SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY COMPETITION

Each November, 32 comedians—give or take a Canadian—invade Seattle's dark basement bars for a chance to compete for, basically, food treats and justification to continue living seasonally with mom and dad or on your couch while they work on their rom-com screenplay and masturbate to old Lenny Bruce jokes.

Tonight marks the first in a month of comedy battles: Sixteen challengers will compete with five minutes of their funniest material for your laughter and each other's respect, which is a little like envy in short pants. The top five comedians with the highest scores at the end of week will move on to the semifinals; the rest will return to jobs at Best Buy or the Molson factory. Annex Theatre, 8 pm, $15 adv/$20 DOS, all ages.

ADAM CAYTON-HOLLAND, BRYAN COOK & JIM HICKOX

Denver comedian Adam Cayton-Holland has performed across the country with Louis C.K. and Dave Chappelle, but this is his first Seattle appearance. Why not give him a proper Seattle welcome by showing up and laughing moderately? Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater, 7 pm, $7, 21+.

HARI KONDABOLU

Perennial Seattle favorite Hari Kondabolu is returning for two nights of new material about racism, sexism, homophobia, and baseball. Did you catch that? NEW MATERIAL! And if he doesn't make you laugh, Kondabolu promises to stick around after the show to answer all of your technology questions and/or fix any broken computer hardware you bring. Odd Duck Studio; Monday at 9 pm, Tuesday at 7 and 9 pm; $6 adv/$8 DOS.