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October 2026

It's probably fair to say that this wasn't an exceptional NYC visit in terms of standup.

Arriving late on Wednesday meant that Thursday evening was my first opportunity. I stayed local and opted for a bar show called Bomb Shelter Comedy in the basement of a Hell's Kitchen venue called Gaf West. The small room is quite an atmospheric place for a comedy (as long as you don't sit close to the stairs) and they had a decent-sized crowd in. I stayed for about half a dozen acts but there was nothing of significant interest.

The same night Stand NYC were launching their new venue, Stand West. I would get round to trying it out later on in the trip but I mention it now because their kick-off event was Dave Chappelle. As of 10:05pm they were still selling tickets for the 10:30pm show at the bargain price of only $250 plus $35 in fees. Who wouldn't sign up for that?

On the Sunday night we had booked the Fat Black Pussy Cat Lounge. The six person lineup consisted of three bankers and three unknowns. Before the show I did a drive by of the checkin desk, hoping to get an update on when their new room would open. The girl on the desk virtually blanked me when I asked, motioning silently for me to speak to the guy behind me. He was weirdly cagey, conceding that there was "an issue" and the room would open once it was resolved. No further information was forthcoming. I noticed that they have put a sign up naming the new space after (what looks like) the owner's family.

We opened with the three unknowns. Host Kevin Dombrowski was tolerable but Leonard Ouzts and LA-based Danny Jolles were quite hard work. Emma Willmann did great - she's just really excellent now - Daniel Simonsen was exceptional and closer Peter Revello was solid. Considering a Sunday show is only $18 with no booking fee and beers are typically $8, it's tremendous value.

The following night I was as the aforementioned Stand for Frantic. I sourced a disappointing beer (the options for IPA-drinkers has narrowed since my last visit) and was making my way to the showroom when I spotted manager Joe heading towards me. "Skanks or Frantic?" he queried. When I indicated "Frantic" he walked me to an open seat in the back row beside what I took to be a friend of his. "How's the new room doing?" I asked. "I haven't been there" was his odd reply. Later on he asked me and his pal to move to make way for two more people. I offered to move seat entirely if he needed me to. "I would never move you" he replied. Ah yes, I'm still being mistaken for someone with some significance.

The published lineup is always only approximate and the listing of host Aaron Berg would prove to be speculative. Consequently the show kicked off with Joe announcing that our first comic was Dan Donohue. He came on with no formalities, no greeting or attempting to bring the crowd together - he just went straight into his act. Then he wondered why the audience were stone cold. The two late arrivals didn't buy a drink and talked continuously for the first couple of comics. Eventually I asked them if they could talk less. They looked confused but did dial down their chatter slightly. Why turn up to show if you're not paying attention and you're not even drinking? Was it raining outside? I waited for about 7 acts in total and then called it quits.

The following night I was trying out a new show and venue, something called Jabberjaw at Paulie Gee's Slice in Greenpoint. It's not the easiest of locations to get to but I wasn't exactly busy so I travelled across to Bedford in Williamsburg and then walked across the park. As the name implies, it is a functioning pizza slice restaurant and there isn't a distinct backroom or anything that might constitute a legitimate performance space but things actually worked out fine. It reminded me of Ambush Comedy when they used to be located in a Two Boots Pizza outlet.

The host (Liam Walsh) was decent and there were a couple of other moderate successes. Opening act Meka Mo explained that she'd spent a lot of time in Edinburgh (she did half a run at The Caves) and that all British people talked about were Americans. I'm not sure that's totally true, but it's your act love. Lagunitas was $9 cash and a slice was $5. I would go back.

Wednesday was the only thing we'd bought tickets for whilst still in the UK. Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal started a monthly "variety show" called Hot Tub in 2005, transferring to LA in 2013. In 2026 Kurt created a similar show at Union Hall called Cold Plunge and one of the guests on our night was scheduled to be Kristen. We stocked up on happy hour beers and got some decent seats. The crowd seemed very excited about seeing Kristen. After the introductory sketch, they brought up an unbilled Danny Jolles, who did most of the same stuff that we had so not enjoyed three nights earlier. One act really plumbed new depths, to the extent that I thought I might have to amend my rating system to accommodate him (OR HER!). It was a him. When some (again unbilled) clowns came on, we decided that we'd had enough. It's quite a trek back to our hood from Union Hall, most of which was spent bitching about the horror of that one particular act.

Thursday was scheduled to be another visit to Landline Comedy in Gowanus, not a million miles from the Cold Plunge Debacle. It wasn't a stellar lineup but I like the host, Andre Medrano and there's sometimes the chance to have a shot of one of the host venue's two cats. Then an offer came in for half price tickets to the Stand's new venue. The lineup was headed by Pete Lee and Caitlin, with Chris Riggins and some other Stand regulars. I swithered for a bit, feeling a little guilty about abandoning Andre (and the cats). I tried to pretend that the earlier show start and the significantly shorter travel time had influenced my decision.

Stand West is part of Chelsea Market's building. Prior to entering I was trying to work out where there was room for a performance space in the building's footprint. The answer is straightforward - it's in the basement. I entered to find an overly-lit cavern of a room - like a hotel function suite but with less charm. There was almost no one there but the host tried to sit me in an empty seat in the middle of a row of four. "Is there literally anywhere else I could sit?" I asked incredulously. I got to choose a side seat near no one. Ideal. Let's have a look at the drinks list. They have three draft beers, starting at Bud Lite for $9 and ending with Stella for $12. Fuck me sideways. And remember it's the US, so there's tax and tip on top of that. The Cellar will charge you $8 for a Brooklyn IPA and you want twelve bucks for Stella?

Chris Riggins hosted and did his best but failed to whip up much enthusiasm from the small, spread out crowd. There was acres of space and a functioning bar running down one side of the room. Caitlin opened and did pretty well considering, there were then three anonymous Stand regulars, all of whom started and remained on ratings of -1. Pete Lee closed out reasonably. He looks a lot different to how he used to and to how some of his promo photos still show him. I was pretty disappointed overall and was getting ready to leave before Chris announced that we were being treated with a special bonus comedian at the end. For a second my interest was piqued. Who could they possibly have rustled up for us? Please welcome to the stage, Rachel Feinstein. Jeezo. Her husband's a fireman but she hardly ever mentions it. I could not reach the exit fast enough.

There was the possibility of visiting an afternoon open mic at the West Side Comedy Club on the Saturday but two large glasses of red wine with lunch put paid to that idea.

Sunday was a visit to free show Secret Sauce at the Beauty Bar. As I've been several times before I avoided the school boy mistake of turning up at the advertised start time. 8pm you say? No thank you. I shall be shooting for 8:20pm and not a second earlier. There wasn't a whole lot to report but producer Kofi Thomas did OK.

Monday early evening we called in at the bar of the Olive Tree to see if anything was happening. Only one of the rooms were actually underway at that point. Mike Vecchione, Jim Norton and Matthew Broussard were the only faces I recognised in the restaurant.

With only one night of the trip to go I felt I hadn't seen as much good comedy as I deserved. There was a decent lineup at the Comedy Cellar (in the same room as before). We reserved spots but girlfriend bailed, leaving me billy-no-mates. As a single I was dispatched to a back row corner seat that I didn't actually hate. Wil Sylvince hosted not terribly well it has to be said and brought Michael Rowland up to a ripple of applause. He had what he described as "the worst gig of his life". Maddie Wiener was up next and I think I recognised a joke from pre-Covid. Greer Barnes hauled things back, instantly establishing himself as an A-list comic. Lenny Marcus did his usual irritable/anxious schtick, looking at bits of paper throughout and Ethan Simmons-Patterson closed (thankfully) very successfully. Greer was the standout though.

Trip Stats

Shows Entered - 8

New Venues Visited - 2

Expenditure - $48ish