You haven't lived until your Tweets are live on a screen in front of a room full of people

The beautiful, smart, Sarah Palin-mocking Sara Benincasa, just because I think it's a gorgeous photo

So last night I went to the ECNY Awards to celebrate the local comedy community. It was a lot of fun, but I hadn't read this part of the evening's festivities:

"Use Twitter to lifestream your thoughts @ecnyawards during the show for a chance to have them read to the crowd"

So when, um, I Tweeted that Michael Musto was sitting next to me (we chatted briefly about cupcakes), well, everyone saw it.

Congratulations to all the winners, and kudos to all the organizers (I was part of the elusive "Industry Committee," which my friend Claudia Cogan was surprised to hear,perhaps because I am way too out of the comedy loop these days), and to host Jon Friedman. All I can say is it made me want to get back into going to comedy shows!


Here's me with Drink at Work's Carol Hartsell, who was doing tech last night and was pretty funny when she didn't win. The photo is by Keith Huang. See many more gorgeous photos at The Apiary.

Okay, and I'm just gonna go all gushing fangirl on Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa on Twitter) cause I think she's awesome. I was SO happy she and Diana Saez won for best short comedic film for the Sarah Palin vlogs. I'm posting one below along with a gorgeous photo of her. She also hosts the Cosmo Radio show Get in Bed on Sirius that I was on last week, among a bazillion other things.



Watch more of her videos on her site and on YouTube.

ECNY Awards nominees

I used to be a rabid comedygoer. Now I'm more of an interested observer, but still, congratulations to all the nominees! Go to ECNY for the fancy version, with links. I heart many performers here, especially Adira Amram, Claudia Cogan, Giulia Rozzi and Sara Benincasa.

Extra special shoutouts from me to The Sarah Palin Vlogs, The Rejection Show and The Comics Comic.

The ECNY Awards are produced by Alex Goldberg (Fearsome), Jon Friedman (The Rejection Show), Carol Hartsell (Drink at Work), Nate Sloan (The Apiary), and Alexander Zalben (Elephant Larry).

For more information, please visit the awards website at ECNYAwards.com.

WHAT: The ECNY Awards

WHEN: March 9, 2009 @ 8:00pm

WHERE: Comix NY; 353 W. 14th St.; Just east of 9th Ave.

ONLINE: WWW.ECNYAWARDS.COM

Best Host
Leo Allen – Whiplash
Sara Benincasa – Family Hour, Ultimate Gossip Girl Sumit
Gabe Liedman, Jenny Slate, and Max Silvestri – Big Terrific
Seth Herzog - Sweet
Eliza Skinner/ Shockwave – The BEATdown

Best Sketch Comedy Group
BriTANick - www.britanick.com
Derrick - www.derrickcomedy.com
Elephant Larry - www.elephantlarry.com
Murderfist - www.murderfist.com
Pangea 3000 - www.pangea3000.com

Best Improv Group
Bastian - newyork.ucbtheatre.com/shows/5
Centralia
Death By Roo Roo - myspace.com/deathbyrooroo
4Track - 4track.tumblr.com
Mother - motherimprov.com

Best Musical Comedy Act (Solo or Group)
Adira Amram
Baby Wants Candy
Shayna Ferm
I Eat Pandas
Reggie Watts

Best Female Standup Comedian
Michelle Buteau
Claudia Cogan
Michelle Collins
Jackie Monahan
Giulia Rozzi

Best Male Standup Comedian
Hannibal Burress
Pete Holmes
Joe Mande
Matt McCarthy
Kumail Nanjiani

Best Website
The Comics Comic - thecomicscomic.com
Drink at Work - drinkatwork.com/
Improv Everywhere - improveverywhere.com/
Improv is Good For You - improvisgoodforyou.com/
Jake and Amir - jakeandamir.com/
UCB Comedy - ucbcomedy.com

Best One Person Show
Kurt Braunohler – Kurt Braunohler's One Man Show: A Meditation on Dum Dums and B-holes
Chris Gethard - Chris Gethard's Magic Box of Stories
Kumail Nanjiani – Unpronouncable
Lennon Parham – She Tried to Be Normal
Charlie Sanders – Minnesota Muslim

Best Performance in a Commercial or Episode of Law and Order
Brett Gelman – NY Lottery (Little Bit O' Luck)
John Gemberling – Boost Mobile
Matt McCarthy – Verizon
Matt Oberg – Ritz Crackers
Ptolemy Slocum – NY Lotto

Best Short Comedic Film
Governor Palin Vlogs - Sara Benincasa & Diana Saez http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEW12XLUM7A
Green Screen - Eugene Cordero http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d205ba6c4/fun-with-editing-from-eugene-cordero#player
It's Just Business - BOF http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=47908886
The Phelps Minute - Rob Lathan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXlk-FMei6o&feature=channel_page
Val Verde - Elephant Larry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_d-nN7HvEs&feature=channel_page

Best Technician
Pat Baer
Jon Gutierrez
Carol Hartsell
Richard Jones
Jasper Ream

Best Variety Show
Big Terrific
The Dave Hill Explosion
High School Talent Show
The Rejection Show
Whiplash

Outstanding Achievement in Flyer or Postcard Design
Steve Dressler – High School Talent Show
Dyna Moe - Gavin Speiller Needs Your Approval
Anya Garrett – Jar Full of Roaches
Keith Huang & Ariel Estrada – Kevin Allison's 'F*** Up'
Stefan Lawrence – Sketchfest NYC

Emerging Comic Award
Sara Benincasa
Joselyn Hughes
Mark Normand
Lennon Parham
Sean Patton
Brooke Van Poppelen