Whether it’s obsessively searching through our local library for the latest Encyclopedia Brown yarn, or taking an afternoon trip down memory lane to figure out exactly who was responsible for our latest herpes outbreak, we’re suckers when it comes to trying to solve a good mystery. So once we heard about tonight’s Garage Comedy Murder Mystery Show, we felt a bit giddy.

The GC Murder Mystery (9pm, free!) promises a night where “you’re the detective. During the show, you’ll be provided with clues to help you solve the case.” We’re still not entirely sure how it’s going to work, who’s going to be killed, what kind of clues they’ll be providing, or how you’re supposed to go about solving the case, but frankly, it doesn’t matter to us. They could be putting on a 4-and-a-half hour stage rendition of “Little Women” as interpreted by screaming banshees, and if they put the word “Mystery” in the title, we’d still go.

For more information, head over to their website or check out some photos of past Garage Comedy shows at their flickr account. The complete details are below the jump.

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Friday:
“The hairiest members of Reverse Coma” — which, if we read that a few months ago, would currently be the name of our fantasy baseball team — put on a variety show disgustingly-titled Blood Sandwich at Second City. (8pm, $5) Jason Bitner and Arthur Jones of Found Magazine celebrate the release of their filthy voyeurism collecton Dirty Found #3 with an Adults Only PowerPoint presentation at the Steve Allen theater. (8pm and 10pm, $12) Just in time for the NBA Playoff season: John Meinderstma reads actual letters sent to the only current Lakers player you know in Letters to Kobe at the Westside Eclectic. (9:30pm, $10)

Saturday:
Beth Lapides, Margaret Cho and Paul F. Tompkins mock decoratively painted porcelain coffee or tea service, produced especially in the 18th century, with Un-Cabaret at M Bar. (8pm, $15) Eddie Peptione, Matt Braunger, Matt Champagne, Spencer Dobson skull-fuck your funny bone — don’t ask us how this is medically possible — in John Vargas’ Calavera Comedy at the Fake Gallery. (8pm, $10) IFILM sets out to make Sean Conroy, Michelle Biloon, Wyatt Cenac, Seth Morris, and Jen Kirkman (The Year Continues!) Internet superstars by filming Stand Up Get Down at the UCB. (10pm, $8)

Sunday:
There’s no better bang for your buck than ASSSSCAT at the UCB, especially if that buck is imaginery. (7:30pm, Free!) Charlyne Yi guest-hosts Josh Fadem’s Acid Reflux Hour, which we imagine will be just as acid refluxey. (9pm, Free!) Let’s be honest here: You’ve missed much of this past week’s news stories because you spent most of your time listening to the Alec Baldwin voicemail. Catch up with Big News at the iO West. (10pm, $5)

The folks at Whip It Out Comedy just sent us an email with the following extraordinary information:

We’re thrilled to announce that special guest JIM GAFFIGAN (That 70s Show) will
be appearing at our TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORIES show tonight at 8 pm at the Hollywood
Improv.

Gaffigan, added to a lineup that already includes Doug Benson, Greg Fitzsimmons, Jen Kirkman, Andy Kindler, and Nate Craig, makes this a formidable team that can’t be beat when it comes to laughter-inducing comedic stand-up performance! To use a baseball analogy — since everything in life can be simplified by comparing it to baseball — this is like when the Yankees added A-Rod to their already potent lineup. But without the controversy or the errors.

Also, as an exclusive to everyone that has an email address, if you email whipitoutcomedy@yahoo.com they’ll comp you with some free tickets. Don’t pretend you’re above free tickets.

Tonight at the UCB, Three Companeros gets validation for how great it is by moving up from the wretched bowels of the 11pm slot into its new prime time home. (8pm, $5) To celebrate, writer/director Amy Rhodes sent along some production photos:

More after the jump.

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While there’s something that just doesn’t feel right to us about the LA Weekly putting together an entire section of articles based around the concept of “Alternative Comedy” — especially when someone like Katt Williams is lumped into that group — it’s still rad to see the wonderful Michelle Biloon get the entire extended profile treatment. The story starts with a particularly grisly heckling experience at D & D’s Joke Center:

“Hey, you’re writing down stuff — what’s that all about?” says one of a group of rowdy dart players, snooping over her shoulder. An older patron, accustomed to the weekly infiltrators, shares a joke with Biloon that involves a baby chick, an egg and a blowjob. Biloon politely responds with a smile and fake chuckle.

After an introduction by Doug Pound and Denver Smith, the hosts of Big Fish’s weekly D & D’s Joke Center, Biloon takes the microphone. It’s obvious from the loud hoots and chatter from the preoccupied dart players that she’ll have to compete for attention tonight.

The entire article can be found here. Our big question to Michelle, or really any other comedians out there, is if you’re alright with having your jokes transcribed out fully like in the linked article? Is it a problem, or does the publicity from the profile triumph over all?

Photo by m. berru

RELATED: AST is having some fun picking apart the article.

Video Wednesday continues with this fiery rant by Eddie Pepitone, who airs his grievances regarding today’s horror movies whilst standing in the white limbo world of basic TV production:

“Drug Dealers” by Troop!:

“MySpace Whores” by Drennon Davis:

Steven Wright - When The Leaves Blow Away excerpt (DVD available now)

“Kool Aid!” by PoliceCat:

From the unofficially sparkiepop-moderated thread on Zach Galifianakis over at AST comes a reminder about tonight’s most extraordinary radio-listening experience:

Lastly, Seth Galifianakis (Zach’s twin brother) will be interviewed Tuesday, April 24th around 9:30EDT on The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling. You can listen live here: http://www.wfmu.org/audiostream.shtml or listen later - [WFMU archives] or [podcast].

If Comedy Scientists have taught us anything, it’s that the formula Galifianakis + Scharpling = hilarity squared to the tenth power! (Thankfully, the formula doesn’t specify which Galifianakis is needed for the equation to work.) We’re not going to take out our calculators on this one, but trust us when we say that’s a crapload of comedy. And yes, “crapload” is the scientific term.

We here at The Coming aren’t muckrakers. We don’t go around, searching through as many quotes as possible, trying to see what kind of mucks we can rake from them. (We’re not even sure what the word “muck” means, although we can’t imagine it being good.) But when we stumbled across the following passage from Patton Oswalt’s blog, we thought it our duty to broadcast it to the masses:

There’s a shitload of great sketch shows on TV right now — TIM AND ERIC’S AWESOME SHOW and ACCEPTABLE TV — but THE HUMAN GIANT is far and away the best.

Being the investigative journalists we are, we did some snooping around on the ol’ IMDB, and look at what we found:

Sure, Patton made this clear in his blog — a paragraph above the one we quoted — but it doesn’t make it any less damning. In fact, don’t ask us how, but it makes it more damning somehow! What’s his angle here? Is he trying to somehow parlay his recommendations into a bidding war between the new sketch shows for his services? Does he have a personal vendetta against Tim and/or Eric? Is he fundamentally against shows that use the unreliable Internet to tabulate votes? Or is this simply just a matter of chance? We report, you decide.

Orange County’s classiest couple, Sky & Nancy Collins (Marc Evan Jackson & Carrie Clifford) are packing up the SUV and taking a trip up on the crowded 5 highway this week for a couple of shows; first headlining One Stand Standable at The Improv on Tuesday night (10pm, $13) before heading across town to the M Bar on Wednesday night to take part in You’re Welcome (8pm, $5). Beforehand, the duo agreed to answer a few questions.

How did you two meet?

Sky: I don’t really remember how we met. Oh, yes I do. I was leaving divorce court after breaking up with Dodi (my first wife…a flight attendant…still hot). I went to lunch with some of my friends who were like, “Sky, this is Dodi.” No wait…”Nancy.” They were like, “Sky, this is Nancy.”

Nancy: I had just gotten my nails done so I remember I gave you an awkward hand shake. Sometimes I tell people we met on a reality show. Can you imagine?!

What’s an ordinary weekend like in the Collins household?

Sky: I don’t work anymore (I retired last year at age 35. I was in hedge funds, which was really complicated, so I sold it), so everyday is like the weekend to me. We’re busy, though. We sail, or whatever. On our boat. We have a boat. S’really nice. We do other stuff, too.

Nancy: Well, this weekend isn’t going to be ordinary. Our nanny asked if she could take Friday night off. Apparently it’s her daughter’s “quintessential,” or something.

Sky: Yeah, her daughter’s turning 15 in Mexican years, which is like 21 or 22 to us.

Nancy: So we fired her. But we still have twilight golf to look forward to on Saturday.

How do you feel about “the war on terror”?

Nancy: That sounds scary. Is that opening this weekend? I think I’m going to go see “Year of the Dog” instead.

Sky: To me, you know…war is terrifying. And terror is almost always terrifying, too. ‘Cause it’s like, I mean, the whole thing is just….you know what I mean? I mean, it’s like, fuckin’, just like the whole fuckin’ thing is scary. And I think it would be better if less people were, you know, terrified. No more war of any kind. Except Iraq. ‘Cause those guys need, fuckin’, you know…freedom.

I’m heading to the OC this weekend. Can you point me in the direction of a good, but modestly-priced, restaurant?

Sky: Modestly priced? I don’t know…like Friday’s maybe?

Nancy: A modest restaurant? Does it wrap itself in a towel because it’s embarrassed to be naked around others? Ha ha ha! Oh, I should use that one. Write it down honey.

What kind of effect did the hit TV show “The OC” have on how Orange County is viewed?

Nancy: I just love that show. But let me tell you all district attorneys do not look like Peter Gallagher. I had to press charges against some wayward youth who used our pool for some Friday night fun, and that DA was so overweight and had over grown nose hairs. All I could think about when we were in court was, “I want to give you a makeover!”

Sky: I think it gave a bad impression of what Orange County is really like. Like those people they showed didn’t really do much, or whatever. And they just went around, and like spent a bunch of money and partied and stuff. And it’s like, there are people starving out there. Not here. I don’t mean here. I don’t think anyone’s starved in Orange County in like, forever.

Do you have any favorite comedians?

Sky: I like Katt Williams. I think he’s fuckin’ hilarious. Especially when he does that part about when…you know, when he’s like, “Where are all my…” I can’t say it. But he’s fuckin’ hilarious.

Nancy: Oh, I like so many comedians. I’m really impressed with Carlos Mencia these days. He has so much material, and it’s so funny. I want to set him up with our housekeeper.