• Neir’s Tavern (est. 1829) is one of New York’s oldest bars located in Woodhaven, Queens. “Goodfellas” (the legendary Scorsese movie) and “Tower Heist” (the below average 2012 Eddie Murphy/Ben Stiller/Casey Affleck comedy) both filmed there. Also, my good friend and former roommate Chris Castelli runs a monthly show at the bar that, unlike any other show in NY, has a family feel to it. People from the neighborhood come out and you have to make a reservation for the show with the bar over the phone before you go. I’d actually done the show once in February 2017 and had one of the worst sets of my life there. Just did not connect with the audience at all but grew from that majorly sweaty bomb. This week, I went back to watch the show with Anna E. Paone. It was a very fun time (we filled out comment cards saying so) and Chris did an exemplary job hosting as always with quips in between. A true pro. My favorite part of the show though was Daniel J Perafan’s set. He came out guns a-blazing with five minutes of truly dazzling crowd work. Somehow, the entire crowd was made up of attorneys (?) and when he caught onto this it was some of the most fun I’ve seen any comic have onstage all year. The lesson is: book Castelli and Perafan; they’re great for any show.
• I’ve been trying to come up with an idea for merch that I can sell at shows for years. Ya know, just something to have at festivals, the odd road gig here and there. I’ve had a few ideas in the past but everything was too much work to carry to every show. Then, I ripped my pants and realized exactly what I needed. MATT LEVY PATCHES FOR RIPPED CLOTHES. I Googled patches, found a site, had my good friend and talented designer Graeme Metcalf whip up a design (you can see it in the comments) and now I have merch. If you have a hole in your pants or shirt, hit me up. You can wear an official Mattlevycomedy.squarespace.com “Caught you lookin” patch for just $4 ($1 cheaper than I will sell them for at shows)!
• For the past two Mondays, I’ve gone to film great comics at Butterboy at Littlefield. This week I filmed Mohanad Elshieky visiting from Portland who had a tight, late night ready set and Kendall Farrell who crushed as always and also got impressively political in a timely way in his set too. Very cool to see my peers on the come-up; expecting big things comedy-wise from both of these guys in the near future. On a separate note, here’s a major tip to people making the trek out to Littlefield: stop by Wang’s, the fried chicken storefront across the street from the show. They have a sesame aioli sauce that is unrivaled and the best homemade lime soda I’ve ever tried. If fried chicken isn’t for you, check out Taheni, the nearby Mediterranean restaurant. Best shawarma I’ve had in NY. Feel free to let me know if there’s better shawarma (excluding Mamoun’s; I’ve had it many times).
• Participated in another monthly writer’s meeting last Friday with Charlton Jon Villavelez, Camden Pollio and Jason Planitzer. It was only an hour but extremely productive. We punched up a great sketch Jason wrote that I’m hoping to see produced soon, went through an impressive mass of one-liners written by Charlton (some of them were Hedberg/Wright/Demetri Martin-esque), discussed Camden’s bits and riffed out a whole new sketch idea I had that was super rough. Nothing better than comedy meetings. If you want in, I’m down to start a separate one. Don’t want to get too many people in a group and ruin the dynamic.
• Saved up for a while and went to two concerts this week. Not totally comedy-related but seeing Bob Seger on his farewell tour was one of the best live music experiences I’ve ever had. Slow dancing with Anna Paone to “Night Moves” was the highlight of my year (along with getting a popcorn kernel out of my hind molars that were stuck for like eight hours). On the other end of the spectrum, Governor’s Ball (college lifelong pal Lenni Rosenblum hooked me up with tickets to give Anna and my brother Ben Levy; we went with Ben’s girlfriend Tiffany Wood) was fun but kind of a mess. I had been waiting to see The Strokes for years but it started pouring and they evacuated the premises before that headliner set could happen. It was cool of the Gov Ball staff to refund concert goers but man, getting out of there was one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had. Just thousands of Gen Z’er’s there for Kaytranada and Beast Coast along with some Millennials there for The Strokes and Nas trying to cross a bridge that was not equipped for it while walking through some of the deepest puddles I’ve ever encountered. I guess that’s the nice thing about comedy- there’s never enough audience that an evacuation scenario is something to worry about.
• Caught up on streaming content this week that I’d been meaning to check out. Here are some fast reviews. Watched “Always Be My Maybe” on Netflix with Anna and Matthew Aaron Holbert. It’s fun, lighthearted and worth checking out for a surprise celebrity cameo I won’t ruin for you if you don’t know about it. Nothing groundbreaking though. “AP Bio” getting canceled came as a surprise since I thought it was doing well for NBC. I watched the first few episodes when the show premiered since I love Mike O’Brien but wasn’t feeling it and stopped. Gave it another shot and went through the entire show last week. I don’t love it but the kids are all great in it and I’m excited to see their comedy character acting careers blossom. “The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience” from The Lonely Island is a must if you are a baseball/sketch fan. This hit my comedy sweet spot. Will leave it at that. “Catch 22,” the 1970 movie is streaming on Amazon and is an underrated classic. Bob Newhart and Orson Welles in the same movie? You have to see it. Excited to check the Hulu series out too. Then, I guess the book if I decide to ever finish a novel again. For podcasts, the David Letterman WTF episode is a fun, fast listen. Finally, I randomly watched the Henry Zebrowski episode of “The Characters.” It must be seen to be believed. So incredibly funny and daring. Everyone should have been talking about this. Also, it filmed right by The Creek and the Cave for an added bit of inspiration if you’re on the fence about watching it.
• Few quick shout outs here as well. Did Ronnie Fleming and Dave Bergmaññ’s mic at Freddy’s for the first time and it’s one of the most fun in the City. Finally, a mic that encourages applause breaks. Also, I got a shoutout from Eli DiSabato during his set about Stray Notes. He said, “Will this get me in Comedy Stray Notes?” It just did, dude. Art Cai did the same thing earlier in the week. I'm going viral, baby. Also, major props to Jacob Lie for always having the courage to do crowd work at mics. It’s always funny as hell. Nothing but respect for giving mics a bit of spontaneity.
• Got a few things going this week. First is a show tonight in Jersey City hosted by Brandon Sager. Sager told me that Jersey is the Wild West of comedy. I asked, “Does that mean there are guns?” He said, “Nah. No rules.” Can’t wait to see this in action tonight at his show. Hit me up for details if you’re in NJ/NY and want to come to a great one tonight. Sunday, I’m Roast Battling good friend Jon Schuta at Matt Maran’s Comedy Fight Club. I’m a nerd and went through my record (including Festival Roasts and the occasional New York Comedy Club/Stand Roasts from April 2016-present; I can review since I tape all my sets) and I’m 13-13. Like a journeyman fourth starter in the rotation. This Sunday is the tiebreaker, baby.
I’ll see YOU on the stage
