Hey, all you undecided and uninformed Phoenix Readers Poll 2010 voters: tonight is your chance to catch five of our six "Best Comedian 2010" nominees on one bill for $12. Mottley's Comedy Club is teaming up with self-described "medical anomaly" Mehran to launch "The Mehran Show," a comedy extravaganza featuring nearly a dozen local comedians riffing on a theme (this week's is "legendary") every third Thursday of the month.
So why are we so excited for this show? First, nothing is off-limits for the night's affable host, from personal stories on coming out to his Iranian mother to how his body presumably cannibalized his own testicle. The Greater Boston Alternative Comedy Festival alum is adamant that he will not allow himself to be "out-crazied," a statement that might just be put to the test by the lineup of oddball talent backing him up tonight.
Superhero enthusiast Ken Reid hates amusement parks ... no really, don't get this guy started on the horrors of New Hampshire's Canobie Lake Park and its "centrifuge of white trash," the Turkish Twist. The former punk rocker (he used to perform at the Rat with 30 Seconds Over Tokyo) performs his pop-culture-laden material in rock venues as often as comedy clubs, opening for Hallelujah the Hills as well as Patton Oswalt.
Quirky national up-and-comer Shane Mauss is working on a Comedy Central special to air this year, plus a CD release on the channel's record imprint. He has a rather extreme take on "Casual Friday", and even though he's originally from Wisconsin, we forgive him. We're claiming this six-year Beantown resident as our own.
Kelly MacFarland has shared the stage with stand-ups as diverse as Joan Rivers, Mitch Hedberg, and Damon Wayans. But the witty comedienne is perhaps best known for her stint on the weight-loss reality show "The Biggest Loser," which she has turned into a goldmine of material, from the Boston locals waxing poetic about when she was "wicked fat" to her many failed attempts at going for a run.
Twenty-four-year-old Dan Boulger is something of a comedy prodigy, having started behind the mic nearly six years ago. Despite his terrible vocabulary, the potty-mouthed Boulger has already been featured on Comedy Central's "Live at Gotham" and BBC America's "The World Stands Up."
Also scheduled to perform are Tim McIntire, Maggie McDonald, Dave Mcdonough, Tom Dustin, Lamont Price, and Ira Proctor. The show starts at 8 pm and Mottley's is located downstairs at Trinity, 61 Chatham Street in Boston, near Faneuil Hall.
While he's not performing tonight, our sixth pick, Joe Wong, is worth seeking out. The Comedy Studio regular and Chinese immigrant charmed on "The Late Show with David Letterman" this past April with stories about his love for parallel parking and his unique answers to questions from his citizenship test ("What is Roe vs. Wade? Two ways to get into the United States"). We'd call him a smart-ass, but he's just so damn earnest. See Wong at the Comedy Studio on Friday, Feb. 26.
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