Performing Arts

Strippers and standup comedians have more in common than it would seem at first blush. Both performers take to the stage –usually alone– trying to evoke a reaction from an audience full of creeps they’d avoid in other circumstances. Bridging the gap between these two disparate art forms, in much the same way as cocaine did in the 80s, is comedian and host of “Ball Bustin’ Bingo”. Less of a Drag Queen than a Drag Empress, Mona Lott seized upon the idea to have comedians and strippers share the stage in “a game of strip poker that uses jokes instead of cards.” The show, called “Stripped Down Standup” has been packing the house with crowds of over 200. The next show is happening very soon, on Wednesday, December 3rd at the Denver Improv. Doors open at 6:30pm for the 7:30pm show. Tickets cost only $7.50 on the Denver Improv website.

Nate Bargatze has been on the cusp of stardom for a few years now. For a comic whose fanbase includes luminaries such as Marc Maron, Bargatze’s act is much more approachable than his comic’s comic reputation might suggest. Affable and generally TV-clean, Bargatze has a playfully dark sensibility that’s buoyed by the innate comic timing of a Southern accent. He’s appeared on Conan, Maron and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, who also brought Bargatze along to feature on his Clean Cut Comedy Tour. His debut album Yelled at by a Clown made it to the Billboard Top Ten Comedy Charts and he’s toured extensively with the USO, performing for deployed troops in Iraq and Kuwait. Bargatze has already endeared himself to Denver crowds with a strong showing on last year’s High Plains Comedy Festival. Westword caught up with Bargatze ahead of his upcoming headlining weekend at Comedy Works Downtown to discuss comedy festivals, seeing comedy scenes grow, and playing pizza box baseball at High Plains.

Whether you’ve been staunchly making merry since Halloween or crankily sneer at the holiday cheer each year, December is unquestionably dominated by its traditions. Driven by consumerism, religiosity, and compulsory family bonding; for many, December is a month spent in frantic shopping malls and airports. This year, amid economic anxiety, polar vortexes and heartbreaking news reports, people might find themselves in dire need of a laugh. Entertainment is usually an afterthought in December, typically limited to agreeably mediocre Hollywood spectacle. Denver comedy, however, bundles up and trudges on through the month. While we may have fewer high-profile visitors than last month’s banner programming calendar, we have a proliferation of locally-produced showcases, including two live sketch comedy shows, for fans to enjoy. Our city’s comedy clubs and theaters are hosting on-the-rise comics and international TV stars with a devoted cult following. With events geared towards all sorts of audiences, ranging from the family-friendly to the 420-friendly, Denver comedy runs the entire giggle gamut this snowy month. So brave the polar vortex and take a break from the seasonal doldrums at one of these fine comedy shows.

Anything Goes Littleton Town Hall Arts Center Anything Goes premiered in 1934, after a hasty rewrite: The original plot concerned a shipwreck, and shortly before the play’s scheduled opening night, a fire broke out on a cruise liner and 137 passengers were killed. By then the writing team, which included…

Hamlet, a Gypsy Tale The Betsy Stage The ending of the Betsy Stage’s Hamlet, a Gypsy Tale is appealing: Having taken their bows with the aid of various eccentric moves and magic tricks, the performers circle the space to the fast, compelling rhythms of “L’Orient Est Rouge,” which the program…

Buried Child. Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed in its time as…

Lucky Me Curious Theatre Company 1080 Acoma Street 303-623-0524 Curious Theatre Company’s participation in the National New Play Network has been a boon for Denver audiences, in particular the company’s loyal cadre of regulars, who tend to be the kind of people who want to hear new voices and are…

Buried Child. Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed in its time as…

#46: Susan Lyles Denver actor and director Susan Lyles saw a gap and for the last ten years has made filling it her major concern: She took on the mission of showing deserved support for overlooked women playwrights by forming Denver’s And Toto too Theatre Company, a group solely dedicated…

To call comedian John Leguizamo versatile is an understatement. The man is a show-business chameleon, flexing his talents in writing and producing, while also acting in film, television and on Broadway. This weekend Leguizamo will bring his Latin History for Dummies tour to Comedy Works South. In advance of the…

The musical Kinky Boots, which was inspired by a modest 2005 film, tells the story of an unlikely partnership. Charlie has just inherited his father’s shoe factory in Northampton in the English Midlands, a factory once known for producing some of the highest-quality shoes in the country. But the business…

In 2012, comedian Tig Notaro delivered a set at Largo, a Los Angeles club, that would change her life. Notaro had lost her mother, lost her relationship, contracted a life-threatening intestinal disease and just been diagnosed with breast cancer — and she says she felt compelled to share her misfortunes…

As the holiday season approaches, the entertainment calendar for the month holds a cornucopia of comic delights in store for local giggle gobblers. Sidling up to a table richly dressed with top notch performers, local comedy fans will be heartily stuffed and belly-sore by the month’s end. With options including a Denver comedy institution celebrating its fourth anniversary, two of The Daily Show‘s most accomplished correspondents dropping in for grand theatre shows, club sets from movie stars and comic heroes alike, as well as a truly exceptional month of programming from both Comedy Works locations, it’s a moveable feast of funny all November long.

Ambition Facing West. Anthony Clarvoe’s Ambition Facing West is ostensibly about immigration, since it deals with three generations of an immigrant family — their lives, identities and ambitions in the mythical trek west for safety, opportunity and freedom, however defined. But Clarvoe goes deeper than this. His play isn’t a…


Catch up with a somber chapter in the history of Jewish culture at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center or follow an even darker path and get in the Halloween spirit at local stages this weekend. Keep reading for details. See also: Vampire Weekend: Theatre of the Vampires…

Buried Child Edge Theatre Company Sam Shepard’s Buried Child which won a Pulitzer in 1979, still carries a creepy wallop. The story of a violently dysfunctional family — a drunken, abusive father who has destroyed his sons and is now being destroyed in return — it was hailed as a…

Gone are the days when families would gather around the radio to listen to their favorite serials together. But starting tonight, The Night Dial will bring some of that old-time entertainment back to Denver with a Halloween-themed horror radio play at the Bug Theatre. The Night Dial is the brainchild…

Hampton Yount, a rising star on the national comedy circuit, will bring his hilarious laugh-attack to Sexpot Comedy at the Oriental Theater tonight, when Sexpot cofounder Andy Juett will be celebrating a birthday — not to mention the imminent launch of sexpotcomedy.com and the upcoming one-year anniversary of the live…

Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an anguished meditation on the nature of evil. Golding, who fought in the Royal Navy during World War II, was acutely aware of the horrors of which humankind was capable when he wrote this novel, which was first published…

For Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is pretty weak tea. While the play is relatively funny and does have some outrageously inventive moments, the black humor, zany surprise, sheer unfettered impudence and break-the-dishes iconoclasm of Durang’s other works is missing. Which may explain why this is…

To get in the mood for Halloween, you can head up to Colorado Springs for a campy combination of ’60s slasher and beach movies, or hear spooky stories come alive onstage in Denver; meanwhile, dance aficionados can get their fix at an intergenerational mashup in Boulder. Keep reading for details…

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I like reality television — up to a point, at least. Wife Swap fascinated me with the rich stew of dissonance it routinely created: the prissy perfectionist wife trying to adjust to a home where teenagers spent all day playing video games and eating…