The Business of Comedy is None of My Business
In a slight break from form, I want to write this week about something other than me and my endless fascination with all things male. We'll get back to adventures in penis envy next week.
As a devoted comedy fan, I spend an awful lot of time going to shows, upwards of four to five a week at this point. Up until the last few months, I pretty much made the same rounds: Rififi, UCB, The PIT, Moonwork. But recently I've been branching out and hitting a more diverse array of rooms including open mics, lotteries and other spaces where comedians who haven't quite made it into the lower east side alterna-clique sweat it out every night of the week.
You quickly develop a new appreciation for the art and work of stand-up comedy once you get a peak behind the curtain. These people do five or six shows a week, often in rooms that -- if they're lucky -- have one non-performing audience member. The rest of the time they perform for tourists with no sense of humor who've been dragged in by a barker, who also happens to be a stand-up comedian and is working the club for the privilege of doing 5 minutes at 2:00 in the morning. Occasionally, they'll book one of the good rooms -- a Shark Show, an Invite Them Up, a Sweet! -- and everything will hang on whether or not that seven minute set kills. If it does, they might get the chance to book another good show. If it doesn't, it'll probably be another six months before they get the opportunity again. It's demoralizing, disheartening, humiliating and sad.
Unfortunately, it's also necessary...to an extent. Everyone certainly has to pay their dues, that's how they get better. But I'm beginning to wonder if the alternative comedy scene hasn't become too far removed from it's communal roots, making it yet another barrier to struggling comics rather than a resource. Generally speaking, you see the same 10-15 comedians at all of the good shows. And yes, for the most part, these are great comics. But there are so many talented comedians in New York one has to ask why you don't see more getting booked in the good rooms. Is it because the DIY spirit of the alternative comedy scene is basically do-it-yourself FOR YOURSELF and that's it? Once you create a show and find an audience, does your commitment to the rest of the comedy scene fall by the wayside? Perhaps I simply misinterpreted the comedy scene in New York a long time ago. Maybe comics, like the rest of us, are really only focused on their work as a means to an end. Maybe most don't look at comedy as an art form and community that needs to be nurtured.
But I find that idea so depressing. Being a stand-up comic is such a niche career choice it only makes sense that comics should support each other. But instead, it's as if the comedy community has gone the way of the art scene in the 80s -- tons of backbiting and undermining, all for the sake of competing for a small number of venues where you can get your work seen, waiting for some rich benefactor to call you up and give you your own show. One of my favorite games lately is trying to figure out who are the Andy Warhols, Julian Schnabels and Jean-Michel Basquiats of New York comedy.
But I digress. I don't want to take the creators of some of the best comedy rooms in the country to task. I'm not a comedian so I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. That's why I want to take the audience to task. We've gotten lazy. We don't seek out new shows and new performers. We don't want to go to rooms we haven't been to before or sit through a few bad comics in order to see someone great who is just starting out. We HATE open mics and we never go into shows that have someone handing out fliers just outside the door. We're so above all that. We know where the good comedy is and that's all we need to know, right? We're such douche bags.
I guess my point is that I think stand-up comedy is an art form and should be an end in itself. I like comics like Ashley Strand, who hosts the open mic Banned to Siberia, who challenges the audience and has the skill to win them and lose them and win them back again. Audiences should appreciate that kind of dynamic relationship with a performer who won't allow them to be lazy. The best comedy creates an experience, it doesn't just traffic in gags.
In conclusion, let me leave you with a short list of shows I've gone to recently that gave me the opportunity to see some new people and have radically different comedic experiences:
Banned to Siberia, open mic hosted by Ashley Strand
Tuesdays, 7:00pm, Siberia (40th St / 9th Ave)
You know what New York needs, an open mic that doesn't make comedians want to open their wrists. I think Banned to Siberia has the potential to get there, mostly because of the mordant grace of host Ashley Strand. He's smart, he's biting, he tells great stories, and most importantly, he gives comics the room to work on material. The sets here aren't five minute cattle calls, they adapt to what the performer needs to accomplish. Plus, this show is at Siberia, which is one of the coolest big-time dives in the city.
Suddenly Stand-Up at the Duplex, hosted by Poppi Kramer
Wednesdays, 7:00pm, The Duplex (Christopher St / 7th Ave)
This is a fun show because the room is usually full, a lot of acts go up, and most of the comedians do it so often that a lot of the time you catch them trying out new material. It's a wildly uneven show, but it's one of the few I can think of that really feels like you're experiencing a day in the life of comedy. Plus, it's a room that is genuinely full of love, support and dedication to the work of stand-up, and that always leaves me with a good feeling.
Satire for Sanity, hosted by Barry Weintraub
Tuesdays, 8:00pm, Rocky Sullivan's
I would call this a work out room for entirely different reasons than the previous two: in it's current form, this is a room where comics can learn how to die on stage. Billed as a left-leaning political show, legend has it used to be amazing but has since fallen on hard times. It would be nice to see it revived, but as it is, I recommend it simply because it's the most fucked up show I've ever been to. The central problem is the ever-present, ever-drinking, ever-hollering regulars in the back of the bar. They take pretty much everyone apart once they've got enough hooch in them. Truthfully, this show makes for more interesting sociological observation than comedy, but for that alone it's worth going at least once.
Tell Your Friends, produced by Liam McEneaney
Mondays, 8:00pm, Lolita Bar (Allen St. / Broome St.)
This is the most successful show on the list, but I mention it because it has an entirely different vibe than most comedy shows. Each night starts with a few songs by resident house band A Brief View of the Hudson, plus, there's another musical guest later. Punctuating the comedy with music gives the basement performance space a laid-back, experimental feel and there's usually a nice mix of established comics and up-and-comers. Host Baron Vaughn and producer Liam McEneaney are also incredibly charming, if you like that kind of thing.
Sweet Paprika, hosted by Allison Castillo and Ophira Eisenberg
Mondays, 9:00pm. D-Lounge (101 E. 15th St., basement)
I've only seen this show once, but the ladies who run it are very funny and the cabaret space is beautiful (if you can find it). There was not much of an audience there the night I went out, and that was criminal. A show run by women that's not a "chick show" is a rare, precious thing. This should be an institution.
As a devoted comedy fan, I spend an awful lot of time going to shows, upwards of four to five a week at this point. Up until the last few months, I pretty much made the same rounds: Rififi, UCB, The PIT, Moonwork. But recently I've been branching out and hitting a more diverse array of rooms including open mics, lotteries and other spaces where comedians who haven't quite made it into the lower east side alterna-clique sweat it out every night of the week.
You quickly develop a new appreciation for the art and work of stand-up comedy once you get a peak behind the curtain. These people do five or six shows a week, often in rooms that -- if they're lucky -- have one non-performing audience member. The rest of the time they perform for tourists with no sense of humor who've been dragged in by a barker, who also happens to be a stand-up comedian and is working the club for the privilege of doing 5 minutes at 2:00 in the morning. Occasionally, they'll book one of the good rooms -- a Shark Show, an Invite Them Up, a Sweet! -- and everything will hang on whether or not that seven minute set kills. If it does, they might get the chance to book another good show. If it doesn't, it'll probably be another six months before they get the opportunity again. It's demoralizing, disheartening, humiliating and sad.
Unfortunately, it's also necessary...to an extent. Everyone certainly has to pay their dues, that's how they get better. But I'm beginning to wonder if the alternative comedy scene hasn't become too far removed from it's communal roots, making it yet another barrier to struggling comics rather than a resource. Generally speaking, you see the same 10-15 comedians at all of the good shows. And yes, for the most part, these are great comics. But there are so many talented comedians in New York one has to ask why you don't see more getting booked in the good rooms. Is it because the DIY spirit of the alternative comedy scene is basically do-it-yourself FOR YOURSELF and that's it? Once you create a show and find an audience, does your commitment to the rest of the comedy scene fall by the wayside? Perhaps I simply misinterpreted the comedy scene in New York a long time ago. Maybe comics, like the rest of us, are really only focused on their work as a means to an end. Maybe most don't look at comedy as an art form and community that needs to be nurtured.
But I find that idea so depressing. Being a stand-up comic is such a niche career choice it only makes sense that comics should support each other. But instead, it's as if the comedy community has gone the way of the art scene in the 80s -- tons of backbiting and undermining, all for the sake of competing for a small number of venues where you can get your work seen, waiting for some rich benefactor to call you up and give you your own show. One of my favorite games lately is trying to figure out who are the Andy Warhols, Julian Schnabels and Jean-Michel Basquiats of New York comedy.
But I digress. I don't want to take the creators of some of the best comedy rooms in the country to task. I'm not a comedian so I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. That's why I want to take the audience to task. We've gotten lazy. We don't seek out new shows and new performers. We don't want to go to rooms we haven't been to before or sit through a few bad comics in order to see someone great who is just starting out. We HATE open mics and we never go into shows that have someone handing out fliers just outside the door. We're so above all that. We know where the good comedy is and that's all we need to know, right? We're such douche bags.
I guess my point is that I think stand-up comedy is an art form and should be an end in itself. I like comics like Ashley Strand, who hosts the open mic Banned to Siberia, who challenges the audience and has the skill to win them and lose them and win them back again. Audiences should appreciate that kind of dynamic relationship with a performer who won't allow them to be lazy. The best comedy creates an experience, it doesn't just traffic in gags.
In conclusion, let me leave you with a short list of shows I've gone to recently that gave me the opportunity to see some new people and have radically different comedic experiences:
Banned to Siberia, open mic hosted by Ashley Strand
Tuesdays, 7:00pm, Siberia (40th St / 9th Ave)
You know what New York needs, an open mic that doesn't make comedians want to open their wrists. I think Banned to Siberia has the potential to get there, mostly because of the mordant grace of host Ashley Strand. He's smart, he's biting, he tells great stories, and most importantly, he gives comics the room to work on material. The sets here aren't five minute cattle calls, they adapt to what the performer needs to accomplish. Plus, this show is at Siberia, which is one of the coolest big-time dives in the city.
Suddenly Stand-Up at the Duplex, hosted by Poppi Kramer
Wednesdays, 7:00pm, The Duplex (Christopher St / 7th Ave)
This is a fun show because the room is usually full, a lot of acts go up, and most of the comedians do it so often that a lot of the time you catch them trying out new material. It's a wildly uneven show, but it's one of the few I can think of that really feels like you're experiencing a day in the life of comedy. Plus, it's a room that is genuinely full of love, support and dedication to the work of stand-up, and that always leaves me with a good feeling.
Satire for Sanity, hosted by Barry Weintraub
Tuesdays, 8:00pm, Rocky Sullivan's
I would call this a work out room for entirely different reasons than the previous two: in it's current form, this is a room where comics can learn how to die on stage. Billed as a left-leaning political show, legend has it used to be amazing but has since fallen on hard times. It would be nice to see it revived, but as it is, I recommend it simply because it's the most fucked up show I've ever been to. The central problem is the ever-present, ever-drinking, ever-hollering regulars in the back of the bar. They take pretty much everyone apart once they've got enough hooch in them. Truthfully, this show makes for more interesting sociological observation than comedy, but for that alone it's worth going at least once.
Tell Your Friends, produced by Liam McEneaney
Mondays, 8:00pm, Lolita Bar (Allen St. / Broome St.)
This is the most successful show on the list, but I mention it because it has an entirely different vibe than most comedy shows. Each night starts with a few songs by resident house band A Brief View of the Hudson, plus, there's another musical guest later. Punctuating the comedy with music gives the basement performance space a laid-back, experimental feel and there's usually a nice mix of established comics and up-and-comers. Host Baron Vaughn and producer Liam McEneaney are also incredibly charming, if you like that kind of thing.
Sweet Paprika, hosted by Allison Castillo and Ophira Eisenberg
Mondays, 9:00pm. D-Lounge (101 E. 15th St., basement)
I've only seen this show once, but the ladies who run it are very funny and the cabaret space is beautiful (if you can find it). There was not much of an audience there the night I went out, and that was criminal. A show run by women that's not a "chick show" is a rare, precious thing. This should be an institution.
posted by Carol at 4:23 PM
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