One of stand-up comedy’s fastest rising stars swings through town after a star-making 2017.
Thursday, Jan. 4
Tiffany Haddish: #SheReady @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m. [RESCHEDULED FOR FEB. 1]
Critics didn’t pay all that much attention to Girls Trip when it was released last summer, writing it off as just another raunchy girls-night-out comedy. They missed out: The movie went on to become the biggest box office comedy of the year, and the only 2017 comedy to rake in more than $100 million domestically. The movie’s winning cast included Queen Latifah, Regina Hall and Jada Pinkett Smith, yet the indisputable star was the least known of its main cast members, Tiffany Haddish, who was perfectly cast as the party animal of the group—some critics compared Haddish’s performance to Melissa McCarthy’s breakout turn in Bridesmaids. A former star of NBC’s late, lamented “The Carmichael Show,” Haddish has been making the most of her newfound fame. In November she made history when she became the first black female stand-up comedian to host “Saturday Night Live,” and last month she released her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn. Next year she’ll co-star alongside Kevin Hart in the movie Night School (from Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee), so there’s a good chance she’ll be performing somewhere much larger than the Pabst next time she comes through town on a stand-up tour.
[This show has been postponed due to the snowstorm on the East Coast, the Pabst Theater announced. It has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Riverside Theater. "Tickets purchased for the Jan. 4 show will be honored on Feb. 1 and all current ticket holders will be relocated to seats in equivalent locations for the rescheduled show at The Riverside Theater," the venue announced. "Additional tickets for The Riverside show will be available on Friday, Jan. 5 starting at 12 p.m. CST."]
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Friday, Jan. 5
PubPass MKE 2018 Kickoff Party @ Company Brewing, 8:30 p.m.
Consider it a challenge for people who don’t like to drink at the same spot every week: For $25, the Milwaukee PubPass gets you a free pint of craft beer at 25 Milwaukee bars. The goal, of course, is to visit them all. To celebrate the 2018 PubPass, which is on sale now, Company Brewing will hold this free event, which will feature drawings for prizes for those devoted bar-hoppers who completed all 25 stops on their 2017 pass. Company Brewing will also be offering a beer on the house to anybody who finished last year’s pass. Open to pass-holders and the general public alike, this event will feature music from the Weezer cover band Pleezer, who will play the band’s blue album and Pinkerton in their entirety.
Steely Dane: The Ultimate Steely Dan Tribute w/ Sam Lyons @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Steely Dan technically still exists, but for most fans the band came to an end last year when one of its two founders, Walter Becker, passed away. For now, Donald Fagen continues to tour under the old band name for commercial reasons, even though he told Rolling Stone he’d prefer to retire the group. “That’s an ongoing debate,” Fagen said. “To me, Steely Dan was just me and Walter, really—it was like a concept we had together.” It remains to be seen, then, whether Milwaukee will ever host another Steely Dan show, but in the meantime, local Dan fans have the chance to see a surprisingly good facsimile in the form of Steely Dane—a detail-oriented tribute group that models their live show after Steel Dan’s recent tours, complete with a four-piece horn section and three backup singers.
Saturday, Jan. 6
Faux Fiction w/ Rocket Paloma and For The Culture Burlesque @ Company Brewing, 10 p.m.
Fronted by howling singer-guitarist Gabby Kartz, the Milwaukee rock trio Faux Fiction specialize in riff-heavy alternative rock and power-pop, with due nods to acts like Dinosaur Jr. and the Breeders. At this show, they’ll kick off their January tour and celebrate the release of their latest EP, Dark Matter. Joining them for the night are Milwaukee rockers Rocket Paloma, the burlesque act For The Culture, comedian Kaitlin McCarthy and live artist Rachel Sheree.
The Rich Hands w/ Dusk, Bad Wig and Phylums @ Cactus Club, 9 p.m.
It’s funny how one solid touring band can bring out so much local talent. Last year, San Antonio rockers The Rich Hands released their album Take Care, a sharp collection of buzzy, sometimes-scuzzy garage rock. They’ll be in good company at this Milwaukee tour stop, supported by a couple of blustery but tuneful Milwaukee rock bands—Bad Wig and Phylums—and the Appleton band Dusk, a soulful, alt-country-minded project from Tenement’s Amos Pitsch. The Platinum Boys will DJ between sets.
Damaged Justice w/ Avenge 7X @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Rather than trying to recreate their source material faithfully, the most interesting cover bands tend to put their own stamp on the material they cover. Such is the case with Chicago’s Damaged Justice, a Metallica tribute band fronted by a woman, Kristy Tallica, instead of an ordinary James Hetfield stand-in. The group will share this bill with another cover band, the Avenged Sevenfold tribute Avenge 7X.
