Laughter Against The Machine on New Year’s Eve

FROM THE EAST BAY EXPRESS

Seldom do homegrown comedians have as much personal magnetism or shrewd observations as W. Kamau Bell, who is best known for his ever-evolving one-man show, The W. Kamau Bell Curve. Bell and Kevin Avery used to have a weekly radio spot on Live 105 called Siskel and Negro, which they mostly dedicated to film reviews — with some pop-culture miscellany mixed in. At this point, though, Bell has busied himself with an ongoing critique of race politics, integration, sanctimoniousness, silent hypocrisy, and glaring inequity in the so-called Obama Age. Bell constantly recobbles his material to stay on top of the news cycle, so it’s a different show from month to month. This New Year’s Eve he’ll revisit the big stories from 2009, and examine pop culture from a racy angle. Aptly titled “Laughter Against the Machine,” Bell’s night of “guerilla comedy” also features the equally incisive Hari Kondabolu, and local favorite Nato Green.