You’ll have to forgive Rich Vos if he seems just a little tired. Though divorced, he remains a devoted father, spending as much time as he can with his two girls. It’s not easy, as he now has a baby with second wife, comedian Bonnie MacFarlane. His job keeps him on the road quite a bit but for Vos stand-up comedy was really the only vocation open to him. He took to the stage after, as he puts it, “failing at everything else. I went up the first time and I died like an animal.” Undaunted, he pressed on. “I got back up on stage whenever I got the chance. I just kept doing it, and eventually I got a little better and little better.” Today he’s a headlining comic and was a finalist on the first and third seasons of Last Comic Standing. Rich Vos performs at Go Bananas Thursday-Sunday. $10-$15.  

If you were trying to determine the age demographic of Shiny Toy Guns, you'd have a very difficult time. Though they've landed several songs on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, they have a legion of young fans. Very young fans. It may be the fact that parents are rocking out to the Guns and their ’80s-like sound that's bringing in the kids. Shiny Toy Guns mixes the spirit of the ’80s with Modern Rock and dance floor sounds at The Madison Theater with The Ting Tings and SafetySuit. 7 p.m.  

You'd think that an Alabama-bred comedian like Vic Henley would eventually run out of material about the South. Not so. "My wife and I went down there," he says from his home in New York City, "and we were having dinner at O'Charley's or Friday's, and she got a Caesar salad. The waitress came out and said 'I'm sorry we're out of Caesar leaves.'" That's a gimme. "You write it down. That's all you have to do, and keep it," he laughs. He plays Go Bananas Wednesday-Sunday with a Thanksgiving night show at 9 p.m. $8-$15.  

Procter & Gamble is known worldwide as a producer of soap, healthcare products and … comedians? Yes, you can add Fairfield-native Rajiv Satyal to the list of former- P&G employees turned comics. That list also includes, of course, national headliners Josh Sneed and Greg Warren. Satyal, though, is moving up fast. Satyal performs for the grand reopening of The Funny Bone on the Levee in the old Pacific Moon space. Both shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday will have SNL alum Kevin Nealon as the feature. $25.  

It’s an election year, but comedian Jimmy Pardo never seemed to get into it. “I donated money to Obama’s camp so I could get a free bumper sticker for my car,” he says. “That’s about as political as I’ve gotten.” Though he did a few jokes on the subject, his heart just wasn’t in it. “Maybe I’m just not that great at it and I'll leave that to better comics.” He still has plenty to talk about though, like his 11-month-old son. “He's getting to the age where we're rolling the ball back and forth,” he says. “And he knows to raise his hands in front of his face because he knows I’m going to whip the ball at him.” Pardo has also been hard at work on his award-winning podcast, which is now in its fourth season. An edited version is free through iTunes, but paying customers at Pardo’s Web site (www.JimmyPardo.com) get the full 90-minute cast. “Ever since we’ve gone to a pay format it’s been paying the bills,” he remarks. “It’s fascinating what the Internet can do.” Pardo performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas. $8-$15.  

Comedian Troy Baxley describes his set as a tiny organism. “Each show is a brand new sweet baby,” he says. “That’s why I get offended when people go ‘How was the show last night? Did you kill?’ Well, I don’t kill babies, if that’s what you’re asking. My show is a loving, caring chest hug.” After 16 years, the Denver native can sense where he should take the audience. “I can’t sit at a computer and write jokes,” he explains. “I just think jokes like that sound like a guy sitting at a computer and writing jokes.” Instead, Baxley will start with a premise and gradually expand on it from show to show. He performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas.  

Comedian Mike MacRae is so adept at his craft that he was recently added to the cast of the TBS original comedy series Frank TV as an impressionist. It’s not all imitations, though, as MacRae estimates that two-thirds of his show is straight stand-up. “The whole thing is observational,” he says. The impressions creep in when he happens to be talking about famous people. Lately that has included politics. “I’m not a political comic, but there’s so much to talk about with the election.” MacRae performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas.  

Having won this past summer’s edition of Last Comic Standing, one would think that Iliza Schlesinger would be breathing a little easier. Through January she is touring with other comedians from that program, and she’s actually feeling more pressure in a way. Shlesinger will perform at the Aronoff for the Last Comic Standing tour with finalists Marcus, Jeff Dye, Louis Ramey and Jim Tavare. $25-$45. 8 p.m.  

BY P.F. Wilson | Posted 07/23/2008 Mad Men: Season One   

2006, Unrated It seems odd that this release has come so late in the summer, only a few weeks before the new season begins. Perhaps NBC didn't want to drag eyeballs away from Last Comic Standing