• In New York City, it’s very rare to get an opportunity to be a part of comedy things on a Friday or Saturday night. Maybe that’s just me but every time I am part of a thing on a Friday or Saturday, it feels like a truly special occasion. This week, I got to be a part of the really fun video sketch show “Always Happy Never Sad Comedy Bop” hosted by Nehemiah Markos and Jed Feiman. My sketch was featured on their two-year anniversary show along with other NY sketch heavyweights Dan Harumi, Dominic Leonelli, Nate Borgman and Laura Merli (I didn’t know anyone else in any of the videos but there were a few sketches I really loved). The show also featured stand up from Bowen Yang and Dulcé Sloan. I’ve been a fan of both of theirs from afar for a long time but had never seen either of them live. They’re both so good and naturally funny. The different ways Bowen described NYU got funnier every time and Dulce’s review of Brooklyn Bazaar (where the show was being held) was some of the best riffing I’ve seen this year. It should also be noted that this show has the most interesting chair situation for audiences that I’ve seen in the City. Anna E. Paone and I sat on lawn chairs for the show. This was a welcome change of pace.
• Filmed just one show this week (Anna was there) at the PIT Loft and it was a banger. Stephanie Occhipinti’s sketch show Womedy (featuring friends Emily Austin killing it singing a killer song and Yaari Nadav Tal on piano) sold out the joint THREE nights in a row. That’s like Hamilton-level success for any type of comedy in NYC without a name attached to it and I applaud the group for that. Seriously, that doesn’t just happen. Either way, it was earned because the show itself was 45 minutes of very strong sketches ranging from satire to silliness to social commentary that I won’t spoil because they’re mostly already online. You can check them out at the link in the comments if that’s your kind of thing.
• Had some cool comedy hangs this week. The first was a training session with Jimmy Peoples (of People’s Mic fame) at a gym by Grand Central Station. If you’re not in the loop and looking for a trainer, Jimmy is one of the best I’ve ever had (saying this after just one training session that I was ten minutes late to) and gives you a true workout. My forearms were sore for days. Hit him up if you’re trying to get swole. The other cool hang I had this week was last Wednesday when Anna and I went to the Staten Island Yankees game (they also go by the Staten Island Pizza Rats for six games a year and have Pizza Rat pilsners you can buy) with Jason Planitzer and his wife Sarah Murphy after trying out the international menu at McDonalds (the Stroopwafel McFlurry is a 6.5/10 for me). You just take the ferry to Staten Island and BOOM you’re there to watch some low level baseball. Pretty much every batter was batting under .200 (not that batting average matters) and there were a ton of errant throws in the infield. We weren’t there for great baseball though. We were there for the hang and I can’t recommend a better hang than with Jason and his wife. If you’re a baseball fan, hit them up, there’s no one better to catch a game with. They know their stuff and are both funny as hell.
• On Monday afternoon, I got a message from Matt Vita asking me if I wanted to do two minutes on his new show “Vita’s Variety” at the PIT. I said, “Yeah, dude.” Showed up to the show at 9 with Anna (she went to comedy things FOUR NIGHTS IN A ROW THIS WEEK which sets a record for most shows in a row ever attended by a significant other. She is the true Comedy WAG) not sure what to expect and what I found was a packed out room of people ready to watch 35 comics do two minutes. Everyone killed it with their TIGHT 2. Essentially, he commodified the open mic experience into a fun version of a show. The man is a genius. It was also a competition and Tony Sykowski killed it and ended up winning in an overtime battle. Also, major props should be given to the improv troupe that was thrown up during the show’s intermission and had to do scenes based on what the Comics had done. Never an easy task but they got big laughs and handled it with ease.
• Quick plug for a new mic that I went to this past week. Check out Vivek Netrakanti and Shenuque Tissera-Salazar’s brand new and very fun mic (No Slimers Open Mic- they’ve got a Facebook group) at Easy Lover Bar (formerly Legion Bar). It’s a fun mic and a great space to try out new stuff. Next one is at the end of the month.
• Last but never least, I did Randy Epley’s Comedy Dungeon show at Jazz on the Park on Sunday night. This is Anna’s favorite show and one of mine too. From the set up where Randy sets up a decoy front row so people sit in the true front row which is the second row to seeing every comic (myself included) attempt to do crowd work with people from Australia, Haiti and Thailand at the same time, the show is something else. At the center of it all is Randy firing off absurd one-liners which I can’t get enough of. He sets up and cleans up every week and doesn’t get enough credit for this show that he puts on. Do it if you haven’t. It’s a challenge and worth it. This week, I wanted to give a special shout out to Lee Valentin for speaking three languages in his ten-minute set and showing us all how to properly murder a hostel show. That was one of the most impressive feats of comedy and it was for such a small room. The good sets in the small room are always more memorable.
• No comedy stuff planned for me this coming week. That’s OK. Just means it’s time to try the one new joke I’m working on at like 20 mics.
Happy early fourth and happy right on time July 3
