recently she released her first comedy album “A Very Pretty Name.” More at giuliarozzi.com.

Kurt Opprecht

Kurt Opprecht is the son of a rocket scientist and a financial planner, born and raised in Utah on the bed of an ancient and extinct lake.  He lives on the lower East Side of New York City where he crafts supernatural devices and plans voyages to distant lands.  He is a writer, teacher, and a creator’s coach.  He produced and edited “How to Rule the World for Fun and Profit,” the Billionaires for Bush book, and his play “Dos Coyotes” is part of the Manhattan Repertory Theater’s Winterfest 2011 lineup.

Brandy Barber

Brandy Barber writes, produces, and performs comedy. She writes for the syndicated talk show called LATE NIGHT REPUBLIC. Her freelance pieces have been published in/on BUST, GLAMOUR, TIME OUT NEW YORK, GAWKER.com and PLAYGIRL. She was an original member of the Upright Citizens Brigade NYC Harold Team, MY KICKASS VAN. She is also the voice of the android Mia in an XBOX “Alien Breed” game series- and her teen diary was published in the Simon Spotlight book MORTIFIED: Real People, Real Words, Real Pathetic.

Kyle Supley

Kyle Supley is a UCB graduate from upstate NY. He is a storyteller, comic, and host, currently hosting the monthly “Kyle and David Chat and Chew,” a variety/talk show at the Creek and the Cave in LIC. He also performs as New York’s oldest singing Nonagenarian “Victor Victrola” in clubs around the city. He has a collection of men’s vintage clothing as well as mid century furnishings. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology and The College of Saint Rose, He has lived in NY for over 10 years and currently live in Astoria Queens.

I’ll be sharing a very relevant selection of weird crap from my precious precious hoards archives. We’ll also have a giveaway from Etsy shop DaSweetZpot,  where the winner can choose from prizes including handcrafted Italian jams and jellies, and an invention called the potato pouch, which allows you to microwave a potato in five minutes without it turning into a big weird wrinkle, and/or treats like chocolate fudge with chipotle, which looks like this when it’s being made:

See? You are learning about home economics already.

If you won’t make the show but want to show your love, please like Show and Tell on Facebook.

Five Gums a-Flapping

The December 13  Show and Tell, Christmas Stories edition, went off as well as possible for a frigid Monday night that ended in the season’s first snowfall. Attendance was light and we had a last-minute guest cancellation and a half, but Michele Carlo graciously stepped in with very little notice and brought the house down with her moving tale of a Bronx Christmas in the 70s! ‘Twas a fantastic show all around. So thanks to presenters Eliot Glazer, Rosie Schaap, and Cynthia Kaplan, and extra special thanks go to Michele, as well as to Blaise Allysen Kearsley for her assistance, and to Trey Pentecost for the photos.

Here’s what it looked like:

Eliot Glazer, with a video of his mom and the doll he coveted

Rosie Schaap dons her beloved huipil for the first time since Dead tour

Colleen Kane recruits eyewitness Tom Grubbs to help demonstrate a frightful sight

Cynthia Kaplan accompanies her story with her hit single "Merry Christmas to You"

Michele Carlo tells the moving tale of a Christmas past

I hope you’ll come on out January 17, Martin Luther King Day, for the next Show and Tell: the Home Ec edition.

December 13: Christmas Stories

Come gather around the stage to hear and witness tales of Christmases and Hanukkahs past. This month’s Show and Tell will feature stories, video, song, and pictures of holiday angst, mishaps, and the kind of crap that keeps happening this time of year even though it’s supposed to be all sparkly and magical and dusted in snow.

It’s $5 for 5 stories, and if you stick around for the late show afterward, Mike Birbiglia is trying out some new material.

Meet this month’s guests:

Eliot and Ilana Glazer

Eliot and Ilana Glazer are brother and sister.  Aside from co-creating, producing, and hosting (with Ilana) “High School Talent Show,” which recently ended its three-year run at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Eliot is an editor at Urlesque.com, and is releasing his first book, My Parents Were Awesome (Random House), based on the blog of the same in April.  Ilana is the co-creator of the popular web series Broad City, which has been featured in The New York Times and took first prize at the Iron Mule Comedy Festival.  Both Eliot and Ilana perform stand-up, storytelling, and sketch throughout New York City.

Cynthia Kaplan

Cynthia Kaplan is the author of two acclaimed collections of humorous essays, Why I’m Like This and Leave the Building Quickly, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and New York Magazine, among other publications, as well as in many anthologies and journals.  She has just released her debut comedy rock CD, entitled Fangry. Time Out New York has said of her live performances:  “If you’re lucky, Kaplan will sing and play guitar, and then you’ll laugh until you can’t breathe.” As in her books, Kaplan obsesses over sex and death and religion and high school.  “That’s all there is,” she says.  “That’s it.  Those four things.  And, of course, rhyming well.”   Visit her at www.cynthiakaplan.com!  Be a fan of the band on Facebook!

Rosie Schaap

Rosie Schaap has been a bartender, a fortuneteller, a librarian at a paranormal society, an English teacher, an editor, a preacher, a community organizer, a manager of homeless shelters, a ghostwriter for an inspirational magazine, and a contributor to NPR’s World Cup 2010 blog. Her work has been broadcast on This American Life, and her memoir, Drinking With Men, is forthcoming from Riverhead.

 

Liam McEneaney

 

Liam McEneaney’s television appearances include Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend,” CNN’s “Not Another Cable News Show,” and as a panelist onVH1’s hit show “Best Week Ever.” He spent two seasons as a writer on Comedy Central’s “Standup Nation with Greg Giraldo,” and his writings have appeared in magazines like Maxim, Jest, and Drill, which was a military publication and not pornography.Liam tours across the USA, and has toured internationally several times, and is a regular at clubs in England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and Germany.  He also created and produces “Tell Your Friends!”, New York City’s critically-acclaimed alt. comedy show.

Well, there you have them. I shall be counting the days til seeing you there, using my Advent calendar with the hidden chocolate bits in it.

Your hostess,

Missus Kane

P.S. I do realize that this post has all different fonts and that is one of many reasons why I need an intern.

We Got Edumacated

Thanks to everyone who came out on a Monday night to give a new show a chance. The Sex Ed edition of the Show and Tell reading series was a great time! I didn’t fall off the stage and only had to take one emergency car service ride back to my apartment during the hour before the show!

It looked like this.

Blaise Allysen Kearsley (not pictured: THE COWS)

Ryan Britt and the...Show and Tell...Benatars!

Colleen Kane and Uncle Tim!

Adam Wade (from New Hampshire)

Jena Friedman and the ghost of a former flame

In addition to the wonderful presenters, I’d like to thank Elizabeth Carey Smith for designing the logo and blog banner, while about 15 months pregnant, uphill both ways, Trey Pentecost, who took the photos you see above despite having rolled off his sick bed to attend, Blaise who helped avert a last-minute tech crisis before the show and helped me with a few future guests, and my husband Tom Grubbs, my cheerleader and co-producer in Show and Tell as in life.

If you weren’t there, you missed a great time. Next month’s show is on December 13, the topic is Christmas stories, with our fabulous presenters Liam McEaneny, Cynthia Kaplan, Rosie Schapp, and our first brother and sister team, Eliot and Ilana Glazer.

Monday, November 22: Sex Ed!

I’m proud to announce the funny and talented lineup for Show and Tell on Monday, November 22 at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn (doors at 7:30– it’s the early show). They are seasoned and spicy veterans of the New York stage, all. (Me, not so much, unless we’re talking karaoke.)

 

For $5 you get 5 stories, each bolstered by its own helpful visuals. Territory covered under the night’s “Sex Ed” theme will include one young lady’s explorations in perversity, late-blooming first experiences, general deviance, and pervs. (Despite the theme, you can probably expect minimum sexiness from the stories, and as for my own reading, expect a high level of OMG WTF.)

 

Here’s the evening’s lineup of storytellers and readers:

 

 

Jena Friedman

Jena Friedman is a stand up comedian, writer and actor living in New York. Her short films have been featured on New York Magazine’s Daily Intel, Glamour.com, Salon, VH1′s Best Week Ever, Gawker, Current TV, The Huffington Post and Comedy Central. She recently appeared in The Glasgow International Comedy Festival and The Bridgetown Comedy Festival and was the female lead in American Florence, and independent feature film expected to be released Winter 2010.  In addition, her dark comedic musical, The Refugee Girls Revue, is currently playing off-broadway at Theatre 80 in New York City. For more info, check out www.jenafriedman.com.

 

Adam Wade

Adam Wade is originally from New Hampshire and is a record 16-time Moth StorySLAM winner. You can find him on the World Wide Web at www.adamwade.com.

 

Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a writer, photographer and the creator, producer and host of the monthly reading and storytelling series How I Learned. She has appeared at PS 122, Lolita, Bowery Poetry Club, and in Mortified, Cringe, In The Flesh and Literary Death Match. Follow her writing and vanity projects at www.bazima.com.



Ryan Britt

Ryan Britt’s writing has been published with Nerve.com, Opium Magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine and elsewhere.  In New York City he has performed with storytelling shows like The Moth, The Liar Show and Stripped Stories.  Ryan also writes plays, and recently directed one of his own at the 45th Street Theatre in Manhattan.

Hope to see you there!

Let’s start this thing with a bang: SEX ED!

First, I apologize for that weak-ass joke in the title, and the one that will come a few sentences from now.

You see, I used to write filthy puns for a living. You’ll hear more about that at the November 22 edition of Show and Tell.

Which brings us to November 22. Hey, does anyone out there like sex? Because the topic for the debut edition of Show and Tell will be Sex Ed. The show pops its cherry on Monday, November 22, 8 p.m. at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Full lineup of performers and readers will be announced here soon!

(I am sorry for everything bad above.)