Comedy Stray Notes
• Had the pleasure of seeing two comedy peers of mine have major milestones this past week. First up, my old pal Django Gold was on Colbert. I’ve known Django since we were interns at The Onion the summer of 2010 (something I will shamelessly bring up any chance I get). Django has been so funny since I met him way back when and it is really cool to see him have a well-deserved moment. The other major milestone I saw achieved was Sarah Kennedy auditioning for JFL! Not to embarrass Sarah (who is also Tweeting for Tig today!) but I was so proud watching her destroy her set in that packed Creek room (Veronica Garza and Will Watkins were great people to watch it with too). We’ve worked together for years in an office and it is so great to see Sarah get the recognition she’s earned through tireless writing and performing. Big things in both of their comedy futures ahead.
• This week was a tale of two bar shows for me. Started this past week barking in the rain at V-Spot for Jeff McBride’s fun Wednesday show. I happen to think I’m an excellent barker BUT the people on the street thought otherwise. I only brought in one person (Anna E. Paone came so technically I brought her too). The show was very fun and my set mostly comprised of crowd work actually connected with the crowd that was made up of alleged pig and goat farmers. My second bar show of the week was a hosting gig for Camden Pollio at No Fun Bar. My crowd work with a lady who allegedly knows the CEO of Subway did NOT go as well. Either way, I am grateful for both experiences and happy to flex my audience interaction muscles. Every single one is different.
• One of the best parts of comedy is all the hangs we get to have throughout the course of the week just being around. What I always say is, “Comedy is like school. If you take a day off, you’re a day behind.” Also, you don’t get to go to comedy recess and hang with people. This week, I hung with Nikola Pavlovic and Sam Katz in the Lower East Side, Ben Wasserman at a party for Anna in Dumbo (he asked if I would write that up and I said, "Hell yeah"), Rufat Agayev in Long Island City, Max Fineand Brendan Gay in Williamsburg, talked to an Amazon star with Matt Storrs and Hattie Hayes, workshopped jokes with Camden Pollio in Alphabet City, shot a killer late night worthy tape for Kevin O'Brien and talked snow boots with Adam Sokol at Coney Island Baby in Manhattan and reflected on audiences with Peter Wong and Lucien Formichella. If this all sounds like a bit too much sentimentality, you’re right, it is. But we should all be so pumped we’re a part of the NYC scene. This is what makes it what it is. So many good people at all times.
• Had the pleasure of performing on Orli Matlow’s “Comedy Time Machine” show. It’s one of the City’s great theme shows and if you’re not familiar with it, you should be. Essentially Orli wants to do old bits about Mamma Mia 2 so she created a show where comics do topical bits or old stuff that are essentially irrelevant now. The show is a ton of fun and Orli had a Hell of a set. You should take time out to go to this one if you can.
• This upcoming week, I’m on Matthew Benjamin’s show (tonight!) which should be awesome and I’m going to Anna E. Paone’s “In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play” twice in Plainfield, NJ. I honestly can’t wait for both.
• One final announcement! I am starting to help co-produce a weekly Thursday 9 PM show with Tristan Smith at V-Spot on St. Marks starting February 21 (Tristan has been doing this for a minute). Come by next week! We’ll be giving out gifts every show and we got some sick headliners booked already too. Please come. The cool kids will be there.
See ya next Wednesday, folks.
