Mike Lebovitz

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Mike Lebovitz
Mike Lebovitz.jpg
Lebovitz in 2010
Born1979or1980(age 43–44) [1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationStand-up comedian
Years active2002-present
Known forComedians You Should Know
Website mikelebovitz.net

Mike Lebovitz is an American stand-up comedian from Chicago now living in New York. He is a co-founding member of the Comedians You Should Know collective, [2] a nationally known group based in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Sean Ely of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Lebovitz "has helped define the stand-up comedy scene in Chicago." [3]

Contents

His 2021 solo comedy album, Two Slob Household, released on Stand Up! Records, reached No. 2 on the iTunes comedy chart. [4] Comedians You Should Know's self-titled 2011 group album reached No. 1 on the iTunes comedy chart. [5]

Career

Lebovitz began performing improv sketch comedy in 2002, working with both Improv Olympics and The Second City. He moved into solo stand-up comedy in 2007. [6] [7] He is a co-founder, host and producer of Comedians You Should Know, which formed in 2008 in Chicago. [6] [8] In 2015, Lebovitz moved to New York, [9] where he started a new offshoot of Comedians You Should Know the following year. [10] (A Los Angeles chapter of CYSK was also formed in 2015.) [11] [12]

Lebovitz's comic style is often self-deprecating [13] and was described by the Chicago Tribune as "a giant, lovable ball of energy," [14] and "focused yet silly" by Cincinnati CityBeat . [8] He tends to avoid politics in favor of observational comedy and stories from his life as a married father of three children. [7] [14] [15]

Lebovitz was named one of Chicago's best comics in 2014 by Chicago magazine. [1]

In 2015, Lebovitz performed on season 9 of the NBC series Last Comic Standing . [16] [7] He also appeared in a 2018 episode of HBO's The Deuce , [17] After After Party , [18] and the 2009 webseries Assisted Living. [19]

Lebovitz won the international competition at the 2013 Montreux Comedy Festival in Switzerland, an offshoot of the Montreux Jazz Festival. [20] He has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, [21] Tig Notaro's Bentzen Ball, [22] [23] Montreal's Just For Laughs, [24] [25] [7] and the Brooklyn Comedy Festival. [26]

Albums

Lebovitz's album Two Slob Household was recorded in 2014 in Chicago [3] and released on Stand Up! Records in 2021. It features album-cover artwork by Tom Bunk of Mad Magazine and Garbage Pail Kids. [15] Reviewing it for the publication ChicagoNow, Teme Ring wrote that "Mike Lebovitz proves that the year is just getting better." [17] Devin Keast of the podcast Small Tea gave a positive review of the album, saying "It feels like a party. It's warm, it's fun." [27]

Podcasts

Lebovitz hosts two podcasts: Mike Lebovitz Top Secret Underground Podcast, a solo comedy podcast, [28] and The Comedian and the Philosopher, a podcast about philosophical issues co-hosted with Duncan Gale. [29]

Personal life

Lebovitz grew up on the south side of Chicago in the Hyde Park neighborhood. His father is a mathematician. He is married with three children and lives in upstate New York. [30] He is half Jewish. [13]

Discography

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References

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