Our guide to stand-up, improv and variety shows happening this weekend and in the week ahead.
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH at the Bell House (Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.). Catie Lazarus has taken her live talk show on the road to Washington and Los Angeles, and now brings it back home to Brooklyn, where she celebrates and interviews fabulous famous folks about their jobs and careers (she scored first interviews with Jon Stewart after he left “The Daily Show” and Jill Abramson after she left The New York Times). This month, Lazarus sits down with the actor Jeffrey Wright and public radio host Brian Lehrer. Her musical guests include Samora Pinderhughes and a house band featuring Chris “Shockwave” Sullivan, Camille Harris and more.
718-643-6510, employeeofthemonthshow.com
IMPROV ASYLUM (Dec. 1, 7:30 and 10 p.m.). Boston’s long-running comedy troupe has established an outpost right here in the Chelsea basement under Gristedes previously occupied by the Upright Citizens Brigade. Open only for weekends to start, Improv Asylum’s Mainstage cast performs both improvised scenes based on audience suggestions as well as topical sketches in a 90-minute show each Friday and Saturday. The venue formally celebrates a VIP Opening Night this Friday, but has been putting on shows since the beginning of the month.
212-203-5435, improvasylum.com/shows
JANELLE JAMES COMEDY FESTIVAL at the Bell House (Dec. 4-6, various times). After a decade of putting on his own eccentric spin on comedy festivals to fete his funny friends and his neighborhood, Eugene Mirman has departed Park Slope, and bequeathed the honors to rising stand-up star Janelle James (who was recently in the Netflix showcase “The Comedy Lineup”). Mirman will be on hand to hand it off to James, along with performances by David Cross, Cristela Alonzo, Judah Friedlander, Kate Willett and others in themed shows over three nights with self-aware titles such as “Comedians Who Live Nearby,” “Comedians Who Said ‘Well, Who All Goin Be There?’” and “Comedians Who Said ‘Sure, I’ll Come By.’”
718-643-6510, janellejamescomedyfestival.com
MY OBITUARY SHOW at Q.E.D. (Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.). Comedians worry about their legacies even before they’ve started earning money for the acts. In this show, they take their self-absorption to its ultimate end, writing and reading their own obituaries. Mike Drucker, a writer for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” hosts. Meta eulogies provided by Marcia Belsky, Ashley Bez, Joe Zimmerman, Myq Kaplan, Robert Dean, Calvin Cato and Ariel Dumas.
347-451-3873, qedastoria.com
SUPER VIDEO BROS at Union Hall (Dec 1, 10 p.m.). About four times a year, Mike Brown and Dillon Stevenson (a writer for HBO’s “Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac”) invite comedians and journalists to roast their favorite music videos live on stage. Joining them this time around: Jade Verette, Ariel Leaty and Mike Drucker.
718-638-4400, unionhallny.com
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