W. Kamau Bell, Hari Kondabolu, Nato Green, and Janine Brito, four of the nation’s most fearless and thought-provoking comedians, bring their sold-out comedy tour Laughter Against The Machine back to The New Parish in Oakland after doing four critically acclaimed and sold out shows there in January. The East Bay Express wrote that Laughter Against the Machine was “the brainiest, most literate comedy tour… it’s smart, it’s heady…, it gets to the very edge of what’s tolerable.” The SF Weekly recently referred to it as “the funniest comedy show we’ve ever seen.” LATM is a rare stand-up comedy show filled with biting commentary that attacks the entire spectrum from the rightest right to the leftest left.

This show marks the return of of LATM to The New Parish where earlier this year they sold out three shows and had to add a forth due to popular demand. This show also officially introduces regular LATM opener Janine Brito as the newest member of the “band.”

Laughter Against The Machine came together in the back of a comedy show in 2008 during a discussion among Nato, Kamau, and Hari about seeking new audiences for their material. Having collaborated on several successful Bay Area political comedy shows, they wanted to put on an issue-oriented, topical comedy show constructed of truly impassioned material to attract the thoughtful, dauntless, urban, and urbane audiences that they knew were out there. They wanted the comedians and the audience to show up understanding that they would both be challenged, where the audience could be entertained and think at the same time, and where the comedians would promise to push themselves to places comics normally fear to tread. They also wanted it to be hilarious. Hari, Nato, and Kamau wanted a comedy show with no preconceived expectations, no party lines, and certainly no cheerleading, because these three have beef with everybody, including themselves.

Welcome to Laughter Against The Machine: Jokes to Riot By

ABOUT THE COMEDIANS

HARI KONDABOLU started his comedy career in Seattle while working as an immigrant rights organizer during the day. The Seattle Times wrote that he is “a young man reaching for the hand-scalding torch of confrontational comics like Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.” (Like his comedic heroes, he wants to speak truth to power with confrontational and personal material. Unlike them, he does not want to die of a morphine overdose or set himself on fire.) The Stranger has called him “a national comedy treasure.” Hari has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham and was featured in the 2007 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. He was most recently seen on John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show on Comedy Central. His website is http://www.harithecomic.com/

W. KAMAU BELL told the very first joke about Barack Obama on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend way back in 2005. Unfortunately, the joke predicted that Barack would never be President. (Oops!) In addition to performing stand-up comedy, Kamauis best known for  his critically acclaimed solo show, The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour. Kamau has also released two stand-up comedy CD’s, ONE NIGht ONLY & the critically-acclaimed Face Full of Flour. He has been named BEST COMEDIAN by The San Francisco Weekly (2008), The San Francisco Bay Guardian (2010), & 7×7 Magazine (2010). According to Margaret Cho, “W. Kamau Bell is the most important guy doing comedy right now. Do yourself a favor and go see him. He’s got the most astute, hilarious and completely righteous material going and he’s going to be a legend in his own lifetime like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. Think Bill Hicks but slightly taller.” His website is http://www.wkamaubell.com/

NATO GREEN, San Francisco native and Huffington Post blogger, was recently named the SF Weekly’s Best Comedian of 2010 for putting on “legendary” shows that keep audiences “doubled over.” He continues the tradition of hard-hitting Jewish comedians like Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Joe Lieberman. Nato is the creator of Iron Comic, the Iron Chef-spoofing hit comedy game show that packed houses at SF Sketchfest three years running and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival 2010. The East Bay Express reported that onstage Nato “has a knack for pushing boundaries,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Nato “had the hordes howling,” while his comedy was called “edgy” and “innovative” by the San Francisco Examiner and the Northern California Jewish Weekly. Nato claims that an anonymous reviewer on an unnamed website who Nato has reason to believe is not related to him, wrote that Nato, “always manages to look completely relaxed saying the most incendiary sh*t.” His website is http://www.natogreen.com/

JANINE BRITO is a sarcastic, snarky smart bomb of comedy funk straight from the 80’s. She’s been told, on occasion, that she is relentlessly intelligent, cute, and above all screamingly funny. Janine started doing standup comedy in St. Louis and has performed at clubs and theaters throughout the US and Hong Kong. Now a rising star on the San Francisco scene, she is a regular at the Punch Line, winner of the 2009 SF Women’s Comedy Competition and recipient of Rooftop Comedy’s 2010 Silver Nail Award. Janine’s website is www.janinebrito.com

Welcome to Laughter Against The Machine. LATM is not just a show, it’s a band. A band that is strengthened by the diversity of the comedians’ opinions, ethnicity, and upbringing. Welcome to a show where the comics may (among other lighthearted topics) vivisect the very notion of post-racial America, AND attack the corruption and decadence of late-imperial America, AND provide an historical context for the mess we’re in, AND make jokes about it. Very, very funny jokes.