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Comedy at The Improv with Howie Nave: Ben Gleib and Joe Praino perform this week at Lake Tahoe

Howie Nave
Special to Lake Tahoe Action
Ben Gleib, pictured with Howie Nave, returns to The Improv this week.
Provided Photo |

Ben Gleib

Gleib returns to Tahoe this week — named by Esquire Magazine as one of six comedians who would be comedy’s next big thing (the other five: Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Demetri Martin and Flight of the Conchords), and by TBS as one of the “funniest comedians working today,” Gleib is currently host, writer and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated “Idiotest” on Game Show Network.

The comedian had an hour-long stand-up special (“Ben Gleib: Neurotic Gangster”) on Showtime and even appeared on “Today” with Kathie Lee and Hoda on their “Guys Tell All” segment. Gleib was also on Comedy Central’s “@midnight” with Chris Hardwick, made close to 100 appearances on Chelsea Handler’s infamous E! show and scripted her television series “After Lately.”



For all his credits, though, his favorite was voicing Marshall the sloth in “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” which became an international success. He went on to voice other characters, such as Dali in “The Book of Life” and credits in “Phineas and Ferb” and Kevin Smith’s “Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie.”

His podcast “Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib” on the SModcast Network debuted at No. 9 on iTunes Comedy and was No. 1 on Stitcher for over 20 weeks. Every Wednesday Gleib summarizes news and politics, occasionally joined by celebrity guests like Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Sam Donaldson, Moby, Adam Devine and his parents.



How he found the time to get back up here to the High Sierra is beyond me, but we’re glad he’s back.

Joe Praino

Praino was a three-sport varsity athlete in high school — he played football, basketball and baseball. Even though he has a lot of comedy credits, he was also on College Sports Television. The comedian is an east coaster born in New York City and grew up in the small hamlet of Katonah, New York. He lived just down the street from Martha Stewart, but she never once came over to bring him cookies. It was because of that rejection Praino started doing stand-up at an early age.

Praino’s comedy career started while he attended college in Pennsylvania and made weekly trips to New York City to perform at Comic Strip Live. After graduating in 2001 he moved to the Big Apple, where, as he says, “I split my time between drinking, working and performing (although to be honest I was usually drinking while working and performing, too).”

While in New York, Praino was a featured stand-out at the Boston Comedy Festival, the New York Surf Film Festival, the Lighthouse International Film Festival and High Times Magazine. He eventually made the move to Los Angeles and now has a special called “Joe Praino Takes The Stand.”

The Improv at Harveys takes place Wednesdays through Sundays at 9 p.m. Learn more at http://www.harveystahoe.com.


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