If you’re in Deep Ellum on Thursday and you see a hammered dude stumbling across the street with a bar stool and mic, you should know in advance that it’s not Zombie Carlin, as welcome a sight as that would be. It’s the Dallas Observer’s first-ever Comedy Crawl. We got…
She’s gone from Chelsea Handler’s sassy panelist to star of her own popular television show, and now Whitney Cummings will bring those size-zero jeans of hers to the White Swan Building at House of Blues (2200 N. Lamar St.). She’s a favorite because she’s bold, flipping the old “women are…
Ron White, whose headshot greatly resembles a bloated Don Johnson, called Kathleen Madigan “easily one of the best comics alive.” Lewis Black agrees, and that asshole doesn’t like anything. Except rage. One of Madigan’s first appearances was in 1988 on Stand Up Spotlight hosted by a poodle-headed Rosie O’Donnell so…
Carmen opens Friday in grand fanfare at the Winspear, kicking off another opera season. There, Dallas’ elite will gather, gowned and adorned in feathers, furs and exotic skins you will never afford for the Dallas Opera’s First Night. You’ll want to see Carmen during its run: It’s the ultimate tale…
Barbecue comes in many forms and seasonings — all of them delicious. From Tennessee’s dry-rubbed slabs to Georgia’s hickory-fired pit-smoked pork, it’s tough to find a variety that we won’t chomp down. Still, Texas rules this game of roasted meats, and you can cheer on your favorite brisket (or other…
Sometimes we don’t have to look far to find reasons to get super indulgent. Just finished a big project at work? Let’s eat some Nutella straight from the jar. Successfully ran a 5K without vomiting more than once? Order a couple baskets of potato skins and then dump them onto…
“Halloween is the story of a shy young man who comes home and finds himself stalked by a creepy, three-note piano riff,” begins Master Pancake’s Facebook invite for its Sunday night show, happening at the Alamo Drafthouse, Richardson (100 S. Central Expressway). Birthed from the cunning mind of John Erler…
It’s been lampooned on SNL, mocked at every water cooler and gushed about over skinny caramel lattes at the corner coffee shop. It’s Fifty Shades of Grey, the soft-core porn that never should’ve been. Have I heard legend of women eating beans out of a can at their office desk…
We love a good movie-making competition, and there’s a new one divined through the intoxicated holy union of the Oak Cliff Film Festival and Four Corners Brewery. It’s called the Four Corners Film Race and it dares you to make one film in one week. I know what you’re thinking:…
Seven out of 10 girlfriends can thank George Romero for Sunday nights spent hiding their eyes from zombie slaughters. Romero didn’t actually invent the now-ubiquitous undead flesh eaters — they’ve been lurching through films since the 1920s — but he did revolutionize the horror genre with his 1968 classic Night…
Storytelling as an art form has existed since primitive humans figured out how to articulate grunts to convey just how spectacularly bad their date last night was. So shows like This American Life and The Moth didn’t prove that even the most normal-seeming people have some hilarious, insightful and seriously…
In the annals of horror films, so much of it targets multiple levels. In all the blood and gore and one-dimensional sexuality and gotcha moments, there lies a social commentary that tears the movies away from the stunts, making it truly scary. And then there are the ones that don’t…
The Greeks took 10 years to sculpt Discobolus. Michelangelo needed three to build the statue of David. The Statue of Liberty required nine. Today, they could have rendered the things, then pressed “print,” thanks to free-form technology like Rapid Prototype Printing, 3D Scanning and Digital Sculpture. It’s a hot button…
As younger women we studied up on feminism. When Gloria Steinem said that “some of us are becoming the men we’d thought we’d marry,” well, it seemed positively delightful. Limitless, even. As adults, that sentence is a bit more depressing. There’s an inherent push/pull between who should and who shouldn’t…
The activists have been working in their secret lair, drafting final details for Art Con 9. We don’t know the precise location of said war room, but imagine it to be a well-appointed Batcave, complete with remote-controlled giant rock entry. They’re artists, after all. They understand how to complete “a…
This year marks the 75th anniversary of actor, director and noted healthy eater Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. It famously led anxious Americans to believe that aliens were landing and sparked a height of panic and rioting that wouldn’t be seen again until Detroit’s last World…
Depending on your sense of humor and/or level of empathy, you might be amused to learn that a lot of the life and times of the tragic comic figure Karl Welzein, star of the @DadBoner Twitter feed and subject of the humorous journal novel Power Moves, comes from the real…
Sandra Bernhard is an actress, comedian, writer, singer, advocate and in general just kind of a badass bitch. And she knows it. Bernhard’s latest show, The Comedic Prophesies of Sandra Bernhard, is playing at The Kessler at 8 tonight. Tickets range from $25 to $300 and are on sale at…
Carmen opens in grand fanfare at the Winspear on Friday night, kicking off another big season for the Dallas Opera. There, the city’s elite will gather, gowned and adorned in feathers, furs and exotic skins you can’t afford at First Night. You’ll want to see Carmen during its run: It’s…
Comedians don’t like our Texas heat. It melts their humor, and that’s a puddle nobody wants to step in. Now that our city’s cooled off, we’re getting those big names back in heavy rotation. This week’s talent pool is exceptionally strong, so if you like great comedy (nod), here’s six…
When you interview comedian Kathleen Madigan, whose upcoming show at the Majestic happens Friday, there’s no cutting corners. Before making it big, she worked in print journalism for Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis. A passion for journalism was lacking, but she could “write a sentence,” so it was something…
Put some masterminds together and you’re bound to ignite sparks of creative genius. Ochre House’s Matthew Posey and flamenco artist Delilah Muse both have been awardees in the Observer’s annual Masterminds round-up. Dancer Danielle Georgiou was a runner-up this year. You can experience the trio’s latest artistic collaboration this week…
