With a salvo, in advance of a new album, Honeyden (Burger Records, 2020), scheduled to drop on Jan. 31, gunsmoke-diffused indie rockers The Rifle are breadcrumbing fans with a trail of singles.

Nelene Deguzman reflects on the backstory to “Are We Having Fun Yet?", revisiting a difficult time in her life in hindsight.

“I was remembering a time in my life in middle school and high school when offensive racial humor was really popular,” says Deguzman. She was labelled a stick in the mud by some classmates for not finding humor in racial stereotyping funny. “I remember feeling really misunderstood and isolated as one of the only non-white kids at my school.”

With creeping determinism Deguzman expands, “The song started with me meditating on some of these experiences and wishing I could have a dialogue with my younger self.” And ended up being a way for her to consider feelings from a different perspective. “One that I hadn't been able to put into words at the time.”

Deguzman is excited.

“This is the first single from an album that we'll be releasing via Burger Records. And, we will be doing a small tour after we release the album.”

What blossomed out of a solo recording project in Deguzman’s bedroom has evolved into their third release. In good fashion, The Rifle commemorate the release of Honeyden, their latest full-length with a bash. On Friday, Jan. 31. At 191 Toole. Weekend Lovers and Casanova will bring party favors.

Check it out. “Are We Having Fun Yet?”

Did you just get here?

We have a big comedy crawl going on this week. It’s like a pub crawl, but with jokes. Among the 15 shows remaining between now and 11 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, there’s something you can laugh at with your gem show friends. Visit tucsoncomedy.com/crawl for a complete schedule.
Most of the Crawl venues have pub food. The others have food next door or nearby. All have beer; some have wine or cocktails, too. Only Unscrewed Theater, an improv venue, is dry, but they have lots more snacks.

Tucson comedians look forward to making you laugh, mostly for free or under $10. Following are a few best bets.

Our greatest hit: Keep Tucson Sketchy

Keep Tucson Sketchy is a year-old ensemble that creates parodies of Saturday Night Live in full stage shows at the 103-seat Screening Room on Congress. KTS closes out the Tucson Comedy Crawl with two performances of Keep Tucson Sketchy: Best of Season One at 6 and 9 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1.

Each show is a big production, including a writing team, videographers, sound designers, stagehands and lots of tech. Lots. There’s also a news cast and a musical guest.
All KTS sketches are original. About half are filmed on location around town. Live sketches take advantage of the theater’s full-sized screen to project the scene’s sets. Sketches included in Keep Tucson Sketchy: The Best of Season One, comprise crowd favorites from the show’s inaugural year.

The theater sells beer, wine, popcorn and a few snacks. Theater guests may also bring in food from Empire Pizza, next door. Empire swept the Best Place to Pick Up A Slice category in Tucson Weekly’s 2019 Best Of Tucson poll.

KTS routinely sells out at $10 in advance; $15 at the door. We recommend reservations via keep-tucson-sketchy.ticketleap.com.

Art Lovers’ Delight

Tucson’s art scene is lots cooler than you might think for a town this size and this remote. The arts community is as close as it is creative in its punk-like hacking of genres and ways to make a market. The amped-up restoration of the mid-century-modern classic motel, Hotel McCoy is the scene’s fever dream. Every kind of art finds a home there, including performing arts, including comedy.

McCoy’s free Last Friday, Last laughs, just over a year old, was an instant institution. Arrive for the 8 p.m. start on Jan. 31, and you might not get in. Pinche’s food truck, though, is inspiration enough to be there by 6:30 and have pre-show dinner, poolside.

This month’s Last Laugh is a novelty in town: a 100% clean show featuring some of Tucson’s top comics.

Happy 6th Anniversary Unscrewed Theatre!

Unscrewed Theater’s popular Not Burnt Out, Just Unscrewed short-form improv show started years before, but the theater itself has been located somewhere along Speedway Blvd. for six years as of Feb. 1.

The nonprofit venue celebrates the date with a fundraising extravaganza featuring globally syndicated Tucson cartoonist and satirist David Fitzsimmons and all of its house teams: From the Top, which improves an entire Broadway musical in every performance; Comic Chaos, which improvises original comic book heroes and their epic stories; the character-driven Leaky Faucets and Big Daddies, best described as well-meaning dads gone weird.

Admission is $20 at the door or online at unscrewedtheater.org.

Comedy benefit for Wildlife

The UArizona chapter of the American Fisheries and Wildlife Society presents a comedy show benefit for its cause at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, sponsored by The Screening Room. It’s not a moment too soon. Have you been following the news about the shocking decline in numbers and species of fish and wildlife due to global warming? It’s enough to make us cry. All the time.

At least we can laugh at the benefit. The show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $5. Headlined by Matt Ziemak, fresh from the Tower City Comedy Festival, the show also features touring comedian Joe Tullar and popular locals Nicole Riesgo and Jack Fletcher, among others.

Improv Thursdays

Tucson Improv Movement debuts weekly Thursday shows starting Feb. 6. A long-form show at 7:30 is $5 and is followed by a free open jam at 8:30.

Even More Laughs

Friday, Jan. 31: Standup with Spencer James featuring Tony Tripoli at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50); and Beginners and Veterans at 10:30 p.m., ($5) TIM Comedy Theatre. Long-form improv with The Riveters at 7:30 p.m. and The Soapbox at 9 p.m., TIM Comedy Theatre (TIM)($5). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).

Saturday, Feb. 1: Improv with David Fitzsimmons, prizes and a raffle celebrating their sixth-anniversary Speedway Blvd. with Sixth on Sixth, ($20), Unscrewed Theater. Standup with Spencer James featuring Tony Tripoli at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv and standup en español with Carcajadas: Una Noche de Comedia at 7:30 p.m., and long-form improv with Pilot Season at 9 p.m. at TIM ($5).

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Feb. 3, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Feb. 4 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy at The Music Box Lounge.
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m., The Screening Room.
Thursday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Extending out over 600 acres of the century old Pima County Fairgrounds, taking place over the course of three days—filled with art, gemstones, camping, live painting, music and a shared sense of community to create a truly unique festival experience—it is a small wonder that the Huffington Post has dubbed this destination festival “The Crown Jewel of the Southwest Festival Scene.”

After a year hiatus, the epic synthesis of jam bands, EDM, cutting edge sound and lighting and visual arts that is Gem & Jam Festival 2020 kicks off its thirteenth installment.

Festival organizers are stoked. This year’s lineup includes: Tipper, Big Gigantic, The Floozies, Twiddle, Billy Strings, supergroup TH3 (featuring members of The String Cheese Incident), Thriftworks, Manic Focus, Dirtwire, Desert Hearts Takeover, Desert Dwellers, Bluetech, Buku and many more.

Gem & Jam Festival 2020 runs Jan. 31-Feb. 2. At the Pima County Fairgrounds 11300 S. Houghton Rd, Tucson, AZ 85747. Visit gemandjamfestival.com for tickets and all the details.

Here is a preview of what’s in store.

Born on August, 2, 1979, Isaac Kirkman grew up in Greenville, South Carolina into a military family who moved about regularly.

In a 2015 interview with Cynthia Dagnal-Myron, for The HuffPost, Kirkman described his hometown as a place where “the Civil War never ended.” He encountered bigotry and intolerance. “I was an alien to this world,” he said. “And was treated like one. Bullied. Humiliated. But I was determined to write my way to a better life. I would write my way to freedom.”

"I’m from where the dead vomit red clay/in a seashell splatter, of kudzu and black confetti/where you can hear the sound of slave chains/in the soft foam of surf crashing onto Charleston’s shores/as little white kids with confederate flags/flapping from their bikes, ride happily into the sun/dreaming of the day the south shall rise again/See, I’m from where plantations turned into prisons/the way HIV turns into AIDS/And every cop is a doctor trained to prescribe bullets/to black children and call it the cure.” –Isaac Kirkman

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He spent part of his youth living on the slopes of an active volcano in Sicily, where a beloved teacher, Signora Longo, told him how St. Agatha used breast milk to protect Catania from the volcano’s destructive flows.

A gifted child, Isaac painted and drew, eventually gaining admission to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey.

He also spent long years in the American hospital system, where he was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a hellish genetic condition that causes progressive deterioration of connective tissues throughout the body and intractable pain. He also struggled with depression throughout his life.

A decline in health prompted him to turn his focus to writing. “There remain obstacles,” he said. “But I will make art from them.”

Possessing an open and inquisitive mind, he pored over psychology and occult texts.

Isaac never drove a car. He spent a lot of his time walking, taking in the urban landscape in different ways and always observing.

A troubled teen, for a time he lived on the streets. “I always had a notebook on me,” he said. “Writing on the couch as my friends sold drugs out the front door, sleeping outside, writing descriptions of the junkies and the outlaws, writing metaphors to capture the agony of the ghetto, and the ecstasy of God.”

He found his heart and words—depicting the human struggle towards redemption—on the streets.

After moving to Tucson, Isaac would often walk the streets, in the scorching heat and torrential rains, it mattered not. He'd leave votive candles on shrines and the sites of recent homicides,. “to pay respect to the spirits and religions of the barrios, honoring their losses as well as my own,” he said.

Here in Barrio Santa Rosa, where he lived, he got on the path to sobriety and enrolled in his first and only writing class at The Writers Studio. Soon afterwards he had his first piece of fiction published.

“I never gave up on writing because it was my destiny,” he said. “Because I had to tell the stories of the forgotten. I didn’t come to this through academics. I came from my own grave. I have been beaten humble and beaten pure.”

Isaac’s poetry and prose have appeared in numerous journals: Waxwing, Huffington Post, Thuglit, Tucson Weekly and many others.

Featuring whimsical string layers, an airtight rhythm section—equally adept at playing improvisational jazz rhythms in odd time signatures as straight ahead 4/4 pop rock—“girlish vocals” coyly delivering “quirky” lyrics, Steff and the Articles came together in 2009, as a vehicle for singer-songwriter Steff Koeppen to give her piano-based songs wheels.

The band is comprised of drummer Tom Beech, violinists Jessica Muiseke-Wilkison and Katie Vargas, guitarist Johny Vargas, bassist Christopher Pierce and Koeppen on piano.

Kismet. They released their self-titled debut in 2010.

Koeppen details their sound as an indie alternative, pop band.

"We produce piano-based songs which touch on jazz, folk, and classical styles while maintaining an accessible, pop-oriented sound.”

Recorded at home, the band released their follow-up album Stories You Can't Tell in 2012. A single from that record, “Two Cities,” received rotation on MTV Networks. Why It Was So - EP came in 2013. And, their latest full-length, teeming with infectious pop candy, Timekeeper, dropped in 2017.

Subsequently, Steff and the Articles toured throughout the Southwest, West Coast and Mexico—along the way opening for national acts Holychild, Great Big World, Copeland and others.

After carving out their own unique “Corner of the World,” Koeppen reflects on the past decade. “We’ve written a full adventure together, and now we get to celebrate a decade’s worth of music and art that came from that," she said.

As for the future, “No concrete plans at the moment. It’s looking like we’re all taking most of February off, after a crazy-busy winter. Then hitting it again in the spring/summer.”

Pierce expanded on their tour plans.

“We've been talking about doing some more touring and working on new music, which I am super-stoked about," he said. 

Steff and the Articles celebrated their 10 Year anniversary on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 191 Toole. Dirt Friends and Night Weather added to the festivities.

As depicted in many of the world's religions, a tree represents the link between the underworld, the Earth and the heavens. Led by acclaimed artist Daniel Martin Diaz, this Tucson experimental rock band’s architecture is a sentient ecology of the cosmos.

If you listen closely; Solar winds speak, oceans speak and Trees Speak.

Using sound, signals and vibes. They speak constantly, even if quietly, communicating above and below ground, connecting with everything that exists, and just possibly you. Scientists increasingly argue that humans can learn to hear this ancient form of communication.

Although "tree" is used in common parlance, there is no universally recognized definition of what a tree is botanically. Much like the band. By incorporating elements of avant-garde, minimalism, neo-psychedelic and electronica—”along with violin-bowed guitar, theremin and a glut of effects pedals”—Trees Speak transcend the mainstream: Their branches extending towards the sky.

And, similar to photosynthesis, Trees Speak capture energy and convert it into something else.

“Our intention is to create music with an unrehearsed minimalist approach performing simple beats, riffs, and sequences that take one inward. We let the musical performance sculpt its own destiny and create imperfect perfection. Our tool of creation is the anxiety one feels when they are unrehearsed or prepared for a performance. We believe this approach brings us closer to the authentic self. The result is genuine music without an agenda that captures the unfiltered spirit.”

In keeping with the lofty dialectic of kosmische musik (cosmic music, in German), a genre of electronic music which originated in West Germany in the 1960s—where titanic and barbarous forces struggle mysteriously with an underlying unity—Trees Speak seek to patch their hearts onto your soul.

Avant-experimentalists Trees Speak—joined on stage by Birds and Arrows with vocoder and guitar treatments—fête the release of Ohms with a visually provocative live show. On Friday, Jan. 24. At the historic Club Congress. Performances by Ryan Alfred (on modular synthesizer) and modern dancer Ravenna add appreciably to the event.

For the uninitiated, here is a taste. 

Comedy so outsider it’s insider

Neil Hamburger is an awful comedian. His affect is palpably awkward. A Sartorial disaster, his clothes look like Goodwill rejects from the sixties. His hair needs a hot bath. His singing is like Leonard Cohen’s as it might sound in The Upside Down, which is to say it’s near perfect in spite of itself.

As colorful and character-drenched as his most obvious features are, they say little about the man. They provide cerebrally irreverent Gregg Turkington with cover for his subversive take on contemporary culture and values. If you don’t laugh at your life, you’re not listening. “Some might say this is a lowbrow show,” Turkington says. “but when I’m making doo doo jokes or jokes about Elton John, it's all in service of, you know, making larger points.”

He acknowledges that his Hamburger character requires a little more intellectual commitment than the average club comic. But his fans also expect more music. Turkington’s been recording for Drag City’s venerable indie record label for more than twenty years, from the moment he overthrew youthful punk immersion for fanzine-level commitment to deeply sincere emotional expression and top shelf musicianship.

“It’s got nothing to say,” says Turkington of current punk music. Perhaps it’s enough to say it’s just another genre, now. “I feel like punk became more regimented than just about any other style of music. Now, my favorite stuff to listen to is really well-produced pop records from the sixties. I just want something with some personality.”

Hamburger’s musical performance owes roughly 20% to Tiny Tim and another 20% to Steve Allen. The music, though, is splendid. Drag City, released his 12th record, Still Dwelling, a year ago in all formats. It inspired half a dozen visual artists around the world to create videos for it; four are now available online, including one animation and a puppet show.

“When Still Dwelling came out, people said the music is incredible because of the musicianship,” Turkington says, Songs include compositions by Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Mark Eitzel and Nancy Wilson. Instruments include a sitar, a saw and a clarinet. Jack Black contributes vocals.
“But I’ve got people saying, ‘Yeah, but I don’t know about the vocals.’ I’m thinking 95% of the songs on the charts are autotuned. That sounds like robotic voices.” No one would confuse Turkington or and Hamburger with robots, though. In fact, they are sui generis.

Turkington appears as Hamburger at 191 Toole on Friday, Jan. 17. Tickets are $20 and $25, including fees, at rialtotheatre.com

Funnier than he looks

John Green was named “Best of the Fest” at the Burbank comedy festival, no mean feat in metropolitan area where you can’t swing a blunt without a half-dozen comics taking a hit.
Green was a long time coming back to his childhood dream of standup notoriety. He studied music through school, then trod the path to success as a Phoenix-area businessman. In his ‘30s, he fell in love with improv. First as a fan, then as a talented improviser, he honed the skills and, even more, the confidence to face an audience alone, even with what he calls his “resting murder face”.

Now Green’s set occasionally includes a song improvised at an audience member’s request to embarrass their friend or mate. Mainly, though, Green’s comedy backbone is good, clean fun. He says in his bio, “There seems to be a stigma about calling yourself a ‘clean’ comic, almost like you’re not a true artist. My only mission with comedy is to make people laugh and feel good about laughing.”

Green is featured at The O at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18. Reservations are $7, $5 in advance via Eventbrite.

MLK Weekend reminder

John Roy’s Jesuit father and psychotherapist mom may have had higher aspirations for him than to be a standup comedian. Alas for them, he absorbed the influence of their diverse, artsy and gritty Rogers Park, Chicago, neighborhood. It gave him the breezy confidence and wide-ranging comic flair that made him champion of CBS’s 2003 Star Search and led to appearances on The Tonight Show, Craig Ferguson, Last Comic Standing and Conan. He’s also performed regularly on cable network TV, independent comedy shows and satellite radio via his record, Dressed for Recess.”

Roy appears at Laffs Comedy Caffe on Friday at 8 and 10:30 p.m., Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m., And Sunday at 7 p.m. Reservations are $12.50 and $17.50 via laffstucson.com.

More Laughs!

Friday, Jan. 17, long-form improv with TIM Teachers Lounge and The Flower Boys at 7:30 p.m. ($5,) and The Soapbox featuring Bryan Sanders (flag shirt guy)($7) at 9 p.m., at Tucson Improv Movement (TIM) (both shows $10). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., Unscrewed Theatre ($5 kids and $8 adults).

Saturday, Jan. 18, Improv with The Ugly Sweater Show and Harold Alpha at 7:30 p.m., and another Ugly Sweater Show with The Dating Scene at 9 p.m., TIM ($5). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m., and Unscrewed Double Feature at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8)

Monday, Jan. 20, standup showcase Brew Ha Ha features Leland Long, Jimmy Callaway, Monte Benjamin and Stephanie Lyonga at Borderlands Brewing at 8 p.m., $5.

Wednesday, Jan. 22, standup with Tom Briscoe at the Desert View Performing Arts Center at 7P30 p.m. ($22)

Thursday, Jan. 23, standup showcase Casa de Comedy is at Casa Marana at 8 p.m., free.

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Jan. 19, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Jan. 20, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Jan. 21, 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy at The Music Box Lounge.
Weds, Jan. 22, 7 p.m., The Screening Room
Thursday, Jan. 23, 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.

Hailing from the Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts in Red Wing, Minnesota, Bonnie Schock was selected to lead the Fox Theatre. She will begin her tenure March 9, 2020.

Schock said she is delighted and honored to join the Fox Theatre, built in 1930 in downtown Tucson.

“I believe in the performing arts as a space for community building, where we get to know ourselves, our neighbors, and our world better,” Schock said in a statement announcing the move. “And, after 30 years in this work, I have come to know that historic facilities play a particularly vital role in the arts ecosystem, for all the memories they hold and the connections they foster.

Schock has been the executive director of the Sheldon Theatre since 2015, and was found after a national search conducted for the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation Board of Directors. She will fill the position left vacant by former longtime executive director Craig Sumberg, who was recently selected to lead The South Orange Performing Arts Center in South Orange, New Jersey.

“The Fox is truly a rare treasure - the kind of special place that works across time, as a tangible link between past, present, and future,” Schock said. “I am excited to begin work with the board, the vibrant Tucson arts and cultural community, the Fox's many and diverse supporters, and the skilled staff to build on the Fox's many past and current successes, and to imagine together a vibrant future."

The Fox announced that informal community meet and greet events are in the planning stages to welcome Schock to Tucson and the rest of Southern Arizona.

“If you could save a life by folding two pieces of paper together, would you do it?”

That’s the question asked by the Soul Box Project, a Portland-based gun safety advocate group that travels across the country, giving communities an artistic view of those affected by gun violence. The project was at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Soul Boxes are origami-style boxes made by people who have either been affected by gun violence and/or want to show support for those who have. The boxes are a way to honor those killed by gun violence and help give survivors solace, according to the project’s website.

Meg Pradelt, representative for the project, said she felt Tucson was an appropriate place to encourage Tucsonans to participate since so many here have been affected by gun violence, before, during and after the 2011 Tucson shooting.

“We want to send (the boxes) to Portland to be incorporated in quilt-like panels that can be set up to give a visual impression of the number of people killed and injured by guns in the country every year,” said Pradelt.

The panels are assembled to hold 98 soul boxes and can be displayed adjacent to other panels so the ultimate effect looks like one giant piece of fabric, according to Pradelt. This way the project can display thousands of boxes at one time, Pradelt said.

Funny at the Fringe

By definition, Fringe Fest performers don’t fit any category, but many of them are comedy acts, and this year’s Tucson Fringe Festival, January 9 through 11, features more than most.

“There's so much comedy!!!” fest honcho Maryann Green texted us. "’<=2’, (less than or equal to two) is sketch comedy from the directors of the Elgin Fringe Festival. 'How To Contract Lycanthropy' is dry humor from award-winning Minneapolis Fringe Festival artist Matthew Kessen. 'Sexology the Musical' promises to be a rockin’ good time.” And Green is just getting started.

Tucson Fringe Fest is popular for a wide range of great, little-known talent. Green and her team see, screen and invite plenty of fringe acts they know will find a Tucson audience. But their strategy of short shows and low prices all but guarantees a good time. If you don’t love the show you’re seeing, there’s another within the hour that could blow you away.

Admission to the fest is $3 for a button. Shows are $10 each, but passes are available for two, five or eight shows each for $18 to $64. Tickets and details of all the shows are at shop.tucsonfringe.org.

Twenty-two shows will be performed more than 50 times in five venues that are less than a mile apart downtown. They include The Screening Room, Steinfeld Warehouse, StudioONE, the Cabaret Theatre at the Temple of Music and Art and The Circus Academy.

Much excitement around this year’s fest is about the 16 acts appearing for the first time, including Phoenix sketch comedy team The Cosmonauts. The eight-year-old ensemble has performed in multiple festivals. They suggest that the audience think of them “like Saturday Night Live, but R-rated”

Green continues, “Space Force is a political farce.” And then she touches on the one we want to see most: “‘Silly Woman’ is about two young comedians discovering the comedy genius of funny females of the past, like Phyllis Diller and Lucille Ball. ‘Tammy's Bachelorette’ is an interactive comedy romp through a ‘Whiskey Tango’ wedding.” We think she means “white trash,” but she wouldn’t ever punch down.

“(Longtime local favorite) Tom Potter is doing a set he calls ‘The History of American Musical Humor’," she says, comparing him, a little hesitantly, to Dr. Demento. We get that one! He’ll have funny lyrics to songs we recognize.

"’What Will You’, Green says,"is a modern queer take on Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night, and, finally, ‘You've Got To Be Kidding Me’ is a live comedy podcast about carrying the emotional baggage of childhood."

If you’re reading this on Thursday, you can head over to Café Passé for a preview party from 6 to 9 p.m. Fest acts perform two-minute samples of their sets, and audience members win raffles and prizes.

Martin Luther King Day weekend

There is so much comedy headed your way, you should just block out the next two weekends. Upcoming we have an impossible choice among three top comedians plus the usual great improv shows. And from Jan. 25 through Feb. 1, every night has at least one and up to eight shows for the Tucson Comedy Crawl. It’s more than two-dozen shows, produced by and with members of Tucson’s burgeoning comedy scene, and it’s all sponsored by Tucson Weekly and Tucson Local Media.

Here’s a head start on next weekend, though, with comedy booked especially for Martin Luther King Weekend.

Matt Kearney’s LOL Jam returns to The Viscount Suites at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18. Tickets are $15, or $20 for VIP seating, via grownsexy.ticketleap.com. Rob Rodriguez hosts, reminding us once again that we don't see him often enough in Tucson. The Lineup includes BET Allstar Drew Frazer, Kool Bubba Ice and local newcomer Janize.

Laffs Comedy Caffé hosts Jon Roy for five shows the same weekend. Clever and clean, with a megawatt resume, Roy riffs like a funny best friend on cultural anomalies, dilemmas of childhood, racial tolerance and the chaos that is contemporary media. His jokes can land with impressions or inspire a song. Jimmy Calloway features. Details and tickets are at laffstucson.com/coming-soon.html.

More Comedy

Friday, Jan. 10: Standup with Tyler Boeh featuring Jeff Horste at 8 and 10:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Improv Happy Hour at 7:30 p.m. ($5) and The Soapbox at 9 p.m. ($7) at TIM Comedy Theatre (TIM)($10 for both shows. All shows $2 off with Cat Card). Family-friendly improv with Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) at 7:30 p.m. and Freeform Friday at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).

Saturday, Jan. 11: Standup with Phoenix prop comedian, Dan Hanson, featuring local favorite Josiah Osego opening and Nick Chant as host at 8 p.m., The O ($7 door; $10 Eventbrite. Tyler Boeh featuring Jeff Horste at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe ($12.50 and $17.50). Kids improv, F.O.M.P. (Friends of Make Pretends) at 2 p.m. at TIM Comedy Theatre ($5) Improv at 7:30 and 9 p.m. at TIM ($7, both shows for $10, $2 off with Cat Card). Improv with Unscrewed Family Hour at 6 p.m., Family Friendly NBOJU at 7:30 p.m., and NBOJU: Uncensored at 9 p.m., Unscrewed Theater ($5 and $8).

Free Open Mics

Sunday, Jan. 12, 6:30 p.m., The O, and 8 p.m., Chuckleheads in Bisbee.
Monday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m., Comedy at the Wench, The Surly Wench Pub.
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 6:45 p.m., Neighborhood Comedy, The Music Box Lounge.
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m., The Screening Room and 8:30 p.m., The Mint.
Thursday, Jan 16. 8 p.m., Laffs Comedy Caffe and 8:30 p.m., Rockabilly Grill.