I feel sorry for the fool that doesn't catch an Amy Miller performance this weekend. Miller was voted Portland’s Funniest Comedian by the Willamette Week in 2013. She hosts a hilarious podcast titled Sorry About Your Dad. She has performed in comedy festivals all over the country. Miller is hosting four shows this weekend at Laffs Comedy Café, 2900 E. Broadway.

Here’s a brief interview with Miller. She was very candid about her writing process, why she moved to Portland and all the dads.

Henry Barajas: What are you doing in Tucson?

Amy Miller: I'm opening for Lisa Landry at Laff's. I have a friend in Portland who's worked at the club, and in a rash of writing booking emails to various comedy clubs, Laff's said yes.

Coincidentally, my newly discovered uncle (brother of biological dad / dead dad #2) lives in Tucson, so I'm killing two birds I suppose. I just hope I'll have time to get down to Bisbee or at least eat one of those hot dogs you guys like so much. If anyone wants to take me swimming, I'm down.

Henry: You have been holding out in Portland for a year now. Did you do it for your comedy career, and if so, how is that working out?

Amy: Yes, I mostly moved for comedy, although I also landed a pretty rad day job. (Brag). Portland is a small but growing scene, we have an awesome festival (Bridgetown), a great young comedy club, and supportive audiences. I saw a lot of opportunity for myself that it would have taken years to build in New York or LA. There's so much stage time, it's impossible not to grow.

Also: cheap apartments + dogs in vests.

Henry: How did you come up with your podcast, Sorry About Your Dad?

Amy: Part of the reason I started stand-up was I had a bunch of stressful life stuff happen all at once, including finding out that the father I thought I'd always had, who died when I was 9, was not in fact my dad. The new guy was dead too. And even as someone who had lived without any dad at all for 21 years without giving it much thought, I was surprised by how much this puts my identity into a tailspin.

And as I watched other comics, and listened to their podcasts, especially Marc Maron's WTF, I started to notice how often we all talk about our dads.

No matter what the topic, somehow in talking about our identities, even in jokes, it always comes back to our dads. Dads dads dads. So I figured, why beat around the bush when I can just get right to the dad stuff and work backwards. It's kind of a crazy thing, because in our society moms do most of the heavy lifting in raising us, and yet most of our emotional development, motivation, relationships with other people, and so much of the deep dark emptiness comes from our dads. I've learned a lot about myself and hopefully my interview subjects have too.

My mom is in the next episode! It's gonna be crazy!

The Tucson Improv Movement is trying to permanently relocate to Fourth Avenue, but they will need your help. Currently, TIM has been performing and training out the Red Barn Theater and shifted from various stages since the group’s inception in 2012. The improv group has a signed lease at 329 East Seventh Street next door to D & D Pinball.

Together, the TIM company members have the goal of being Tucson's premier longform improv theater. Longform improv originated in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s, most notably with Del Close's invention of the harold format. With longer scenes and deeper themes than shortform (like Who's Line Is It Anyway?), our audiences come to see a show where, as Del Close said, "we create a Theater of the Heart". Today long form improv comedy is performed at the world's most famous improv theaters in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and TIM is working to bring this style of improv to the Old Pueblo!

TIM has launched a Kickstarter to raise $10,000 to convert the warehouse into a theater:

• Purchase the raw materials needed to build out our stage, DJ/Tech booth, entrance, bathrooms and more
• Put in professional lighting and sound systems for our stage
• Modify our walls with a professional contractor to soundproof and isolate our new theater space
• Purchase and install video screens for the stage to have state-of-the-art interactive show pieces
• Purchase seating and paint to clean and upgrade the theater space for the perfect audience experience
Depending on the pledge amount, donors will be rewarded with TIM shirts, stickers, posters, tickets for events and their name on the TIM Comedy Theater Wall of Donors Plaque.

I don't have to tell you who the hell Max Cannon is. Honestly, I don't know if he knows who he really is either, but that's besides the point. The man of thousand characters and ideas has started a Facebook like page dedicated to his prolific comic, RED MEAT. 

Looks like his website has received a complete face-lift: 

We invite you to poke around, explore, meander, kick the tires, peer into the yawning abyss—or whatever you choose to call your personal descent into MEAT. And please stay tuned for lots of piquantly unusual news, items of general public interest, skewed cultural commentary, musings on things better left alone, completely inappropriate photo galleries, pointless tomfoolery AND—for the love of all that is delightfully wrong—a brand new RED MEAT store will appear very soon, with an ever-changing assortment of new wearable items, prints, drinkware, and a yet-to-be-determined array of unique toys and art objects that only serve to further our not-so-fiendish scheme to transfer money from your pocket into ours.

Click here to like his new fancy page.

June is here so you know what means, Tucson. There will be a free improv comedy show tonight from 9 p.m. to midnight at Flycatcher, 340 E.Sixth St. Tonight's host will be Amanda Hurley. I believe it's the show's first female host since it's inception. 


Hurley was an intern at Comedy Central's Colbert Report and is currently in the running for the best comic in our Best of Tucson competition. 


The plethora of local talent including radio personality Christian Wlach a.k.a. Tic-Tac is scheduled to perform tonight.

Click here to RSVP or for more information.

I think we can all agree that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was pretty underrated and doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Sometimes comic book adaptations don't have to be blockbusters, and maybe, just maybe, it could serve a bigger purpose for future generations. Luckily, someone in Tucson knows what's cool and is hosting a Scott Pilgrim party from 7 to 10 p.m., Saturday, May 31, at Bookmans,1930 E Grant Road.


I have been told by Molly Mitchell that there might be garlic bread and coke zero because vegans. There will be a food truck round-up and a costume contest. The movie will start at 7:45 p.m., according to the Facebook event page.

You might see me there because I'll go to anything that celebrates comics. Hopefully, I'll meet my Ramona Flowers, or not. I'll keep my hopes up.

Click here for more information.

Looking for a laugh? Tucson is the 42nd funniest city in the U.S., according to some researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. You might have noticed that there's an influx of national acts you only read or hear about on the sites like A.V. Club are touring through the Old Pueblo on regular basis. Three up and coming Texas based comedians are on a month long national tour across the west coast and they will be making a stop in Tucson.


JT Habersaat, Joe Staats and Jay Whitecotton are headlining Kevin William Lee's open mic show at Mr. Head's, 513 N. Fourth Ave. All the comedians have opened or performed with Doug Stanhope at one time or another. Depending on Stanhope's busy schedule, it's not uncommon for him to make a pitstop in Tucson and support his friends. That's me speculating, and I have been wrong before. So, don't take my word for it.

Naturally, some of Tucson's local comedians are scheduled to perform. 

Seating is limited. There's no cover charge. Show starts around 10:30 p.m. Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

Marvel's most known unknowns are back with a second trailer. Every character brings something to the table, and we finally hear Vin Diesel bellow 'I am Groot." There isn't enough Zoe Saldana or Karen Gillan. Guardians opens on August 1.

Yesterday, Zack Snyder teased the rear end of the Batmobile and promised to deliver a better look the following day.

Not only did he deliver, but he also gave us a glimpse of the suit Ben Affleck might wear in the 'Man of Steel' sequel. The suit obviously influenced by Frank Miller's 1986 four-issue mini series, Dark Knight Returns. The small ears and large symbol on his chest is a dead giveaway.

Snyder's tweet:

I shot this with my @Leica_Camera M Monochrom. #Batman #Batmobile #Gotham http://t.co/WPHKLxgBLM pic.twitter.com/p5DEf6fLzJ
— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) May 13, 2014

It's only a matter of time before we start seeing photos of Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg.

'Batman Vs Superman' is expected to hit theaters on May 6 2016.

Here's another comic book television show, but it's not that cringeworthy. The horror comic book series Hellblazer has been adapted into a supernatural drama by NBC. I have to admit that watching Matt Ryan in this latest Constantine trailer almost makes me forget Keanu Reeves' performance in Francis Lawrence's film in 2005.

Considering the source material was created by some best artist and writers in the comic book industry, this should be a hit.

Watch the trailer after the jump.

Zack Snyder, director of the Man of Steel sequel, tweeted a photo of the rear end of Batman's wheels Monday morning.

Could be time to pull the tarp...Tomorrow? http://t.co/Nmm0QqWYYH pic.twitter.com/E6iKluZNDj
— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) May 12, 2014

The Batmobile looks heavily influenced by the Christopher Nolan trilogy, but front seems to narrows down like the Batman Forever version. Maybe we will get to see the whole damn thing tomorrow.

(via Batman News)