Today’s Best Bets

Stage

Has having their own TV show spoiled the Groundlings? (Can you be spoiled by a show on FX? . . . Hey, we’re just kidding.) The improv troupe launches its latest show tonight, ladies and gentlemen.

“Groundlings Hotel and Casino,” Groundling Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (323) 934-9700. 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 and 10 p.m. Runs indefinitely.

Jazz

Bass sensation Christian McBride, who looks to the funk of the ‘70s on his latest Verve release, leads a quartet in the Jazz Club in Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Christian McBride, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, (714) 740-7878, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Also Saturday.

Television

Is there room for one more music performance show on the tube? Just barely. “Motown Live,” with host Robert Townsend, makes its debut at midnight with guests including Wyclef Jean, left.

“Motown Live,” KCOP-TV Channel 13, midnight.

Film

DOCtober, the second annual weeklong documentary film festival, kicks off at the State Theater in Pasadena’s Playhouse district. Included in the lineup: “In Search of Kundun With Martin Scorsese” and the Shoah Foundation’s “The Last Days.”

DOCtober: second annual Documentary Film Festival, State Theater, 770 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 792-3540. Through Thursday.