Maria Bamford / Jackie Kashian Stand-Up Comedy House Show – Graphic Design and Live Photos

As part of Comedy Death-Ray‘s 2011 LA Food Bank Charity Auction, my pals Bob Fanning, Noah Lopez and I all chipped in with a collective bid on an auction that was being offered by the brilliant stand-up comedians Maria Bamford and Jackie Kashian. If you won the auction, the prize was that they would each perform a set in your living room — provided that you resided in Los Angeles. Now neither Bob nor I lived in LA, but luckily enough Noah did; so we pooled our money, crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

Astoundingly enough we won (!), so I decided to design a classic “showcard” style poster in celebration of the event and as a memento to give to the audience (and comedians). We also rented a PA system, prepped Noah’s (very small) living room with folding chairs and hired a cook to make some delicious Mexican street food on the porch. It was all very exciting.

When Maria and Jackie arrived they honestly couldn’t have been cooler, and both of them performed completely fantastic sets that were definitely enhanced by the unique/ non-club surroundings. Then after the show they continued to be super gracious by hanging out for over an hour; chatting and taking photos with the attendees, and even signing copies of the poster for everyone.

And hey! Speaking about that poster, they both seemed pleasantly surprised by it (as well as, I suppose, by the entire evening really). Maybe even more awesome to me is that if you watch Maria’s “The Special Special Special” you can see that she hung her copy of my design up in her kitchen! No foolin’, I really couldn’t be more flattered.

So here are a number of photos taken at the event by photographer Jackie Alpers, as well as some detail shots of the poster design itself.

Super unique and very special night.