• This will sound incredibly stupid to most but as a huge comedy fan, I was moved multiple times this past week by achievements of people I’ve never met. I listened to the 1000th WTF on Monday and found myself getting emotional. It was really something special to hear about the friendship he has with his producer Brendan McDonald and when Marc (spoiler) starts crying about two hours in, I felt it. It was certainly weird to hear a grown man cry but it also completely took me by surprise. Podcast moment of the year for me so far. Another thing that took me by surprise this week was the cancellation of “Crashing.” Yeah, I’m THAT guy. As much hate as it gets, I’m glad there was a show portraying the NYC comedy scene (as inaccurate as it may have been) on HBO. The final episode where Pete gets to accidentally open for John Mulaney made me emotional too. Something about him walking onstage just felt so cathartic. It’s just a big set but it felt...bigger. And then that set he does. Wow. It was different from anything the show really ever did before too. If you didn’t watch, I recommend you do. It’s a great sendoff to what I think is a pretty decent and occasionally great show.
• One of my great joys as a person who does comedy on a daily basis is getting to watch my peers do their thing as well. Sure, we’re all out there because we love to do our jokes but a nice byproduct that we get to watch others perform. Since I tape people’s sets, I get to do this a lot more often at shows than I used to. This week, I had the pleasure of filming two very funny sets from Jordan Kleine and James Hamilton at Cobra Club. The greatest parts of filming sets is after the set when you can see the joy on the comic’s face that they know they just got the elusive “tape.” Now they can submit. It was so cool to help these two greats out this week with that.
• Every show is very much its own animal. I did three very fun and different shows this week. The first was masterfully hosted by Kenny Warren at The Grisly Pear. The dude just lights up a room like a pro (also props to Shari Díaz for co-running this killer show). On top of that, somehow, Ed McGowan and Meno Fernandez successfully barked in a huge crowd for a 10 PM Wednesday show on a frosty, cold night. As for me, I had to follow a really strong Kaitlyn Murphy set AND I wanted to try “B” material so I could stop running the same set I’d been doing at shows for the past few months. There were definitely lulls but that’s what makes Kenny’s dojo the best. It’s a great place to try out your stuff.
• Had my weekly with Tristan Smith and Anna E. Paone. I was worried no one would show because Facebook has been limiting the amount of people I can invite to an event to 50. Is this an issue for others? Either way, I went outside and barked with Eliot Thompson and somehow we slowly but surely brought in nearly 70 people. We had to bring out every chair the venue had. Not a brag but sometimes things just work out too well. I don’t know if this can be replicated but man, it’s nice and I can’t thank Alex Carabaño enough for letting us do this. Also shout out to Emily Winter who hosted the show smoothly and we got out of there at a reasonable time which is the goal of any good show- getting out before it feels like prison.
• Did my first Teresa Sheffield-hosted Midnight Twitter War show at the Creek. I highly recommend attending if you haven’t had the chance. The show is a high energy medium for Tweets being read out loud and I had a rollicking good time losing fun battles to both Andrea Allan and Kimberly Dinaro. However, the true beast of the night was Boris Khaykin. The dude is a one-liner machine to be reckoned with. We each read roughly 20 Tweets. Boris just kept getting funnier. Dude is the man. Also, the show closed with CW Headley putting his fist in his girlfriend Sarah Jane Dillon’s mouth (she was on the show) because he was dared to at the top of the show. I have photos but will not post them out of respect but please ask to see them if you see me in person. They’re great.
• Got to sit in as Tristan Smith’s podcast co-host interviewing Usama Siddiquee on Monday night for his podcast “The Comic’s Table” at Ripley-Grier Studio on 36th Street. For those not in the know, that is the PLACE to record. Tristan had it all set up very professionally when we arrived. The guy is a pro and does amazing sound effects. At one point, someone said, “Say hello to my LITERAL friend” instead of “little friend” (it might have been me) and I can’t stop thinking about how great that is.
• Danny Vega put the video I helped him shoot online! You should definitely go watch it if you get a chance. You should watch all his stuff. They’re extremely digestible (always under two minutes), cut cleanly and most importantly, very funny. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pVAc1MGOw8.
• This week, I’ve got a ton of great comedy stuff coming up. Tomorrow is the fourth V-Spot show with a heck of a lineup (this happened yesterday haha), Friday I’m doing Barak Ziv’s Katch show in Astoria and on Monday I’m doing Rebecca Kaplan and Maura Sateriale’s show at Muchmore’s.
Let the comedy boom keep a boomin’
