12 Things to Do in Comedy, Movies, Poetry, Guns, Ghosts and More

Married comedians Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher play the Troc on Thursday. (Robin Van Swank)

Summer Coven, Had Me a Blast @ Martha | Wednesday, August 2
The 215 Festival presents an evening of poetry readings by Alina Pleskova, Amy Saul-Zerby, Nicole Steinberg, Gina Myers and Elizabeth Scanlon (editor of The American Poetry Review).

Moshe Kasher & Natasha Leggero @ Trocadero | Thursday, August 3
A double-bill by two very funny comedians who are also married to each others. They’re calling it the Endless Honeymoon Tour. The New York Times did a funny, pretty adorbs story on the two of them recently.

Tommy & Me @ FringeArts | August 3-20
A revival of Ray Didinger’s play about helping to get NFL player Tommy McDonald into the Hall of Fame.

Introduction to Shooting @ The Gun Range | Thursday, August 3
Girlz N Guns offers an intro gun class for women featuring women instructors.

Best of Philly Soiree @ Dilworth Plaza | Thursday, August 3
Philly Mag’s annual party celebrating the Best of Philly issue and winners.

Van Jones: We Rise Tour @ Fillmore Philly | Thursday, August 3
The CNN commentator is touring the country having “messy conversations with liberals,” whom he says too often turn on each other. More info here.

Grady Hendrix performs Summerland Lost: A Ghost Story @ PhilaMOCA | Friday, August 4
Grady Hendrix — author of Horrorstor, a horror/comedy novel that looks like an IKEA catalogue — presents his “one-man show about psychic teenagers and shaved cats.” It’s a real-life story involving ghosts, biomechanical cults and lots of other cool stuff.

The Self-Loathing Narcissist @ 990 Spring Garden | Friday, August 4
Official description of the day: “Ryan W. Kelly and PRACTICE present a mocking self-examination in his performative installation ‘The Self-Loathing Narcissist.’ Kelly and invited guests will don an oversized paper-mache mask of the artist, and attempt to destroy a piñata effigy that is also of the artist.”

Hot Raw Fire @ Good Good Comedy | Saturday, August 5
A sketch comedy troupe from Montreal.

Second Street Festival @ Second Street in Northern Liberties | Sunday, August 6
A day-long street festival with food trucks, “nine beer gardens,” a Greyhound bus for some reason, belly dancing, hula hooping and more. Live music acts include Stargazer Lily, Elissa Janelle Velveteen, Spinto Band, Kid Felix and more.

AGFA presents Effects @ PhilaMOCA | Sunday, August 6
American Genre Film Archive presents the newly restored 1980 horror film by Dusty Nelson. Quoth the IMDB: “Some crew members of a company shooting a horror film begin to suspect that the ‘killings’ in the movie are real, and that they are actually making a ‘snuff’ film.” PhilaMOCA calls it a “meta-enhanced takedown on the philosophy of horror that doubles as a sleazy and terrifying movie on its own.”

The Moth Philadelphia StorySlam @ World Café Live | Monday, August 7
An open mic, five-minute story competition hosted by Peter Aguero. The theme of the evening is “caution.”