Ari Shaffir

Photo By Jen MooreYou can tell Ari kind of hates people.  Especially homeless people, but really just all of us.  But it's just enough to be funny and not so angry that he makes it hard for the audience to come along on the funny journey.  The dash of self-deprecation doesn't hurt either.  Whether doing a long-form story, regular stand-up or Jew & A, he is consistently hilarious.  He's also one of my Top 5 favorite comedian tweeters.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for a funny Jew in nerdy glasses.

 Ari on Facebook

 Ari on Twitter

Brody Stevens

I have to admit, I didn't get Brody's act at first.  This caused Tommy to call me a moron, and he was pretty much right.  It's funny, too, because Brody's non-winking, pompous, self-entitled how-much-is-him-how-much-is-persona act is right up my alley.  It started to click for me the first time I saw him bring up a tambourine, but it all just fell into place one night in August when he was bumped nearly an hour due to special pop-ins and not only walked out into the sparse audience (not uncommon), but all the way to the back to threaten physical violence to Tony, incorporated Judah Friedlander and Chris D'Elia into his lesson for the audience on professional courtesy, and just pretty much made me laugh so hard, I curled into a ball in the corner.  Nearly every employee and comic left in the building was crowded against the back wall to watch, which is one of the best compliments you can get.

http://twitter.com/brodyismefriend 

Chris D'Elia

Chris has the comic skills of a much older pro, happily in a hot young package.  He's one of these comics whose act has a number of building blocks that he recombines and builds upon each time around.  I find myself laughing in anticipation of the punchline I've heard before, then laughing harder when he switches it up to something new and even funnier.  He's also fantastic at voicing his characters - from dumb girls, to incomprehensible gangstas to scary Germans.  The Germans vs gangstas bit gets me every time.

 http://twitter.com/chrisdelia

 Chris D'Elia Fan Page

Fahim Anwar

If Fahim looks familiar, you may recognize him from the hilarious viral video Front View Boys or his appearances on Lie To Me and Chuck.  Onstage, he's just a silly as you'd expect from the video - making fun of hip hop lyrics & stupid TV shows.  Just hope you never run into him with a real hidden camera.  Go see his act to find out why.

Fahim Anwar on Facebook

Fahim Anwar on Twitter

Ian Edwards

"This is a comedy show, those are imaginary bitches!" I think any good comic who isn't trying to do some PG-rated "safe" shit has at least one beat in the act where anywhere from 40-60% of the audience are dying of laughter and the rest are giving that PC "that's not funny" groan.  Ian has more like 3.  I think he's one of the most professional, consistently funny comedians you can go see.  He's so comfortable onstage, I can actually see how some audiences get confused about the fact that he's doing an act and not just telling you hilarious real-life stories about abortions and the morning after pill.

Ian on Facebook