In an homage to classic playground battles Ninjas Vs. Pirates and My Dad Vs. Your Dad, Uptown Showdown gives this battle the big stage it richly deserves. Climb in the shark cage, prepare the bear spray and cheer on the powerhouse that best reflects your sense of self: Are you a sleek, stealthy undersea creature with a bite or a hairy, roaring galoot whose hobbies include raiding pic-a-nic baskets? This installment features Ariel Dumas (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), Christian Finnegan (Best Week Ever), Mehran Khaghani (Last Comic Standing), Clare O'Kane (Saturday Night Live), Bob Powers (Our Cartoon President) and Tami Sagher (Life & Beth)!
The popular comedy debate series invites two teams of funny folks from the worlds of stand-up and late-night television to tackle topics of great importance to pop culture, such as which pet is superior—cats or dogs—and is it better to be comfortable or fashionable? The verbal sparring and all-around absurdity only stop when the audience decides the winner. Hosted by Matthew Love.
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Past Performers include Elna Baker, Maria Bamford, Michael Ian Black, Guy Branum, Wyatt Cenac, Ronny Chieng, Jo Firestone, John Fugelsang, Janeane Garofalo, Jon Glaser, Ilana Glazer, Josh Gondelman, Dave Hill, Maeve Higgins, Mehran Khaghani, Julie Klausner, Hasan Minhaj, Aparna Nancherla, Kristen Schaal, Baratunde Thurston, Kevin Townley, Michael Showalter, Dan Soder, Bowen Yang, Sasheer Zamata, and many more.
Ariel Dumas currently serves as head writer and supervising producer of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her work for The Late Show has been recognized with a dozen Emmy Award nominations, and she was honored with the WGA Award in 2021 for her contributions to Stephen Colbert's Election Night 2020 special. Dumas wrote the screenplay for the Looney Tunes musical Bye Bye Bunny, forthcoming this year.
Christian Finnegan is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor best known as one of the original panelists on VH1's Best Week Ever. He has also been featured on Chapelle's Show, The Good Wife, Are We There Yet?, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and is a regular fixture on Comedy Central across various series and network interstitials. His most recent comedy special, Christian Finnegan: Show Your Work, premiered in 2021.
Mehran Khaghani is a standup comedian, emcee, actor, event producer, upstart, social advocate, serial yeller, troublemaker, love-spreader, line-pusher, and general intellect of intimidating proportion currently living in New York City. He has been a finalist in multiple comedy festivals, tours nationally, was featured on Season 9 of NBC's Last Comic Standing, has been seen on MTV, Comedy Central, IFC, and TruTV, and is a regular at the world-famous Comedy Cellar in New York City.
Clare O’Kane is an actor, comedian and writer from San Jose, California. She has performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, Outside Lands, and has opened for the band Jawbreaker on their most recent reunion tour. She has written for Spongebob Squarepants, Shrill, Saturday Night Live, appeared on Comedy Central (dot com) and was the pseudo-host of Viceland's Flophouse. In 2022 she was deemed a Comedian You Should Know by Vulture. O’Kane is frequently cast in short films and usually paid in hummus. She has been described as “sarcastic” and “half-Asian”.
Bob Powers is a WGA Award-nominated TV writer, author, and content creator. He is the author of three books, including Happy Cruelty Day!, and has contributed to McSweeney's, The New Yorker, Esquire, and GQ, among other publications. He served as both writer and voice actor on the series Our Cartoon President and Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News, and co-produced the animated series Fairview.
Tami Sagher is a writer, producer, and actress, whose credits include Mad TV, Psych, 30 Rock, Girls, Orange Is the New Black, Inside Amy Schumer, Don't Think Twice, Shrill, The Great, and Life & Beth, among others. She has also contributed to NPR's This American Life. A veteran performer of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Sagher performs improv live at venues across NYC.
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