Best of the Store XL - Frankie Quinones, Annie Lederman, Esther Povitsky, Steph Tolev, Al Madrigal +more!

Esther Lauren Povitsky, also known as Little Esther, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer living in Los Angeles, California. She is the co-creator and star of the comedy series Alone Together. Povitsky moved to Los Angeles to pursue stand-up comedy and acting full-time after attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She studied comedy at iO Chicago, The Second City, and The Groundlings. She frequently performs stand-up comedy at venues throughout Los Angeles, California, including The Comedy Store, The Ice House, and The Improv. She plays Maya on the critically acclaimed series Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Other recent television appearances include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Love, and Parks and Recreation. Povitsky also survived several rounds of 2015's Last Comic Standing (season 9), drawing praise from judge Roseanne Barr in particular. Povitsky was the first female guest to appear on The Joe Rogan Experience, after which she began podcasting with DEATHSQUAD regularly. She hosted Little Esther's Piecast and co-hosts Brode & Esther with fellow comedian Brody Stevens as well as Weird Adults with Little Esther and Glowing Up with Esther and Caroline. She often appears as a guest on the network's Ice House Chronicles. In 2012, Povitsky turned down an offer from MTV to do a reality show based on her life as a comedian because she felt the series would be too invasive. In 2015, Povitsky wrote, starred in, and self-produced the short film Alone Together. The short was later adapted into a pilot for Freeform, produced by The Lonely Island. In December 2016, the pilot was picked up to series. In October, 2017, Freeform renewed the series for a second season ahead of its January 2018 debut.

Meet the funniest topical comedian in America, the man Robin Williams once called “the Will Rogers of the Baby Boom.” Argus Hamilton’s daily column of jokes on the news, now carried in over 100 newspapers across the United States, is also read and heard by millions on the Internet and on radio stations across the country. Argus James Hamilton III is the son, grandson and great-grandson of Methodist ministers in the South. A proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma and now based in Los Angeles, Argus brings an unusual perspective to the news from Washington and around the country. “I’m an English Monarchist and a Southern secessionist,” Argus says. “Let’s see Rush Limbaugh get to the right of that.” Argus performs at corporate, political and charity events around the country. He is regularly quoted by daily newspapers including The San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times, by weekly business papers including the Orange County Business Journal, by Time magazine and by radio personalities including Paul Harvey. Argus was honored by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry as the official comedian of the Oklahoma Centennial and appeared with the governor in the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Best known as the Senior Latino Correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Al Madrigal has made a name for himself in stand-up comedy, acting and as a writer. He stars in the movie Night School with Kevin Hart, The Way Back with Ben Affleck and the upcoming Morbius for SONY with Jared Leto. On the TV side, Al was a series regular and writer on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here and most recently worked as a writer, actor and producer on the CBS sitcom Broke. His critically acclaimed hour special, “Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy” premiered on Showtime in 2017. He is also the co-founder of the All Things Comedy network, alongside fellow comic Bill Burr.

Annie Lederman is your favorite comedian. A standup comic, podcaster, writer & actress. When she isn’t hosting her own podcasts she is usually talking with her friends on theirs. She can regularly be heard on THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE, TOUR MOMS HOUSE, THE CHURCH WITH JOEY DIAZ, WTF WITH MARC MARON, among many others. Most recently Annie can be seen featured in Showtime’s hit documentary miniseries THE COMEDY STORE alongside Jay Leno, David Letterman, Joe Rogan, and many other Comedy Store legends. Additionally, Annie has been seen or heard on all your favorite TV networks including Comedy Central ( LIGHTS OUT WITH DAVID SPADE & THIS IS NOT HAPPENING), MTV (GIRL CODE) , E! (CHELSEA LATELY), & TruTV (COMEDY KNOCKOUT, THE SOUP INVESTIGATES, & ADAM DEVINE’S HOUSE PARTY). After Chelsea, Annie hosted her own short lived pop-culture talk show WE HAVE ISSUES. Additionally acted alongside Ron Livingston in the 2017 Cannes darling THE LONG DUMB ROAD. But wait…that’s not all! On the writing front Annie starred and wrote, STAND UPS, a scripted Comedy Central pilot, produced by Dan Powell (co-creator of INSIDE AMY SCHUMER). She also wrote for IMPRACTICAL JOKERS as well as BORAT. Additionally she was a producer and writer on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series WHO IS AMERICA?

Rick Ingraham, originally from Kansas, has been a stand-up comedian and actor for over 20 years. Onstage, he specializes in crowd work and insult comedy. nnHe can be seen performing several nights a week at the Comedy Store and other Hollywood clubs and also co-hosts the Comedy Store podcast. Early in his career, Rick toured with Pauly Shore and Andrew Dice Clay. nnRick is also a commercial actor and has appeared in many national campaigns.

Steph Tolev is a stand up and sketch comedian from Toronto, Canada currently living in Los Angeles. Her unique brand of absurd and personal comedy has made her an audience favorite across North America both on stage and on television. As a stand up, Steph has done the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal four times, three of which were taped for TV and air on the Comedy Network. Steph made her American TV debut on on Comedy Central part of Bill Burr’s new show “The Ringers”. She was recently named one of Vultures “Comics You Should and Will Know” and one of Comedy Central’s “Up Next” comics to watch. She also co-wrote and co-stars in the Comedy Central web series ” Steph & Deb” with comedian Deb Digiovanni. Steph can also be seen in the Amazon show “Please Understand Me” produced by Sarah Silverman and was featured in season two of “Corporate” on Comedy Central. Steph has won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female Stand up and was a finalist in Sirius XM’s next top comic.nn She was well-received at the acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Clusterfest, Laughing Skull Festival, San Fran Sketch Fest, High Plaines, Big Sky Festival, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Sketch Fest’s, NXNE, and JFL42. Steph has released four albums, “So Many Wolves” in 2014 with her sketch duo Ladystache and most recently “Older & Wider”. On her own she has ” Hot N’ Hungry” from 2016 and just recently “I’m Not Well” that was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Comedy Album.

Francisco Ramos can be seen on Netflix’s “Gentefied” and Hulu’s “This Fool” and wrapped his first feature film “The Unexpecteds” along Matt Walsh from “Veep”. He directed, co-wrote and starred in his debut comedy short “Zoo Animals”, which was acquired by MAX to stream on their platform. He also shot a standup special “Entre Nos” for MAX. He was part of the first ever Netflix is a Joke Festival held in Los Angeles. He was a top-ten finalist on Last Comic Standing and has appeared in Showtime’s “Shameless,” as well other appearances in !Angie Tribeca” from Steve Carell, Netflix’s “Lady Dynamite”, and voicing the role of Marmoset in the animated film “RIO” and part of Cartoon Network show “Victor and Valentino”. He has also appeared on the hilarious @midnight on Comedy Central and several times on Jimmy Kimmel Live. nnFrancisco was part of Lorne Michael’s “Mas Mejor”, where he has written, directed and performed several sketches for them. His debut album “Vayalo” has been exclusively playing on Sirius XM and has been a top 5 album on the Billboard Comedy Charts.nnEarly in his career, Francisco was selected to perform in the CBS Multicultural Diversity Showcase, where he was one of 12 selected from a pool of 5,000 applicants. Having won first place in the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival sponsored by NBC/COZI TV, American Latino produced a documentary on Francisco about his rise as a comic for Latino Out Loud (LOL).

Sam Tripoli is a 28 year headlining comic who currently has five comedy albums out including his latest special “#NoLivesMatter!” He has appeared in the Movie “Dying Laughing”, Showtimes’ “The Comedy Store”, CW’s Mysteries Decoded & co-hosted Spike TV’s Wild World of Spike. Sam is an OG of the legendary The Ice House Chronicles and The Joe Rogan Experience podcasts. His three podcasts, Tin Foil Hat, Conspiracy Social and Broken Simulation, regularly appear in Apple’s Top 200 Of Comedy Podcasts which gave way to his other podcasts Punch Drunk Sports, Cash Daddies, The Union Of The Unwanted and Zero with Sam Tripoli.

Comedian, producer, podcaster, future Bond girl. My Ding Dong Show is the longest running show in the history of The Comedy Store. As seen in Windy City Heat and Showtime's Comedy Store Documentary.