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Well, it has been officially three years that The Comedy Bureau Field Report has been bringing you all the going-ons in comedy from every possible corner that we know about or discover. With that in mind, it's magically apropos that the great Myq Kaplan returns to not only talk about his new-old album release Live In Between Albums and his upcoming Edinburgh Fringe run, but to dive deep into the existential nature of comedy through the lens of Buddhism and high-minded philosophy (with some ultra-clever wordplay thrown in of course). Myq and TCB's Jake Kroeger do indeed go deep, but, as this podcast has done for 156 weeks, bringing it all back to the wondrous, relief-giving art form that is comedy. Follow Myq @myqkaplan across platforms, get his new album fresh from 2018, Live in Between Albums, here, and get into his Substack, his podcast Intra Quest, and more on his linktr.ee here. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via Patreon or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Though it might be strange to read, comedy can really exude its healing/relieving powers when done in a funeral home. NYC based Ben Wasserman has been proving that while touring with his most personal work to date, Live After Death, a wild solo show about grief and loss created in the aftermath of several deaths of family members and friends in the span of a few years. It's a rambunctious show that brings an exuberance and a communal joy while also very much holding space for those any and all that are currently or have ever been beset with grief. Wasserman talks candidly to us about how all this came about and how it has changed his comedy and his entire trajectory with performing. Follow Ben @benwassergram on IG and @benwassertweet on Twitter The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via Patreon or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Often, the idea of being raw on stage gets misconstrued with spouting off and saying shocking things for unfettered schadenfreude. The rawness of Byron Bowers and his comedy comes from such a genuine place as he is in between so many worlds and wants to speak his comedic truth in the purest way possible. The result often takes him and his audience into darker territory, but always subverted with hysterical observations, which has gotten him his first special on the coolest cable network, FX, and a number of roles on such high profile shows as Irma Vep and the upcoming Natalie Portman-vehicle Lady in the Lake. We talk with Byron on this week's TCB Field Report on his whole journey to being truly one of the funniest comedians working today. Follow Byron across socials @byronbowers and watch Spiritual N**GA on Hulu. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via Patreon or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger Photo by Troy Conrad

Only Fans isn't only for individually empowered adult content anymore and, to prove that, Only Fans put on their very own stand-up comedy competition on their safe-for-work side of the platform of.tv. Up and coming UK comedian Mary O'Connell emerged victorious for the Only Fans Creative Fund: Comedy Edition winning £100K and talks us through that entire wild ride as well as how UK comedy is getting on these days compared to us here, Stateside. Follow Mary @marywiththegoldshoes on IG, @marydoesgigs on Twitter, and @marebearmarebear on Only Fans. You can watch the entire Only Fans Creative Fund: Comedy Edition completely for free at of.tv here. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via Patreon or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

For years and years and years, Shaun Landry has made her mission to really "do the work" and really, truly, and deeply commit shows and venues and festival (that she has all founded by the way) to include as many voices of all backgrounds as possible. That's why she has seen her dream, The Ledge Theatre through several venue changes to its current home, a space shared by The Impro, on the second story of a strip mall in Los Feliz in LA to put on exactly the type of inclusive shows she would like to see more of. Landry talks with us on this week's TCB Field Report about her comedy journey throughout the decades (Shaun has so many great comedy biz stories) and making The Ledge Theatre her answer to the shortcomings of so many improv theaters/schools before she founded it. Follow Shaun and The Ledge Theatre @ledge_theatre on IG, @ledgetheatre on Twitter, and @shaunlandry on TikTok. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by JJ Koester

One of our favorite guests/people/minds in comedy, Joel Mandelkorn, returns as has one of LA's biggest comedy shows, Hot Tub with Kurt Kristen, the show he has co-produced for almost a decade here in LA. Joel fills us in, as part of the "new normal" we live in, on moving the show from its historic time of 8PM on Mondays (it had that time in NYC for all the years that it ran there as well) to Wednesdays, being permanently outside, and his thoughts on Angelenos being properly prepared for any wintry conditions. Also, "hot" takes on the return of @midnight, Tina & Amy's four city tour, and more. Follow Joel @cleftclips and follow Hot Tub with @hottub_show across socials. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by Mandee Johnson

Renowned comedic mind and self-made food celebrity Bill Oakley (Simpsons, Futurama, Portlandia, Steamed Ham Society) joins TCB's Jake Kroeger for this week's TCB Field Report to talk through the changing decades of satire, especially when it comes to adult animation. More importantly, Bill is revisiting Mission Hill, his unfortunately short lived series co-created with Josh Weinstein after their time at The Simpsons, and currently touring it throughout theaters in the U.S. with an entirely new 4K restoration. Also, "hot" takes on Simpsons episode being dropped in Hong Kong, AI Seinfeld going dark, and the future of Rick and Morty. Follow Bill @thatbilloakley on IG and join in at The Steamed Ham Society at patreon.com/steamedhamssociety The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

There are endless hours of content and pages of books dedicated to the process of stand up, sketch, improv. Such is not the quote the case, yet, with clowning. We talk with rising LA clowning star Reshma Meister, one of 100 Best in Comedy for 2022, about all her motivations and intuitions when it comes to things like blending her own inner monologue while playing a Na’vi on stage. Follow Reshma @cadetkellycapoor on IG and TikTok The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Even before the pandemic, Bobcat Goldthwait had one of the most fascinating careers in comedy history with, as he says, "selling out" first as a stand-up, then finding his way to be a beloved indie director with work ranging from World's Greatest Dad to God Bless America to Call Me Lucky to Jimmy Kimmel Live. Goldthwait continued along his own path as he moved from LA to the woods in Illinois to maintain his "day job" of doing stand-up comedy in order to make his small, but fiercely loved movies. On this week's TCB Field Report, Bobcat talks wonderfully in-depth with TCB's Jake Kroeger about the ever-changing landscape of comedy through film/TV/stage through all the decades he has been in comedy and what lies ahead in the decades to come. Follow Bobcat @bobcatgoldthwait on IG The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Despite the pandemic's best efforts, an inseparable part of live comedy is the live audience. Part of the thrill of performing stand-up/improv/sketch/clown/etc. is having a crowd of (hopefully) friendly strangers communing in order to laugh. We talk to performers all the time on this podcast, but what about hearing from those who revere comedy just as much as those that take the stage, but choose to revel from the crowd? This week's TCB Field Report has one of the best and most intrepid comedy fans in LA, Kenneth Rudnicki (who happens to be a therapist as well!) and we get into everything in comedy on the other side of that fourth wall. Follow Kenneth @rud_ken on IG or probably run into him at a live comedy show somewhere in LA. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

When it comes to doing all the things in comedy, few have done it quite like Sara Schaefer. Her career spans being an acclaimed stand-up comedian, an Emmy award winning writer, having her own late night talk show with Nikki Glaser, and, amongst everything else, a celebrated miniaturist. Her latest project, a solo show that's a loving satire of the art and business of comedy, Going Up with Sara Schaefer, is about to go on tour and we talk to Schaefer, on this week's TCB Field Report about finding her way in comedy, then adapting for lots of gigs, then finding her way back to what she really wants to do and who she truly wants to be on a comedy stage. Follow Sara @saraschaefer1 across socials. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Plenty is said about "safe spaces" and the effects they have on social discourse and, very specifically, comedy, but it isn't often that you actual hear from a legitimate safe space and the folks that built something to directly address rampant, systemic issues in the art form and community of comedy such as misogyny, exclusion, and even hack writing. Bobbie Oliver has spent several years taking on all such issues through her own classes and workshops as well as the venue she founded in LA, Tao Comedy Studio, dedicated to being as inclusive as can be and free of chauvinist and purely edgelord comedians. TCB's Jake Kroeger kicks off 2023 with a deep chat with Bobbie Oliver about pushing the art form forward (as well as addressing Andrew Tate ever claiming he was being some sort of comedic character). Find more about Tao Comedy Studio at taocomedystudio.com and follow @taocomedystudio across platforms and follow Bobbie @thebobbieoliver on Twitter on IG and watch her special, Bobbie Oliver's Greatest Hits. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

We’re at the doorstep of 2023 and it’s only natural that we take a look back at what 2022 hath wrought in comedy. With such a task at hand, we are thrilled to have the one and only Megan Koester, both a treasured comic’s comic and a crucial voice in indie comedy, to do one of these annual wrap-up things that everyone does. Take a listen as TCB’s Jake Kroeger and Megan riff through 2022 with sarcastic abandon (and tinges of sincerity) Follow Megan @bornferal on Twitter and IG The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Sean Casey has successfully made LA comedy's coziest room with The Glendale Room and is now about to launch a brand new, NEW era of Silverlake staple, The Lyric Hyperion. Casey's long time experience in the LA comedy scene will absolute get Lyric Hyperion it back to being a jewel of Hyperion Ave. He already has so very many great things in store for the coming weeks and months (and changing up the feel/experience/vibe/etc.) and we thankfully talk all about it on this week's TCB Field Report. Follow all things Glendale Room at theglendaleroom.com & Lyric Hyperion at lyrichyperion.com The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

While older, stodgier comedians (some of whom just came out with a Netflix special this week) will get hung up on pronouns, there is an ever burgeoning crowd of Non-binary comedians that eschew the gender binary and, consequently, have the best jokes about using they/them. Sammy Mowrey is a bright and shining example of this as they have carved out their place in LA comedy between a handful of their own shows and their acutely, hilarious observed world view when it comes to being Non-binary, Bipolar, and wanting to have their own sitcom (multi-cam or single-cam). We talk with Sammy about how exactly it is to be Non-binary in comedy in 2022 and what might lie in the future for them. Also, "hot" takes on Caroline's on Broadway closing and The Daily Show's upcoming stable of fill-in hosts. Follow Sammy @sammymowrey and Permanent Vacation @permanentvacaycomedy The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by John Michael Bond

Whether it be MENA, MENASA, or SWANA or any other acronym, the several Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries that constitute a version of "brown", so to speak, are coming more and more in prominence. This is evidenced with LA local favorite Lynn Maleh and her MENA based stand-up show Hilarious Habibis that she runs with Gena B. Jones at the Hollywood Improv. We talk with Lynn about working her way through producing beloved house shows in LA for years to making space and highlighting Middle Eastern and North African comedians and working towards being inclusive of even more shades of "brown". Follow Lynn @heylynnmolly on IG and get tickets for the upcoming Hilarious Habibis on Dec. 5th at The Hollywood Improv that will benefit The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by Kelly Dwyer @kellydwyerphotographer

Johnny Gold, the oldest friend we have in comedy, is someone we hold dear not only because he gave us our very first laugh when attempting stand-up, but has been so purely his hysterical himself on stage and has such a reverence for the art form of comedy. For decades, Johnny has been honing his craft all over the Greater LA Area stretching from Long Beach to the Inland Empire to the Sunset Strip, dedicated to perfecting his socio-political and vulnerability-when-it-comes-to-relationships comedy. We share in our mutual reverence for comedy for this week's TCB Field Report, no matter how many comedians self-deprecatingly exclude themselves as "artists". Follow Johnny on IG @johnnygold777 The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by Jake Kroeger

Ariel Elias has been steadily worked her way up through the comedy scene in NYC for several years and was well on her way on the strength of her jokes. Then, a funny thing happened when playing a club in South Jersey that happen to go viral and then resulted in her having network TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live. We talk to Ariel about that whole amazing blaze of a journey and where she is now for this week's TCB Field Report. Also, actually hot takes on Grammy comedy noms, Chappelle on SNL, and more. Follow Ariel across platforms @ariel_comedy The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT Photo by Jordan Ashleigh @jordanashleighf

The look and feel of a comedy special has been largely subtle, unadorned, and stripped down for a long time. Thankfully, that is starting to change thanks to folks like Bo Burnham and this week's TCB Field Report guest, Hasan Minhaj. Fresh off the release of his latest, fantastic special The King's Jester, we get into the finer points of how to redefine stand-up through reimagining how a special, arguably the pinnacle of a comedian's work, can be done. Follow Hasan @hasanminhaj across platforms and watch The King's Jester, streaming now on Netflix. The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

Comedy already doesn't lend itself to a typical lifestyle/routine, but it can become even more tricky when you, inevitably, take on multiple hats within comedy itself. We talk to beloved NYC comedy staple Chloe Radcliffe on balancing time between the journeys of doing stand-up comedy and comedy screenwriting. It's not so easy to juggle all of those AND get the doctor recommended amount of sleep all the time. Also, "hot" takes on A Christmas Story Christmas, what separates comedy/drama/dramedy, and more. Follow Chloe @chloebadcliffe across platforms The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger). Produced by Jake Kroeger Music by Brian Granillo Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT