COMEDY MATTERS SUPERSTAR ROUNDUP WITH CHRIS DISTEFANO, MARK NORMAND, ANDREW SANTINO, DAN SODER, D.L. HUGHLEY, RONNY CHIENG, JIAOYING SUMMERS, … AND EVEN MORE IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT!!!

Mark Normand Sells Out The Beacon

Mark had performed at The Beacon before, opening for Jerry Seinfeld but according to Mark it was a dream of his to headline The Beacon, and it just goes to show you that if you work really hard, your dreams may come true! He had two sold out shows and I was there to see it all happen.

He also had killer line-ups with Sean Donnelly hosting the first night and Jon Fish hosting for the second night. Got to re-connect with Andrew Santino who I hadn’t see since JFL in 2017, when he was up there with Jim Carrey promoting their great TV show “I’m Dying Up Here.”

Dan Soder of “Billions” fame was there with his fiance Katie Nolan and of course had an amazing set, along with Phil Hanley and Matt Ruby! A totally killer show. On the 1st night I sat in the audience and went back afterwards to shoot some videos. On the 2nd night I sat backstage, and watched from a very different perspective, next to Mark’s wife Mae Planert, with celeb videographer Matt Salacuse who was shooting video of all the comics and the event in general. He caught me, Santino and Soder in a photo that he used for an IG post!

So I’m backstage interviewing Andrew Santino about his new movie Ricky Stanicky with Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, and John Cena, and in the middle we get sound-bombed ( like photo-bombed but with sound) by Dan Soder, … hilarious. Andrew also tells me about his podcast with Bobby Lee called “Bad Friends” which is touring the country. Listen and laugh!!!

While on stage Mark addressed the crazy TMZ thing that went down at NY Comedy Club when he was escorted off stage in the middle of his set. He had agreed to participate in something fun but didn’t know what it was going to be. He talked about in this video taken after the show.

The crazy thing is that I came up with the idea for Ricky Stanicky many years ago in a treatment I wrote for a film called “Looking For Ed Zintz” where as the result of a practical joke gone wild, started by Milton Berle, … all of Hollywood winds up roasting a man who never existed, supposedly the funniest man to ever walk the planet, Ed Zintz. Ed was supposedly the inspiration for many of the big comedy stars of yesteryear. Set in the made-up world of The Jesters club, in the days before women were allowed to attend the Roasts. I guess it just proves that great minds think alike!!!

Lastly, when Mark did his podcast “Tuesday with Stories” with his co-host Joe List they even talked about me being there. Check this out:

CHRIS DISTEFANO SELLS OUT TARRYTOWN MUSIC HALL

Chris Distefano made comedy history recently by selling out Radio City on a Friday night and the very next night selling out The Theater at Madison Square Garden. As far as I know never been done before. And he did it easily and with grace. If he was nervous no one knew! (LOL) I was at both shows cause I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

His buddy James Mattern, one of the best hosts around, opened for him as usual. After the show, which was amazing of course, we shot this little interview backstage where I am most comfortable! (LOL) He told me a funny story about opening for my dear friend Richard Lewis many years before. Unfortunately Richard left us this past week.

D.L. Hughley Sells Out City Winery

Every comic in this column sold out something. Except for me! (LOL) City Winery gets great talent. Most of the time they perform in The Loft upstairs, but when it’s someone like D.L. Hughley, one of the original Kings of Comedy, he gets the main room to accommodate the hundreds, and hundreds of people who want to see him.

D.L. is so smart and so funny and has a very well thought out take on everything that’s going on in the world. And he has a great interest in trying to understand me! (LOL) He once took me out to dinner just to make sure I really ate, because he said he had never seen me eat anything!

D.L. is so secure that he has people hang with him BEFORE he goes on stage, which a lot of comics won’t do. They like to be alone and focus. All D.L. needs is his martini and he tells me about that in this real talk interview we did after his amazing show. He does such a smooth hour, and this was not a typical interview. We talked about everything, including battling fear.

RONNY CHIENG SELLS OUT RADIO CITY

Ronny Chieng is amazing and also very humble. One of the nicest and funniest guys in the game. He’s on his “Love It To Hate It” tour, and when I got to Radio City the lines were already around the block. The place holds 6,000 people. That’s a lot of people. Especially if they all come over your house for coffee and cake afterwards!

That’s why Ronny held his afterparty in the downstairs lounge at Radio City. And where celeb photog and videographer Marcus Russell Price was taking photos and videos. Marcus is famous in my book for getting the photos of me entering Nick Kroll’s dressing room when he sold out Carnegie Hall. Even Nick’s family was not allowed in, because of Covid restrictions, but for some reason they let ME in! And Russell got the shot as Nick and his WME agent Mike Berkowitz cracked up laughing!

And besides having a cool D.J. who I think said his name was DJ Poon, Ronny had a surprise guest spot from Trevor Noah that rocked the house. Trevor was dressed very casually and explained that he had just gotten off a flight and had no time to change! Shortly after, he hosted the 66th annual Grammy Awards for the 4th time!

Because Ronny, who graduated from law school 15 years ago, is exceedingly polite, he made sure to thank all the white people in attendance who DON’T have Asian partners!

JIAOYING SUMMERS SELLS OUT NEW YORK COMEDY CLUB

Jiaoying Summers is a force! Once you see her, an hour later you want more! LOL She’s funny and has the best Chinese accent. Coming out of LA where she actually owns her own comedy club, ( to make sure she got enough stage-time!) she’s conquering audiences and filling up clubs all over the country. I’ve been watching her career blossom, well-deservedly I might add, especially over the last year.

She’s stylish , … and I know you’re not supposed to say things like this anymore, … but she’s also beautiful, and she brings great energy to the stage. And I love that she breaks down stereotypes!!!

So I knew had to make it down to New York Comedy Club’s East Village location to see her sell out two shows. She had Fen Guillaume as her host. who’s really funny and also brings great energy to the stage. I always appreciate that as it’s so important. And also he’s a Kevin Hart look-alike! (LOL)

The audience loved her so much that her merch totally sold out after the show! One guy offered to buy everythying that was left! Can’t wait to see her again!

STAND UP NEW YORK MOVES TO TIMES SQUARE

After so many years on West 78th Street owner Dani Zoldan made the announcement they were moving the club to Bond 45 in Times Square on West 46th Street. I went to what was supposed to be the very last night on West 78th Street to catch the show, which was an all women’s show with Laura Sogar, my girl Calise Hawkins and Periel Aschenbrand, the co-host of the Comedy Cellar podcast, which I had the honor of being on a couple of times.

So then I went to the grand opening of the new club and it’s beautifully laid out, and the food is great. Wellie Jackson was the host on the opening night, Ari Shaffir made a guest appearance, Paul Mecurio did a spot and the special guest was George Wallace. Lady Blaga was in the audience. I stood off to the side with Dani Zoldan watching the show, and I think the club will do great!

SHORT BITS

Kudos to Robert Punchur for his great competition show at St. Mark’s Comedy Club thanks to Alex Carabano, featuring lots of great comics like Andrew Steiner, Matt Vita, Alex Goodman and Antonio Barbosa.

Kudos as well to Bradley Laborman for his podcast “This Sucky Broadcast” which I was on recently. Brad is a great host with very insightful and compelling questions.

And as they say, … all good things have to end, and so does this column, so with that, … I’m OUT!!!

See you real soon with lots more comedy news as only Comedy Matters can bring you !!! Leave a positive comment, and you can reach Jeffrey at [email protected]

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