Show

The Slap and Tickle Holiday Show reunites Jeff Lewis and Corey Blake

Yes it’s the comedic pairing that has swept YouTube away in absolute unbridled hilarity! First seen together in the season finale of The Jeff Lewis 5-Minute Comedy Hour, Jeff Lewis (Vork from The Guild) and Corey Blake will reunite again this Wednesday and Thursday night for the Slap and Tickle Holiday Show at the Lillian Theatre.

Viewers have been so overwhelmed by the palpable and uproarious on-camera chemistry of Jeff Lewis and Corey Blake that they actively seek out less prominent parts of the episode in an effort to contain themselves. Comments such as “Jerry Lambert + Jeff Lewis= Epic” and “Alex Albrecht is da bomb!” and “What an awesome cast, Clara from the Guild, the guy who plays Kevin Butler for Sony, and Alex Albrecht from TRS” and “Was that burnie burns? AKA church from rvb?” are akin to looking away from the sun, which is so bright and amazing and hilarious that you have to look elsewhere or go blind.

Audiences are expected to go blind from awesome hilariousness this Wednesday and Thursday at the Slap and Tickle Holiday Show, which will present a night of sketches, one-acts and other forms of entertainment attempting to distract from the wonder that will be Jeff Lewis and Corey Blake teaming up once again for an equally memorable night of extensive interaction and lengthy dialogue exchanges.

When? December 14 and 15, at 8 PM, doors open at 7:30
Where? The Lillian Theatre, 1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles 90038
(South of Santa Monica Blvd., between Cahuenga & Vine)
How much? $10 includes complimentary drinks and snacks
Reservations: 818-782-5683
Facebook event

Funnies for Friday, Scaries for Saturday

Two shows this weekend!

This Friday the Magic Meathands return to the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica for an hour of made-up funnies. We’re on the stage at 8 PM. Each $10 ticket is good for the entire night, which means that you can also see The Waterbrains at 9 PM and Mission: IMPROVable at 10 PM. Oh! And by the way, the Magic Meathands are now blogging!

Then Saturday night, things turn creepy to get you ready for Halloween. Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey is at The Huntington Gardens in San Marino from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM. I’m in one of the Edward Gorey pieces. We’re bringing 5 Gorey works to life. This year, we’re debuting 2 new pieces. Come on out with your flashlights and explore the grounds. (Although it looks like it’s sold out, so hopefully you already bought your tickets.)

Bringing Edward Gorey’s comics to life

Me being creepy for Drama After Dark

For the third time, I’ll be performing several Edward Gorey stories for Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey on Saturday, October 8. Click that link to buy tickets but do it soon because it sells out surprisingly fast every year. Tickets are $35.

The entire event is held all over the grounds of The Huntington. Bring a flashlight to make your way around and discover different performances of Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey stories. At times creepy, at times funny, at times both at the same time, it’s a great way to get into the spirit of Halloween.

Edward Gorey combined his wicked prose with Victorian-looking cartoon sketches to produce a twisted and peculiar world of perpetual bad luck for its inhabitants. While his work seems to come from the 1890s, his work was created and published starting in the 1950s. He remained active right up to his death in 2000. He’s not typically considered a comics artist since his work was structured closer to childrens books (no word balloons, one image and text combination per page, no panel borders), but I think there’s room to argue that point since there are plenty of comic books and graphic novels that have used those elements.

Odd Couple from Edward Gorey's The Listing Attic

Excerpt from Edward Gorey's The Listing Attic

Everybody’s laughing for the weekend

This Saturday night is the Magic Meathands‘ popular Family Friendly Night, and I’ll be there performing with my fellow hands of meat. Opening for us will be Jump Start, an improv group based in Redondo Beach.

$7 gets you in for the whole night! Only $3 if you’re 12 or under!

The show starts at 8 PM at The Spot Cafe & Lounge in Culver City! See you there!

Also be sure to check out our new sketch comedy videos, the Magic Meathands Originals at the group’s YouTube channel!

Corey Does Gorey: The Sequel

Two years ago, I got to perform in this wonderfully weird and disturbing night, and this year it’s happening again! It’s Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe & Gorey at The Huntington.

As before, I will appear as multiple characters inspired by various works by fellow New Englander Edward Gorey. We’ll be bringing to life three delightfully dark stories of his: The Dwindling Party, The Fatal Lozenge and The Listing Attic.

You’ll also be able to enjoy stories by Edgar Allen Poe while walking around the beautiful grounds of The Huntington Gardens. It’s a great way to kick off Halloween! Hopefully you’ve gotten your tickets because I’m told it’s already sold out! How cool!

It’s Your Up – this Saturday at Santa Monica Public Library

I’m doing actor stuff in a Directors’ Showcase this weekend! You should come see!

This Saturday, November 21st, at 2 PM at the Santa Monica Public Library, four directors will be putting up various works for the general public. I’ll be in a very funny satire on realtors. The one-act takes place in Arizona about 3-4 years ago when the whole housing market was just on the verge of going bust. I play a young husband looking at a house he can’t afford. From the press release:

Misti Barnes will be directing a scene from her original webisode series entitled, It’s Your Up, a satire about realtors who’ll do anything to make a sale in a small town where the competition is fierce.

The Santa Monica Public Library is at 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Visit SMPL.org or call (310) 458-8600 for more information.

Click through for the full press release.

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On Comic-Con panel to discuss Dig Comics

I will be one of the panelists for a brief Q&A panel just prior to the screening of Dig Comics, a documentary I associate produced. Also on the panel will be host/writer/creator Miguel Cima and others from the production staff as yet to be confirmed.

The Q&A/screening takes place on Saturday, July 25, 6:30 PM, in Room 26AB in the San Diego Convention Center, during Comic-Con International. As previously announced, we have been accepted into Comic-Con’s Independent Film Festival.

We’re very excited about this world premiere screening taking place at Comic-Con, the biggest annual celebration of comics. I’ve been going to Comic-Con every year since I moved to Los Angeles almost 10 years ago. I think I missed one year because of a show I was in. So it’s particularly exciting for me.

The bad news is that Comic-Con is completely sold-out. However, Comic-Con is selling passes on eBay. If you’re on Twitter, closely follow Comic_Con for notices of new auctions getting posted. They go REALLY fast. Good luck!

If you’ve already got your passes, I’ll see you there!

Corey stars in Two Out Of Five

I’ll be starring in the 10-minute play “Two Out of Five” directed by Cindy Marie Jenkins (Voices From Chornobyl) and written by Jonas Oppenheim (Earth Sucks, A Cosmic Rock Musical). It co-stars Abby Wilde (Zoey 101). I play a self-obsessed wordsmith who writes pretentious restaurant reviews online as a way to express himself. Abby plays the women I pine after.

The piece is part of the debut production of Moveable Piece, which sneaks theatre performances into unconventional spaces in Los Angeles. This show will take place at the Mandrake Bar & Gallery in Culver City on Monday, March 30 at 7 PM. 

See you there!

LA Times calls Drama After Dark a Weekend Pick

Today’s Los Angeles Times calls this Saturday’s “Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey” as a Weekend Pick:

Actors from the Guild of St. George troupe should scare the pants off you with a dramatic presentation of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Edward Gorey on the moonlit grounds of the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, natch. “Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre With Poe and Gorey” will feature more than a dozen works by the spooky pair, including “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” and “The Evil Garden.” 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. 6-10 p.m. Sat. $25-$30. Recommended for ages 10 and up. (626) 405-2128, www.huntington.org.

It’s also listed in The Guide as a Best Bet:

Over a dozen chilling tales by Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey will be acted out on the grounds of the Huntington: “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Gashleycrumb Tinies,” “The Evil Garden” and more. The actors of the Guild of St. George promises to give you goosebumps. Not suitable for children younger than 10.

I’ll be there! Will you?

A rather odd couple

Here’s a little preview of what sort of oddities you’ll experience at Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe & Gorey: 

This is from Edward Gorey’s The Listing Attic, which is full of characters that range from murderous to lecherous to just plain peculiar. It is one of five Gorey stories we’ll be performing on October 18th at The Huntington starting at 6 PM. More details here.

Tickets are selling out fast, if they aren’t already, so call 626-405-2128 to make reservations. I hope you’ll be able to make it.

(Thanks to BookLust for the image scan.)