Pablo Francisco's latest impressions include the Sham-Wow guy and Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Impressive vocal impressionist Pablo Francisco will bring his crazy antics and arsenal of animated characters back to the Palm Beach Improv this weekend. The former MADtv featured player has performed on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Mind of Mencia, Frank TV and Last Comic Standing.

What: Pablo Francisco

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday.

Where: The Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave. Suite 250, West Palm Beach | Directions, invite a friend

Tickets: $29

Phone: (561) 833-1812

Amy Schumer performs Wednesday at Backstage @ The Fillmore.

Sadly, Amy Schumer won’t be getting quality time on the sand during her stay in Miami Beach for the South Beach Comedy Festival. At least during the daytime.

“They’re running me around a good bit,” Schumer said in a telephone interview. “I think I’ll probably get my beach time after my show’s over, when I’m drunk. They’ll probably arrest me for being under some vagrant’s blanket or something.”

Schumer is actually here for two shows – she hosts a taping for Comedy Central on Tuesday at the Fillmore Miami Beach, and then on Wednesday it’s all her own show at Backstage @ The Fillmore.

She’s well aware that asking the crowd about who’s here from New York is a cheap way to get the crowd into the show.

“Oh yeah, that’s a five-minute applause break,” said Schumer, who grew up on Long Island. “But hey, I love it down here.”

Find more shows at the South Beach Comedy Festival | Festival website

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Marc Maron has seen his career go from the 1980s standup boom to the growth of alternative comedy to the podcast-heavy age of today. (Photo by Larry Hirshowitz)

Marc Maron may have appeared on Conan O’Brien’s show more than any other comic, and may have also been on with Jay Leno and David Letterman. He may have been around the world, making thousands of people laugh from the stage.

But he’s still a fan.

His podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, is one of the most popular podcasts around, and his interviewing style has been lauded as both comforting and challenging.

But Maron has had some pretty big names on his show, like Jon Hamm, Robin Williams and Ben Stiller. And sometimes, he can get as caught up in having someone famous in his house as anyone might.

“I have to struggle with that sometimes,” Maron said in a telephone interview. “I’m a 48-year-old man, and let’s face it, we all have our jobs here. But the fact about me is that I have to be honest about how much I like the show if I really like it. I had that problem with Bryan Cranston (from Breaking Bad). I really wanted to talk to (Cranston’s drug-dealing character) Walter White.”

Maron still travels a good deal as a stand-up comic, and is part of this year’s South Beach Comedy Festival down in Miami Beach. He’ll be appearing at the Colony Theatre on March 1 at 8 p.m.

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Gary Owen has been touring the comedy scene for more than a decade and will make his next stop at the Palm Beach Improv this weekend. Owen was most recently seen as "Zach the barber" on Tyler Perry’s TBS series House of Payne. Additionally, Owen has been in such films as Little Man with the Wayans Brothers and Daddy Day Care with Eddie Murphy.

What: Gary Owen

When: 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday.

Where: The Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave. Suite 250, West Palm Beach | Directions, invite a friend

Tickets: $23.70

Phone: (561) 833-1812

Jeff Dunham and his curmudgeonly character Walter perform at the BankAtlantic Center. (Andrew Nathanson / GatorProduction.com)

Anyone over age 12 making funny voices with puppets might merit a comfortable room nicely appointed with padded walls. If you are Jeff Dunham, however, you end up headlining arenas, starring in television specials, and one of your characters becomes an unofficial mascot of the military. Smartly, this ventriloquist weaved symbolic commentary on racism throughout the show in comedic fashion, and blatantly stated it is wrong even as he mocked many stereotypes.

To a mostly full house at the Florida Panthers’ arena, the BankAtlantic Center, Dunham owned the audience to their collective delight this night. Dunham took the stage with a 20-minute monologue and supporting photos projected on the circular screen. He started with his home life and talked about making puppets at a young age. Dunham presented shots from his yearbooks starting in seventh grade – a way to get a professional photo each year. In ninth grade he noted braces as ironic for a guy who makes a living with his mouth closed stating, “What’s the point!”

Photos: Jeff Dunham at the BankAtlantic Center | Visit Andrew Nathanson’s website

To show his “normal” upbringing he presented a photo of his parents as Batman and Robin as they were headed to a party he thought. Or maybe they stayed home and sent him to bed early that night. The laughs allowed him tell the audience they were a sick crowd.
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Observational humorist Jo Koy will return to entertain audiences at the Palm Beach Improv tonight and Saturday. Comedy fans may recognize him from appearances on various VH1 I Love the ’70s, ’80s or ’90s episodes. He also has starred in several television stand-up specials from BET’s Comic View to Jamie Foxx Presents: Laffapalooza!

Directions, invite a friend

On Sunday, Jo Koy’s opening act Orlando Baxter will step into the headliner spot and take over the Improv stage for the 7 p.m. show. This energetic former middle school teacher was a finalist in NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity Showcase, and a finalist in the New York Comedy Contest and the Boston Comedy festival. He’s a regular at numerous comedy clubs throughout New England, and currently tours the country performing with Koy.

What: Jo Koy; Orlando Baxter

When: Koy performs 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday. Baxter performs 7 p.m. Sunday .

Where: The Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave. Suite 250, West Palm Beach

Tickets: $29 (Koy); $15.22 (Baxter)

Phone: (561) 833-1812

Jeff Foxworthy performs at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. (Howie Grapek / GPO)

Jeff Foxworthy, the best-selling comedy recording artist in history, paid a visit to The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood on Thursday night. He joked with the sold-out crowd about his family, his childhood, differences between men and women, and many other real-life experiences and observations.

Foxworthy’s humor works because he is just observing life around him. I was thrilled that the show had some new material in it. As Foxworthy is now over 50, he is barraged with new experiences surrounding his age. One portion of the night’s stand-up act focused on issues such as colonoscopies, sexual dysfunction and prostate check-ups. Granted, this is old-style humor, always guaranteed to get some laughs, but Foxworthy’s delivery kept it fresh and fun.

Photos: Jeff Foxworthy at the Hard Rock | Visit Howie Grapek’s website

Foxworthy has a way with a phrase that sounds homespun yet warped in an original way. Being with his in-laws, for example, is “as fun as sittin’ in a tub full of scissors.” He got many laughs when talking about his family – His mother, he noted, didn’t want to stay at the local Motel 6 because “I don’t want people thinking we’re uppity.”
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On this year's roster for the South Beach Comedy Festival: Lewis Black, Donald Glover, Aziz Ansari.

The guy who wants you to save NBC’s Community on YouTube is coming to South Florida – probably hoping his campaign is successful.

Donald Glover, who plays Greendale Community College student Troy Barnes, will be part of the lineup for the South Beach Comedy Festival in Miami Beach, Feb. 29-March 3.

Glover will be joined by Lewis Black, Aziz Ansari, Mark Maron, Jeffrey Ross, the team of Key & Peele, Amy Schumer, Rob Delaney and Hannibal Buress, along with the roster of Shaq’s All-Star Comedy Jam, including Bill Bellamy, Gary Owen and Tommy Davidson.

Glover is a multi-talented performer who also counts rap among his skills – he uses the name Childish Gambino – and was also a writer on 30 Rock before starting on Community. Glover received the first-ever Rising Comedy Star of the Year Award at the recent Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.

He’ll be performing March 3 at the Fillmore Miami Beach.
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Pete Correale performs this weekend at the Improv at CityPlace, while Derek Richards and the Irish Comedy Tour head to Jupiter's Atlantic Theatre.

Pete Correale brings his perspective on the quirks of everyday life back to the Palm Beach Improv this weekend. He first stepped on stage in 1994 after graduating from Fredonia State College in New York. Since then he has showcased his material on television on Premium Blend, Shorties Watchin’ Shorties, Tough Crowd, Last Call with Carson Daly and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In addition to working the stand-up circuit, he is a writer and radio personality. For four years he, along with former Saturday Night Live actor Jim Breuer, co-hosted Breuer Unleashed on Sirius satellite radio.

Directions, invite a friend: Pete Correale | Irish Comedy Tour

The laughs continue in Jupiter this weekend at the Atlantic Theater where it’s never too early to start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! Get in the spirit with the Irish Comedy Tour, complete with a guitarist (Derrick Keane) from Dublin, on Saturday. Detroit native Derek Richards, who has appeared on the Bob & Tom Show, will entertain with tales about his pale Irish skin, the holidays and dating a stripper. Boston-born Mike McCarthy will showcase the no-holds-barred humor that has landed him on Comedy Central and Showtime. The boisterous, belly-laugh trio will perform two shows, one at 7:30 and one at 9:30 p.m on Saturday.

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Bob Newhart performs at Hard Rock Live. (Howie Grapek / GPO)

It felt as if we were transported back in time to vintage Las Vegas when Bob Newhart and the daughter of Dean Martin performed live to over 4,500 distinguished guests at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Tuesday night.

Deana Martin opened the show to sing and reminisce about the original “Rat Pack”, specifically her dad (Dean Martin) and her “uncles”: Sammy (Davis Jr.), Frank (Sinatra), Joey (Bishop) and Peter (Lawford). After a short video introduction, Ms. Martin opened the show with “Ain’t It A Kick In The Head”. Then she mentioned the first “Ocean’s 11″ movie. She said that she “remembered it like it was yesterday” and went right into “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You”. Before singing “Volare”, she described her first singing lessons with Sinatra and humorously compared styles of her dad with her Uncle Frank.

Martin said that she loved her father and extended family very much. She told sweet stories of being chaperoned in Las Vegas by her “uncles” when she was a kid. She shared that as she was arriving at the show tonight, she was asked by a couple in the elevator if her necklace was real. She said, “Of course it is!”, and then explained, “I’m Italian and very proud of it.” She continued to share that she has been asked thousands of times over the years if she would sing a duet with her dad. To the crowd’s delight and with the magic of technology, Martin actually performed a duet of “Lady Is A Tramp” with her late dad.

After a short slide show of the Rat Pack and Martin’s childhood, she concluded her set with “L.O.V.E.” / “It Had To Be You” and “Everybody Loves Somebody”.

Photos: Bob Newhart and Deana Martin at Hard Rock Live | Visit Howie Grapek’s website

Bob Newhart took the stage following Martin’s performance and entertained for more than an hour. Mr. Newhart also took the audience back in time with hilarious stories and video clips. He showed clips from his two hit TV programs, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, and a mock family history.

Newhart joked about everything with a straight-face, which he is best know for. He discussed religion, sex, his love of flying, how he got into comedy and being from Chicago. He covered material spanning his entire career. After talking about his failing attempt of being an accountant (a true story), and other stories of how he originally got into comedy, he performed “Driving Instructor” – just as it was originally recorded on his first comedy album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart from 1960.
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