Washington, D.C., has such a proud history of producing great laughs that it should be called Ha-Hashington, D.C. But seriously, whether it’s the absurd nature of politics or just the fact that living here requires its citizens to have a healthy sense of humor, the District has a reputation for causing cachinnation. Even DAR Constitution Hall, with its dour origins, has served as the forum for such classic stand-up performance movies as Eddie Murphy’s Delirious, Chris Rock’s Never Scared, and Martin Lawrence’s Runteldat. Well, at least two out of the three were classics. Patton Oswalt, the country’s funniest halfling, grew up in suburban Sterling, Va., and often tells of its horribleness during his stand-up routines. Hometown girl Whitney Cummings recently filmed her Comedy Central special, Whitney Cummings: Money Shot, at Sidney Harman Hall. On Sept. 23, the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, who struck gold with Supertroopers and Beerfest, and struck out with every other one of its other movies, will perform at the Arlington Cinema N Drafthouse. The group promises to resurrect some of the more popular characters from its better movies in improvised comedy sketches. The evening will likely be a genial fanfest that promises to be infinitely more entertaining than the boys’ last clunker, The Slammin’ Salmon. One of the self-professed Queens of Comedy, Sommore will bring her live act to the D.C. Improv from Oct. 15 to 17. She’s on a nationwide comedy tour now, and that’s probably a smarter move than waiting at home by the phone for the sequel to Soul Plane. Steve Byrne, the Korean-Irish-American comic, rightfully and understandably opposes the uniquely American custom of hyphenating ethnicity. He brings his thoughtful, humorous approach to race relations to the D.C. Improv from Oct. 21—24. His take on Mexican immigration to the States from Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity: “I don’t blame the Mexicans for coming here. We did something a little subliminally messed up to the Mexicans. When we were creating our country, just above Mexico, we created a state called “New Mexico.’ What Mexican wouldn’t want to check that out?” Louis C.K.’s sitcom Louie is, arguably, the best TV show of this past summer. Imagine if Lars von Trier had directed an episode of Seinfeld, that was, you know, actually gut-bustingly funny. Unlike Seinfeld, the best parts of Louie are the excerpts from his stand-up routine. On Oct. 22, you can see his discomforting schtick about being a divorced dad of two for yourself at the Warner Theatre.