It was a great year in comedy, so selecting the best of the best and compiling it into an hour-long special was a tall order. We have done just that, however, and we're kicking a new year off with a bang and The Best Comedy of 2012, as curated by the Bullseye staff.

You'll hear selections from the following, all of which are available for purchase now:

• Aziz Ansari - Dangerously Delicious
• Maria Bamford - Maria Bamford, the Special Special Special
• Demetri Martin - Standup Comedian
• Doug Benson - Smug Life
• Garfunkel and Oates - Slippery When Moist
• Hannibal Buress - Animal Furnace
• James Adomian - Low Hangin' Fruit
• Jim Gaffigan - Mr. Universe
• John Mulaney - New In Town
• Lewis Black - In God We Rust
• Tig Notaro - Live
• Kyle Kinane - Whiskey Icarus
• Paul F. Tompkins - Laboring Under Delusions: Live in Brooklyn

New to Bullseye? Subscribe to the show in iTunes or via the RSS feed, or check out our SoundCloud page to share any or all of our interviews or recommendations!

Comedian Kyle Kinane returns to talk cheese steaks, wooden teeth, and Burning Man.

Download episode 236 here. (right-click)

Get in touch with us at stoppodcastingyourself [at] gmail [dot] com or (206) 339-8328

Brought to you by:

(click here for the full recap)

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They Might Be Giants launch their tour this week with Jonathan Coulton opening. They have by far the most appearances of any performer on this week's list including:

• Tour launch on Sept. 8th at Toads in New Haven;
• Sept. 9th at the Mahaiwae Theater in Great Barringon, MA;
• Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH on Sept. 10th;
• Upper Valley Events Center in Norwich, VT on Sept. 11th;
• State Theater in Ithaca, NY on Sept. 13th;
• Byham Theater in Pittburgh, PA on Sept. 14th; and
• Harro East Ballroom in Rochester, NY on Sept. 15th.

And here's what all of our other MaxFun favorites will be up to this week:

Andy Kindler will be in San Francisco at the Punch Line on Sept. 13th and 14th;

Ben Folds will be in Minneapolis, MN at the Orchestra Hall on Sept. 17th and in Milwaukee, WI at Veterans Park on Sept. 18th;

Bill Burr will be at the Funny Bone in Columbus, OH on Sept. 10th and 11th;

Blitzen Trapper will be playing the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR on Sept. 9th; Music Millenium in Portland, OR on Sept. 12th; and Easy Street Records in Seattle on Sept. 13th;

Brian Posehn will be at Ottos Nightclub in Dekalb, IL on Sept. 9th and at the Cubby Bear in Chicago, IL on Sept. 10th;

Chris Tucker at Sheas Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY on Sept. 9th, at Citi Performing Arts Theater in Boston, MA on Sept. 10th, and Chicago Theater in Chicago, IL on Sept. 16th;

Das Racist will perform at Bowery Ballroom in Brooklyn on Sept. 12th;

Dave Atell will be performing at Helium in Portland, OR on Sept. 15th through the 17th;

Demitri Martin will be performing Sept. 16th at the Orpheum in Phoenix, AZ and Sept. 17th in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts;

Devo will be at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR on Sept. 16th and Redhook Brewery in Woodinville, WA on Sept. 17th;

Doug Benson will be at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls, SD on Sept. 9th and at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, AZ on Sept. 10th;

Gary Hustwit will be premiering his latest film, Urbanized, at the Tortonto International Film Festival on Sept. 9th, 11th and 16th;

Hannibel Burress will perform September 8th-10th at the Arlington Drafthouse,in Arlington, VA and September 14th - 17th at Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington, KY;

The Hold Steady will perform Sept. 23rd in Philadelphia, PA at the Popped! Music Festival;

Jackie Kashian will be at Kirkland Laughs in Kirkland, WA Sept. 15th - 17th;

John Oliver will be at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis, MN on Sept. 24th;

Kyle Kinane will perform at the Comedy Club on State in Madison, WI on Sept. 8th, 9th and 10th;

Marc Maron will spend Sept. 8th - 10th at Zanies in Nashville, TN;

Ray Romano will be at the Mirage in Las Vegas Sept. 16th and 17th;

Steven Wright will perform on Sept. 10th at Fox Theatre at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT and September 17th at the Meadowbrook Music Festival in Rochester Hills, MI;

Ted Leo will spend Sept. 10th in Portland, OR at the Backspace Cafe;

Todd Barry will make a rare west coast appearance on Sept. 16 and 17 at the Improv in Los Angeles, CA, and he will be joined by Tig Notaro on the 16th;

Two Kids One Hall (Kevin McDonald and Scott Thompson) will perform at Cobbs in San Francisco Sept. 15th - 18th.

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Here's where you can catch some of your favorite MaxFun performers this week:

• The Hold Steady will be in Atlanta, GA at the Variety Playhouse on August 30th; at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC on August 31st; at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on Sept. 1st; and at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA on Sept. 2nd.
• Mavis Staples will appear at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival on Sept. 3rd and Das Racist will also appear at the festival on Sept. 4th.
• There will be a great lineup of comedians at Bumbershoot from Sept. 3rd to Sept. 5th, including Doug Benson (who will be recording an episode of "Doug Loves Movies"), Kyle Kinane, Scott Aukerman (who will be recording "Comedy Bang! Bang!"), Paul F. Tompkins and Eugene Mirman.
• Benson will also be appearing earlier in the week on August 29th at Hyena's in Ft. Worth, TX and on Sept. 1st at Helium in Philadelphia, PA.
• The Rock the Bells festival (which includes performances by Mobb Deep, Childish Gambino and Blu & Exile) will be coming to Governor's Island in New York on Sept. 3rd.
• Dr. Dog will perform on August 29th at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, RI; on Sept. 1st at the Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY; and on Sept. 3rd at the WHYY Connections Festival on Penns Landing in Philadelphia, PA.
• Tig Notaro, as usual, is keeping very busy. On August 31st, she will be at the Opolis in Norman, OK; on Sept. 1st she'll be at Press Bar in Kansas City, MO; and on Sept. 3rd at Firebirds in St. Louis, MO.
• Jonathan Coulton will be performing Sept. 2nd with Paul and Storm at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA. Looks like this will be his last show before launching his extensive fall tour with They Might Be Giants.
• Greg Proops will be recording his Smartest Man in the World podcast at the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin on September 4th.

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Here is a quick list of cities and venues where you can catch some face time with your favorite MaxFun performers during the coming week. Click on the name of the venue for ticket info.

• Bill Burr will be at Zanies in Nashville on August 18th, 19th and 20th.
• Doug Benson will be at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis on August 16th, 17th and 18th.
• Jonathan Coulton will be performing while afloat on the Jewel, leaving Skyport Marina in NYC on August 19th.
• Kyle Kinane will be at the Slowdown in Omaha, NE on August 17th and at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls, SD on August 19th.
• Eugene Mirman is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his "Pretty Good Friends" show on August 21st at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Guests will include David Cross and A.D. Miles.
• Tig Notaro will be at the Comedy Bar in Toronto, ON (8/16), in Montreal, QC at La Sala Rossa (8/17), in New Haven, CT at Cafe Nine (8/18) and in Allston, MA at Great Scott (8/19).
• Michael Ian Black will be at the Impov in Louisville, KY on August 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st.
• Greg Proops will performing at the Pittsburgh Improv on August 19th.
• Marc Maron will be at the Playboy Club in Vegas on August 18th, 19th and 20th.
• Scott Thompson and Kevin McDonald will be performing "Two Kids, One Hall" at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse in Arlington, VA on August 19th and 20th.

From time to time, of course, there are shows which are likely to be so popular that I wouldn't recommend waiting until the week of the performance to buy tickets. I'll list one or two of those separately each week. Buy now:

• John Waters is doing a one-man show called "This Filthy World" at Salt Lake City's Jeanne Wagner Theater on Oct. 13th.

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Freaks and Geeks from Donald Glover

• The video for Donald Glover's single off his EP out next month is making the rounds as of today -- check out the pop-culture laced rhymes of "Freaks and Geeks" above. (Lyrics are NSFW, so you know.) He's also just announced a string of national tourdates for the IAmDonald tour.
  
  
• The excellent documentary Lemmy, about Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister is out now on DVD, and I believe you'll find our interviews from last year's South by Southwest film festival with Lemmy and filmmakers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski in the (packed) bonus section!
  
  
• Kyle Kinane, of our our Best Comedy of 2010 picks, has a Comedy Central Presents special premiering tonight at 11/10 Central. Set your DVRs (or better yet, just stay in and watch it).
  
  
• Check out Matt Walsh and other past guests (like David Malki !) on this scripted sci-fi comedy podcast called Better Radio.
  

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• Paul Scheer, the embodiment of the values of MaxFun, has announced that his show National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle, a parody of "police procedural" shows we've come to know so well, will be coming to Adult Swim next summer. Be sure to check out Paul's recent contributions to The Sound, including his reading on this show with Judd Apatow and this AWESOME piece with Seth Morris.
  
  
• Flying Lotus produced the track "BNG" for LA rapper Blu, which now has a pretty cool new video.
  
  
• Kyle Kinane, Chelsea Peretti, and Reggie Watts are all on Comedy Central's Hot List of 2010, which recognizes some of the up-and-coming talent in the world of comedy. Chelsea and Reggie have both appeared on The Sound in the past year and a half, and Kyle is included in our own upcoming Best of 2010 Comedy Special. Look out for it!
  
  
• Yo La Tengo kick off their annual lineup of Hannukah shows tonight, and the speculation on their special guests begins...
  
  
• And we just can't contain our cheers for Al Madrigal, who just announced that he's developing a sitcom with ABC revolving around a family business of running a food truck -- drawing on his own experiences of working with his parents' business.
  

Comedian Kyle Kinane joins us to talk trampolines, bed bugs, and parental exclamations.

Download episode 133 here. (right-click)

Brought to you by (click here for the full list of sponsors)

Kyle Kinane is an emerging stand up comedian who mixes a honest, self-deprecating delivery with his natural story-telling ability.

He's recently toured with Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn. Kyle has also been a guest on several comedy podcasts, including Doug Benson's Doug Loves Movies, Marc Maron's WTF, Comedy and Everything Else, and The Adam Carolla podcast.

His debut album, "Death of the Party", is out on AST Records.

You can find out about his stand up shows across the country and read his observations about day to day life at www.kylekinane.com, and for more laughs, see another of one of his blogs, I'm Dead and It's All My Fault.