12 L.A. Comedy Acts to Watch in 2013

Matt McBrayer

BriTANick

6. BriTANick
Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher's BriTANick doesn't even have five years under its collective belt, but the sketch duo has already managed to hit Just For Laughs Chicago, SketchFest NYC, Slamdance and SXSW, serve as the voice of the Cartoon Network, amass upwards of 21 million YouTube views, release feature film Searching For Sonny and count Ashton Kutcher and Joss Whedon among its fans, all while finding time to pop up in the likes of Young Adult (McElhaney) and Louie (Kocher). Their secret? Being consistently, riotously funny is only the beginning; boasting production values through the roof remains a top priority.

Q. Ledbetter

5. Aparna Nancherla
Though the Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell writer/player boasts a formidable improv and sketch background, her discursive narratives are best appreciated when she's squirming beneath the stand-up spotlight. Her onstage demeanor may suggest anxious naïveté, but her propensity for bone-dry cynicism -- not to mention breaking the fourth wall to lob asides about the axioms of comedic performance itself -- is what's recently been landing her at festival after festival. Follow her on Twitter at @Aparnapkin, where she dispatches such droll gems as "In LA auditioning for a parking spot," "just peed, or as they call it in the biz, networked with the toilet" and "emotion pitch: deprassed (sassy depressed)."

John Hale

4. Dead Kevin
Eric Abrams from Comedy Central: "Mondays in 2012 weren't nearly as shitty as they were in 2011. Why? Dead Kevin. NO OTHER REASON. The sketch group-comprised of young stand-ups Ahmed Bharoocha, Ryan O'Flanagan and Jack Robichaud-created their YouTube channel at the beginning of the year and posted a video every Monday since. Their vids have been featured twice on Tosh.0, Ahmed was invited to the JFL Comedy Festival in Montreal and they landed a deal with Comedy Central's new digital platform-pretty good for year one. Check them out at YouTube.com/DeadKevinSketch (start with "Dirty Dishes" & "Personal Call") and get your Mondays ready for the thrashing of a lifetime."