• The coolest comedy-adjacent thing I attended this week was the Anna E. Paone-directed play “In The Next Room” twice in New Jersey. If you missed the play, you missed out on a great show. It was provocative, erotic, funny, educational and easy to follow for a philistine such as myself. The audience gasped, laughed in the right places and talked about the play in small groups afterwards. It was everything you could hope for from a brainy, racy play. Most impressive part about it is how complete it was. With comedy, you often feel like you are only creating little snippets of things but Anna and her cast and crew created something large and sprawling that left a real mark on people. I was inspired and I think everyone else there was too.
• Was honored to perform on Matthew Benjamin’s inaugural Michekcomedy (pronounced Mic Check Comedy) Show at AWOLBar. The audience was all over the place (after a poll, I found out mostly everyone there was either unemployed or retired which really explained why it was called AWOL Bar) but started coming to life at the end. Two dudes were playing Connect Four and one Veteran wouldn’t disclose what war he fought in. Tonight is the second edition of the show and Matty B is allegedly brining Oreos in. If you’re chillin’, you should go check it out.
• Woke up on President’s Day realizing I hadn’t achieved most of my Comedy New Year’s Resolutions. One of the most important ones I had was to shoot 12 sketches. So I said, “Screw it, I’m shooting today.” Sent a message to Peter Wong and we were shooting at Grand Central two hours later. Finished in less than an hour. Felt good to direct again and also get in the way of people getting off the 7 train. It will probably take me way too long to actually edit this sketch but it feels good to have accomplished something other than just doing stand up on my day off.
• Friday night was wild. I performed comedy in a “not sober” state after spending all day with my buddy Danny Braff. We were laughing at everything. He Venmo requested Adam Conover $12 for gas money and I was dying. Killed me. When I finally went up, I knew I wouldn’t be able to remember any of my jokes so I opted to do an “Ask me anything.” It was rambly but honest and maybe the most me I’ve ever been onstage. Kind of a cool feeling. I had one good moment toward the end. Someone asked, “What’s your biggest fear in comedy?” I said, “That I’ll never stop.” I don’t know if that’s actually my biggest fear but in retrospect it sounds cool.
• Stopped by Deepu Gill’s car to record an episode of his Hackthought podcast. It was quick and we discussed payment in the service industry. This was a classic scenario where I did my thing and then the next guest totally crushed it so much harder than me. Ben Siy-Hian was in the backseat of the car during my interview and then he came up and was so much funnier, more insightful and educated about what is actually going on in the world. Keep an eye out for the episode. There’s a lot I learned just from Ben’s segment and I’m excited to hear even more.
• The past few weeks I’ve been shouting out people who I’ve run into (was a joy to hang with Brian Kim, Pranav Behari, Eli DiSabato, Myka Fox, Leland Long, Mike Lemme and Jess Feeney this week- apologies if I missed you) but this week, I thought it would be nice to give some props to all those that hosted mics I performed at. So major props to the girl (Bunny?) at the Creek last week who had only one-person groups. I had my biggest bomb maybe of the year but that refueled me for better sets throughout the week. Matt Fishman always goes above and beyond at QED on late Wednesdays, Sam Stevens made a paid mic more fun than it had any right to be at New York Comedy Club on Friday, Yoshiko Watsonand Tim McLaughlin held down the fort with aplomb on Friday and uses pink, feather-y pens for sign ups to ensure that if someone steals them, it’s obvious. Genius. Jay Welch as always- generously tagging people’s sets after they’re done is the best thing in open mic comedy still. Kattoo King on Mondays is always great too. I thought I lost a tiny megaphone I bought at a novelty shop and she looked for it for me. That was legit. Joseph Roberts actually found it after Byron Sadik put it in the bar. Saved $18.00 thanks to you guys. Jason Planitzer and Ben Siy-Han play music in between comics at Magick Mic which gives the mic way more character than it has any right to have. Went to a Karma mic with an NYU student hosting and she got in a little battle of sorts with Andrew Manning that was hilarious. Finally, major props to Colin DiGarbo for running what is easily the hottest mic in New York on Tuesdays at 11. It doesn’t need any promotion but it is so fun. I forgot mics could be that good.
• Caught three specials this week. Tom Segura (I did not care for it at all; his bit about parking lots was legitimately incredible though), Bert Kreischer (a better, can’t believe I’m saying this but more mature version of Segura) and Ken Jeong (man, what a cash grab BUT the dude does exude joy onstage and I can’t fault him for that). Also, caught the “Big Mouth” Valentine’s Day episode. It had its moments but isn’t essential viewing. Check out this week’s SNL too if you didn’t already. I loved it. Finally, want to give some love to a really underseen movie. It’s called “The Final Girls” and directed by comedy auteur Todd Strauss-Schulson (he directed the Christmas Harold and Kumar which I think is a masterpiece as well as the new Rebel Wilson “Isn’t It Romantic,” a short about juice cleanses that blew my mind and has a new movie coming out about a silent meditation retreat. I am so envious of his career). Anyway, rent this movie “The Final Girls” on Amazon Prime. It’s an amazing horror parody that does things I’ve never seen in a movie and features a cast of comedy people you already know and love. Worth it.
• Got a big comedy week this week! Tomorrow at 9 is the first The Comic's Table PRESENTS with a great lineup at V Spot. I bought some great gifts for the audience too. On Friday, I’m doing a BRINGER. I did one at the club before (I’ll leave it nameless) and they said I needed to do a second one to get passed. I know I’m a sucker but I’m doing it. Sunday, I’m roast battling Rufat Agayev and then Tuesday I’m stoked to be doing my first spot at the Grisly Pear.
Thanks for reading, folks.
