Though Georgetown Cupcake was holding off opening until Valentine's Day, their debut yesterday seemed to be missing something — cupcakes. Last night, potential customers were turned away by an apologetic sign, "We are so sorry! We have completely run out again." This was one of many times the tiny boutique bakery off M Street (right across from Quick Pita, a Hoya mainstay) had to temporarily shut down to keep up with orders. It was two... [continue]

After watching Wet Hot American Summer on repeat throughout high school, there's no way you can't recognize Michael Ian Black's face. His voice is equally iconic, given his roles as the sock puppet on Pets.com commercials, the Sierra Mist spokesperson dude and his commentary all over the "I love the …" VH1 series. Though he's spent years touring with comedy posse The State, not to mention co-writing and co-starring in the Comedy Central series... [continue]

Over in academia, it's finals time, but the receSs improv team over at George Washington University isn't compromising their weekend, which will mark the group's final show of 2007, over it. On their unofficial blog, The Colonialist, they're offering up reasons why their peers shouldn't either. In the past, receSs alums have gone on to pursue real-life comic gigs, including TJ Miller (now on the ABC show "Carpoolers"), Herschel Bleefeld (who landed a role in...... [continue]

Calling all lame, angsty middle school versions of yourself. As part of a national tour, the cultish comedy show MORTIFIED is coming to the DC-area in October, but before then, the folks behind it need you to unearth those dusty Pee-chee portfolios filled with goo-goo ga-ga love letters, poems and top-secret journal entries. Let strangers hear the precious—preciously embarrassing, that is—truth about what you wanted to do with Oscar on the swing set. Or how...... [continue]

We’re continuing our love affair with Robeks Smoothies and their summer promotions. Today, in honor of two new locations that just moved into town, Robeks is offering a Buy One-Get One deal at all D.C.-area branches. Where are the new guys? Near George Washington University at 2000 Pennsylvania Ave., and another at the Cabin John Shopping Center in Potomac, Md. That makes the 14th and 15th Robeks in our neck of the woods. Inferior to...... [continue]

Washington Improv Theater knows that it's intern harvest season. By day, the twenty-somethings flip and flop in business casual around the Hill and by night, drunkenly attempt to figure out the Metro rail system. WIT has been studying the funny critters for their second (and final) installment of an intern-themed improv comedy night called “WIT Hot American Summer.” Ken Hays and Rich Nyman, the stars of the two-man show, aren’t actual interns, but they know...... [continue]

A few years back, Diana Saez was an endangered species in the city's female comedy circuit. She and a few others dropped abortion, lesbian and self-deprecating body image jokes at Dremo’s, Rendezvous and other weekly stand-up gigs. They were typecast as female comics, and had to play that card to get attention. It was an era when Janeane Garofalo was probably the only "real" chick comic on anyone's radar. But that crop of talent has...... [continue]

Even before our scatterbrained, ADHD world began over-prescribing Ritalin, we giggled at Steven Wright's one-liners on SNL during the ‘80s. If you're like us, maybe you even stayed up late into the night listening to albums like I Have a Pony. His brand of comedy, as something of an intellectual punster, appealed to us as kids just as much as it does today. Jokes like, "I was walking in the woods all by myself. A...... [continue]

While outdoor Eastern Market vendors set up outside – on the first Saturday since the dreadful inferno – DCist writers and friends were just across the way, pretty-ing up Hine Junior High. After a whole month of reminding and re-reminding you, Servathon 2007 finally came! Not only did we paint the gym a brand-spanking-new shade of off-white, but we owned the fundraising. Since our original $2,000 goal proved easy as pie, we dared readers... [continue]

If you didn’t muster the courage to apply for the D.C. Comedy Fest back in January, then at the very least, watch the people who did. Starting tonight, the fest will feature three night’s worth of shows, including an ode to what Bush did right, finalists in a short comedy film fest and auditions for Leno and Lettermen where big-deal bookers like Bob Read of Last Comic Standing will hover in the audience, sniffing out...... [continue]

Editor's Note: Erin Zimmer, DCist Staff writer, is a senior at Georgetown. Last night, she took part in the festivities following Georgetown's Elite Eight victory over UNC. The following is an account of the proceedings. For all of last night's game, Georgetown townhouses kept their doors open. Crowds of kids huddled around their televisions, jumping up and down at every play. But once the magical three-pointer tied up the game (81-81) with 24 seconds left...... [continue]

"Working for the government" can mean Amtrak, White House or the Endangered Species Committee. It can also mean bor-ing. But now feds can prove they do more than fill out forms and draft legislation all day. Like doodle on meeting agendas and carp about busted staplers. The first annual Funniest Fed contest is open to civilian employees, military (both active and reserve) and the Legislative and Executive branches. They want this secret community of sarcastic,...... [continue]

As our Gothamist friends picked up back in 2005, 28-year-old comedienne Jennifer Dziura is a pretty funny gal. After reading her bio, I quickly realized that I wanted to be her. The Dartmouth philosophy grad is a human smorgasbord, with past stints as a contraceptive tester, naked model for miscellaneous art schools, trapeze assistant, dot-com entrepreneur, and occasional comedy writer for McSweeney's and the Idiot's Guide to Jokes. Every Monday she emcees Williamsburg’s “Spelling Bee"...... [continue]

Kicking off Friday with a one-hundred and seventy-five person audience at George Mason University, the fourth annual DC Improv's Funniest College tourney has officially started. Whatever their US News and World Report rankings, the eight D.C.-area universities participating have the chance to out-smart each other in the subject of Laughter. Spanning over the next eight weeks, the competition allows individual students (grad and undergrad) to perform stand-up against fellow classmates inner-collegiately and against rivaling schools....... [continue]

New Yorker fiction pieces can be predictably melancholy. Sample plot: the narrator discovers a personality flaw, or flaw in her love life - "flaw" is the key word here—and the reader is left feeling seasick by the end. Luckily, a few amusing anecdotes have slipped into print along the way, and Theatre J has adapted some of these collected memoirs by Laura Shaine Cunningham into Sleeping Arrangements. Pain, failure, and all things deserving self-pity are...... [continue]

Back in October, we reported on a weekly comedy showcase at the 18th Street hangout Bossa that went homeless after some beef between the venue's managers and the show's emcees. It was a sad day for many budding Washington comics, since the Thursday nights at Bossa had a Dead Poets Society-meets-Cheers camaraderie. It felt like home for the comics and Bossa regulars. At DCist, we crossed our fingers that the word would spread, and another...... [continue]

We at DCist definitely think we are. But that’s after we check Thesaurus.com, go through the blogroll twice, and then decide how to make the snarkiest pun. We like the safety of our laptops. And we’re scared of bright lights (they reflect off our geek-chic glasses). Our readers, however, may be more fearless. And they have a chance to prove it. Washington Improv Theatre, the self-proclaimed “nucleus” of the maturing D.C. comedy scene, is hosting... [continue]

My mother has her own non-profit "recycling project." It's called the holiday gift closet, filled with girly lotion sets and hand-held electronic poker games, ready to re-gift. It's perfect for those fake friends who are clearly not worth the shopping trip. These are just the kind of age-old holiday traditions that Washington Improv Theater wants to know about for their annual show, Seasonal Disorder. Each December, Washington Improv Theater hosts the yuletide-themed spectacle Seasonal Disorder,...... [continue]

Georgetown is all about traditions. And with two-hundred and seventeen years under its belt, it makes sense. The Blue and Grey. The Tombs. The lore of the 75 Exorcist stairs. But few Hoyas know about their annual ImprovFest. Hardly any realize that Georgetown has an improv troupe at all, though that's probably because it doesn’t hold many shows per year and the university, also traditionally, ignores the discipline of staged comedy. But the stone-faced International... [continue]

Chris Palmer doesn’t fit the stand-up comic profile at all. Wildlife documentarian. Harvard Kennedy Scholar. Founder, President and CEO of the non-profit National Audubon Society Productions. AU Film Producer in Residence. And he won’t look the part either — perfectly-coiffed and suited for every performance, as demonstrated at right, with the proper Brit accent to match. It all started in January, when his daughter Kimberly showed him a flyer on stand-up comedy training at the...... [continue]