Hudson Buzz

Before tonight's stand-up comedy classes begin at Levity Live in West Nyack, Hudson Valley comedians Tom Cotter, Kerri Louise, Nick Di Paolo and Pete Dominick offered up some advice to a Newsday Westchester reporter who signed up for the class.

I'm that reporter.

A little background: When Eastchester High School hosted a Gong Show my senior year, it was the first time I took a stab at...

Looking for a mid-week laugh? Empire City Casino in Yonkers is continuing a weekly Wednesday night comedy series, and they've announced the featured comics set to take the stage through the month.

Comedian Joe Matarase kicked off the March series last week, and this Wednesday at 8 p.m., RC Smith, a warmup comic for ABC’s daytime show, “The Chew,” will keep the laughs coming.

“Empire...

A music icon, an Oscar-winning actress and a rising comedian were among the regional celebrities keeping things interesting on Twitter this week.

Because the following embedded tweets, links and videos involve HTML coding, this feature is best viewed with a Web browser. If you missed any of Newsday Westchester's previous Hudson Valley Tweets of the Week installments, click here.

Kicking...

Briarcliff Manor native Elizabeth Tryon blends operatic and comedic elements in her show, "There's a Phantom in My Opera," which makes its New York City debut Tuesday night.

Tryon, 32, recently told Newsday Westchester that her show, which Caroline's on Broadway will host for a one-night-only performance, embraces and lampoons opera, Broadway, classical and pop music. In writing...

The Nyack Village Theatre will host four evenings of original sketch comedy on love gone wrong when the Antics Roadshow returns to perform a newly scripted Valentine’s Extravaganza from Feb. 8 through 16.

The Valentine’s Extravaganza marks the troupe’s fifth performance at the 49-seat black box theater since its production company — Ship of Fools — took up office space and established itself...

This week's best tweets with connections to regional celebrities are all about the rock: A Rockland comic, an iconic rocker and a star of "30 Rock."

Because the following embedded tweets, links and videos involve HTML coding, this feature is best viewed with a Web browser. If you missed any of Newsday Westchester's previous Hudson Valley Tweets of the Week installments, click here.

At...

Rolling Stone has published its list of "The 50 Funniest People Now," and six of them have strong ties to the Hudson Valley.

Making the list, which was posted online Thursday, were Larchmont native Joan Rivers (No. 49), Saugerties-raised Jimmy Fallon (No. 47), North Salem resident David Letterman (No. 35), former Peekskill resident Michael Ian Black (No. 34), Palisades resident Bill...

Fledgling comedians rejoice: West Nyack's Levity Live will be offering stand-up comedy classes.

Starting March 12, the Rockland County venue will begin hosting Manhattan Comedy School classes taught by comedian Cory Kahaney, who's headlined her own HBO and Comedy Central specials and performed sets on "Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Andy...

Bobby Moynihan's first "Saturday Night Live" promos hit Facebook this afternoon, and they're playfully tweaking this week's host, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and "The Voice."

Moynihan fully commits to the mini-sketches that have him literally roping Levine into bits about "The Voice" (the NBC reality show for which Levine is a mentor) and its famous rotating chairs.

Four...

Nick Kroll has a new sketch-comedy series, "Kroll Show," premiering tonight on Comedy Central, but he's been making people laugh — intentionally and unintentionally — ever since he was a kid growing up in Rye.

When I chatted with Kroll before the October season premiere of "The League," he was equally enthusiastic about sharing "Kroll Show" with his audience.

"I'm...