It was hot. Damn hot. In fact we arrived during the first weather advisory of the summer, but minor details like possible heatstroke weren't going to stop me attending a large amount of low-quality comedy.
The first show was to be at the original location of the New York Comedy Club. I'd only been once before and was slightly underwhelmed at the time. However, it's still in business and has in fact added two new locations in NYC and one in Connecticut, so it must be doing something right. We baulked somewhat at the beer prices ($13 for Dogfish IPA) but when the guy running the show (actually an open-mic) rang them up, it came to a total of $12 and we were not about to complain.
The mic was about as successful as you could imagine. An English bloke who'd played American football professionally went up. Surely he's set for life after that sort of career? A mad lady called Dana closed things out. I'm not sure if we were laughing at or with her but it's better than not laughing at all.
Next up was another open-mic, this time at what used to be called Old Man Hustle in Williamsburg and is now called the Williamsburg Comedy Club. As usual each act got five minutes of stage time but there was some mechanism (possibly just a payment) that enabled a performer to do 10 minutes. What I learned that day was that 10 mins of someone who is not very good is impossibly tedious.
That same night we called in at The Beauty Bar. It's another venue I hadn't been to for a while. In the end we had five acts, two of which we'll look out for in the future. Not a bad return for a free show.
Lots happened on Monday. After lunch we strolled past what used to be Standup NY on the Upper West Side. It's soon to become another New York Comedy Club outlet and I was curious to see if there were any indications of its change in ownership. Luckily the new neon sign was being mounted as we walked past so I snapped a picture.
In the evening we headed to the Olive Tree for some food and comedian-gawking. Jim Norton and Sam Morril were at the comedians' table. Colin Smith, who used to contribute jingles to Sam's previous podcast, Keeping Joe, was eating prior to starting a musical set at 9pm. We might have waited around for it but we had tickets for Frantic at The Stand NYC.
Frantic was always on in the big room at 10pm but the increasing success of the live records of Legion of Skanks (going from free to $10 to $20 to needing the big room to accommodate said Skanks) means that Frantic has been brought forward to 9pm and relocated to the smaller upstairs room. The lineup wasn't too enticing but Aaron (Berg) was compering and the tickets were free. Except Aaron wasn't compering, Derek Drescher was and that is a VERY different proposition.
We sat through Drew Dunn and a poor set from JC Mendoza and another couple before deciding that an early exit might be wise. I did get the chance to interrogate manager Joe about how Chappelle is allowed to smoke in the venue when he does his $200 per head WIP shows. The answer is apparently that theatrical productions, such as plays, are exempt from the city's smoking policy. A comedy set could arguably be described as a theatrical production and as such, he gets to smoke.
My next attempt was something called UG! Audition Show in an East Village pub's basement. The deal seems to be that a number (nine?) comics pay an amount ($10?) to do five minutes each. A vote is then taken on who was the best and he/she takes all the money. Unfortunately I was the only one to turn up. And I don't mean the only audience member, no. No audience and no performers, which is a new record even for me. Well done. Well done.
The following night was quite a mad thing. The Lincoln Center organises shows called "Summer in the City", most of which appear to be free. One of these shows was standup and as it was Pride week, all the performers were LGBT. Although the Lincoln Center is literally a couple of hundred yards from where we stay, the actual location of the venue wasn't immediately obvious so I went to do some reconnaissance in order to ensure that we weren't fannying around at the last minute looking for the room. Amusingly the performance space turned out to be in an underpass, where vehicles presumably discharge their passengers to enter the Lincoln Center via the basement. On the plus side, there was plenty of room and what could loosely be called a low ceiling. On the downside we were exposed to the 30C+ heat and no small measure of humidity.
There were five acts in total, one good (Alex English) and one excellent (Nico Carney). When a thunderstorm erupted above us, the onstage comic quipped that it was God's wrath. With the weird setting and the unexpectedly high standard of comedy it was a memorable evening.
There was a decent lineup on Thursday at the Williamsburg Comedy Club, including one of our absolute favourites, Judah Friedlander. A couple of days before the show the venue announced that the start time was being changed (due to the Presidential debate). This coincided with Judah disappearing from the bill. I pinged off an email asking for a refund, claiming (slightly dishonestly) that we couldn't make the new amended start. Meantime Judah was added to the Saturday 8pm bill so I pinged off another email, asking for our tickets to be swapped to that one instead. We don't usually do Saturday comedy as the audience can be full of dicks but we wanted to see Judah. Worryingly the weekend show was no more expensive than the very cheap Thursday tickets we started with.
The bill changed so often in those last 48 hours that I can't honestly say how close the final lineup was to the first advertised iteration. I do know that Bonnie McFarlane came and went and that Daniel Simonsen and Seaton Smith were both set to appear, fingers crossed. Predictably Judah disappeared from the bill again (is it something we said?). Knowing his concern over masking and Covid he would have quite enjoyed the room as I think we peaked at 12 audience. Keep in mind that this is the Saturday 8pm show. Daniel and Seaton both showed and did short but excellent sets and there were a motley crew of others, probably unpaid. Oddly, club owner Edward Farrell was due to appear but didn't show. You'd think he'd be putting in a shift at his own club.
Not an actual show attendance but we walked past a sign in Chinatown that read Fear City Comedy Club. There was a bloke going in and out of what was clearly a still-being-built venue. I asked him about it but he didn't know much. The website is intriguing. Its most recent update explains the concept but raises more questions - "Formerly a boxing gym, now a 62 seat ‘killbox’ comedy club serving non-alcoholic beverages. No bartenders, no servers, no drink minimums - no distractions". How are you serving non-alcoholic drinks without a bartender? From a vending machine? Is this a dry comedy club? Can I bring booze? If not, will I be caught if I do bring booze? This is the real question. Anyway, it's weird and something I'll be investigating the next time I'm in town.
Girlfriend was (and still is) ill so I could be selfish on the final Monday of our trip. There was something called The Friendly Mic at a Park Slope bar that we like called Freddy's. It's a bit of a trek to get there but I was stopping off on the way back at Frantic which would break the journey up. And it's true, the mic was friendly. Most of the acts seemed to be regulars or at least know each other and there was an encouraging vibe about the night. I left before the end to ensure that I would get to Frantic on time and hopefully see Aaron.
Arriving at The Stand I clocked Aaron almost immediately. Thank goodness. Worst case scenario is that I seem him and some rubbish but that's still a decent result. Joe said hello again and invited me to sit wherever I wanted. I picked a seat one person from the door. I then realised my mistake. The one person was a very attractive 30ish woman. I would consequently definitely feature in the show as a creepy old man, trying to sit near the hot girl on her own. In anticipation I started working on a mitigation strategy.
I needn't have bothered. Despite me definitely definitely spotting him earlier, Natalie Cuomo appeared instead of Aaron for some inept hosting. She did bring up Jon Rudnitsky who was new to me, plus her fiancé, Dan LaMorte, both of whom I enjoyed. Maybe Aaron was coming on later to do a conventional set, but once my pint was done, I made for the door.
Trip Stats
Shows seen - 8
Shows failed to see - 1
Number of times booked to and failed to see Judah - 2
Expenditure - $7
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