In addition to hosting Punchline with us every week and providing us with our local comedy listings in the paper, they’ve always got some new event they’re putting on — such as their trademark show, Jabbertalky, a whimsical comedy romp recently featured on the Onion’s great new city guide, The Decider.

Check out their site for dates and times of the weekly and special events that Last Gas produces.

Tonight’s lineup o’ hilarity:

Host: Kerri Lendo

Gy Odom
Mike Faerber
Sinan
Joe Lynch
Fabian Rivera
Juan Salinas
Henry Anthony
Carey Moore
Joe Staats
Jake Flores
Dario Konjicija
Seth Cockfield

See you there!

In case you haven’t heard, the Travesty might lose its current UT-housed printing press. Which means the Travesty would lose numbers (and maybe more). So we knew what we had to do: fund raiser! Here’s a video produced by our very own Matty Greene documenting our struggle to raise $125,000 in 2 days by holding a rally in West Mall.

It’s that time of year again: that special night that the entire campus has been waiting for.

That’s right, this Friday at 8 PM in the Union Theater (on 24th and Guadalupe) is the Travesty’s world-renowned BIG COMEDY SHOW. Students of all shapes and sizes will get off their stoned asses and travel to the Union to see some of the most creative and innovative comedians in Austin make with the jokin’.

This year’s lineup is one of the best yet. Hosted by local comedian/improv guru/all-purpose weirdo CHRIS TREW, and featuring headliners JOHN RAMSEY (seen on Comedy Central) and, oh my God, MATT BEARDEN (also seen on Comedy Central & voted “Best Comedian” in the Austin Chronicle’s 2008 Best of Austin Poll), with very special guest LA comedian and Austin expatriate CHRIS FAIRBANKS (of the hilarious but tragically underseen REALITY BITES BACK), the show promises to be an hour and a half of non-stop hilarity.

This year’s lineup:

Nick Ramirez
Lance Gilstrap
Kerri Lendo
Dario Konjicija
Seth Cockfield
Lynette LaMonica
Ramin Nazer
Albert Im
John Ramsey
Matt Bearden
Chris Fairbanks

Did we mention it’s free? Oh, yeah. A free night of great comedy on a Friday night that’s over before 10 PM? You’re welcome.

So please, support local comedy and come to our show in the Union Theater at 8 PM on Friday, November 7th. (And PS: Seriously, Austin really is an exciting place for comedy right now. If you enjoy things that are funny, you really will be doing yourself a favor if you check out these great comedians on Friday.)

For some reason, they asked me to be the Stool Pigeon in tonight’s bonus show. It’s a free show at 7 PM, so if you’re looking for something to do, come out and watch me embarrass myself. It’ll be a blast.

4803-B Airport Blvd. (next to I Luv Video), and it’s BYOB.

And I hope everyone makes it out to Punchline at 10 PM tonight at ColdTowne. Tonight’s current, tasty lineup (subject to change):

Dave Burleigh
Mike Faerber
Kerri Lendo
Bobby DiPasquale
Kevin Stockwell
Ramin Nazer
Seth Cockfield
Dr Juan Salinas
David Cole

Host: Joe Staats

Remember $5, BYOB, and make sure to get there early (by around 9:45).

Secret Muslim B. Hussein Obama:

Or war hero Jack McCain:

Pick up the issue in our boxes on campus, as we hawk them annoyingly in the West Mall, or in select (read: staggeringly hip) Austin businesses. Leave comments on how you feel about the issue, or just about how racist we are. (We know, and wish it could be different.) And the content from this issue will be fully uploaded to our site within the next day or two.

Stay tuned for content that didn’t meet our high standards for publication!

Discriminating Travesty readers,

The world as we know it is rapidly crumbling around us. The budget deficit has hit record highs, our country continues to indefinitely sacrifice lives and money in an unexplained war, and the prospect of unemployment and/or underemployment is an all-too-real fear that college graduates will face as the job market becomes a gasping causality of our failing economy.

…AND OU STILL SUCKS!!!!! Take that, rival university!

In addition to the celebration of Oklahoma’s football team scoring less touchdowns than UT’s rag-tag band of athletes, the Travesty has decided to offer another distraction to help you forget about the clusterfuck that is our country right now.

Wait, did I say you? I meant us. We only print issues three times a semester, which leaves a lot of time for cowering in the corner in a fetal position. According to everyone, these web blogs (or “blogs”) are the future, so we asked The Daily Texan if we could have just a taste of their blog empire to keep us from throwing ourselves out of our third floor office in UA9. And their response of “Sure, whatever. Who are you and how did you get in here?” was all we needed to enter the world of daily blogging, and effectively become even less appealing to the opposite sex than we already are.

Thanks, Daily Texan! (Seriously, though.)

What you can expect from this blog:

• BLOG POSTS. Blog posts are the best way to blog, according to top bloggers. While the proper definition of a blog has yet to be determined, experts have concluded that they can be classified somewhere in between a Xanga and furiously masturbating in your parents’ basement.
• BLOGGERS. We’re hyphantes! Now, instead of being known as “those annoying asshole Travesty writers,” we can be referred to as “those annoying asshole Travesty writer-bloggers!” If there exists a more redundant label, I’d like to know.
• THE BLOGOSPHERE. We actually don’t know what this is.
• YOUTUBES. These are the things that professors show on the first day of class, much to the delight of freshmen who weren’t prepared for the wild ride of college. In the age of Web 2.0 (can you believe it???), YouTube, invented by Rick Astley, is a great way to provide interconnectivity between Web users. It can be used to instantly spread videos of presidential debates, communicate with loved ones across the country, and this.
• TRAVESTY NEWS, FEATURES, AND UPDATES. Content schmontent. Sometimes, we’ll have material that would be too outdated/weird to put in the physical issue supported by our fine, fine advertisers. That’s where this blog will come in. So get ready for Web-only scathing satire about tuition increases and conglomoration of power that’s TOO HOT FOR UT TO HANDLE. (Or, more likely, Photoshopped pictures of monkeys dressed up as businessmen.) This blog will serve as a way to bring you, the rabid Texas Travesty reader, information about what’s going on in Travesty land, such as when new issues come out, where you can find them, and information about shows we’re producing or sponsoring.

Speaking of which, we have recently started producing Punchline, an ultra-fun open-mic comedy show at ColdTowne Theater (at 4803 Airport Blvd next to I Luv Video). Produced as a joint venture between the Travesty, ColdTowne, and Last Gas Comedy, it’s every Friday night at 10 PM for $5 (cash only plz). More importantly, it’s BYOB. Punchline provides an hour or so of some of the best “alternative” comics in Austin right now, and if you’re an Austinite who’s never been to Punchline since it was launched about a year ago, you’re missing out. Get there early, at around 9:45 - the show regularly sells out.

Here’s the current lineup for this Friday, October 17th:

Host: Sheena Simmons

Michael Stansbury
Dario Konjicija
Stuart Stutzman
Dr. Juan
Bobby DiPasquale
Kevin Stockwell
Seth Cockfield
Bryan Gutmann
Kerri Lendo
Patton Quinn
Mike Faerber

Many of these comics are familiar faces in the Austin comedy scene, and we strongly recommend you check out stand-up, sketch, and improv shows at Cap City, the Velveeta Room, and especially ColdTowne (recently voted Best Comedy Group [?!] in Austin by the Chronicle!). Their calendar lists all their shows, mostly improv and sketch, and Last Gas provides a comprehensive list of Austin stand-up comedy. Knowing what snarky dipshits we are, you can rest assured that we wouldn’t be promoting anything we thought was less than pee-in-your-best-friend’s-mouth hilarious.

Couple more thangs:

TEXAS TRAVESTY PRESENTS: FREE P! COMPANY MEGASHOW IS AT THE UNION THEATER FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17TH!!!!!!1

From the boys at the sketch group The P! Company:

“Are you ready to hang out with cool dudes as they chillax and show off some sweet comedy? Excellent. Read on.

Come see the show the Texas Travesty recently described as “a show.” Watch in amazement as Austin’s Best Sketch Comedians* make with the Ha-Has and Yuk-Yuks before your very eyes featuring a blend of taped sketch comedy as well as live hilarity.

The P! Company is something cool that you’ve never seen before (unless you’ve traveled to the future to see this show - but that is impossible, as time machines are a thing of science fiction). It’s absurd, non-sucky, smart, geeky comedy featuring Austin’s HOTTEST* bachelors. Don’t get any ideas, The University of Texas at Austin.

The P! Company’s MEGASHOW begins 8 PM - 10.17.08

*Official P! Company Internal Opinion Poll, 9/08

GO FOR THE GOLD, with The P! Company: Sketch Comedy for Nerdz!!!”

Come on, what are you doing before 10 on a Friday night? Going to either Punchline or the P! Company show, that’s what.

I’ve gotta wrap this up, but don’t forget to check out the Travesty’s new website, become a fan on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter — soon to feature web-exclusive Around Campus entries.

Stay gold, collective Ponyboys,

Ross Luippold
Editor-in-Chief, Texas Travesty
letters@texastravesty.com