Comedy

ANYTIME

Sundays: Can’t get tickets to “The Tonight Show”? Try dropping by the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. . . . Jay Leno performs there virtually every Sunday night.

Fridays: The audience suggests a title and a location, and an improv team creates “Opening Night: The Improvised Musical,” every Friday at the Improv Olympic West.

Fridays: Stand-up Celia Fox, after a successful run at LunaPark, is the featured performer in S. Rachel Lovey’s “Women in Comedy Who Haven’t Got a Series Yet,” at the Comedy Store.

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 23: Nell Carter of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” and TV’s “Gimme a Break” hosts “The Sirens of Satire,” a showcase for young female comics at the Improv on Melrose Avenue.

Sept. 24-Oct. 9: One of comedy’s legendary improv groups, the Groundlings, stages 25 events at the Groundling Theater to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Performances, lectures and parties will include such alumni as Jon Lovitz, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Griffin, Laraine Newman and Paul Reubens.

Sept. 30-Oct. 10: How hot is comedian George Lopez? Hot enough for Pasadena’s Ice House to break its format and book him for a 10-day run.

OCTOBER

Oct. 1-3: Tom Arnold takes his club act to the Brea Improv for a three-night run.

Oct. 7-8: The Los Angeles portion of the Marshall’s Women in Comedy Festival includes “An Evening With Paula Poundstone With Special Guest Caroline Rhea,” Oct. 7 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, and Phyllis Diller at LunaPark, Oct. 8.

Oct. 13-17: Jake Johannsen brings comedy and music to the Irvine Improv.

Oct. 21: The Ha Ha Cafe features the finals of Uncle Clyde’s Comedy Contest; the winning stand-up comic, as determined by the audience, earns a paid job at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.