If ASU's Manzanita Hall can come back looking better than ever, your ability to rebound from recent couch potato status is looking pretty good. And lucky for your soon-to-be out and about self, there's plenty to keep you busy this weekend in the Valley of the Sun.
New Times Back to School Pub Crawl @ Tempe Marketplace Back to school blues? We've got you covered. To ease the pain of your fall semester woes, New Times is kicking off the school year right with the second installment of the Back to School Pub Crawl. This year's featured stops include Dave & Buster's, Cadillac Ranch, Thirsty Lion Pub & Grill, and Bar Louie. Barhopping patrons can pursue their route in any order they see fit, claiming one adult drink ticket at each stop as well as one playing card for their prized poker hand. Collect all five cards throughout the crawl and turn in your hand at the end of the night for a chance to win a free trip to Las Vegas.
See also: 10 More Back-to-School Parties in Metro Phoenix
The Back to School Pub Crawl returns Friday, August 23, from 8 to 11 p.m. at the District at Tempe Marketplace. Pub crawlers can pick up their $10 barhopping passes at the District Stage located in the center of the outdoor shopping and nightlife area. Visit www.phoenixnewtimes.com/microsites/b2s-pub-crawl to purchase tickets. -- Katie Johnson
Tim Robinson & Aidy Bryant @ Tempe Improv Look. We know plenty of people want to claim Aidy Bryant as their own. She lives in New York. She made a name for herself in Chicago. But we Phoenicians really should have first dibs on the Saturday Night Live performer. A few reasons: Her fam lives here (her mom Georganne owns one of our fave boutiques, Frances). When we recently spoke with her she wasn't kicking it in the Big Apple, but chilling in Yuma on her way to a family vacation. Plus, she told us how her career in comedy really started off in Phoenix, where she attended high school at Xavier Prep (she did the morning announcements) and found theatrical mentors around town who inspired her to pursue a career as a professionally funny person.
Show her some hometown love when Bryant returns to the Valley for a weekend of performances alongside her SNL co-star/conspirator, Tim Robinson. The pair joined SNL last season after working together at Second City in Chi-town. Their double-bill promises a combo of sketch and improv, some testing of new material from each of them, and a Q&A sesh to end each set.
Set times are 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, August 23, at Tempe Improv. Performances continue through Sunday, August 25. Tickets are $22, and there's a two-drink minimum. Visit www.tempeimprov.com or call 480-921-9877. -- Becky Bartkowski
See also: Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant on Real Housewives Addiction and How Kristen Wiig's The Best
Theron Humphrey Book-Signing @ Changing Hands Chances are you've seen Maddie on something. Maddie balancing on a bicycle in Michigan or a basketball hoop in Iowa. Maddie posing inside a giant watermelon in Mississippi. Maddie inside a barbeque at a park in Wyoming.
It may not sound worth documenting, except that Maddie is a dog -- a 45-pound coonhound. Her human, Theron Humphrey, captured these often hilarious, sometimes human-looking pictures using his iPhone 4 and publishing them on Instagram.
Like many of his Internet famous contemporaries, Humphrey compiled the images into a book: Maddie on Things: A Super Serious Project About Dogs and Physics. The two have embarked on a tour of book-signings and meet-and-greets around the country, bringing them to Tempe this weekend.
The doggone good time starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, August 24, at Changing Hands Bookstore on 6428 South McClintock Drive. Purchase of the book ($15.95) admits two. Call 480-730-0205 or visit www.changinghands.com. -- Janessa Hilliard
See also: Theron Humphrey of "Maddie on Things" on His Photogenic Pooch and Life on the Road
Arizona Cardinals vs. San Diego Chargers @ University of Phoenix Stadium Sure, the Saturday, August 24, Arizona Cardinals home game is still a part of the preseason. Sure, the starters will probably only be in for, like, one series, while second- and third-stringers dink around the field for the remaining two hours and 50 minutes. Sure, you'll have to deal with refs trying to remember the rules on the field while stadium officials continue to figure out how to enforce the NFL's new rule requiring all bags brought inside to be clear and within certain size limits. Sure, the game is against the San Diego Chargers, a team that's not even in our conference. But dammit, it's still football, and we sure did miss it.
The Chargers-Cardinals preseason game kicks off at 7 p.m. at University of Phoenix Stadium, 1 West Cardinals Drive in Glendale. Tickets are $30 and up. Visit www.ticketmaster.com or call 602-379-0102. -- Zachary Fowle
Nearly Naked Theatre: A Devil Inside @ Phoenix Theatre's Little Theatre David Lindsay-Abaire's odd, hysterical plays are also trenchant enough to send you through a guardrail on the way home. Many have played here: Rabbit Hole, Fuddy Meers, Wonder of the World, Kimberly Akimbo. Lindsay-Abaire wrote the book and lyrics for Shrek the Musical as well. (Somebody had to.)
Lindsay-Abaire's 1997 A Devil Inside, Nearly Naked Theatre's season opener running through Saturday, September 14, is characteristically chock-full of stuff: a self-service laundry, a mysterious death, wallpaper, and other things that might be symbolic or might just allude to symbols. It makes maybe 15 percent more sense if you know it's inspired by Russian literature and there's a death to be avenged. Between sex and gore, it's for mature audiences only. Curtain is 6 p.m. Sunday, August 25, at Phoenix Theatre's Little Theatre, 100 East McDowell Road. Tickets start at $19 and $24, but prices may rise based on demand -- order at www.nearlynakedtheatre.org or call 602-254-2151. -- Julie Peterson
