[ EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT ]

The Comedy Club, near National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, presents an evening with American stand-up comedian Dan Machanik, who bases much of his material on fictionalized accounts of his travels across Asia and beyond. Machanik got his start as a stand-up comic two decades ago at comedy shows in Aspen, Colorado and New York. He performs regularly in Taiwan and did shows in the US last year. Tonight’s show is in English and is not suitable for the easily offended. Also at the Comedy Club this weekend, comedy hypnotists Brian David Phillips and Aaron Glotfelter present a “triple trance treat”: Hypno Hot, Hypnosis Fetish and Hypno Kool, three risque, adult-oriented shows rolled into one. The comedy hypnosis shows are suitable for both English- and Chinese-speaking audiences. All shows at the Comedy Club are no smoking. Ages 18 and over only.

▲ Comedy Club, at B1, 24 Taishun St, Taipei City (台北市泰順街24號B1). Visit english.comedy.com.tw for more information. For reservations, call (02) 2369-3730 or send an e-mail to social@comedyclub.tw

▲ Brian David Phillips and Aaron Glotfelter perform tonight at 10:30pm and on Sunday at 8pm; Dan Machanik performs tomorrow at 10:30pm

▲Tickets for Machanik’s show are NT$300 and include one slice of pizza and one drink. NT$80 beer specials all night; admission for the hypnosis shows is NT$350 and includes one drink

Show Off (愛現), this year’s annual concert by the Ju Percussion Group’s junior troupe, the Ju Percussion Group 2 (朱宗慶打擊樂團2), will be held tonight at 7:30pm at Novel Hall.

The program is full of flashy pieces that will have the audience tapping along in their seats (if they can stay seated) and features some of the biggest names in contemporary marching percussion and orchestral composition, including John Max McFarland, Michael Daugherty and Brian Mason. It is almost an all-American lineup, the exception being Australia’s Nigel Westlake, who has gained widespread fame for his scores for such movies as Babe and Miss Potter.

Westlake’s Kalabash is a piece he wrote for a marimba quartet as part of his HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship at Australia National University in 2004. Another marimba-heavy piece on the program is Mason’s prize-winning Rochambeaux. McFarland’s contribution is a duet for drumset and multiple percussion Synergetic Simpatico, while Daugherty’s 10-minute-long Used Car Salesman was written as a tribute to his dance-band drummer/car-salesman father and features a quartet of musicians playing metal instruments collected from scrap heaps. Rounding out the program is Jim Casella’s percussion ensemble piece Katraterra.

▲ Novel Hall (新舞台), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)

▲ Tickets are NT$300 to NT$700 and are available through NTCH ticketing