Un-Cabaret is a legendary venue for idiosyncratic conversational comedy.

Un-Cabaret Multi-Media produces progressive entertainment, events, information, products, and experiences and runs educational seminars, workshops and private coaching services through our teaching wing, Un-Cabaret Laboratories.

A LITTLE HISTORY
Before Julia Sweeney created "God Said Ha!" and "Letting Go of God"...
Before Michael Patrick King wrote and directed "Sex and the City"...
Before Bob Odenkirk and David Cross created "Mr. Show"...
Before Kathy Griffin got on the D-List....
Before Larry Charles directed "Curb Your Enthusiasm", or "Borat"...
Before Greg Behrendt wrote "He's Just Not That Into You"...
Before Janeane Garofalo was on Air America...
Before Margaret Cho created "I'm the One That I Want" and "Notorious C.H.O"...
Before Laura Kightlinger created "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman"...
Before Jeff Garlin produced and co-starred in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"...
Before Sherri Shepherd appeared on "The View" or starred in her own show...
Before Judd Apatow wrote & directed "Knocked Up", "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Funny People"...

They all came to Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret to find their authentic voice, re-connect with their creativity, share their pain, vent their anger and turn their lives into comedy.

Un-Cabaret creator, host & and featured comedian Beth Lapides and founding producer Greg Miller applied artistic criteria to stand up and created an 'alternative comedy' revolution, valuing story over jokes, meaning over form, urgency over polish, and intimacy over schtick.

Beth gathered an incredible posse of forward-looking talent for the ground-breaking alternative standup show Un-Cabaret, seminal spoken word spin-off Say the Word, unique industry access project The Other Network and other TV, radio, online and live events.

LIVE SHOWS & EVENTS
Un-Cabaret materialized in 1990 as an alternative to vapid mainstream stand-up when Artist/Writer/Activist/Performance Artist-turned-Standup, Beth Lapides took comedy out of the comedy clubs - first to 'perfomance art' venues like the Women's Building and Highways, then to nightclubs like Luna Park and the Knitting Factory, and beyond to Lollapalooza, the Getty Museum, HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival, colleges, clubs and theaters across the country. Beth called the show "Un-Cabaret" because, in contrast to divisive lowbrow stand-up, it set out to be un-homophobic, un-xenophobic, and un-misogynistic. And also it didn't feature any singing or dancing.

The LA Times dubbed Beth the "High Priestess" of a revolution that reclaimed comedy as an art form, making it deep, meaningful, even transcendant, and influenced 'alternative comedy' shows in LA, NY, Austin and Toronto. Expanding beyond the Un-Cabaret, Beth and producing partner Greg Miller have developed other breakthrough live shows including "Say the Word" and "The Other Network", as well as producing new work by Julia Sweeney, Randy & Jason Sklar, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and others.

Un-Cabaret collaborates with other producers, non-profit organizations, cultural centers, schools, companies and other institutions including the Skirball Center, ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance to create special events, benefits, workshops and festivals.

TV & OTHER MEDIA

We Created and Executive Produced a one-hour Un-Cabaret special for Comedy Central, a 7-episode stand-up series for The Recovery Network called "The Sweet Smell of Excess" featuring Margaret Cho, Michael Patrick King, Moon Zappa, and others, and "The Couch" for MTV, an experimental talk show hosted by Beth, featuring John C. Reilly, Andy Dick, Scott Thompson, and Mike Mills. As Talent, Beth has also appeared on "Sex and the City", "Politically Incorrect", CNN and others.

We have consulted on talent and developed TV projects for Comedy Central, Oxygen, Buena Vista TV, Evolution Film & Tape, Stone-Stanley, and the Sci-Fi Channel.

We also have produced a lot of RADIO & AUDIO. Beth is a Commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered", hosted her own live daily talk show, plus over 100 episodes of "Radio Un-Cabaret" for Comedy World. Performances recorded at the Un-Cabaret have been featured on NPR shows including This American Life. Greg has Produced all of the above, material and pilots for Premiere, NPR and Sirius Satellite Radio, and worked as a journalist for NPR and the CBC.

Un-Cabaret Records has released 3 critically-acclaimed CD's featuring Un-Cabaret live material, and 2 volumes of greatest hits from "Say the Word".

uncabaret.com launched in 1993, and was at the forefront of web design and online community-building. The site was Lycos Top 5% and named Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Sites of the Year in 1997.

Un-Cabaret has been recording shows, events and one-of-a-kind performances since 1994 and the archive is now available in podcasts through Audible.com.

As an entertainment company, Un-Cabaret specializes in bringing together an eclectic mix of wildly-original talent, inspiring their best work, and synthesizing it into a fast-paced, funny, thought-provoking whole. As a social and educational institution, Un-Cabaret's mission is to help people discover and express their most authentic self in the funniest way possible.

WORKSHOPS & OUTREACH
Our ongoing workshops help people unleash their creativity and express themself using Un-Cabaret-style storytelling and alternative comedy techniques formulated and developed over years. Workshops are led by Un-Cab creator Beth Lapides and producer Greg Miller.

Beth & Greg have taught Andrea Martin (of "SCTV") and many others who studied at The Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Olympics, Second City and other sketch/character schools, and want to try being onstage as themself. They have also worked with writers from "Mad-TV", "King of the Hill", "Undeclared", "Bernie Mac" and other TV shows who felt that they needed to re-connect with their own authentic voice.

Originally our workshop, the Un-Cab Lab, serviced professional writers and comedians and those who were starting out in the entertainment industry. Over the years the workshop attracted increasing numbers of people who had no show biz aspirations; therapists, attorneys, teachers of all kinds and others who were interested in acquiring the skills to be more relaxed, confident, conversational and naturally funny in pitches, presentations or any public speaking situation. They also drew in people who were going through career changes, divorces and other major life changes and were using Beth and Greg's methods to help them deal with life. This led to the re-formulation of our workshop as The Comedian's Way, a spiritual path to higher foolishness for writers, performers and other humans.

We have been conducting workshops privately since 2000. Additionally, Beth & Greg have conducted workshops and lectured at UCLA, Extension, the Skirball Center, Humber College, University of Iowa, CalArts, Judy Carter's Comedy Workshop, and others. They have also been guest instructors for yoga teacher trainings at Yoga Evolution, Yoga Fit Mind-Body Fitness and Jill Miller/Equinox Yoga TunUp. We work with groups, individuals, teams and organizations and can tailor our workshop techniques to your specific needs.

The Other Network TV Writing Contest encourages young writers' originality by getting them feedback from experienced idiosyncratic writers who have cultivated their own voice.

PRINCIPALS

Beth Lapides began her career as an NEA grant-winning Visual & Performance Artist. Her visual art has been exhibited at museums and galleries and her shows have been presented in NY, London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Glasgow, Boston, etc. In 2004 she had a critically-acclaimed one-person art show at Ghetto Gloss Gallery in LA, where her work (as seen on "Nip/Tuck"!) is available for sale or production rental. Her writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Utne Reader, The Realist, Premiere and others. Her first book, "Did I Wake You?" was published by Soft Skull Press in 2007. Her new show is "How to be 100% Happy (86% of the Time)".

Beth met her partner and perennial plus-1 Greg Miller at The Kitchen in the downtown NY art world where he produced shows for Laurie Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Philip Glass, etc. They collaborated on numerous one-person shows including Beth's "First Lady Campaign", a guerilla campaign to make First Lady an elected position - featured on CNN and in People Magazine - before creating the Un-Cabaret and Un-Cabaret Multi-Media.