2024

October 2024 - New Venues, Bad Audiences and Where's Your Lady?

This was a short trip, just eight nights, but a reasonable amount of comedy was crammed in, including a couple of new locations (always a thrill!).

First up was a visit to the Fat Black Pussycat, specifically the Bar area. The main draw was Chris Distefano but Emma Willmann and Leclerc Andre were listed, plus other odds and ends. The MC, Jon Fisch was good, Emma started with old stuff but did OK and Chris, riffing heavily on his family, got away with it. Nick Griffin turned up unannounced in order to practice for (I think) a TV appearance. A significant issue was a pair of chatty cunts beside us. I won't bore you with details of their behaviour but I shooshed them to no effect and the staff seemed blissfully unaware. 

The following day I got the automated email from the Cellar, inviting "blunt" feedback and, for the first time, I decided to offer some. Liz (Furiati - General Manager) got back to me pretty quickly, agreeing that the chatty cunt issue should have been addressed at the time and offering to refund our cover charges or issue some replacement free tickets. I'd have been happy with tickets but it was going to be difficult to work them into our schedule so took the refund. I consider that pretty good service.

On the Friday we had an odd thing. The New York Historical Museum on the Upper West Side had been running some weekly comedy nights (of course they had!). Tickets were free once you were inside the museum and entry to that was on a PWYW basis. It was hosted (and possibly produced?) by Tom Delgado, long-term cohost of the Let's See, What Else? bar show, but the main attraction was Caitlin Peluffo. The crowd were extremely elderly and, I'm going to go out on a limb here, probably not regular comedy club attendees. Tom struggled to engage them but Peter Revello, who had been on at the FBPC, actually did reasonably. I think I enjoyed him more in the museum as I wasn't scunnered (excellent Scottish word) with the pair beside me.

Caitlin delivered tremendous value as ever. She talks quite a lot about losing weight (40 pounds apparently) but also falls back on her established material along the lines of "I'm a sturdy girl". These two sets of material are very much at odds with each other and she probably needs to make a decision as to which route she's going down. She's been doing the IASG stuff for a while now so it could be retired. Last up was Anthony Moore, who I'd have been quite keen to see, but we had to leave in order to be on time for, and you're going to have to strap in for this one, a showing of Nosferatu with a Radiohead accompaniment of the LPs Kid A and Amnesiac.

Apropos of nothing, about this time I got an email from the Westside Comedy Club. A "large group" had cancelled but they were happy for their tickets to be used by other people so WCC were offering these spaces for free for that night's show. Is that not one of the most imaginative ways to "paper" a room you've ever heard?

Girlfriend had a terrible play to attend on the Saturday night so I was able to choose something selfish and, let's face it, probably dreadful. A new, comedian-operated comedy club had opened in Bushwick, joining the likes of Flop House and Sesh. As with Sesh (and Flop House at the start) it boasted BYO status. I had planned it anyway but a lastminute offer of discounted tickets (because of rain or something?) sealed the deal. With some beers in a rucksack off I headed for deepest, darkest Bushwick.

There were no known names on the bill but I was keen to support the endeavour. Each week they have a different food truck parked outside the club, which is a nice feature. The entrance is a bit bare-bones but it's functional and they have a small fridge containing cans for purchase, so if you've failed to BYO there is at least that safety net. The performance space is also fairly basic but they've added a little bit of character to it. Eschewing the standard brick wall backdrop, the comedians perform alongside a small bookcase filled with knick-knacks.

The whole evening went pretty well, though there was (again!) a fair bit of chatting in what is a small room. I'd definitely consider going again. The whole setup has an unpretentious feel and the audience seemed to consist of locals first and then comedy fans. Not many tourists are travelling that far from Manhattan.

Sunday I was going solo again. Union Hall in Park Slope is an interesting bar with comedy on in the basement every night. The show was called Good God and there was a loose "confession" theme which didn't work terribly well. The main attraction was Judah Friedlander but Caitlin was listed and Nico Carney. In fact, there were to be seven acts in total, plus four producers/hosts including Shane Torres. This seemed like too big a number and so it would turn out to be.

Naomi Karavani, who I'd seen at the Fringe many years ago, was hosting . Of the people I was excited to see, Caitlin, Nico and Shane all didn't show. As there were no new discoveries in those that did appear, I was beginning to fear that I'd made quite the mistake. Thankfully a masked, hatted Judah appeared at the back of the room and hastily set up a camera before taking to the stage to close out the show.

Afterwards I was standing up to head off and realised he'd come straight from the stage to the back to grab his camera. He recognised me, seemed utterly delighted (weird), gave me a fist bump and said he'd be out shortly, implying that I should wait. Everybody filed out and then, after a few minutes more, they started resetting the venue for the next show - I think Good God was the first of three. I then had to explain that I was waiting to speak to Judah, which made me sound a tad stalkery. At that point, one of the staff noticed my Monkey Barrel t-shirt and told me that she'd been there and the host (Liam) had made fun of her as a gun-toting Yank. Of course he had. What was he meant to do? I asked if she remembered who she'd seen. After checking her phone, where she keeps notes of every comedian she sees, she reeled off the names. Admirable anorak behaviour.

Eventually Judah came out with Naomi. After asking me to remind him of my name (so not best mates just yet), and enquiring as to where my lady was, he enthusiastically explained to Naomi what a big comedy fan I was. She said hello and in an effort to avoid talking about the rest of the show, I mentioned, as if I'd just remembered, that she's also involved with the Bitches Brew bar show at nearby Halyards. "See! I told you he knows about comedy!" said Judah. High praise.

We slowly ascended the stairs and walked through the bar with Judah stopping to chat to people he had gently roasted during his set, including a guy from Judah's "least favourite part of Singapore". Once outside he leaned against a lamppost and did what he nearly always does with me, chats about comedy clubs. He asked if I'd been to the Bushwick Comedy Club which could hardly have worked out better. This continued for quite a while with me making noises to the effect that I didn't want to keep him. He genuinely seemed like he'd stay there chatting as long as I was willing. Before I made my excuses, he mentioned that he'd "probably" be going to the 4pm open-mic at Fear City Comedy Club the next day as it was "close to his house". This seemed utterly baffling but it would theoretically enable us to see Fear City and also give my "lady" the chance to say hello to him too.

I had had a lot of questions about Fear City Comedy Club. Quite big questions like "do you serve any sort of drinks at all?" and "when are your shows?". Their website seemed determined to remain as cryptic as possible. I pinged off an email, asking if there was a cost for audience members at the daily open-mics. "Jonezy" responded promptly in the negative. A few hours later we tentatively peered in the door.

It's a nice enough room - very wide and shallow. All the "budget" comedy clubs veer towards the same minimalist design. Jonezy, the owner, was by the door so I introduced himself and he seemed pleased that we'd turned up. I didn't mention that our interest was at least partially based on the hope of seeing Judah. Only four people showed for the mic, paying $5 each for five minutes of stage time. Jonezy hosted the show, opening with slightly rambling "counter-culture" style material. Facing the stage but pretty much out of the crowd's eyeline was a digital clock that counted down from five minutes. To be honest I quite enjoyed its presence. If someone dreadful is on stage and you look up and can see that they only have two minutes 12 seconds to go, it fair cheers you up. The four folk there were tolerable but unfortunately Judah didn't show. A cynic might say "Of course you idiot!" but the first time I ever saw him was an unscheduled appearance at an open-mic.

I left Fear City with not much more understanding of it than when I arrived. There's a small fridge from which Jonezy sells energy drinks. There's no booze for sale or allowed. Even though it appears to be a one-man operation, he can't survive on $20 per day from open-micers.

As I posted on Twitter that day, Fear City was the first of THREE comedy clubs I was attending. Next up was the Stand and its free Monday night show, Frantic. I've written before about how Aaron Berg keeps getting billed as appearing but he doesn't show up, certainly not as the host. Maybe he does show up late but I've given up by that point. Regardless, it's probably unreasonable to feel hard done by at a free show. The rest of the lineup was mixed. Monroe Martin was on but I wasn't getting my hopes up for seeing him.

I turned up just as we were going in. Oddly it wasn't the billed upstairs room but the main one downstairs. The scheduled Legion of Skanks show in that space must have been cancelled. As ever manager Joe Harary was seating. I breezed in confidently with a pint in one hand and gave him a fist bump with the other. "Sit in one of your seats" he said, motioning idly towards the room. I got a back row seat slightly towards the door and settled in. Perfect.

JC Mendoza hosted and, in the 50 minutes or so I had available to me, I got to see Brittany Brave and Monroe Martin. Monroe seemed a little listless but it was a treat to watch him for the first time in ages. I managed to sneak out without meeting Joe and having to explain that I was leaving him for a younger, but not necessarily prettier, club.

Whiplash was a long-running, influential show that used to be on at the Upright Citizens Brigade venue when that existed in NYC. I believe it also had a later spell at Union Hall in Brooklyn. UCB has recently re-opened just round the corner from The Stand and Whiplash has restarted with Shalewa Sharpe as the host and Jeremy Levenbach producing. Jeremy used to be involved with the Hot Soup guys. As far as I can tell it was always free and so it was going to be on that Monday night. Judah had mentioned the venue and also that he was appearing so how could I be expected to turn that offer down? He did say, somewhat confusingly, that it was a very spacious venue - i.e. a lot of unused space - a very unusual state of affairs for a New York venue.

He wasn't wrong. Everything is quite wide and spaced out, like the corridors leading to an arena, about to have thousands of people pouring through them. The performance space itself was big. A large stage separated from tiered seating by, again, an inexplicably big gap. It was VERY quiet, maybe 20 punters in. Shalewa came on and tried to inject a bit of energy into the cavern. First up was a one-liner boy whose name I missed. Judah came next, doing much the usual stuff. Anthony Devito followed and he was OK. He was at the Fringe in 2022 (and featured in The Debuts documentary by Stuart Laws) but I hadn't managed to catch him. Mike Recine followed, who I'd only seen once before on a bill with Joe Machi. I didn't take to him so made an early exit, following a departing Anthony out the venue. I have no idea how a show like that is going to be viable but it was good to see a new space.

We left NYC for Oregon the next day. I did a quick search of comedy clubs outside of Portland but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of options. Our best chance was the final night of the trip when we were in Portland city centre.

I looked up Helium Comedy Club's lineup but both Friday night shows were "performances" by one of the Queer Eye guys. This held zero interest so I searched for open mics. There were two options, both starting at 5pm and I made an educated choice. It was in the back room of a pub - ideal.

We arrived and got told that it was an optional $10 to attend. Just to watch an open-mic? We asked if we could pay afterwards and that seemed to be just about acceptable. By the time the host took to the stage the room had filled up to a decent extent. 

She was unremarkable, as was the first act. There were other issues however. It's not uncommon for fellow performers or friends of the person on stage to laugh uproariously as a means of showing support. I understand the motive behind this, but it can be annoying for other audience members and I'm not sure how healthy it is for the act on stage. They can get an unrealistic view of how successful a piece of material is. But as irritating as that was, there was another problem.

A girl behind us, maybe a comic or possibly just "a big personality" (by which I mean - and let me be clear on this - a cunt) felt compelled to continually chip in with tedious, vague agreements with whatever the comic was saying. After two more performers i.e. 10 mins with the insufferable fuckwit burbling away, we decided that the situation had become unsustainable. We bid a hasty retreat, conspicuously failing to pay $10 on our way out. I fuckin hate audience members.

Trip Stats

Shows entered - 8

Early departures - 4

New NYC venues visited -  3

Expenditure -  $21

Unsatisfactory audience members experienced - 3

July 2024 - God's Wrath, Disappearing Judah and a Quiet Saturday Night

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

April 2024 - You Get What You Pay For, Moving to Williamsburg and Our New Best Friend

On our last NYC visit we spunked quite a lot of money on comedy. This time we spent almost nothing. And did we have just as much fun? No, no we didn't. It was quite a torrid time actually, but there were some definite high points.

I normally shy away from weekend comedy but as our nine day trip covered two weekends, a little flexibility might be required. The Monday Night Mob guys (who used to be at Standup NY but stopped due to its imminent closure) also have a Sunday show at one of the New York Comedy Club venues. I messaged the organisers via Eventbrite to try to find out if there were drink minimums or, ideally, specials (like the SUNY show used to have). As no response was forthcoming I ditched the plan and resolved to do better the following evening.

I'd considered trekking out to the Tiny Cupboard in Bushwick as I hadn't been there for a while. However, I discovered that you could view the planned lineup when you go to book a ticket and the situation did not look promising. Paperweight Comedy was an alternative - a weird, free show in a building in the middle of McCarron Park in Williamsburg with a single drink minimum. As it was convenient for the L train (that would take me back to Union Square and Frantic at The Stand) the decision was made.

I turned up at the advertised start time (I'm very, very slowly coming to realise that this is rarely the smart thing to do), bought a drink and chanced upon a producer getting the room ready. He then helpfully told me that drink specials were available. The show kicked off with a small but engaged audience. The standard of comics really wasn't bad but when I contacted them the next day to get a list of the names, I once again got nothing back. The host decided to do 20 mins before the final act, which disrupted the rhythm slightly and when the last performer did come on, he was arguably the poorest. I didn't want to be late for Frantic so slipped out as quietly as I could and headed for the Bedford Street L station.

Frantic's published lineup didn't really excite but it never seems to be terribly accurate, so you pays your money (no money at all actually) and you takes your chances. I arrived almost exactly at 10pm, got a drink upstairs and headed for the showroom. Halfway down I met Joe Harary on the stairs. We shook hands and he casually motioned towards the room and said that (a name I didn't catch) would seat me. I walked the last few steps and before the greeter could speak, I said that Joe had said that I could seat myself and strode confidently towards where I wanted to sit on the back row. Not absolutely what Joe had said, but I think, deep down, that's what he meant.

Aaron opened in a whirlwind of offence. As usual the front row bore the brunt of it. I shouldn't laugh at him as much as I do. Derek Drescher was up first. It must be difficult to follow Aaron's energy and it wasn't a particularly inspiring set. Next was an unlisted TJ Miller. He's obviously working up material for a tour. The last time I saw him was, coincidentally, at Monday Night Mob. I was able to watch him a bit more closely this time. He's charismatic and he engages you very quickly in each bit. Then you realise he's moved on to the next topic and that previous material had almost nothing to it. It's like a magic trick.

As both Aaron and TJ had been on for a fair while, by the time the next act was due my pint was done. I swithered between staying and going. When they announced Dean Delray as next up, I made for the exit, holding the ludicrously-heavy front door open for a rapidly-departing TJ.

During the day on Tuesday we happened to wander past The Old Man Hustle bar. There are no signs of it reopening or even turning into something else. That night we paid a visit to The Olive Tree Cafe for food and some comedian-spotting, not necessarily in that order. Podcast pals Sam Morril and Mark Normand were both at the comics table, along with Jim Norton and another couple I couldn't identify. Mark went downstairs for a spot at the Cellar and we spotted Sam via the screens at the FBPC Bar. Mark was still on stage when I made my way through the venue to the bathroom. He was doing his Ice bit which I've heard about four times now and absolutely despair of.

We'd noticed that a show called Classy Trashy upstairs at The Stand on Thursday was scheduled to have Judah Friedlander appear. Although the rest of the lineup wasn't that inspiring, there aren't that many chances to see Judah these days. He's quite concerned about Covid and keeps a low profile. When he does appear he's heavily masked. We had pencilled in buying tickets for that until Ambush Comedy sent out the lineup for their weekly Wednesday night (free) show in Williamsburg. Judah was on that too. The decision was made to attend Ambush and if for some reason he didn't appear, Classy Trashy could be a fallback.

In order to keep track of the literally hundreds of comedians I see in New York, I document them all with a mark ranging from minus two up to two. There are a very small number of minus twos but this Ambush show had two of the bastards. This has never happened before. One of them we hadn't seen for a while so maybe they'll have improved? We hoped.

Last time we attended Ambush we turned up at the quoted "doors" time and perversely almost didn't get a seat. They used to give out a free beer to the first 24 in attendance but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with how busy it was. This time we were one of the first there so secured our preferred seats (by the bar - closest to the exit). I asked Lucas, one of the show producers (see pic below), if there were still free beers. He chuckled and said something to the effect that they were a thing of the past on account of Josh (Johnson - another producer) being on The Daily Show. I misunderstood slightly and said that I thought he'd been at TDS for a while. Lucas clarified that he'd been a writer for a while but was now front-of-camera talent. He then looked panicked and added quickly that perhaps he wasn't meant to reveal that.

The room filled up to a decent level but when Lucas kicked off hosting duties there was still no sign of The World Champion (JF). The evening progressed, it has to be said, not terribly successfully. On the bright side, Josh turned up and did a set and the minus two had indeed improved and has now been upgraded to a minus one in my bumper list of NYC comics. Of moderate interest was Mae Planert, who is married to Mark Normand. Her relationship with him was the focus of her set. Amusingly she suggested that we (the audience) probably wouldn't have heard of him. I resisted the desire to quietly call out "Comedy!". Towards the end of the show we spotted a masked figure making his way in. To our delight Judah came on to close, focusing on his "presidential campaign" and attempting to engage with a shy crowd.

After the show was over we went over to say hello. I've written before about how he seems to know who we are and apparently enjoys chatting about comedy in general and specifically NYC comedy rooms. After a minute or two he finished talking to the person standing in front of us and I got ready to thank him for the show and nervously ask about his health (as he'd been in hospital recently). "YOU GUYS!" he exclaimed (to our utter, utter delight). "I can't believe I didn't see you. We need to get a picture!". This was the weirdest part. We've got pictures with you before. Both of us use it for at least one online profile. Is the picture for you?

We talked for a couple of minutes, both of us trying hard to suppress our fan boy/girl tendencies. Things reached a peak of excitement when he suggested that he was going to call in to another room at a nearby ten pin bowling place ("I KNOW THIS PLACE! IT'S THE GUTTER" I just about managed to avoid squealing) and did we want to come along? We did our best to appear a cool blend of interested but nonchalant, whilst very nearly wetting ourselves. We did have the tiny issue of having planned to get food after the show but the prospect of walking down the street, chatting to our new best friend was way more appealing!

There then followed quite a long period of him packing up his equipment and getting quizzed by other comedians about all sorts of stuff while we waited around awkwardly. Eventually, concerned that we were going to look like a couple of weird, stalkery hangers-on, we decided that we'd breezily suggest that we were going to head off. We broached the topic and he said that he was instead maybe going to go to an open-mic at Pete's Candy Store, a nice little spot with a charismatic performance space that will feature in this write-up later on. Noticing how close the group of comedians were sticking to him and fearing that we might end up in a hugely-uncomfortable conversation with one whose set we had particularly hated, we opted for a "less is more" approach and made our excuses.

I told David from Monkey Barrel this story and he immediately observed "you didn't want to share him!". There is possibly an element of truth in that. 

On Thursday I was flying solo. There was a free show called LAf DAnce SAloon (their capitalisation) in the back space of a bar called Basik in (again) Williamsburg. The lineup was decent and included Emily Walsh who I'd seen do an hour at 2023's Fringe. It was a pleasant enough way to spend an evening. The host, Jill Weiner, was new to me but she was affable, Dylan Palladino earned a pass mark and Emily was solid. There was an overly-enthusiastic audience member who, despite being sober, drew a bit too much focus in the small room. He wasn't malicious, he just needed shooshing. I'm now on the show's mailing list and would consider going back.

Dangerfield's was a comedy club on the upper east side of Manhattan, co-owned by Rodney Dangerfield. It operated for 50 years and eventually closed in 2020. It re-opened in 2024 rebranded as Rodney's. The "Mob" guys have an early show there on Fridays which seemed like the ideal, low-cost, way to go and have a look. The drink specials at Monday Night Mob had been $5 beer and $6 wine, which is hard to find fault with. Rodney's was offering $8 terrible beer or $8 wine. Not quite as much of a bargain. Regardless, we got some wine, said hello to comic and Mob honcho Kevin Hurley and found some seats that we liked and the person doing the seating did not. Was it another failure Steve? Yes, it could probably be described as that. It was nice to see a new room but it's not a terrific space for standup, the beer is unappealing and the location is not one that we spend much time near. 

Girlfriend was off to a terrible matinee on Saturday so I trawled through Eventbrite, looking for something that would fit the time-slot. There was an open-mic called Loose Lips at Pete's Candy Store (as mentioned earlier in the Judah section). I turned up just after it started and found it to be absolutely rammed. It chugged along nicely - everyone seemed pleasant  and it was well-run and friendly. It's a pretty light criticism but if had to be, I mean HAD TO BE either 1% more woke or 1% less, it could probably be 1% less. However I'd happily go back.

Trip Stats

Shows attended - 6

Shows in Williamsburg - 4

New venues - 2

Expenditure - $5

January 2024 - BYOB, Mixed Success and Chris Turner lives in Leith?

We took the first weekend off before a run of five shows in six days. Despite many visits to the Comedy Cellar venues, particularly the Fat Black Pussycat Lounge, I had never actually attended a show in the Pussycat Bar. The last time I had taken a look at it, the layout of seats was a bit regimented.

You check in at the entrance to the Village Underground and then head back onto the pavement and enter through the bar's usual door on the street. After the standard placing of mobile phones into sealed bags we were led in past the actual bar that remains in place, through some curtains and into the performance space. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the seating has been changed into a tight semi-circle round the small stage.

The show started slowly with the host rather charmless and the first act really struggling, similar to the last time I saw him. Dan Soder was up next and was effortlessly funny. Lenny Marcus has a cynical, world-weary charm to him and Nathan McIntosh was solid. The star of the show was Caitlin Peluffo, as she often is these days.

Both the FBPC bar and its adjoining lounge are good spaces for seeing comedy. When you factor in that the majority of the beers are in the $6/7 area, it's hard to see past these two venues when considering where you want to consume your standup.

Tuesday night was Union Hall in Park Slope (Brooklyn). I'd been there once before (a Judah Friedlander show the day Trump was elected - that dates it rather specifically) but I wasn't aware of quite how much comedy they put on per week. This was a monthly event called Pretty Major in conjunction with Vulture Magazine, supposedly highlighting up-and-coming talent. Jay Jurden, who I like, was co-hosting with Vulture-tipped Zach Zimmerman. Eagle Witt was also on the bill and there was no known poison. Also in its favour was that the entire venue is quite charismatic and the bar has a good happy hour running right up until the venue doors open.

The show started late, as far as I could tell, because Jay didn't arrive till 7:45pm. There was then some inept and awkward to and fro between him and Zach. I'm coming to the conclusion that co-hosting should never happen. At its very best, when the hosts have a chemistry, it can be adequate. This was not as good as that. By the time they'd finished dicking around we'd been sitting on our uncomfortable seats for an hour. The rest of the show went less well. Eagle Witt did reasonably but there was one performer who was such an uncomfortable watch I feel that I should create a new category for her in my database of comics. I'm shivering at the thought of it.

Wednesday was to be our first visit to Ambush's new location at EBBS Brewery tap room in Williamsburg. Over the years I've seen lots of good stuff at Ambush. Their policy of a free show and a free beer of your choice, later transitioning to a free can of Miller Lite, was hard to find fault with. They had become a victim of their own success slightly as their original location (the back room of a Two Boots Pizza) did not cope well with large crowds. The lineup at EBBS was mainly untried but we were determined to give it a go.

Arriving not long after the theoretical doors opening time we found the place to be absolutely mobbed. We did manage to get reasonable seats and I approached the bar, resigned to the fact that the advertised "free beer for the first 24" would be a distant memory. "Nah, there's a few left - not everyone seems to know about it" was the barman's response. When a couple vacated their bar seats we grabbed them and at this point, all seemed good with the world. We had an improved view of the stage, a free beer and were in a prime spot to access more beer. Game on.

The host, Dwayne Collins, was new to me but did decently. After that, things went into a bit of a decline. Tracy McClendon, who sounds Scottish but definitely isn't, was one bright moment but apart from that, it was a struggle. With just two acts to go and the next being one we have particular problems with, we made for the exit. My tolerance for bad comedy is almost limitless but girlfriend is not in the same category.

I crap on about a show called Monday Night Mob that takes place weekly at Stand Up NY on the upper west side. The guys who organise that have secured a similar Friday night slot at a new club called Rodney's on the upper east side. Originally called Dangerfield's, the venue ran from 1969 to 2020 but reopened in its new incarnation in December 2023. This was ideal. The chance to attend the first night of the new show, at a club I'd never been to and the start time (6pm) was sufficiently early that we could still do stuff after! I secured free tickets then remembered that we'd bought tickets for Sesh Comedy's new, bigger room down in Chinatown and there was no way that we could do the Mob show, get food and still make it to Sesh on time. Damn.

We'd been to Sesh's original space just a few blocks away in September. Their offering is an intriguing one. It's a comedian-run endeavour in a somewhat basic room with low ticket prices, BYOB and no lineups published in advance. The new room is a step up in terms of size and facilities - think a mid-level Edinburgh Fringe venue. We found some seats that would facilitate an easy escape if necessary, opened our bottle of screw-cap red wine and settled in.

While our first visit to Sesh had been an almost complete success with only a couple of failures, this was the reverse. Yedoye Travis was a reasonable new find and Jourdain Fisher did OK but apart from that, it was another disappointment. That's three poor nights of comedy in a row someone who I love deeply pointed out to me.

Saturday was the last of the block of five shows. Flophouse Comedy is a comedian-operated venture, running low-cost, BYOB shows in a slightly makeshift venue. Are you spotting a pattern? They are pretty new, running their first gigs from a permanent base in December 2023. One key differentiator from Sesh's offering is that Flophouse publish a lineup in advance. There was one comedian listed that we struggle with but to counter that Matthew Broussard was billed, who is decent, and Monroe Martin was on, who is a complete treat to watch.

More screwcap red was purchased and we made our way to Grand Street in Williamsburg, almost down to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The entrance definitely has a endearing, improvised feel about it. A quick chat at check-in revealed that their BYOB policy was temporary and that a bar would be introduced imminently. The performance space is small, maybe 50 seats, and feels similar to the room 7th Street Comedy operated out of until recently.

I'll cut to the chase and reveal that it was another disaster. The two acts that we were keen to see, Matthew and Monroe, were no-shows, but the act that we were concerned about inevitably feckin made it. The only glimmer of interest was a girl called (I think) Brigid Geiran who had an odd, slow rhythm to her delivery. I'm aware that lineups can change but when all the acts you're looking forward fail to appear and there are no replacements of approximately similar quality, it's hard not to feel a little short-changed. 

Four days after we got back, Flophouse sent out an email confirming that they could now sell alcohol and revealing that Hannibal Burress had dropped in. For a long time he performed at the nearby Knitting Factory, now closed, so has a connection with the area. I'm glad the people at that show saw someone decent. [Aside: I am actually resentful]

On Sunday afternoon girlfriend was off to a terrible play so I had some spare time. I could go and watch an open-mic at St Mark's Comedy Club for a bit and still meet her after her theatrical disaster. I had been to a show many years ago in the same space. It used to be a vegan restaurant called V-spot that had comedy occasionally in their backroom. The restaurant has gone but the comedy remains and is now run a bit more rigorously with ticketed, paid shows each weekend. My preference for open-mics is ones I can slip in and out of quietly, at times of my own choosing and where I'm not asked to buy a bottle of Heineken for $10 (plus tax plus tip). Here there was a requirement to purchase one item, even for non-comics, which always strikes me as a bit cheeky. Normal people in the crowd vastly improves the value of an open-mic. Otherwise, it's just an audience of comics, staring at their notes and occasionally half grunting when they hear a bit that they recognise as solid.

I queued up to get in. Really? A queue for an open-mic? The delay was down to someone seating each arrival. This was already more fuss that I was comfortable with. I looked at the laminated drinks list and realised that with no bar in sight, these would be bottles. Corona, Heineken and Brooklyn Lager for $9 each. Did I want to spend £8.45 on a bottle of beer I don't like? No, was the resounding answer.

The week often starts with the previously-mentioned Monday Night Mob and might include Frantic at the Stand after that if I'm feeling energetic. I had mentally pencilled in the former and was left a little non-plussed when I realised it wasn't resuming until the following week. There used to be (and in fact still is) a sort of open-mic/scrappy venue in Greenwich Village called the Grisly Pear. I'd noticed that they'd spruced themselves up into something approaching a proper comedy venue (targeting the over-spill from the nearby Cellar) and then gone even further and opened a second location in Midtown. I was vaguely curious about the new venue and when I saw free tickets offered for a show including Aaron Berg, I figured it was worth the risk.

After securing the ticket I read a bit more about the show. It wasn't entirely obvious when it would start (and as I was going solo on this 30 minutes early is a LONG time to wait) and it transpired that there was, as is nearly always the case, a two drink minimum. As we were out and about late afternoon, we decided to call into the venue, maybe make use of their happy hour and try to ascertain if it was going to be worth my time later. The room isn't horrific and maybe I'm just getting old but I decided that visiting the Stand was a much safer bet than spending two hours of my life at the Grisly Pear Midtown.

I breezed into the Stand about 9:59pm, bought my pint upstairs (better choice of drafts) and headed downstairs to be met by manager Joe Harary. "Just you?" he asked. He always seems much more pleased to see my girlfriend than me, inexplicably. I promised we'd both be back the following night for the 8pm and he waved me to sit wherever. Aaron co-hosted with Max Manticof, which basically meant Aaron hosted and brought Max into the conversation occasionally. "What's the deal with this lot?" queried Aaron, pointing to a table of unfortunates. "He looks like you but not on roids" returned Max.

I lasted about an hour. Oscar Aydin was good but the audience seemed unsure about him. Brennan Tasseff was new to me (he's from Florida) but I'd happily watch him again and there were one of two misses. For the cost of a pint it was worth the effort of going out in the cold.

The Tuesday 8pm show was a cracking lineup. Mark Normand, Sean Patton, Shane Gillis, Emma Willmann, Ian Lara, Paul Virzi and JC Mendoza. JC was the only one I wasn't familiar with but he hosted adequately. Sean and Shane were the first two on and you could argue we'd already had our money's worth when they finished. Emma maybe isn't turning over material as quickly as she should but was still enjoyable and Ian was excellent. Paul was replaced by someone forgettable and Mark closed out the show brilliantly.

Oddly afterwards Mark was shaking hands and taking photos. This is very unusual behaviour for him. He doesn't even look at the audience when he's performing, he stares over their heads. He's the last person I'd expect to be comfortable in that role. I thanked him for the show and called him "a cunt". It seemed the right thing to do. As we headed for the exit we saw Sean sitting quietly at the bar. We both told him how much we enjoyed his set and he shook our hands firmly. I thought about telling him that he had my review on his poster a few Edinburghs back, but as he had stated at the time that he was struggling for quotes, this didn't really seem like a topic worth reminiscing over. 

On Wednesday I was ending as I started, at the Fat Black Pussycat Bar. The main attraction was Brad Williams but Jeff Arcuri and Maddie Wiener were also on the bill, as was Chris Turner who is always efficiently entertaining. I got allocated a kind of shitty seat (after me praising the new layout earlier) close to but almost behind the performer. The host did solidly and the first act, who was from Italy, did "I am from Italy" material which the crowd didn't hate. Brad was next and was terrific. There was a tiny amount of material I'd seen before at the Stand's 11th birthday party last year but I really enjoyed his set. Jeff Arcuri was next and was as good as anyone I watched the whole trip. Maddie followed and was fine but is another who needs to turn over material more quickly. I last saw her before the pandemic but still recognised about half her 10 mins. Chris closed, starting with "I am English/posh/clueless" type material before the climax of his improvised rap.

Seeking five topics to rap about he sourced 9/11, pre-school education, big butts, pineapples and was looking for something from my corner of the room. After asking twice and receiving no response I shouted out "the concept of ennui". Naturally he took this in his stride, professionally explaining to the audience what it meant. [Aside: I was only about 60% certain I knew what it meant]

"Where are you from?" he asked.

Scotland 

"Where in Scotland?"

Edinburgh 

"Where in Edinburgh?

Leith

"I spend about six months a year in Leith".

He then went on to tell me exactly where he stayed and I had to pretend to know where he was talking about. The alternative was to query him in excruciating and audience-alienating detail about Leith geography. As he began his rap I had several more thoughts:

You can't live in Leith. You used to work in Vegas. No one in Leith used to work in Vegas.

You can't live in Leith. You'd definitely be on the Scottish comedy scene and I'd definitely be aware of it.

You can't live in Leith. You're a weird-looking, unmistakable fecker. I'd have seen you in the street and been gobsmacked.

I decided that what he meant was that over the course of all the Edinburgh Fringes he has done, he has spent six months in Leith. Yes, that surely makes more sense. Fast forward to the following Saturday and I'm talking to David at Monkey Barrel about Chris Turner and David says "he's moving to Leith apparently". Well fuck me sideways!

Trip Stats

Shows attended - 8

Shows I was close to attending - 3

Shows that some people might call a failure - 4

Total expenditure for both - $158