Comedy

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The Swedes are coming!

Swedish comedy in English? Yes. Please.

The Swedes are coming! And they’re attacking with hilarity. 
CCB is featuring two nights of Swedish comedy this week. In English. Plus our very own resident Swede, Zacarias Branzell, is performing tonight at Comedy Reise! Get up ah! Get on up!

Scent ID

This Friday, Swedish improv group Scent ID are performing as part of our #FridayNightImprov series. They perform a show that is all about human relationships. Whether dysfunctional, functional, neurotic, or erotic, the show is usually funny, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. The ensemble makes a point of hanging out with the audience before shows, talking to them, asking questions, chatting. Sometimes they offer sweets as an icebreaker. They use this interaction instead of the usual audience suggestions as inspiration for their show. 

As an added bonus, they’ll be joined by world class improviser Lori Inbal. 

Berlin doesn’t get much outside improv so it’s a great chance to expand your horizons!

Check the event page for more details. 

Scent ID
Scent ID

 

Evelyn Mok

This Saturday, Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok is headlining #StandUpSaturdays! 

Born in Sweden to immigrant Chinese parents, Evelyn challenges pre-disposed norms, blending social commentary with sharp gags about everyday observations. Time Out Introduces 2014, Pleasance Comedy Reserve 2014. As seen and heard on Channel 4’s Comedy Blaps, BBC Radio 2. 

“she’s not someone who panders to a room to get them to love her – as proved beyond doubt with a brutal but funny description of her sexual appetite or her period, that carries an inherent ‘sod you’ to any man who’s not comfortable with such talk“
– Steve Bennett, Chortle

Check the event page for more details. 

Evelyn Mok
Evelyn Mok

Also…

And, as always, come early for food from the CCB Kitchen or just grab a tasty Vagabund American Pale Ale.

xoxo,
Noah
@Telsonia

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Bring it on, 2016!

There’s so much to say! But, wow, what an exciting year it’s been so far! Since opening on October 18th we’ve been non-stop boogying with shows, flowing beer and laughing audiences. 

Some stats:

  • 34 shows and 1 movie screening
  • 1,179 tickets sold
  • 6 sold out shows
  • 3 visiting comedians (Hari Kondabolu, John Robertson and Will Hines) 

Considering, after 3 months of being open, we haven’t had a single night where no one showed up, I think we’re doing pretty alright!

But there’s so much to improve and so much more excitement ahead. Starting in January, CCB will be standardizing it’s schedule, hyper focusing on show quality, offering classes and expanding our café and bar offerings.

What’s in store for 2016?

Shows

  • Donnerstags auf Deutsch – Every Thursday will be dedicated to German language comedy linchpinned by “Das Comedy Labor”, an evening for established and newly established comedians to try out new material, hosted by Jonas Imam and Michael Timm.

  • Friday Night Improv – Every Friday night will feature a regular rotation of short-form and long-form improv comedy, including ComedySportz and Good Luck, Barbara!

  • Stand-Up Saturdays! – Presented by our friends at Egg & Bear, Saturdays are dedicated to the best of the best stand-ups from “homegrown talent to imported celebrities”. It’s comedy for comedy lovers!

  • Sunday Specials – On Sunday evening, you’ll find a mixed bag of live podcast recordings, sketch shows and, something new we’re trying out, Tatort auf englisch – Tatort dubbed into English, live.  
    And to add to it all, you can already start purchasing your tickets online through Eventbrite. #woot

Improv classes

We’ve also teamed up with Hive Improv and will be hosting 4 improv classes every week. If you’re interested, free previews for classes start January 9th! Make sure you sign up!

Food

It’s too soon for us to divulge any details about our plans to kick the kitchen into full gear but just know that in a very short while we’re going to be making mouths water. Watch this space. 

—

From all of us at CCB, we hope you have a fantastic year ahead and when you don’t, stop by and cheer yourself up. 😀

-Noah
 

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Announcing Hive Improv courses at CCB!

Good news folks! Hive Improv together with Comedy Café Berlin is now offering a full selection of improv courses in English starting January 2016! No where else in the city can you get this kind of highly focused curriculum, with this much variety and with this kind of teaching talent (full disclosure, I’m teaching). 

The gang from Good Luck, Barbara! (Chris J. Rock, Nikki Ratjen, Josh Telson and myself) have been working tirelessly to create separate Hive courses each tackling a different component of improv: Short Form Improv, The Truth of the Scene, Harold & Game and soon, The Movie.    

Have you been coming to improv comedy shows and thinking, “goddamn, I wish I could get me some of that!”? Or have you been caught off guard at work when your boss asks you to give a presentation and your mouth feels like a goddamn piece of stale toast? Or are you that person at the party who holds court in the kitchen telling stories that no one wants to listen to but wishes people would? THEN SIGN UP. 

Learn More
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Opening party and shows at CCB have been announced!

Good news! We’ve been working tirelessly to figure out the best lineup of shows for our first season! Not everything is fully confirmed but we couldn’t hold back our excitement any longer. Have a look at our shows page and start reserving your tickets!

A big thanks goes out to Egg and Bear who are helping produce many of the shows. 

And finally! Come to our opening party on October 18th @ 7:00p. 
There’ll be a showcase of Berlin’s international, alternative comedy acts. You can let us know you’re coming on Facebook. 

-NT
 

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And we’re live! Krautfunding on Kickstarter!

We’re crowdfunding this month! Get involved and get some great rewards in return (like a toilet named after you)!

#KrautfundComedy

Please share!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noahtelson/berlins-first-alternative-comedy-stage

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Forever Now Festival with Good Luck, Barbara, CSz and #TaraandRance

This weekend I’ve been performing at the Forever Now festival with Good Luck, Barbara! and ComedySportz Berlin. Forever Now is a festival that “celebrates transformation” and we were asked to perform as part of the “inter-act” component. It’s always fun/interesting/tough performing for new audiences who have no idea what to expect from improv. The first day, for example, we warmed up the audience by playing tag with them. We got the feeling they wanted to participate a little more actively. So we indulged. 

I also got the chance to take a workshop with Tara and Rance, two wonderful improvisers from Chicago, who currently work out of IO. They also performed two nights at the festival with a show called “Here”, a two person musical improv. Normally, I’m not much of a musical fan but this is so worth it. As they themselves said, the show has to stand on its own, even without the “gimmick” or the music, and this one certainly does. It’s even more impressive that the music is fantastic. 

-NT

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Performing at Improfest, Sweden

I’ll be in Gothenburg, Sweden for the first time performing with Good Luck Barbara! at the Improfest!  If you’re in town, be sure to check us out:

  • Saturday, 18:00 at Teater Aftonstjärnan, Lila Scenen

I was also randomly selected to perform in a special mixer show on Friday that will involve lots of fake blood. I’m very excited. “The zombie apocalypse with a comic twist.”

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Field research

I’m in the States for a brief visit. Thankfully, I was able to catch a TJ and Dave show whilst in Chicago. 

“One of these guys is the best improviser in the world. And the other one is better.” – Stephen Colbert

The show was fantastic and it’s inspiring to see amazing improv in a city that nurtures it. It gives me high hopes for where we can take improv in Berlin. 

The highlight, though, was meeting with Dave Pasquesi after the show. He was generous enough to speak with me about running a comedy theater. While their model is different than CCB, it was good to pick his brain and get some sage advice from someone who’s been in the business for a long time (HE USED TO HAVE A SHOW WITH DEL CLOSE!). He even showed me around the Mission Theater where iO now lives (the CCB stage is largely inspired by the iO stages).   

The biggest take-away though, is hearing his thoughts about performing and running the actual space. To put a moratorium on business related matters when you have your own show to put on. All the pressure of making sure you’re pulling an audience, marketing, reviews and critics, can effect a show negatively – and that is inherently counter to why we’re doing this.  Preserve what made you get into this in the first place. Boom.

-NT