Portland comedian Ian Karmel describes himself as a “six-foot-three, 350-pound Jew whose name sounds like a whimsical British candy store.” He’s won Portland’s Amateur Comedy Contest and the titles of Portland’s Funniest Person and Portland’s Favorite Ian, and has been featured on Portlandia. Karmel may be young, but he has the polished stage presence of a much older, disillusioned comedian. Plus, you kinda just want to hug the dude. (Comedy Underground, 109 S Washington St, www.comedyunderground.com, 8:30 pm, $10, all ages)

Former Stranger news writer Cienna Madrid has been a writer in residence for Richard Hugo House, a local literary nonprofit. There, she taught fiction classes and wrote 4/5 of a book about a death-row...