On this seven night trip I had four nights to myself, which meant an awful lot of comedy!
The main target for the first night was a monthly show called Comedy at the Grocery (pictured). I had mistakenly believed that it was in an actual grocery store – in fact it was the back room of a normal pub on the Lower East Side, just a block from where Stand NYC’s Frantic Mondays pop-up have been playing over the summer. The usual entry fee is $5 (with no drink minimum) but it’s free if you pre-book via Eventbrite. The room was decent and the standard of comics reasonable, including a slightly distracted Nikki Glazer and a very impressive bloke called Dan Licata (who co-produces the Dan, Joe and Hot Toddy Show in Williamsburg). I’d happily go back.
The plan had then been to try to catch the end of Tickling The Ivories at a bar called Pianos just a few steps away. Despite the line-up for the comedy being displayed behind the bouncer on the door (who checked my ID bless him) when I got upstairs at the venue, all that was happening was a DJ was playing hip hop. I hadn’t planned for such an eventuality so was left wondering how to cram something else into the evening without a lot of travelling. I opted to visit the famous Monday night open-mic at The Sidewalk Cafe, a few blocks to the north. Edinburgh people might be aware of anti-folk artist Lach. He ran this evening for several years and still seems to be fondly remembered if the history on the wall (and graffiti in the bathroom) is anything to go by. There’s no entry fee or drink minimum though you are strongly encouraged to buy something. I expected it to only be musicians but about a quarter of the performers were comics. Each person gets 1 song or 4 minutes so things move along pretty quickly.
On Tuesday I wanted to do Ambush Comedy at the Two Boots Pizza location in Williamsburg but there was plenty of scope for shows before that. I started with an open-mic at a pub called
Otto’s Shrunken Head that I’ve been to before, run on weekdays (3pm) by a supportive guy called Jimmy Peoples. After that I popped in to The Grisly Pear on MacDougal St. Unbelievably they had almost run out of beer with only Guinness on draft and a fairly dire selection in bottles so I had one Heineken and watched precisely one-Heineken’s worth of comics. Although an inferior mic to Otto’s, it did at least have a better gender split. After that I headed along the street to the Olive Tree Cafe for some food and to see if I could spot any comics. Sam Morril, Joe List and Mark Normand were filming something at the comics’ table and I saw Bobby Kelly breeze through.
When I got to Two Boots (only a block from the L train’s Bedford Street stop) I noticed that the line-up on the board outside was entirely different from the published one, so I surreptitiously scribbled down the new names while trying to avoid looking like too much of a weirdo. There had been some mention of a free beer if you arrived between 8 and 8:30 (which I had) but it all sounded rather improbable. Right enough, a draft Octoberfest was being handed out (in an endearingly incompetent fashion) by one of the show’s producers. Despite the fluctuating line-up the comedy was extremely impressive with three different comics (Joe Zimmerman/Brett Hiker/Andrea Allan) getting the FSA (Fat Scottish Anorak) seal of approval.
Ambush finished around 9:45pm and perhaps feeling that I hadn’t made the most of the previous night, I decided to head to a show at Halyards that I thought started at 10pm. Halyards is a lovely spot but it’s a fair distance from Williamsburg (and even further from Manhattan’s UWS where I’d be returning to) but I went for it anyway. I got there about 10:30pm to find that there was no comedy, just some live jazz. I did think about drowning my disappointment in a solo beer and watching the coverage of the midterms that they had on but figured I’d just be even more tired after that and I’d still have the hour long journey home. Three comedy shows in a day would have to suffice.
By Wednesday I had adult supervision so standup consumption was going to be slightly reduced. I had noticed that Too Many Cooks (at Lucky Jacks – it took over the Ghandi Is That You? slot) were having a one year anniversary show with both Chris Distefano and Chris Gethard listed to appear. As that show didn’t start till 9pm it was going to be theoretically possible to catch a little of Let’s See, What Else? at nearby Poco. Sam Morril was on the bill and in the past the big name has gone on immediately after the hosts at the start. The last time we were at LSWE it was mobbed, possibly because they had a good happy hour downstairs till the start of the comedy. This time we were first in, which set alarm bells ringing. The range of drinks offered downstairs had reduced but there was still a happy hour on upstairs. As the hosts came on there was no sign of Sam but Mark Normand was hovering near the back. There was no announcement that he’d replaced Sam but we bailed out anyway after Mark’s set. My girlfriend headed home and I went along to Too Many Cooks. Other than Chris C and Chris D there wasn’t a huge amount to enthuse about and jeezo it was cold in there.
On Thursday we had booked tickets (for the very reasonable price of $10 each) to see Alex Edelman perform his Edinburgh Comedy Awards-nominated show at the Bell House. We got decent seats and although his support wasn’t up to much, we had high hopes for his hour. In the end we both came away from it a little disappointed. Maybe catching him in a smaller room at the Fringe would have been a better idea.
It was Sunday before I could overdose on standup again. In the afternoon I tried to go and have a look at Stand NYC’s new location (they promised it would be open “in the fall”) but there still seems to be some work to do. A show called Free Puppies was having its first birthday at Greenwich Village’s Lantern bar at the conveniently early time of 6pm and Sam Morril was scheduled to appear. Comedy at this venue used to mainly be restricted to open-mics in their basement room but they now have a performance space at the far end of the bar. The crowd enjoyed it but I thought it fairly hacky at times and disappointingly SM failed to appear again. However there was no cover (though they did ask for donations) and only a single drink minimum so it’s a bit mean to complain too much.
I headed across town to Old Man Hustle who had an hour long show listed as starting at 8pm as part of the New York Comedy festival. I don’t know what tie-in to the festival was meant to achieve, it just seemed like a perfectly normal night at OMH to me. Bob Biggerstaff was reasonable but there wasn’t much else to hold the interest.
Comedy At The Beauty Bar was only a short bus ride away so once the last comic (venue owner Eddie Farrell) was done I made my way over there. My one other time attending this night the show had started very late. I don’t know if I’d missed a section or lateness is a regular feature but only a couple of minutes after I got there about 9:40pm it kicked off. For a free show the line-up was very strong. The only name I could remember was one of the show producers Jeff Arcuri. I’d definitely look out for him. Somehow I was awarded a free beer halfway through the show. I don’t know how that happened but I didn’t refuse.
Trip Stats
Comedy shows seen – 11
Comedy shows failed to see – 2
Total ticket expenditure – $15
Number of times I failed to see Sam Morril - 2