Doug Stanhope Thursday, Nov. 14 8 p.m. Orlando Improv, 9101 International Drive 407-480-5233 theimprovorlando.com $25 Nothing is off-limits to Doug Stanhope. Yeah, yeah, comedians are always saying that, but this comedian offers a piece about helping his mother, shall we say, shuffle off this mortal coil – and roasting her “Friars club-style” on the way out. In a 10-minute tour de force on his new album, Beer Hall Putsch, Stanhope presents this as a story of hope. After she could no longer take “being per- manently waterboarded by 45 years of Kool Milds,” he agreed to help her end it, but couldn’t resist going for the laugh at the very end. “Ma, wait! They found a cure!” – Jessica Bryce Young
True Fans Friday, Nov. 15 through Nov. 24 The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive 866-468-7630 abbeyorlando.com $25 Devotion to the team is rule No. 1 for any sports fan. And to some, there’s nothing they wouldn’t do to see their team achieve success – spend thousands on tickets or swear by superstitions like growing a beard until they win a championship. That’s certainly the case in Bill Rosenfield’s True Fans, a comedic take on how three guys, all Utah Jazz basketball freaks, show their team loyalty in the form of a bicycle road trip from California to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts. Presented by the Florida Theatrical Association and directed by New York-based Richard Futch (casting director for Lifetime’s Army Wives), this jocular romp, based on Dan Austin’s documentary film of the same name, introduces a multitude of 31 characters played by three actors, most of which the guys encounter during their travels – whether it’s at a pit stop in Vegas or along the banks of the Mississippi River. The thing to remember in this one is that rooting on your team meets no boundaries. – Aimee Vitek
Central Florida Jewish Film Festival Saturday-Monday, Nov. 16-18 Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland 407-629-0054 enzian.org $10-$60 This year’s Central Florida Jewish Film Festival will be the largest and longest in the 15-year history of the event, screening five features instead of the usual four and opening on Saturday instead of Sunday – but just after sundown, to honor Sabbath restrictions. The event will also expand beyond Enzian Theater for the first time, to the Orlando Science Center. – Cameron Meier
The Avett Brothers Saturday, Nov. 16 7 p.m. CFE Arena, University of Central Florida 407-823-6006 cfearena.com $35-$45 Whether your ties to the Avett Brothers date back to 2002’s Country Was or even 2009’s Emotionalism, or you discovered their heartfelt alt-country through I and Love and You, the band has a way of maintaining its resonance, regardless of your gateway. Since undergoing the glossy production of Rick Rubin, their folk sound has become a lot more accessible, underscoring scenes in TV’s Parenthood or in films like This Is 40. But when they come to town, you can expect the boys to dip back into more sonically vulnerable territory from their early catalogue every now and again. “Go to Sleep” remains their most-played song live for good reason. Touring on 2013’s Magpie and the Dandelion, we don’t know if it’s the beaches, but we’re grateful the despondent but charming brothers have souls like the wheels of their tour bus and always manage to make it back to town with each release. – Ashley Belanger
Fight for Air Climb Saturday, Nov. 16 6:30 a.m. Bank of America Center, 390 N. Orange Ave. 407-425-5864 climborlando.org $15-$35 Just as the weather is starting to become a comfortable backdrop for your philanthropic 5K leaps into cardiovascular overextension with sponsors, the American Lung Association wants to throw you into a bleak, dank stairwell in an empty Saturday-morning Bank of America building at the raw hour of 8 a.m. (6:30 a.m. registration!) for a “vertical road race.” Oh, quit complaining, Rocky. Your heaving hamstrings will not be pulled to the sky for futility’s sake, but rather the advancement of treatment for lung disease. Teams and individuals will scale 512 steps (25 floors) of the iconic downtown “skyscraper” in various brackets and categories, including firefighters, law enforcement, competitive, “fun run,” youth, ultimate (climb the stairs as many times as you can in 45 minutes) and virtual (you’re raising funds without climbing, lazybones). Stop coughing! – Billy Manes
Festival of Trees Saturday, Nov. 16 through Nov. 24 Orlando Museum of Art, 2416 N. Mills Ave. 407-896-4231 omart.org $10-$125 We can’t count how many times we’ve thrown out the back or dealt with sticky sap in the hair while trimming the Christmas tree. So it only makes sense this year to leave the fussy holiday decorations to others. That’s why we’re turning to Orlando Museum of Art’s Festival of Trees, an annual fundraising event for the museum put on by the Council of 101 in which dozens of Christmas trees stand for sale, all of them embellished by local Central Florida businesses. Consider yourself a tree-trimming expert? Then head to any one of the other holiday diversions this nine-day event entails – shopping in the Holiday Boutique, strolling the Holiday Gardens, dressing up for the Great Gala (Nov. 15), noshing your way through the Gingerbread Village, or letting the kids go wild at the Reindeer Romp (Nov. 20). – Aimee Vitek
Beethoven 7 Saturday, Nov. 16 with the Orlando Philharmonic and Cho-Liang Lin 8 p.m. Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, 401 W. Livingston St. 407-770-0071 orlandophil.org $29-$39 Things you may not know about violinist Cho-Liang Lin: He says that if he could have any job in the world, besides his own, it would be Derek Jeter’s. When he’s not playing violin, he’s watching Yankee games. When he drives, he likes to listen to Michael Jackson. Lin is also a world-renowned violinist who’s been playing since he was 5 years old. He was such a prodigy that by the age of 12, he moved from his home in Beijing to Sydney, Australia, so he could get better instruction. The effort paid off, as he eventually moved on to study at Juilliard in New York City and made his public debut at Lincoln Center when he was just 19. In short, he’s kind of a classical music superstar, and you can catch him in Orlando playing a program that includes Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with the Orlando Philharmonic this week. One more fun fact before you go to the show: His name may be Cho-Liang Lin, but he often goes by Jimmy. – Erin Sullivan
Set and Setting Sunday, Nov. 17 with Kayo Dot, Junior Bruce, Meiuuswe, Cosmotiburon 4 p.m. Backbooth, 37 W. Pine St. 407-999-2570 backbooth.com $8-$10 When a band takes you on a journey, it doesn’t matter what genre anchors them down. And so the atmospheric post-metal that came out of St. Pete earlier this year supersedes labels, painting soundscapes as darkly magical as Narnia. On Set and Setting’s debut, Equanimity, the three-piece (who were immediately scooped up by Science of Silence, joining a club of like-minded instrumental geniuses like Explosions in the Sky and Pelican) takes us with them on a hike up a mountain they’re currently building. This makes their live show even better than their recordings, so we consider ourselves lucky to find them so close by in Florida. Joining them is a diverse lineup that includes the deafening Junior Bruce, the no-rules, no-problems mentality of the truly funky Meiuuswe, and headliner, Brooklyn’s crazy experimental Kayo Dot to drive home the point that this lineup is nothing if not wholly original. Note the time, this shit starts early. – Ashley Belanger
Mylan WTT Smash Hits Sunday, Nov. 17 4:30 p.m. ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista 407-574-2599 wttsmashhits.com $50-$500 The ESPN Wide World of Sports complex will soon be filled with the sounds of squeaky shoes and an arguably unnecessary amount of grunting this weekend, as the Mylan WTT Smash Hits pro-celebrity tennis tournament returns for its 21st year. The event, benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Hope and Help Center of Central Florida, showcases the skills of such tennis greats as Andy Roddick, Venus Williams and John Isner. The WTT-formatted match will include men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles, and will be preceded by a reception hosted by music legend Elton John and former World No. 1 pro tennis player Billie Jean King. Tickets to the opening reception might set you back a whopping $500, but they also land you courtside seating for the tennis matches. – James Austin
Rabbit Rabbit Monday, Nov. 18 7:30 p.m. Timucua Arts White House, 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. thecm5.com/upcoming-events free The husband-and-wife team of Matthias Bossi and Carla Kihlstedt are practically a supergroup in and of themselves. Two of the better-known (and much revered) bands they’ve launched are Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Tin Hat Trio (since shortened to Tin Hat); musicians they’ve collaborated with include Tom Waits, Mike Patton, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent, Carla Bozulich, Pretty Lights and the Tiger Lillies. Whether it’s a by-product of all the dalliances or the root cause, their influences (lieder and industrial music, murder ballads and breathy synth-pop) and abilities feel boundless yet curiously logical. On “Hush Hush,” off the 2013 release Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Kihlstedt’s voice ranges from Björkian quavers to boy-soprano love calls, all atop eerie violin loops. Yet the song slides effortlessly into the next track, “Me Gusta el Calor,” in which Bossi takes the vocal reins with “Loving the Alien”-era Bowie-esque sonority. This free show is one of only two Florida dates; will we ever get accustomed to the generosity of the Timucua Arts White House? – Jessica Bryce Young