Caroline Hirsch is a name you might be better acquainted with in relation to Caroline's on Broadway, the famous NYC comedy clubs that stood for decades in Manhattan as a true, blue headliner comedy club. Indeed, Hirsch is the titular Caroline for the club as she co-founded it along with the New York Comedy Festival that will be celebrating its 20th year in 2024.

We talk to Caroline through her journey and rise over two score to being a pillar in NYC comedy and what goes into running a successful comedy festival in a city that has a veritable comedy festival every night.

Follow all things NYCF at nycomedyfestival.com

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Michael Blieden may have had a circuitous path through comedy but goodness gracious it's an amazing one. Being the director of Comedians of Comedy, Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion, but also working diligently at Fallon and South Side, and also have a play adapted into a movie by Bob Odenkirk, Blieden has seen and been part of the inner workings of comedy for many of your favorite things (especially since he was on the ground floor comedy what is now the streaming comedy juggernaut "Netflix Is a Joke").

This week's TCB Field Report goes in deep with Blieden's journey to now, where he's deep into producing and shooting an painstakingly detailed Mitch Hedberg doc, as well as his adoration for the art of the joke.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Longtime LA comedy stalwart/producer extraordinaire Joel Mandelkorn returns to the TCB Field Report as one of the marquee show he produces, Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen, is coming to a close. We talk with Joel at length at what makes the center of a comedy scene, what that has been in the past, and what to look for going forward in trying to find that hub of comedy connective tissue going forward.

Follow Joel @cleftclips and @hottub_show on IG.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

20 years in comedy, done on both coasts with two well received late night sets and Chris Laker has come to an intriguing crossroads in his career where he is calling his latest hour "Toiling in Obscurity". It's not necessarily the self-deprecating angle that you might think the name would entirely suggest, but something much more, if you can believe it, affirming. We talk to Chris about his journey to letting go of expectations and focusing on evolving as a comedian and human being.

Follow Chris Laker @chrislaker on IG and get tickets to Toiling in Obscurity with Special Guest John Early on 8/28 @ Lyric Hyperion here.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

When run properly, an open mic can be truly a safe space, free of expectation and hierarchy, and a crucial hub of community with in art form/scene. Open Screen LA fills a very specific, but much needed niche for budding filmmakers or folks that want to make films in and around LA with providing the most egalitarian film open mic possible. We talk to one of the organizers behind Open Screen LA about what goes into the ethos and actual practice of their beautifully engineered open mic.

Get all things Open Screen LA at openscreenla.com

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

800 Pound Gorilla went from indie comedy record label to a force to be reckoned with as 800 Pound Gorilla Media wheeling and dealing in hour specials all around the world, especially voices that you might have not in North America and U.S. comics that might not have had the chance to reach beyond the lower 48. We talk to 800 Pound Gorilla's Ryan Bitzer and Ian Adkins about 800 Pound Gorilla's journey over the last 8 years, how they've done what they've done despite people thinking it was impossible, and going about comedy distribution in a way that attempts to directly connect their favorite comedians to their biggest fans.

Follow all things 800 Pound Gorilla at 800poundgorillamedia.com

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

Director Caroline Suh once was a Louis C.K. fan and then everything came out about his abuse of fellow female comedians, changing her perspective forever. Suh joined forces with co-director Cara Mones to examine the several forces and dynamics at play in comedy/entertainment, often against women, in the fall from grace and very quick rise back to an altered prominence of one Louis C.K. in their newly released documentary from Greenwich Entertainment, Sorry/Not Sorry. They especially hone in on the backlash against the women that came forward, even after #MeToo had been well established as a movement.

This week's episode of TCB Field Report talks in-depth with Mones and Suh about their journey and outlook and hope from making this crucial documentary.

See Sorry/Not Sorry at Lyric Hyperion on 8/3 and stick around for Abby/Megan/Andy Not C.K. after or go see it on VOD.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger

When you think of the sort of life that one might have lead that might be worthy of a memoir, one that is so full of stories that it probably could fill more than one book, former comedy agent turned producer turned author Priyanka Mattoo has lead such a life. Said life includes living in several dozens places across the world starting out in Kashmir and eventually ending up in LA, then working her way up the agency ladder, then wanting to manifest her own big time ideas/projects. Thusly, Mattoo has just published her wild journey in her memoir Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, available now wherever you get books.

We have a nice in-depth chat that takes a tour of this far reaching journey that is inextricably tied to comedy for this week's TCB Field Report.

Follow Priyanka @primattoo on IG and get her book Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones.

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and Jake Kroeger