October 2023 - A birthday party, a smoke-filled basement and Amy Schumer
We kicked things off with a visit to Stand NYC the day after we arrived. The 8pm show boasted Ari Shaffir and Mike Vecchione, plus Oscar Aydin hosting. Kyle Dunnigan was being promoted as the main draw but I was unaware of his work. In the end it turned into a slightly disappointing affair. Kyle had quite the bad show, playing to almost silence at times. And we found a new name to add to the "-2" category in my bumper list of New York comics. That doesn't happen every day. It's an elite group.
The following night we were at The Olive Tree Cafe. As ever, the two main missions were to spot who is at the comics table (Chris Turner, Keith Washington and Derek Gaines) and walk through the showroom (to supposedly go to the bathroom). As I headed downstairs for my peak at the on-stage performer, I realised that Amy Schumer was waiting at the room entrance, about to go on. There was much gesticulating from those around her (including Liz Furiati) that I should stop where I was. I thought about trying to explain that I was comedy-savvy and not about to become hysterical or attempt a selfie with Ms Schumer but opted instead to quietly remain halfway down the stairs as requested. A few seconds later she was brought to the stage to a thunderous reaction and I was frantically ushered (yes yes I know!) through to the bathroom.
Next up was another visit to Monday Night Mob at Standup NY. I've explained before but it's a bit like Free For All at Monkey Barrel, though MB always employ professional hosts - I'm not entirely sure MNM do. You arrive when you want, buy a single (discounted) drink and leave when you've had enough. There was someone decent mid-set when we arrived but aside from that, there wasn't much to write home about.
Tuesday was an early show at Old Man Hustle in Williamsburg. On weekdays they have a 6pm performance where you get your second drink for free. The last time we attempted this show no one else turned up, the gig was cancelled and they comped us our beers. We felt that there was a definite possibility that this might happen again, but on arrival a (small) group were going in in front of us. As they numbered seven, plus us two, surely the show would go on? Indeed it did, a little late, and with a lineup baring no resemblance whatsoever to the published one.
There was one standout success, a guy intriguingly named Danish Maqbool, and a partial success in the form of Ronnie Smith. The show was relatively short but we did get our second drink as promised and the ratio of 1.5 good comics out of five unknowns is nothing to sniff at.
We had pencilled in a visit to a well-known open-mic venue, Black Cat LES, on Wednesday. On arrival we noticed a couple of problems. Firstly, they had very few alcoholic drinks available (it mainly functions as a cafe) and we'd have to choose between red wine, white wine and a punchy IPA. The second, and some would legitimately argue, bigger problem was that I hadn't read the schedule properly and Wednesday night was to be Tarot Night. We made a discreet exit and, given the issue with drinks, probably won't return.
Thursday night was an enticing prospect. Stand NYC were celebrating their 11th birthday. The 8pm show was solid but the 10pm was stacked. Aaron Berg (host), Emma Willmann, Derek Gaines, Ari Shaffir (again), Ian Lara, Vladimir Caamano, Michael Kosta and Brad Williams who I'd never seen. I also hoped there might possibly be a special guest.
We arrived early and spent a drink by the upstairs bar looking out for anyone super-famous who might be involved in our lineup. We briefly said hello to manager Joe but he was busy dotting back and forth. There were a couple of slightly listless performances but overall, it was an excellent show. Ari and Ian were great and Brad was fantastic. I imagine his club sets are few and far between but my goodness, I'd be keen to see him again. It looked like the evening might be over but to my utter delight, Aaron announced that Dave Attell was a special guest! Despite him being regarded by his peers as the best comic in NYC, up until this point I'd never managed to see him.
He ripped into the club and then moved onto the crowd, classifying one pony-tailed swarthy guy as a "land-pirate" while the other comics gazed on, adoringly. After a few minutes he invited Aaron to join him onstage. I have never seen Aaron lost for words but he looked starstruck next to Dave.
Saturday night was our first visit to Sesh Comedy. We've been to Seventh Street Comedy before, a minimalist room on the lower east side that works on a BYOB basis and this was exactly the same idea. There are some "early-bird" tickets listed at half-price so we'd picked a show where this price point was available.
Things didn't start swimmingly. We arrived just after 7:30 for a 7:55 show and were told we couldn't come in (out of the rain) because "we'd have to seat another 30 people". This didn't make any sense and although they claimed they were still "setting up", they were in fact sitting on the chairs chatting. We found a tiny, weird bar and split a drink and returned 15 mins later to find a huge line waiting to go in.
The room is even more minimalist than Seventh Street, but as long as you don't need to visit the bathroom during the 75 min show, it's a pretty reasonable space for standup. The sets were short, maybe 8 mins each, and there was a lot to like, particularly Sam Evans. They were talking about opening another, larger room very close to where they are at the moment. Right enough, I got an email about two weeks later offering cheap tickets for their opening night. That would be three different spaces on the lower east side operating a BYOB model. Maybe that's the way forward?
At some point during four days of pissing NY rain we popped into the Sunflower Arcade Lounge on Thompson St in the Village. I wasn't quite certain what it was. Initially I assumed it was pitching itself as a Barcade clone, but it also seemed to host comedy. Its website blurb is tremendous. "The legendary Sunflower Arcade Lounge, known for comedians such as Chris Rock, Louis CK and Jamie Fox, who have all, at one time or another, walked passed (sic) the front door of the club". So what you're saying is that your proximity to another comedy club means that comedians were, at times, close to your comedy club? Cool.
It is QUITE the place. It's a smoke shop with a basement and when it's not hosting comedy, you're charged $10 per hour to smoke in the basement. The half dozen or so arcade games are then free to play. They let us go down for a nosey. Bass-heavy hip hop tunes blared and through the fug of smoke, we could just about make out the size and shape of the room. Some youths looked up briefly as we entered and then went back to smoking heavily. We retraced our steps back up the stairs and the bloke gave me a "yeah, thought as much" look. Maybe we won't be rushing back.
On Monday we opted to give MNM at Standup NY another chance. The club seem to have got wise to the show's popularity and it was being run with a little more discipline. I pre-empted the greeter's explanation of how the evening would work, assuring them we'd been before. A bloke to my left at the bar chatted briefly to me but it wasn't clear if he was an act, a punter or even management.
Not long into the show I saw him waiting to go on and from this face-on angle he looked more familiar. Right enough, a couple of minutes later they brought TJ Miller to the stage. He was appearing at The Stand later that night so popped into what is basically a glorified open-mic, to try out some new stuff. He whipped through it pretty efficiently, eschewing transitions and just jumping into the next bit as quickly as possible. The night was a lot more successful than the Monday before. We also discovered Ryan Thomas who we spoke to briefly on our way out the venue to dinner.
Tuesday was our final night and I had (free) tickets booked for Freestyle at Bowery Electric, a show I'd been to years before and was keen to revisit. None of the billed acts rang any bells but one was on at The Stand later that night. Girlfriend wisely suggested that I double check the lineup and it was at that point that I realised that there were two "-1" comedians listed, bringing the forecasted "total" for the show to "-2" (when you factor in that unknowns count as zeros). Lineups can change and comedians can improve but "-2" is not a great number to be facing for your final gig of the holiday.
Alternatives were considered. The Stand had a fairly decent 8pm show but you're looking at $50 before drinks and we'd been there twice already. There was something weird called Phat Set Comedy at a venue named GAMA, a place on the lower east side that Google described as a "lounge". I beg your pardon? Ticks were $7 each and boasted Sean Patton and Caitlin Peluffo. It seemed almost too good to be true. We were a little wary of what drinks the "lounge" would offer. Would it be $18 cocktails? Tickets were purchased and our evening plans were rejigged accordingly.
We arrived and were told that it'd be a wee while before things got started in the basement venue. The drinks upstairs were pretty awful so an executive decision was made and we headed to a CVS to buy some cans. On returning we took our seats in the sparsely-filled room in a position that allowed us maximum privacy (for can-opening) but also afforded us the option of a quick escape if things went south.
It wasn't the best show by any means. Girlfriend heard the host/organiser anguish over how many people had cancelled on him. There were a couple of dismal failures and Sean Patton didn't turn up, but on the plus side Espi Rivadeneira was a decent new find and after quite a lot of stalling by the host, Caitlin eventually appeared to close. She was excellent as ever.
Trip Stats
Shows attended - 7
New venues attended - 3 (I'm counting OMH)
Venues entered and promptly left - 2
Expenditure - $81
July 2023 - Assorted Missteps, Outright Fails and Return of the World Champion
As girlfriend and I flew different routes to NYC, I was unsupervised for the first evening. I took a pragmatic approach and opted for Monday Night Mob at Standup NY, a sort of hybrid between an open-mic and a regular show that I've attended several times. It was free to enter, had drinks specials and was close enough to the flat that I could get back easily if overwhelmed by tiredness. They bring the comics up in batches of three. After three sets, plus the host, I figured that was enough. Kevin Hurley was reasonable and I enjoyed Tyler somebody. He was sitting with two other comics as I headed through the bar to the exit. I thought about asking him his surname but studiously ignoring the other comics would have been awkward for everybody.
The following evening we VERY briefly called in at Not Ripe Bananas, a new material night at The West Side Comedy Club. We watched Matthew Broussard while we worked out whether a) We could bring ourselves to pay $12 (plus tax plus tip!) for a beer b) We could realistically get away with opening the cans of Montauk IPA we'd just bought in a grocery store in case the beer was eye-wateringly expensive. As the answer to both these questions was "No", we were kind of obliged to leave. You can't watch comedy and not drink. That's weird.
Wednesday was to be a trip to Brooklyn, specifically Park Slope and even more specifically Savage: A Comedy Show in the basement of a bar called Logan's Run. The show had been on my radar for some time and while the lineup was entirely untried, Dylan Adler had been tipped as "one to watch for 2023" by some sort of publication, possibly Vulture. The show had two female MCs who, rather unwisely, opted to host simultaneously despite apparently not planning how this would work or displaying any real charisma/personality. Other than the opening act (Michael Hirsch) we both had really quite a bad time here and it was a relief to get out. Still, it's a nice bar.
We tried to rectify things the following evening by spending some actual money. Stand NYC's 8pm show offered Ari Shaffir, Ian Lara, Mike Vecchione plus some other odds and ends. This was considerably more successful and even Richie Redding, who I can take or leave, got away with it. We also learned that I like Michael Kosta and girlfriend definitely does not. There was a brief sighting of manager Joe Harary but I didn't get a chance to chat to him.
Friday's Kweendom at Pete's Candy Store made it (sort of) five nights of comedy on the bounce. I wouldn't normally put girlfriend through quite that much standup but it's a monthly show so is difficult to catch and we enjoyed it on our one previous visit. Host Bobby Hankinson was delightful as ever and I'd be happy to see the rather grandly-named Ellington Berg again. Aside from those two we struggled, despite the extremely pretty setting.
Monday featured Monday Night Mob (again) and Frantic at Stand NYC (for me). It was Juneteenth so Sherrod Small had been recruited as a host and he did spectacularly well. Tyler was back, as was a girl we've seen a few times before called Kari Burt and finally Kevin was there too. On our way in he introduced himself and offered us pizza. I declined as I assumed it was for the comics but it transpired that he'd bought lots of pizza out the goodness of his heart. It also transpired that before we'd got there someone had choked on said pizza and another audience member had performed the Heimlich manoeuvre on her. How on earth do you choke on pizza?
Frantic had Aaron and Kerryn hosting as usual. It wasn't my favourite edition of that show but I enjoyed Dan La Morte. I'll look out for him in the future.
I was keen to try a brand new venue. Although I've been to the Old Man Hustle "comedy bar" in the Lower East Side a few times, I've never been to a show at the considerably more upscale comedy club version in Williamsburg. Tickets were $12 but the Thursday 6pm show promised a free second beer after you bought your first. Shafi Hossain was on the bill who I'd seen before, as was owner Edward Farrell. When we checked in, the door guy confessed ("full disclosure") that we were the only ones who had booked and unless the "active street team" could bring in someone else, the show wouldn't happen. Williamsburg has been gentrified in the last 10 years but there aren't many tourists cutting about and I thought their chances of persuading a local to attend a show on the spur of the moment were not high.
We sat ourselves down, waiting on the 6pm decision. Someone from the bar asked if we wanted drinks. We were reluctant in case the whole thing was called off but when he added, under his breath, that they'd be comped in the event of cancellation, we got our order in sharpish. And that's exactly what happened. No show and the drinks were free. We tipped well and headed back to Manhattan. I could have sourced another show last minute but we decided to cut our losses.
Friday was originally meant to have us attending a BYOB show at a place called Sesh but we missed out on early bird tickets and as the full price ones were double the cost, we decided that we'd just pick another date to give it a try. We visited the Seventh Street Comedy Club on our previous trip and it offers a similar product to Sesh. I was slightly reluctant to return as its promised lineup bore little resemblance to who actually turned up. In theory Judah Friedlander was to be there on the Friday.
We got there in good time and watched as the room gradually reached near capacity. I didn't catch many names but it became apparent that, as before, the published lineup was a work of fiction. Dylan Krasinski popped up again (I think he may be involved in the club's running) but we were beginning to lose hope when I spotted a heavily-masked Judah peaking out from behind the curtain. It was great to see him again after several years. He did fairly normal Judah stuff - crowdwork/his presidential campaign/America is the greatest country in the USA.
After the show he was waiting outside. Keen to say hello but also not wanting to pester him we very briefly introduced ourselves. To our delight he seemed to remember us and talked freely for quite a while, discussing what NYC clubs he did and didn't like. For a comedy anorak like me, it doesn't get any better than this!
The next night we called in at the Olive Tree Cafe for some food and (obviously) some comedian-spotting. We sat next to (new slimline) Bobby Kelly but Keith Robinson, Brooklyn-resident Chris Turner and even club veteran Dov Davidoff were present. The last couple of times we've been there someone super-famous has turned up but that was the extent of our haul this time.
The only other comedy event was an attempt to attend Unladylike, an open-mic at Standup NY for women/NB. Girlfriend was at a terrible matinee so I walked up to the club under threatening skies and despite the show being listed on their website, found the door to be locked. Ah well, another fail.
Trip Stats
Shows attended - 7
Shows that went wrong - 3
Expenditure - $36
May 2023 - Old Favourites and New Locations
My first NYC trip in six months (due to requiring worn out bits of me to be replaced) also coincided with the Masters golf, impacting slightly on my haul of comedy shows.
The first Friday was a brand-new venue (tick) called The Seventh Street Comedy Club. Tickets were $12 but once there it was BYOB (tick). Additionally, it was in a small, converted space, formerly a photography studio, in the Lower East Side (tickety-tick). With so much going for it, plus the lineup published in advance, I had high hopes.
There was a bit of a mismatch between those performing and those listed to appear - to the extent that it was arguable whether it was worth publishing the lineup at all. Host Dylan Krasinski was tolerable and headliner Dan St Germain did not bad but the whole evening was a tad underwhelming. Two audience members on a first date alternating swigs directly out of a wine bottle was certainly a lasting memory.
Not an actual night of standup but Saturday's dinner was at the Olive Tree Cafe, directly above the Comedy Cellar. Notable appearances at the comedians' table included a trio of regular Edinburgh Fringe performers, Chris Turner, Alex Edelman and Daniel Simonsen. Star-spotting excitement clicked up several gears when I noticed Matt Damon standing six feet to my left. He was quickly ushered downstairs to be seated with his entourage of 11.
The following Monday was our regular doubling up of shows - Monday Night Mob at Standup NY and Frantic at Stand NYC with dinner in between. MNM (which is what Richard Herring's cool kids are calling it) was another success. We got good seats, a tumbler full of inexpensive wine and a dangerously toxic beer. About the only complaint I could reasonably level at them is that the sets are so rapid-fire that it can be difficult to catch the names of comics you enjoy.
I was flying solo for Frantic at 10pm. There was a fair smattering of talent billed (Aaron/Sean Patton/Emma Willman/Ari), an encouraging number of names new to me and minimal acknowledged poison. Aaron co-hosted with Jamar Neighbors and although it started well, I think we could generously say that it went off the rails slightly. Emma was up first and did well but a certain comic who I harp on about came to the stage shortly after. They had also appeared unbilled on Friday's show to my distress and proceeded to hack their way through the same set. After another couple of disappointments and my pint being finished I opted for a strategic exit. Both Ari and Sean were booked in for the following night so it felt like I had that to fall back on.
The lineup for Tuesday at the Stand was terrific. Dan Soder, Ari, Sean Patton and Joe List, plus Onika McLean as MC. Things got even better when Mark Normand went up first. I assumed that he was replacing someone but all the billed acts subsequently showed. Everyone was on form, even Joe List, who I'm sometimes neutral on. He had just burnt all his material on a special and was starting from absolute zero. He was disarmingly engaging as he hopped from topic to topic, scratching in the dirt for laughs. The only criticism I could level at the evening was that Onika does the same material every single time she MCs. "Black don't crack unless you smoke it". Yes, yes, love. You've said that every time I've seen you for the past four years and I'm only in town about eight weeks a year. Jeezo.
The following night we were over at The Comedy Cellar, or to be precise, The Fat Black Pussycat Lounge. The lineup was mixed with at least one significant drawback present but to counter that we had Phil Hanley and Joe Machi. Phil was everything you would hope he would be and we really enjoyed Joe. After that things tailed off quickly. Emmy Blotnick was adequate and while the crowd certainly went for Andrew Schulz, we weren't entirely sold on him.
Thursday night represented our fourth night of standup in row. I can't remember exactly how it came about that we were signing up for a free show in the back room of a restaurant in Williamsburg, but that's what happened. We were a little late arriving and barely had time to buy a couple of glasses of off wine before the scheduled start. Girlfriend popped through to assess the seating and came back to say that it looked like we were the only audience members. Someone else did wander in through an open back door (with a kid!) and when they left, a good-looking black couple from Brooklyn took their seats but four was as high as the crowd got.
Although the room was pretty enough, it was always going to be a struggle for the comics. There were no real winners - in fact the only names I jotted down were ones I planned to put a "-1" against in my big book of NY comedians.
That was the end of the planned comedy for the trip but on the Monday evening we found ourselves at a music event just off Union Square called Sofar Sounds. It concluded just shy of 10pm and as The Stand was only a couple of blocks north, it seemed rude not to call in to another edition of Frantic. Apart from anything else, I hadn't bumped into Joe Harary on either of the visits the previous week.
The lineup was nothing to write home about but saying that, the one from a week before had been great and I'd left before a lot of them had gone up. Halfway down the stairs I spotted Joe seating people. I paused to catch his eye and he grinned and gave me a fist bump, allowing me to then seat myself. Aaron and Jamar hosted again with the latter being a tad less boisterous than he'd been seven days earlier. The small crowd were a bit too vocal for my liking and Cipha Sounds spent most of his set wrangling an "Indian Karen" in the front row who accused him of being racist. Drew Dunn also had to forego trying new stuff and fall back on established material on realising the crowd weren't attentive enough.
My pint was nearly done and I was swithering between making it last for one more comic, buying another or necking it and leaving. At that point it became apparent that the act I'd seen twice already (twice more than I'd like) was up next. Decision made, I headed for the subway.
That was virtually it for comedy, except that it transpired that Dave Hill was opening for the Smiths tribute act we were booked in to see the following night. I had listened to a Todd Barry podcast with Dave just the week before and was somewhat intrigued by the prospect. My excitement was dulled a little by watching 10 minutes of his special. He comes on with a guitar but isn't really a musical comedian - he just sort of tits about with it. He did the same titting about at the Bowery Ballroom as he'd done in his special - no burning material for this lad - and his 15 minutes on stage felt like a long time. The tribute act's new singer was also shit so it wasn't much of a finale to our trip.
Trip Stats
Shows attended - 7
Visits to Stand NYC - 3
Expenditure - $46