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COMEDY MATTERS ROUNDUP WITH NIGHT OF TOO MANY STARS, AMY SCHUMER, SUSIE ESSMAN, JEFF GARLIN, ROBERT SMIGEL, WINTER FILM AWARDS, MIXTAPE SHOW, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on April 13, 2025

**(L-R) Nikki Glaser**, **Chris Rock, Drew Barrymore, Jim Gaffigan, Adam Sandler**

NIGHT OF TOO MANY STARS

There’s only one guy I know who could draw so many stars to an event and that man’s name is Robert Smigel.

**ON THE RED CARPET WITH THE MAN, … ROBERT SMIGEL!**

It was a benefit for autism and the inspiration for the event is Robert’s son Dan who is now 20, which means that Robert has been putting on this event for 20 years. He was joined on the tight red carpet where I was shooting video interviews by his wife Michelle, and I told him it was a real testament to the respect his peers have for him that all these stars came out! Robert is exceedingly humble and did not bring Triumph because he said the night was not about him! Triumph and I happen to have a long history!

The event was at The Beacon Theater and was totally sold out. More of the Too Many Stars were John Stewart who was the host, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd, Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Keegan-Michael Key, Drew Barrymore, Nikki Glaser, Jim Gaffigan, Ronny Chieng, Alex Edelman, and SNL stars Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez and James Austin Johnson. Sam Morril was expected but didn’t feel well so he wasn’t able to make it. As it was there were just too many stars!

I was also so glad to see Bellanca Smigel, Robert’s sister who I first met when she was one of the producers of Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s hit Broadway show ” Oh, Hello”! I was also honored to know Robert and Bellanca’s Dad, the late Irwin Smigel, known as “The Father of Cosmetic Dentistry”! Such a great guy! Among other things he invented Supersmile and besides being a producer, Bellanca is also the President of the company!

I made my own tip sheet which is always helpful to have but red carpets are always so crazy that when you finally get to do the interview you just wing it, and ask whatever you remember. The person from the outlet next to me was asking questions like ” If you were stranded on a desert island with all these comedians who would you kick off”? Most of the celebs were very polite trying to answer that, but it just made me wonder why you would even waste people’s time asking them something like that.

I got to speak to everyone who did the red carpet. First up was Keegan-Michael Key, who’s probably so glad his middle name is Michael or else he’d just be Keegan Key. it was so great to see him again because it had been a while. He’s so fun to talk to and totally radiates positive energy!

And it was great catching up with Jeff Garlin who I also hadn’t seen in quite a while, and was an Exec. Producer on Curb for all 12 seasons. He looked great and was actually looking very fit! He wound up doing a funny scene with Paul Rudd, and Susie Essman who plays Jeff’s wife on Curb. They played a Too Many Stars version of Pictionary. I asked him if anyone ever calls him Jeffrey , because I prefer Jeffrey to Jeff and he said his family often calls him Jeffrey! He confirmed he was comedically influenced by Jimmy Durante as a little kid! Anyone besides me remember who that was???

The last time I saw Paul Rudd I reminded him of the time he subjected himself to “Baby Bird” to raise money for charity where he allowed a random audience member to chew up some food and spit it into Paul’s mouth. I felt sick watching and Paul said he felt sick for days, and would never do that again! (LOL) What a trooper!!!

Alex Edelman and I reminisced about the old days at The Comic Strip when I recalled him telling me he was going to Scotland for a month to perform a one man show at the Fringe Festival, and now he’s won a Tony and an Emmy.and in 2024 was named to the Time 100 list of the world’s most influential people. As Larry David might say, … “Pretty, pretty good!!!”

Susie Essman and I always laugh because I probably have more photos with her than anyone else except my family. So when she hit the red carpet she knew what was in store! Susie is the best and was in the radio pilot I created up at Sirius XM called “The Happiness Show” along with Colin Quinn and Lisa Lampanelli! The concept was comedians talking about what makes THEM happy in their own lives aside from making their audiences happy. She will appear in this column again further down at an event she did at the 92NY with Carol Leifer!

WITH MY FRIEND SUSIE

And it’s always so special for me to see Amy Schumer. She looked great and so happy to be there. We go back to her beginning in comedy, and had a good laugh about her little son Gene taking a photo of her which she posted on Facebook. We got to chat about Life and Beth and how Michael Cera was patterned on her husband Chris, and I got to tell her how much I admire her honesty as a human being. She always puts it all out there for the world to see and I think that’s awesome! She also had a really funny stand-up set on the show!

WINTER FILM AWARDS WAS A BLAST

I got to host the 13th annual Winter Film Awards at the close of the Winter Film Festival, at the beautiful Empire Room at 230 Fifth Avenue and it was honoring filmmakers from many countries with 87 films being considered. The event is produced by Steffanie Finn and George Isaacs who have been doing it all these years and I got to co-host with model/actress Aesha Waks which was a real treat!

WITH THE WONDERFUL AESHA WAKS! **MY JACKET BLENDS PERFECTLY WITH THE WALL PAPER!!! LOLOL**

**ON THE RED CARPET BEING INTERVIEWED WITH AESHA WAKS**

The night before I got in some stage time at Adam Strauss’ fun new comedy space called Room 52 on East 52nd Street. I went to check it out and he was kind enough to invite me to do a set which was perfect timing. It’s a cool room upstairs in an apartment building, and it was a great line-up of talent, except for one guy with a weird name who thought it was cool to make fun of other comics! You need to be funny in order to do that! Actually you don’t need to do that at all!!!

KAREEM AND JOHNNY ON THE LOOSE AT THE KRAINE THEATER

Kareem Rahma of the hit IG series “Subway Takes” ( my “Take” already has 855K views) and “Keep The Meter Running”, and his sometime comedy partner Johnny Gaffney have a deal with the Omeleto Network for their show “Tonight’s Special” shot in Kellogg’s Diner in Brooklyn, and they celebrated with a special showing at The Kraine Theater on East 4th Street! Thanks to all-around producer/ringleader John Hammond I got to host that evening as well, as I did previously when they had a showing at the Village Theater on 2nd Avenue. Packed crowd, really fun party night with a cool short film by Boni Mata!

And another cool space I discovered this month was Fear City Comedy, down on the Lower East Side thanks to owner Jonezy Karona. I went down and caught comic Mika Lorenzo hosting who also produced the show, and who shot the Winter Film Awards with me, and Jared Waters from my pilot The Raw Side of Comedy that we shot at Gotham, and my old friend comic/actress/writer/host Brittany Brave who was in from Miami! Mika also produces shows on the regular under the name Random Access Comedy, and gets great line-ups as proven by Harrison Greenbaum taking the time to come and do a set on this show.

SHORT BITS AND CONGRATULATIONS

On some of these I’m a bit late, but I need to send these shout-outs cause as they say “Better late than never”! To Aliza Schlesinger on her Prime Video special ” A Different Animal”; to Michelle Buteau for her show “Survival of The Thickest” and for hosting the Billboard Music Awards on Fox with Jelly Roll. Tyla and Coldplay; to Jay Pharoah for his FOX game show “The Quiz With Balls”; to former SNL’er Chris Redd for his Netflix series “Resurrected Rides” from the makers of the show ” Pimp My Ride”; the Peacock doc “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” which was amazing and revealed how the show nearly ended after Season 11; to Rosebud Baker for her first Netflix hour filmed at The Comedy Cellar called “Rosebud Baker: The Mother Lode” with two sets filmed, one when she was still 8 months pregnant and the other after she had the beautiful baby I saw in Florida being wheeled by husband Andy Haynes; to my old Comic Strip buddy Jermaine Fowler for being added to the 5th season of Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building”; and lastly to my old pal Joe Piscopo, former SNL’er and current host of his WABC radio show “Sundays With Sinatra” for his memoir “Average Joe – The Memoirs of a Blue-Collar Entertainer!” Major congrats to them all!!!

FRANK MORANO FOR CITY COUNCIL

Speaking of WABC radio, my pal Frank Morano, the host of The Other Side of Midnight, which is the top rated overnight show in the country, stepped down from his NYC broadcast although he’s still heard nationally and internationally, in order to bring some semblance of order to our city and run for City Council on Staten Island. There’s even an article about him tn today’s NY Post. Frank is a great person and a wonderful family man who would be great for this city! Vote for him if you’re eligible to vote on Staten Island.

**WITH ( HOPEFULLY) OUR NEXT COUNCILMAN FRANK MORANO**

DROP-INS

You know you’re doing something right when Jim Gaffigan decides to drop by your club! Such is the case with Gotham Comedy Club which is run so well thanks to owners Chris and Steve Mazzilli. Jim drops by often when he wants to try out new material.

And Rodney’s is bringing them in too. When I got the notice that Ronny Chieng would be at Rodney’s I made sure to stop by to support and catch up. Ronny is a superstar and was also at Night of Too Many Stars but he didn’t do the red carpet! I love watching him perform because he has such a unique delivery!!!

And such a great surprise when I went to see Royale Watkins’ Mixtape Show at Gotham on a Sunday night, and saw my buddy D.L. Hughley hit the stage. They never announce their line-up so I just happened to show up on the right night! And I think it’s the only time I ever saw DL not in a suit! He still looked great cause he always has style, but he was dressed casually, and was funny as ever! D.L. and I have big plans, and that’s all I’ll say about that!!! (Except to say that he’s an amazing human!!! )
I saw one guy laughing so hard he fell out of his seat! I’ve been a fan of Mixtape since Royale co-hosted it with Anthony Anderson so many years ago. Mark Curry also dropped by to do a set on both shows, and it was great to see long-time producer Kristen J. Eddy still with the show!

STREET COMEDY AT ZABAR’S

When producer Jeremy Moses calls I answer the phone. Last time I saw him I was a guest on his Amazon show Sports Talk with comedian/host Eitan Levine. Actually I was on twice, not because I know anything about sports, but because we had such a fun time the first time I was on the show that they asked me back!

This time he and Eitan are filming a show in the street in front of different well-known venues, and this first episode was being done in front of Zabar’s the iconic location on the Upper West Side. I showed up and we really drew a crowd as I tasted different delicacies from Zabar’s and gave my honest opinion, while Zabar’s family members stood by watching along with the rest of the crowd. As I recall we had a spirited discussion about Babka and if you don’t know what that is you’re missing out!!! AND I got a gift bag when I was done!!!

**WITH EITAN LEVINE AND MY GIFT BAG AT ZABAR’S**

SUSIE ESSMAN AND CAROL LEIFER AT 92Y

I got to see Susie twice in 10 days and it’s never enough! (LOL) She was moderating a conversation with comic/actress/author Carol Leifer who’s in my book “Make ‘Em Laugh” on the history of The Comic Strip the club she was passed at back in 1977 along with her friend Paul Reiser.

The story Paul told me for the book was that he was dating Carol and the next thing he knew she was dating Jerry Seinfeld, who was the host at Catch and The Comic Strip at the time. Jerry may have even passed them both. That dating thing caused kind of a rift between he and Paul until their first New Year’s Eve at the club when as the story was told to me, Jerry put his hand out to Paul and said ” Let’s put this Carol thing behind us”, and they wound up becoming best friends. That was before Carol decided she preferred the company of women! I’m not giving anything away, she says it openly all over the internet.

Carol had had quite a career writing for Curb, Seinfeld, Larry Sanders, SNL and other shows besides being a stand-up, and she wrote a book called ” How To Write A Funny Speech.” She and Susie swapped stories and it was as fun and entertaining as you would expect it to be. 92NY always brings in the big names!

When they brought me backstage afterwards to see Susie, Carol was signing books and Susie had a surprise reunion with a childhood friend that really touched her heart! I talked to her husband JImmy until she was done reminiscing with her friend. Btw, Susie has one of the best meories I’ve ever seen. She remembered that her Dad Leonard had been my doctor, and she even remembered something he taught me! He was a wonderful man, and I was very impressed with her memory. It shows that unlike many people, … Susie listens when people talk to her!

It makes me sad to bring another Comedy Matters column to a close, but I’d have to include a meal break if it got any longer! So follow me on Instagram at @jeffreygurian, on You Tube at youtube.com/comedymatterstv and I hope to see you out there in the clubs!!!

Tags: "Beacon Theater", "Comedy Matters TV", "D.L. Hughley", "stand-up comedy", Adam Sandler, Alex Edelman, Amy Schumer, Carol Leifer, Chris Rock, Comedy, Frank Morano, James Austin Johnson, Jeffrey Gurian, Jim Gaffigan, Kareem Rahma, Keegan-Michael Key, Marcello Hernandez, Night of Too Many Stars, Robert Smigel, Ronny Chieng, Sarah Sherman, SNL, Susie Essman, Zabar's

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND UP WITH NIKKI GLASER, NICK KROLL, KAREEM RAHMA, ALI WONG, NATE BARGATZE AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on January 28, 2025

**NIKKI GLASER KILLING IT HOSTING THE GOLDEN GLOBES**

NIKKI CRUSHES THE GLOBES

I remember back in 2013 when I was invited to attend an episode of MTV’s Nikki and Sara Live, a weekly late-night comedy program featuring the latest news in pop culture, co-hosted by Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer. It ran for two seasons. I don’t think Nikki could have guessed that 13 years later she’d be hosting the Golden Globes, one of the most prestigious award shows on TV.

**WITH SARA SCHAEFER AND NIKKI GLASER AT NIKKI AND SARA LIVE**-2013

After her amazing performance at the Tom Brady Roast, which I wrote about in my last column, it was announced that Nikki would be hosting the 82nd Golden Globes on Jan. 5th, 2025. I got excited just hearing that news, and sent her congratulations right away. She wrote back to me and not only thanked me for the write-up, but she commented on how accurate I was in what I wrote, because there’s often “so much misinformation out there.”

And she wished me a very happy 25th anniversary for 25 years doing this column, which I didn’t even realize until Seth Herzog told me he was celebrating 20 years of his show Sweet, and it made me remember that I started Comedy Matters in 1999. Twenty-five years goes by pretty fast!

Well she totally crushed her hosting gig at The Globes and I’m willing to bet they ask her back next year. Aside from looking amazing in many glamorous outfits which you’ll see below, her opening monologue was just so funny. Every joke killed, starting with referring to it as ” Ozempic’s biggest night”, and saying she looks out in the audience at some of the hardest working actors in show business, “and by that I mean your servers!!!” ( Huge laugh!)

But more importantly the audience loved her, and that’s not an easy task. People have tried comedy before in that gig, and it’s not easy performing to such big stars. Big stars don’t often laugh but Nikki brought the right energy and made them laugh hard! And again it didn’t hurt that she looked so glamorous. She was one of them. It’s easier to take jokes about yourself by one of your own!

It makes me feel good to see people reaching the heights they deserve. Besides covering Nikki and Sara, I recall also covering her performance in an all female comedy show with Rachel Feinstein, Amy Schumer and Marina Franklin. I went with the late Richie Tienken, owner and founder of The Comic Strip.
Nikki’s stand-up special “Someday You’ll Die”, which was on pace to be the the top streaming special ever on MAX, was up for an award which she wound up presenting to Ali Wong for her special “Single Lady” by way of presenter Nate Bargatze who had the highest grossing comedy tour last year bringing in over 86 MILLION DOLLARS!!! That’s crazy!!! And a lot of jokes and hard work too!!! Nate was my personal guest on Sirius XM radio back in 2014 when I was on air with Ron Bennington and Fez Whatley on the Ron and Fez Show.

**(L-R) NIKKI GLASER, RACHEL FEINSTEIN, YOU KNOW WHO, AMY SCHUMER, MARINA FRANKLIN**

**NATE BARGAZTZE HIGHEST GROSSING TOUR OF 2024**

NICK KROLL BACK ON BROADWAY IN “ALL IN”

I didn’t know what to expect when I went to see “All In: Comedy About Love” by Simon Rich and directed by Alex Timbers who not only also directed Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s hit show ” Oh, Hello”, which is where I first met him, but also directed “Alex Edelman: Just for Us” in 2024, and two of John Mulaney’s specials, “Kid Gorgeous” at Radio City in 2018, and “Baby J” in 2023, among several other important shows. Alex is the man!

All In is one of the hottest shows on Broadway right now in a limited run at the Hudson Theater on West 44th Street. With an all-star revoving cast that changes periodically it started out with John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Richard Kind and Chloe Fineman from SNL. Jimmy Fallon’s coming on board Jan. 28th thru Feb. 2nd and Nick Kroll started on Jan. 14th and will be there thru Feb. 2nd.

The night I attended with Ms. Multiverse/model/reality star Stephanie Almeida, it was Nick, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andrew Rannells, and Aidy Bryant and I have to say that Simon RIch is a comedic genius! It was nothing like I expected. There were four chairs set up on the stage and the actors came out to music, holding bound scripts, and acted out absurdist stories that were so funny that Simon Rich gained a new fan, namely ME!!! Very few people do absurdist humor which is my favorite kind of humor. Monty Python fans would absolutely LOVE this show!

My love for absurdism is what led me to create GNN, Gurian News Network, featured on Kroll Show in the “Too Much Tuna” sketch, whose logo is ” All The News That’s Fit To Dance To”. It also led to the book “Man Robs Bank With His Chin – And Other Unusual Stories Missed By Mainstream Media.”

The book actually sports cover blurbs from the late Richard Lewis of Curb fame, Colin Jost from SNL, and Nick Kroll himself who wrote ” Jeffrey Gurian asked me for a blurb for his book, … and this is it!” And a foreword by Scott Dikkers the creator of The Onion!!!

The stories in “All In” are hard to explain, as is true with most absurdist comedy, but I’ll try my best. One was of a 2 year old boy talking to his baby sister who was less than a year old and didn’t speak yet, lying in a nearby bassinet who lost her beloved stuffed animal. They came to the conclusion that “Nana couldn’t be trusted, because she tried to pawn off a different stuffed animal than the one she lost, telling her it was the original” and that Dada and Mama were supposed to be in charge anyway. not Nana.

Another story involved two pirates in a dialogue, which was Nick and Andrew Rannells, where almost every sentence started with ” Aaargh” the sound that all pirates are known for making! (LOL) I was wondering if speaking like that could hurt Nick’s voice, but he told me afterwards it was nothing. I think his voice-over work, doing over 75 character voices in his hit Netflix show Big Mouth certainly helped with that. Big Mouth is going into it’s 8th and final season!

Nick is definitely one of the most multi-talented comedy performers on the scene today, as he showed in a story about Death ( Nick) coming to a talent manager’s door, to take the man to meet his maker, in a story called “New Client”, but instead the talent manager played by Andrew Rannells charms death into becoming a client by complimenting his presence and his voice. Nick plays it perfectly.

When the audience cleared out, we got to congratulate Nick in the Ambassador Lounge, where he greeted a bunch of friends, family and his team. I asked him how much rehearsal time he had, and he said “Three days!” He developed all those characters in just three days! Nick is so talented and always so gracious! The show ended with a well-deserved standing ovation!

And as a final treat for the audience, after the show ended Nick came out as The Grim Reaper!

SUBWAY TAKES TAKES OVER NEW YORK

Kareem Rahma is a creative genius! He comes up with such unique ideas and makes them a phenomenon on social media. First was his show “Keep The Meter Running” where he’d get into a taxi and ask the driver to take him to the driver’s favorite place, and leave the meter running while they spend time together. The show was a big winner with 8.2 million views on TikTok and over 400K followers on Instagram. I’m sure it cost him a small fortune!

I first met Kareem through NY social media legend New York Nico, who is a phenomenon himself with 1.5 MILLION followers on IG, and 1.6 MILLION followers on TikTok. Both really great guys and I first met Nico when he texted me out of the blue and just said ” Dude you’re hilarious!” We started corresponding and he invited me to the Tribeca Film festival premiere of his film ” Out of Order” starring Kareem, who played a character in search of a bathroom in NYC.

Nico recently released his first book, “New York Nico’s Guide to NYC”, and I was there for the book signing where I picked up as many books as I could get!

**WITH NEW YORK NICO WHO MOSTLY DOES NOT APPEAR IN PHOTOS IN HIS SOCIAL MEDIA**

Anyway I haven’t been on the subway since 2019, pre-pandemic because I’m not a big fan of being stabbed or set on fire, but when Kareem invited me to do an episode of Subway Takes, I couldn’t say no! And I’m so glad I didn’t. The concept is that Kareem asks you what your “take ” is on a particular topic of your choice, and he tells you whether he’s on board with you or not in a spirited discussion, while riding on the subway to no particular destination!

It was a hoot, … to use an expression from 1810, … and my take was, ” If someone hands you their phone and asks you to take a photo of them with someone important to them, and you know you take horrible pix, just say “No” and let someone else do it, rather than ruining what might be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Kareem agreed and as of today it’s got over 730K views on Instagram! Some people think they suddenly turn into Steven Spielberg and start crouching down low or shooting very high instead of just holding the phone straight and taking the photo! Easy! Full video on my IG page @jeffreygurian

**WITH MY MAN KAREEM ON THE ACTUAL SUBWAY! CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!**

SCARLETT JOHANSSON AT THE 92Y

The 92Y consistently gets top talent in comedy and also in film. I felt privileged to attend an evening where Scarlett Johansson interviewed 95 year old Academy award nominated actress June Squibb with a screening of the film that June starred in, her first starring role in a 70 year career. A film called Thelma!

**SCARLETT JOHANSSON IN CONVERSATION WITH JUNE SQUIBB**

In Thelma, June plays a 91 year old grandma who was scammed out of $10,000. and instead of taking it as a loss, she decides to track down the scammer and get her money back. It takes her on a journey across LA in a stolen motorized wheelchair! It’s based on a true story and I don’t want to give away the ending except to say that you’ll absolutely LOVE this film.

Scarlett will be directing June in her directorial debut in the upcoming film Eleanor The Great, about a 90-year-old Floridian woman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old student in New York City. They had a great rapport on stage, and it was a charming evening. June did not come across as a 95 year old and it was very inspiring to see how energetic she was, and what great energy she brought to the evening. She had a wonderful sense of humor!

Scarlett of course was great and I was hoping to see her husband Colin Jost, but if he was there I didn’t see him! After the interview they screened the film and the audience loved it! Then Scarlett escorted June off the stage to thunderous applause.

SWEET KEEPS GETTING SWEETER

Seth Herzog is a force! Every show he books has such interesting talent. His most recent show at Michael Ginsberg’s Chelsea Music Hall, which is a great space btw, featured co-host Alex Moffat, and guest performers T.J.Miller, Iris Bahr, and Michael Cruz Kayne who did such a unique performance and the kind of thing that inspires me to write about it. It’s very rare to have a unique delivery and comedic point of view and Michael has both.

At one of his shows, I even got to meet Matt Friend the amazing comic/impressionist with almost 1 MILLION followers on IG who actually does his impressions to the stars he’s imitating which takes more courage than I can imagine. In one recent post he did Nick Cage to his face, Liev Schreiber, Paul Giammatti, Jeff Goldblum, Obama, and he even sang with Michael Buble, and sang great! Truly amazing!!!

MENTAL HEALTH AND COMEDY

These are two things that don’t sound like they should go together because you have to be a little crazy to go into comedy in the first place! That being said comedian Robert Punchur, who has a background in psychology and is the COO of Very Good Comedy, hosted a show called Live, Laugh and Learn at The Grisly Pear midtown, in conjunction with Brad Richards who is a psychiatric and behavioral interventionist and court-appointed care manager, and I was honored to be the Keynote Speaker on the importance of comedy in helping to restore people to mental health!

I had recently hosted an event for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness so I was psyched to do this, plus perform in the comedy show that followed along with Marion Grodin, Aric Grooms, Daniel Laitman, and Steve Cohen all of whom opened up and shared honestly about their battles with different forms of mental and emotional challenges. Many mental health professionalS from all over the country attended including Tom Parker and Michael Groat from The Lindner Center of Hope in Ohio! It was a very successful event!

TRACEY CARNAZZO AT SID GOLD’S

Made sure to stop by one of Tracey Carnazzo’s shows at Sid Gold’s Request Room on West 26th Street, a very intimate but fun space. Tracey always has good shows and is so funny, and I also got to see Gastor Almonte who was really great and very original in his humor and delivery. Always so glad to see someone who’s been around but new to me!

FAILLA AND FRIENDS LIVE AT RODNEY’S

Jimmy Failla is one of the hardest working men in comedy. I love his story starting out as a taxi driver and winding up as regular with his own show on FOX TV. FOX Nation sent a crew up to Rodney’s to film the premiere of JImmy Failla’s new show “Failla and Friends” and I came to support cause Jimmy’s shows are guaranteed to be good, espcecially with the line-up he had.

It was reliable heavy-hitters GIna Brillon, Charles McBee and Ryan Reiss, all of whom probably hosted at Gotham Comedy Club as much as Jimmy did. Walking into the green room when it’s all your old friends is always fun, and it was a great night that was taped for TV! Can’t wait till the next one!!!

And I was back at Rodney’s on Dec. 29th to perform in Geno Bisconte’s birthday show, a date we both share! Geno’s another one who always brings the heat and he did!

GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB POST HOLIDAY PARTY

I would be remiss not to include something about the amazing party that Chris and Steve Mazzilli throw every year, AFTER the holidays. Great food, great music, great people, and it’s something I look forward to every year. So many great comics were there but I was glad I got to tell Rich Aronovich how much I enjoy his crazy dancing videos on Instagarm at @richisfunnny.

I’m envious of the fact that he can dance wildly with abandon in any circumstance, in stores, at the bank, and even in front of the NYPD wearing the most outrageous outfits, and no one blinks an eye. Personally, … I think they’re afraid to look! I had to ask him if he ever warns anyone beforehand, and he doesn’t. He said he tried it a few times and it ruined the energy. I can just watch one after the other and laugh out loud all by myself! Truly amazing, and if you haven’t already seen them you must!!!

**WITH RICH ARONOVICH AT THE GOTHAM PARTY- (RICH IS FUNNY, … AND HE IS!!!**)

COMEDY MATTERS GIRL OF THE MONTH

Due to popular request I’m bringing back the Comedy Matters Girl of the Month, awarded to a girl in the audience of a comedy show that has the best sense of humor and love for comedy! This month it’s Shu Lan!

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Comedy Matters Round-Up With Highlights of NY Comedy Fest, Judd Apatow, JB Smoove, Jiaoying Summers, Gilbert Tribute and so much more!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on November 26, 2024

**WITH JUDD APATOW AT HIS SHOW “JUDD APATOW AND FRIENDS” AT THE BEACON THEATER**

I have to start this column with a shout-out to “The Queen of NY Comedy” Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox for this amazing 20th year of the New York Comedy Festival. Over 100 shows in 5 boroughs. They actually ran out of boroughs or there would have been more!!!

Next I have to thank their amazing hard-working team, namely Louis Faranda, head of booking, who’s been with Caroline the entire time, Greg Charles long-time head of publicity, and Carolyn Gitomer and Jonny Moran who work with Louis to make sure that everything runs smoothly. And it does!!!

CHRIS DISTEFANO – NEW YORK’S NEXT MAYOR?????

In the order of shows I attended, I started with Chris DiStefano’s “Hat Trick” which kicked off the festival’s first night. Chris did three shows in a row at each of New York Comedy Club’s venues. Six P.M. for the first show on East 4th Street, 7 P.M. for the 2nd show on 24th Street, and 9:30 at the new location on the West side where Stand Up NY used to be. I love their huge green room cause it’s big and they always have candy!

MY INTERVIEW WITH NEW YORK’S NEXT MAYOR

Owner Emilio Savone is amazing and now has five locations! We often reminisce how he started out as a ticket seller at The Comic Strip when I was writing the book on that legendary venue, that features a foreword by Chris Rock. I have some amazing news about Chris D. that I promised to keep secret until they’re ready for the world to know. So don’t even ask cause I won’t tell. But I do think he’ll make a great Mayor!!! ( Watch the video above!)

I’m good at keeping secrets. I kept a secret for Jerry Seinfeld for three months when he was doing his Netflix special at The Comic Strip. He asked me not to write about where he was doing it, and it would have made a great scoop but I don’t do things like that! I would never ruin a relationship for a scoop! Not even for Jason Scoop!!! (LOLOL)

LOTS OF GARBAGE AT CHELSEA MUSIC HALL!!!

There were so many shows to choose from it was really hard to make a choice but the next night I went to see Are You Garbage, an audience participation show at one of my favorite venues, Michael Ginsberg’s Chelsea Music Hall where Seth Herzog does his Sweet shows. It was H. Foley, and Kevin Ryan with guests Sam Morril, and Mike Cannon. There may have been more but I had to leave to catch Judd Apatow and Friends at the Beacon Theater.

**(L-R) Sam Morril, Kevin Ryan, and H.Foley in “Are You Garbage?”**

JUDD APATOW AND FRIENDS SELL OUT THE BEACON

It was absolutely no surprise that the show was sold out for the man I refer to as “The King of Hollywood”, but with my All Access Pass I was able to hang backstage until luckily one single seat happened to open up. What’s special about Judd is that with all of his success people who have never met him will be glad to know he’s still a humble guy! Success has not gone to his head!

He opened up with a really strong probably 20 minute set, brought out the always funny Ricky Velez, who has a Judd-produced special, then he introduced Loudon Wainwright Jr. who did about 5 songs, and then Mike Birbiglia who I caught up with backstage and who did pieces from his new show “The Good Life” which he’ll be performing this coming March! Can’t wait! Mike has done more one man shows than anyone I know since Jackie Mason!

Among other things Mike talked about his Dad’s stroke, which was made even more difficult because his Dad is a neurologist, so he knows everything they are doing for him, and maybe even more than they do. When I first met Ricky and Mike they didn’t have kids. Now Mike has a 9 year old daughter and Ricky has a six year old son! And speaking of kids, Judd’s daughter Iris was there and brought a ton of her friends! So special for a Dad. That’s the kind of stuff I like to talk about. There was a professional photographer backstage that got great photos of everyone. I on the other hand did the best I could! (LOL) Don’t judge me! (LOL)

Judd made it extra special for me by agreeing to participate in a really big project looming on the horizon that I’m involved with, along with D.L. Hughley, Jeffrey Ross, J.B. Smoove who also said “Yes”, Chris DiStefano, Colin Quinn, Mark Normand, Joe List and several more big names!

KATIE BOYLE ROCKS NYCC

Next on my journey was Katie Boyle’s special taped at New York Comedy Club on 24th Street. I love her accent and as you’ll see in the video below, … the audience did too!

NATALIE ORTEGA IS WICKEDLY FUNNY

Natalie Ortega’s Funny Girls was another stand-out performance for me again back at Chelsea Music Hall. It was an all women’s show but Natalie really stood out for me. She’s a natural and a real multi-talented comedy force. She has a role as Nessa Rose in Wicked on Broadway but she told me her great love is stand up comedy and she’s really good. She brings a level of excitement to the stage that’s palpable. I was so impressed I couldn’t wait to tell her. And I waited till right after her original song titled ” I Want To F**k Pete Davidson”! That’s really the name of the song. It’s not a cover. It’s original! I asked her if she knew him and she said “Not yet!” I can’t wait to tell Pete!

BEFORE WE GET STARTED

Ryan Reiss had a big honor during the festival. It was one of the main shows at The Hard Rock Hotel which was the base of operations for the festival. Six years of hard work led to a documentary film in which he starred called “Before We Get Started.” It was about the world of warm up comics. At one special point in the film Ryan gets to pitch his idea for a TV show to Howie Mandel, which was a long time dream of his. You actually get to see it happen on camera!

Every TV show has a warm up comic. It’s a very different form of comedy than just coming out and doing your act for 15 minutes. The star of the show depends on you to get the audience psyched and ready for their appearance. Ryan and producer Pete Demas showed the film to a packed, sold-out room at The Hard Rock, and it was fantastic! A must see for anyone who loves and appreciates how hard it is to do comedy. And long time warm-ups like Tom Kelly, Gary Cannon, and Joey Kola, currently with the Drew Barrymore Show, who’s doing it for 31 years were all in the audience.

COMEDY GIVES BACK LUNCHEON

Back in 2011, Zoe Friedman, Amber J. Lawson and Jodi Lieberman did a wonderful thing in creating Comedy Gives Back. It’s a non-profit that is basically the safety net for the comedy community by providing financial crisis relief, mental health and chemical dependency treatment. Many comics are struggling to make ends meet and the ladies held a luncheon at Gotham Comedy Club, which thanks to Chris Mazzilli always makes itself available for a good cause, to spread the word about their work.

**(L-R) ZOE FRIEDMAN, AMBER J. LAWSON, AND JODI LIEBERMAN**

I got there early and had a chance to shmooze with the ladies and partake of their complimentary pizza lunch, until we were joined by Alan Zweibel, the man who gave me my start in comedy while he was a main writer up at SNL in the earliest days of the show. To this day he says he can’t get the image of “creamcheese on the ankles of elderly women who wore their stockings rolled down like bagels” which was a little film I made starring my grandmother that I brought up to SNL. It’s a story that has been told in the little doc they made about me in 2020. Some of the past recipients of CGB’s generosiyy were there to sing their praises. I also got to re-connect with Joanna Briley who once gave me the honor of being the opening act for the 2nd night of the Martin Luther King Comedy Fest in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, a true honor for me!

THE LOVE FOR GILBERT GOES ON

One of the other big events of the festival was the tribute to Gilbert Gottfried at the Hard Rock. It was called “Celebrating Gilbert” and the screen said “Still Screaming”. HIs wife Dara hosted the sold out event and there was no chance I would miss this since Gilbert and I were friends since probably the late 70’s or early 80’s. We had a long fun history and I really loved that guy! In the early days at Carolines, he literally made me laugh until I was in physical pain with his squid material and absurd references! He would proudly claim that no one had more squid material than he did, as he tore a napkin into strips like the tentacles of a squid!!!!

**CAROLINE HIRSCH ADDRESSING THE PANEL (L-R) FRANK SANTOPADRE, DARA GOTTFRIED, JUDY GOLD, SUSIE ESSMAN, AND RICHARD KIND**

**MY EARLIEST PHOTO WITH GILBERT CIRCA 80’S**

It was a spectacular event with people sharing stories of Gilbert and how unique he was, and also his reputation for being cheap. Truthfully the most exciting part for me was meeting his kids Lily and Max. I remember when they were born and now Max is 15 and Lily is 17. I knew Gilbert so long I was with him in the hospital when his appendix burst back in the early 90’s. I used to drive him home when he lived with his Mom. I once asked him if she “got him”, … if she knew he was “Gilbert”, … if she had any idea who he was, and he said “No!” To her he was just her son Gilbert!

After everyone on the panel shared their stories Frank Santopadre went out in the audience to speak to people like Chevy Chase, Robert Smigel, and other people who had known and worked with Gilbert. I was sitting in the very last row and I was dying to tell one of my many Gilbert stories. I didn’t know how I was going to get their attention though, and my heart was pounding.

I told myself if I didn’t do this I would never forgive myself and never get another chance, so I started nervously walking down the aisle towards the stage, and two women came up behind me encouraging me to share my story. I think they were from the festival. As I got close to the stage I got up the nerve to call out ” Frank, can I tell a story?” And Frank said “Jeff Gurian, ladies and gentlemen, and handed me the mic.” The story I told is below and Chevy Chase was sitting right in front of me as you can see in the video thanks to videographer Bob Sweeney, who filmed the whole event!

At the end of the event something very special happened. Bruce Hills who ran JFL Montreal for so many years came down with Nick Brazao who currently runs the programming at JFL to present Dara, Lily and Max with a huge sports jersey that says Gottfried 55! Not sure why it was so huge, but 55 is the year Gilbert was born!

**DARA, LILY, BRUCE HILLS, NICK BRAZAO, AND MAX GOTTFRIED AND THE JERSEY!!!**

And the proverbial icing on the cake was when it came out on Page Six in the NY Post! ( With my photo no less!!! LOL)

VINNY GUADAGNINO BRINGS IT AT THE STAND

I went to Vinny’s show truly not knowing what to expect. Many actors and people on TV think they can do stand-up comedy just because they’re used to being on camera. Most of the time it doesn’t work. Stand-up comedy is an art form all unto itself. It does not translate.

I was pleasantly surprised. Vinny is funny and I got a chance to tell him so after the show. He had no idea who I was so I don’t know if it meant anything to him, but I like to tell people when I think they’re doing something good. Creative people need to be re-affirmed! Also on the show was Jeffrey Asmus, and Jiaoying Summers who I also saw a couple of nights later at her own show at the Laurie Beechman Theater!

NEW FACES AT THE HARD ROCK

Most of the big industry shows were held at The Hard Rock. Lots of new and not so new fun talent. I walked in when my friend Soo Ra was on stage. Also Natalie Cuomo was a stand-out who’s soon to be married to Dan LaMorte, but the winner of the NY’s Funniest was Jamie Wolf who I picked as well. I just hope he doesn’t seriously injure his neck doing the airline crashing thing! ( Inside joke!)

J.B. IS DEFINITELY SMOOVE

Hadn’t seen JB Smoove in a while but he’s definitely one of my faves, so when I saw he was going to be at Town Hall I put it on my list of “Must-See” shows, and he definitely brought “the ruckus” as he’s prone to do! This was my final big show I covered at the festival!

I got there early with my assistant Jake Rothwell, and went right up to his dressing room. Backstage at Town Hall is huge and very difficult to navigate. To this day I always find it fascinating to see what goes on backstage. Maybe it’s because most people have no idea what it’s like. His dressing room was full of people and he was reviewing some notes when I came in. I had texted him to let him know I was coming because I don’t like to just show up with no notice.

He greeted me warmly and introduced me to his lovely wife, and then because he was busy prepping, I split to let him get ready, and told him I’d see him afterwards. He does such an entertaining show and the audience really loves him. I told him he brings joy to the stage, which is very special. Lots of people are funny but not everyone brings joy to the stage. We talked about his new game show on Amazon Prime called “Buy It Now” that just launched on Oct. 30th, where entrepreneurs get a chance to pitch their products, and the differences between that and Shark Tank.

We also reminisced about the loss of our mutual friend Richard Lewis, his cast-mate from Curb Your Enthusiasm, and JB’s great book ” The Book of Leon.” I was at the book launch with JB and Fifty Cent!

HAVING A BITE TO EAT **WITH JB SMOOVE** AT JFL MONTREAL 2010

It was so great to see the festival back again! Can’t wait for next year to do it again! That’s it for this column, but the next column is coming soon! If you liked it feel free to let me know at [email protected]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have lots to be thankful for!!! Follow me on Instagram at @jeffreygurian and I’ll see you in the clubs!!!

Tags: "Alan Zweibel", "J.B. Smoove", "JB Smoove", "Jersey Shore", "New York Comedy Club", "New York Comedy Festival", "Ricky Velez", "The Beacon Theater", "Town Hall", Chris Distefano, Gilbert Gottfried, Gotham Comedy Club, JFL, Jiaoying Summers, Judd Apatow, Just for Laughs Montreal, Jusy Gold, Ryan Reiss, Sam Morril, Susie Essman, The Stand Comedy Club, Vinny Guadagnino

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COMEDY MATTERS SUPER ISSUE CELEBRATES 25 YEARS, WITH NIKKI GLASER, KEVIN HART, CHRIS DISTEFANO, D.L. HUGHLEY, SETH HERZOG, KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON, PAUL RUDD, ALEX MOFFAT AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on October 3, 2024

COMEDY MATTERS 25th ANNIVERSARY

It may sound strange, but it wasn’t until I started writing about Seth Herzog’s 20th anniversary of his show Sweet, and acknowledging what an amazing achievment that was that I started wondering how long I’ve been doing Comedy Matters, and realized that I had started it in 1999, which made 2024 it’s 25 year anniversary of covering the comedy scene.

It’s been a few months since my last post and if you read on you’ll see why, so I’m going to briefly fill you in on what’s been going on in NY comedy thru the eyes of Comedy Matters.

TOM BRADY ROAST IS HUGE FOR NIKKI GLASER

Everyone totally crushed on the Tom Brady Roast. Kevin Hart was an amazing host and Roastmaster General Jeffrey Ross added to the hilarity with his never-fail killer jokes. That’s why he’s the Roastmaster General! Tony Hinchcliffe, Andrew Schulz, Tom Segura, Bert Kreischer, every single one of them killed. (Sorry if I left anyone out!!!)

But as a result of Nikki Glaser’s incredible performance roasting Tom at the very non-politically correct Roast on Netflix, she’ll be hosting the 82nd Golden Globes coming up on January 5th on CBS. I remember going to the premiere of the Nikki and Sara Live show on MTV back in 2013, when she had her own show with Sara Schaefer, and it’s so cool to see her reach superstardom. Nikki is a force. Her latest special on HBO, “Some Day You’ll Die” is up for an Emmy. She hosted and Exec. Produced F-Boy Island for three seasons which led to her hosting and Exec. Producing the spin-off “Lovers and Liars.” So major congrats to Nikki!

**(L-R) BERT KREISCHER AND TOM SEGURA TEAM UP ON THE BRADY ROAST**

**WITH SARA SCHAEFER AND NIKKI GLASER AT MTV BACK IN 2013**

GROSSINGERS DOC DUE FROM BUNGALOW ENTERTAINMENT

The popularity of the Netflix hit The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had led to a resurgence of interest in that era, the 1950’s and particularly about what was known as The Borscht Belt which were the incredible hotels in upstate New York like Grossingers, The Concord, The Nevele, The Raleigh and so many more.

Bobby Friedman the head of Bungalow Entertainment is producing a documentary on Grossingers, and it’s owner Jenny Grossinger who paved the way for powerful women in the entertainment business. Grossingers was one of the best known hotels, that even had it’s own airstrip to fly in the big stars that performed there. I was interviewed for the doc because I was at Grossingers at two different points in my life, … as a kid singing solo in a famous Hebrew choir that sang at the hotels for the High Holidays, and again as an adult writing comedy for many of the big stars that performed there.

My interview was to be held at a comedy club which turned out to be, where else but Chris Mazzilli’s Gotham Comedy Club where so many amazing things take place. Judd Apatow was just there doing a special show about a week ago. The doc is being directed by award winning director Paula Eiselt who interviewed me, with the assistance of Bennett Elliot and Catherine Rierson from Bungalow Entertainment. Can’t wait for it to come out!

**WITH AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR PAULA EISELT AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB**

UCB IS BACK WITH ASSSSCAT BETTER THAN EVER

In a never-ending list of things lost to Covid, UCB was one of them. Fortunately it’s back in a killer new location on 14th Street. Amazingly huge space. I attended the grand opening on Sept. 13th, and was pleasantly surprised to see Sasheer Zamata, Chris Gethard, and Zach Cherry among the improvisers. The host that night was James Austin Johnson from SNL. Improv may not be as reliable in terms of laughter as stand-up, but it may be the hardest thing in the world to do and they totally have my respect!

**(L-R) Sasheer Zamata with a shaved head, James Austin Johnson in front and Zach Cherry in the rear with the glasses. Other names unfortunately are unknown to me! Send them in if you know!!!**

CELEB PHOTOG MARCUS RUSSELL PRICE PRODUCING SHOWS

Marcus Russell Price is at every major comedy event shooting photos at the request of whoever is headlining the event. And it’s because he’s that good! I will always be indebted to him for shooting the two photos that appear below, at the exact second that I walked through the door at Carnegie Hall to congratulate Nick Kroll on his sold-out show, only to find out that due to Covid, they blocked everyone but me from coming backstage to see Nick, … even his family!

**NICK KROLL FILMING ME AS I ENTERED HIS DRESSING ROOM AT CARNEGIE HALL WITH MIKE BERKOWITZ LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY!**

Nick thought it was so funny that he took out his phone and filmed it for Instagram. The only other person with him was uber-agent to the stars Mike Berkowitz of WME fame who was laughing hysterically at the fact that they didn’t let anyone in but me! When it comes to super agents you would be hard pressed to find a comedy superstar not repped by Mike. To name just a few, … Bill Burr, Hasan Minhaj, Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Amy Schumer and John Oliver! To see Nick’s reaction when I walked into his dressing room click the link below!

So when I heard that Marcus was actually producing comedy shows at Lincoln Center there was no chance I was not going to attend. I was almost expecting him to perform but he just introduced the evening and each of the comedians. Both shows were great and sold out and I hope he decides to do more this coming year.

**(L-R) MARCUS RUSSELL-PRICE, JOEY DARDANO, JORDAN ROCK, ROSEBUD BAKER AND THAT SAME GUY!**

NEW YORK COMEDY CLUB TAKES OVER STAND UP NY LOCATION

Emilio Savone and Scott Lindner are killing the game. I think this makes five New York Comedy Club venues, and Emilio always makes sure that I get to attend every special event he does. They totally renovated the old Stand Up NY space on West 78th Street and had a grand opening. I particularly appreciated the huge green room they created downstairs where offices used to be. It’s always nice to have a cool place to hang before going up.

It was a star-studded line-up including two of my faves, Chris Distefano and Corinne Fisher who I absolutely love! Always so glad to see how well she’s doing. Her comedy partner in crime, Krystyna Hutchinson will appear in this column a bit further down. And I just got word as I’m writing this that Chrissy scored a Hulu special! Well deserved Chris!!!

**WITH CHRIS DISTEFANO WHO JUST GOT A HULU SPECIAL**

COMEDY TIDBITS

I’m involved in something that could be HUGE thanks to the two guys you see standing with me below. No more can be said, but if it happens it will involve many of my big-time comedy friends so when D.L. Hughley was at Levity Live in Nyack, I made sure to stop off and ask him in person if he would be kind enough to participate. He said I didn’t even have to ask and that of course he’d be involved! A true friend!!!

We reminisced about the time he took me out to dinner to make sure I ate!

I was at Sheba Mason’s show one night at Three Monkeys waiting to go on when I heard them announce a comedian to the stage and I thought maybe I heard wrong. I was pretty sure I heard them say Greg Giraldo Jr. What a nice surprise to find out it was Greg’s son. I’m sure he knew already, but I got to tell him what a great, talented guy his Dad was and afterwards sent him some photos of his Dad and I from back in the day!

**WITH GREG GIRALDO JR. A VERY FUNNY YOUNG GUY**

We lost a great actor and dear friend Tony LoBianco and at the funeral service at St. Patrick’s I ran into two other old friends, comedy legend Joe Piscopo and radio legend Frank Morano!

Wound up on one of Victoria Arnstein’s shows with Mae Planert and saw what her husband Mark Normand did to her! (LOL) Such a nice girl! Major congrats to the expecting parents! I keep telling him how great it is to be a Dad!

**WITH THE VERY FUNNY MAE PLANERT WHO IS “WITH CHILD” THANKS TO MARK NORMAND!**

Got on an AA flight to Minneapolis to be a Keynote Speaker to 500 doctors on Happiness and as I boarded the flight, the main flight attendant yelled out, ” Hey Jeffrey!” Turns out it was Soo Ra a very funny comedian who’s in my new TV pilot “The Raw Side of Comedy.” I knew she was funny but never knew she was also a flight attendant for the past 7 years! I made her take photos on the plane!!!

**WITH SOO RA THE COMEDIAN/FLIGHT ATTENDANT**

Zeuses Muses an entertainment company hired me to do a show with funny comic Anna Manis at The Red Room above New York Comedy Club’s 4th Street location. It’s like a speakeasy, and it was part of a national tour. Very fun show!

**ON STAGE AT THE RED ROOM WITH ANNA MANIS**

“A Walk In The Park” the Woody Allen-ish type film I co-starred in with writer/director Noel Leon was chosen as an official selection for the NY Shorts International Film Fest slated to be shown on Oct. 14th, at the Cinema Village Theater, and if I’m lucky I’ll even get to see the final version beforehand! It’s a really sweet film about an unlikely friendship!

xr:d:DAFxoXJb-KY:13,j:2726210195446358814,t:23101918

HOLISTIC COMEDY

Everyone’s heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine. Well because of my double career as a doctor (20 years on the Board of The Assoc. for Spirituality and Psychotherapy, 12 years on staff at NYU in Oral Medicine and Oro-Facial Pain, and 25 years as a Cosmetic Dentist) and an Amazon best-selling author with 8 books, three on Happiness, mindset and changing negative thinking to positive thinking, I’m getting asked to speak at holistic-type events bringing comedy into the mix.

In July I was the Keynote Speaker in Minneapolis at the Minneapolis Convention Center to about 500 doctors and the topic they gave me was ” Surviving A Career in Dentistry Using Positive Thinking and Humor”, and about a week ago I led a weekend workshop at the prestigious Omega Institute for Holistic Studies where Deepak Chopra speaks. Big honor! The topic they gave me was ” Heal Your Heart With Humor.” The middle photo below shows the line going out the door of people wanting to say hi and have me sign a book for them. I guess what I had to say resonated with them! (LOL) ( Humble brag!!!)

To help promote the event I went on WABC radio with my buddy Frank Morano on his hit show “The Other Side of Midnight”, i-Heart Radio with the amazing Xen Sams on her hit show “A Moment of Xen”, and had the honor of being the very first guest on Krystyna Hutchinson’s new podcast “The Voices In Our Heads” in her amazing new studio, and produced by my old pal Mike Coscarelli who’s producing a bunch of podcasts now. Krystyna of course is still doing “Guys We F**ked” with her comedy partner Corinne Fisher!

Even better Krystyna asked me to release her TMJ cause she’s been getting jaw pain from grinding her teeth from stress, and that just happened to be my specialty at NYU.

Got to exchange “best-selling” books with Mick Jagger’s girlfriend Melanie Hamrick and tell her my Mick Jagger story!

SWEET CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

I swear, … this is the last item. I can’t write anymore! Sweet is almost old enough to vote! Seth Herzog has achieved the impossible and kept a comedy show running for two decades. In next month’s column I will do a deep dive into the two shows he did at Chelsea Music Hall with owner Michael Ginsberg, but suffice it to say that both shows were amazing. I’m excited to say I’ll be doing Seth’s Halloween show on Oct. 22nd also at Chelsea Music Hall telling the scary story of my heart attack!

One show was on a Sunday night and the other was on the following Tuesday night. Huge crowds, and interviews were done for an upcoming documentary. Got to re-connect with Michael Ian Black, Todd Barry, who always makes me laugh hard with his sarcastic point of view, Jeaneane Garofalo who opened her set by giving away three pair of pants from a Target bag, and Richard Kind who improvised a song about people in the audience with Seth and Michael Ian Black. Michael and I co-wrote the very first interactive film for Sony back in 1992 called “I’m Your Man.”

In the Tuesday show it was Alex Moffat, Mark Normand, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Richard Kind and more and I got to re-connect with the great Dave Hill who told me he loved my performance in Joe DeRosa’s video “Mouth On My Money”! Dave’s new one man show at the Soho Playhouse is called “Dave Hill-Caveman In A Spaceship”! Gotta see it real soon!!! Those photos in the next column coming very soon!!!

**JANEANE GAROFOLO AND HER BAG OF PANTS**

IF YOU’RE NOT TOO TIRED AFTER READING THIS WHOLE BLOG POST YOU CAN FOLLOW JEFFREY ON INSTAGRAM AT @JEFFREYGURIAN AND ON TICKTOK AT @JEFFREYLGURIAN SEE YOU SOON!!!

Tags: 77WABC, Alex Moffat, Andrew Schulz, Anna Manis, Bert Kreischer, Bill Burr, Bungalow Entertainment, Chris Distefano, Comedy Matters, Corinne Fisher, D.L. Hughley, Emilio Savone, Frank Morano, Jeffrey Gurian, Joe DeRosa, Joe Piscopo, Kevin Hart, Krystyna Hutchinson, Mae Planert, Mark Normand, Melanie Hamrick, Mick Jagger, Mike Berkowitz, New York Comedy Club, Nick Kroll, Nikki Glaser, Noel Leon, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Paul Rudd, Paula Eiselt, Robert Friedman, Sasgeer Zamata, Seth Herzog, Soo Ra, Tom Brady, Tom Segura, UCB, WABC, WME, Woody Allen, Zach Cherry, Zeuses Muses

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUNDUP WITH PATRICE O’NEAL BENEFIT AND AFTER-PARTY, BILL BURR, GARDEN OF LAUGHS, TRACY MORGAN, JIM GAFFIGAN, SAM MORRIL, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on April 29, 2024

**WITH THE AMAZING BILL BURR AT THE STAND**

THE LOVE FOR PATRICE GOES ON

Nov. 29, 2011 is the day that Patrice O’Neal left us and left a big void in the comedy world. Especially for me. I had a very unique relationship with Patrice and was honored to be named by him as the 3rd co-host on The Black Phillip Show, on Sirius XM radio. It was Patrice, Dante Nero and me!

The first night we did the show together, he called me and left this message at 4:05 in the morning. He couldn’t wait to call me. Patrice didn’t get excited about a lot of things, but if you listen to this phone message which I have kept all these years, you’ll hear that he wanted to do a show just the two of us. He and I. Me and Patrice. Just the two of us.

Unfortunately like many things in show biz it never happened, but just the fact that he offered meant the world to me. Patrice didn’t say things just to be polite. We just had a real understanding, a real love and respect for each other. Von confirmed that with me at his funeral.

For the past 11 years, leaving out two years for the pandemic, comedy exec. Maureen Taran and Bill Burr have produced a benefit for Patrice’s family at City Center. Sells out every year. All the comics perform for free and all the money goes to Patrice’s family. His wonderful Mom, Georgia usually comes every year but she was not able to attend this year. But approximately 2300 other people were.

Rich Vos emceed as usual and did the great job he always does. He’s perfect for this event. I always think I should be performing but when I see the show I know my comedy doesn’t fit in. Cipha Sounds was on the ones and twos, also as usual, and brought Vos out to hip hop music, which made everyone laugh. Vos was dressed like Stallone from Rocky 3 and I believe it was he who said about Patrice, ” If he wasn’t so big he’d be rolling over in his grave.” And that set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Reggie Conquest was up first and came out to NInja Turtles music, as compared to Vos who came out to Meek Mill. Cipha has a good sense of humor! Reggie did great and Vos said about him that he had to go on first because ” his ankle bracelet goes off at 9 P.M.”

Then they announced a surprise guest and when Jim Gaffigan came out the place erupted! People went wild. Jim is beloved. He must have lost 6o pounds, and said about himself that he was “formerly a fat guy and how he’s just arrogant!” Wait till you hear the stories about Jim on the red carpet at Garden of Laughs, the very next day, … a few paragraphs down!

I hadn’t seen Marcello Hernandez from SNL perform before, so I was pleasantly surprised at how strong he was on stage. The guy is a beast. Bill Burr told me that Marcello has better material than he does! He came out wearing what looked like gym clothes which was fitting for the way he worked out on stage. Amazing! I actually laughed out loud, which is very rare for me. He was just so clever and did a thing comparing Meringue, Salsa and Bachata! (Three different Latin dances for you gringos!!!)

Bonnie McFarlane is one of the best writers in the biz and always so funny and clever. She came out to Back That Ass Up, and declared that if Patrice was still alive he’d probably be trans and married to Jim Norton. And speaking of her husband Vos she said, two or three years in to the marriage she realized he’s not playing the dumb guy character! No one could be that good an actor! (LOL)

Another surprise to me was Robert Powell who Vos mistakenly introduced as Robert Palmer. which the other comics kidded him about all night! The guy was hilarious! Absolutely hilarious!

Then they announced another surprise guest and it was Dan Soder who also got HUGE applause. In talking about Patrice, Dan mentioned The Lottery Show at The Comic Strip where Patrice along with guys like Bobby Kelly and Paul Mercurio would judge new comics to see if they could perform at The Strip. I often sat there with owner/founder Richie Tienken watching and laughing at the action, and Patrice was usually particularly brutal, but in a way you’d have to laugh. I just happen to have a video of one of those shows with Patrice, Bobby and Paul. And yes that’s a young Jordan Rock in the corner as the DJ!

Then Michael Che came out and said he hadn’t done stand up in a while which is understandable since his work load at SNL is so huge. He said he turned 40 and is starting to feel old. He also said he had a relative who was a runaway slave and became a clown. I think he said that was his inspiration to go into comedy, but I could be wrong! Not about the slave/clown thing but whether it inspired him or not.

And lastly like in baseball which I know nothing about, Bill Burr came out as the clean-up hitter and wrapped up the show. Bill is not only fun to listen to he’s fun to watch. And he’s a really great guy! We always have so much fun on any red carpet I see him on. I have photos of him hugging me from the time he had red hair till now! (Sometimes we switch sides!)

And the same as every year the after party was held at The Stand . Cris and Paul Italia go all out and serve great food and the place is packed with fun people and good vibes.

I got to hang with Ken Feder otherwise known as Club Soda Kenny who I first met thru Dice because he always does security for Dice, but he also does security for Bill Burr and other big stars. He’s always on the job and didn’t let Bill out of his sight for a minute. Even while we were talking and catching up, he had his eye on Bill. No one fucks with Kenny. Ex-NYPD and a big dude.

**WITH A VERY SERIOUS LOOKING KEN FEDER**

Bill actually wrote and directed a little film that Kenny stars in with Bobby Lee called “Soda” in which he plays a cop, … very realistically I might add! It’s on You Tube. Check it out!!!

GARDEN OF LAUGHS INSANITY

It had been a few years since the Garden of Laughs was held due to the pandemic and people’s fears of large gatherings but thanks to the Mazzilli brothers it was time to have it again! As usual I was covering the red carpet and it was a blast!

Jim Gaffigan was in a rare mood. He was joking around the whole time and I think it was connected to his dramatic weight loss. When I told him how good he looked he reminded me that he was married. He also said he was very good looking despite the fact that he has no pigment! At one point he pulled GOL host Steve Schirripa away while I was still talking to him, and made believe he was the reporter from People Magazine, and then he took my mic and was double fisting them until I reminded him he was married! (LOL) Jim is truly amazing, a true superstar, with 5 beautiful kids, the youngest of whom is now 11!

Chris Distefano was also a hoot because Garden of Laughs is a charity that raises money for disadvantaged snd underprivileged children, so when he came to talk to me I had to remind him that he himself has underprivileged children, which made him laugh and agree that he does indeed have underprivileged children! It’s on my Instgram Reels if you want to see it @jeffreygurian.

Also on the red carpet I got to re-connect with Sam Morril who I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Sam and I reminisced a bit about how he started out years ago on my late night show at The Comic Strip where he said he’d sometimes sit for four hours waiting to go on. I told him he had 650,000 followers on IG, but Sam is so humble he said he wasn’t aware of that, but that it sounded like a good thing! (LOL)

And I got to see my old buddy Tracy Morgan. The publicists were being very choosy about who the stars spoke with but when Tracy saw me he told the guy we go way back, and he came over to chat about how lucky we both were to survive what we’ve been through. Tracy is very aware of how lucky he was to survive the terrible accident he was in, and I was lucky to survive a heart attack and a hospitalization with Covid Double Pneumonia. That video will be forthcoming along with Sam Morril’s.

LAUGHING BUDDHA FEST FOR $2,000.

Jeff Lawrence’s Laughing Buddha has everything you could want if you want to be in the comedy world. They offer workshops, classes, even a boot camp and he and Daryn Stephanie Passarello work tirelessly to inspire and help young comics to develop. I’ve had the honor of performing on some of their shows at various clubs around the city. They’re at The Stand, Eastville, Rodney’s and just about anywhere that comedy is offered.

**WITH DARYN PASSARELLO AND JEFF LAWRENCE AT THE TRIAD**

So I was especially honored when they asked me to be a judge at their second annual comedy festival which was held at the beautiful Triad Theater on West 72nd Street. What really impressed me was the $2,000. prize they were giving away for the winner. That is truly a generous prize. The 2nd and 3rd runner-ups also got a few hundred bucksl

The winner was Eric Walsh, a funny comic I had seen before when I was judging a contest at Stand Up New York, who opens by declaring that his family has regular size necks, which only makes sense if you’ve seen him because he happens to be the proud owner of a very long neck! Second place went to Chris Tos and third went to Brendan Smith.

**JEFF LAWRENCE WITH THE CONTESTANTS AND TED BARTON RIGHT OUT FRONT TO HIS LEFT**

And I got to meet the famous Bad Slava guy whose co-judged with me, and whose name is really Slava. He’s a comic named Slava Yaryshkin and I had been hearing his name for years. Any time someone wants to know where the open mics are located all around the city people would say ” Go to BadSlava.com and you’ll see all the mics in existence! But I had no idea it was named after a real guy! So I was really glad to meet him and spend a couple of hours together. And without consulting each other at all, we picked the same names as winners. I was hoping Ted Barton would win as he’s in my new pilot “The Raw Side of Comedy.” It was very close!

Jeff told me the goal for next year’s festival is to give away $5,000. to the winner. For a chance at 5K, I just might enter!!! (LOL)

BIG COMEDIC HUGS FOR ISRAEL

Avi Liberman is an LA comic who came to NY to produce a show called “Comedy Hug – A Benefit for Healing In Israel”. He did it at Gotham which was no surprise because the Mazzilli’s are always open to good causes and do many, many charity shows during the course of the year.

I wished I was on the show but I was glad to just be there covering it. And what a line-up they had. In no particular order it was Avi who hosted, and Gina Brillon, Jim Gaffigan, Mark Normand, Dean Edwards, Eli from Eli Comedy, and Dan Naturman who closed out the show but got there early and watched the whole thing.

**DEAN EDWARDS WHOSE HAIR IS WILDER THAN MINE**

I always like when someone does that. A lot of comics just show up for their spot, or don’t watch the other comics. To me it’s a sign of respect when you show interest in what your fellow comics are doing. Anyway it was a sold out show as you might expect with that line-up and I hope to be on the next one! Especially for such a worthy cause.

I also ran into Dan shortly after, at a great event called “Stand Up For Passion” produced and created by French comedian Arnaud Collery. It’s like an abbreviated Ted Talk event, but each speaker only gets 7 minutes and it’s always a fascinating show! One of his speakers was a French astronaut named Thomas Pesquet. And of course Dan is a co-host on the Comedy Cellar podcast which is always fun and an honor to do.

BEN CARSON IS A HERO IN MY BOOK

This has nothing to do with comedy but I was very excited to meet the great Ben Carson at a P.A.L. luncheon sponsored by John and Margo Catsimatidis at the Harvard Club! Ben is a retired neurosurgeon, who had 15,000 surgeries under his belt, to use a phrase from 1810, and was the very first neurosurgeon to separate Siamese or conjoined twins who were connected at the head. And he did it twice! Not on the same twins, … on other conjoined twins!

What makes it even more amazing is that he came from extreme poverty growing up with a single Mom with only a third grade education. But she stressed that her sons should be educated and Ben’s brother became a rocket scientist. A neurosurgeon and a rocket scientist. Pretty good for that situation, …which just goes to show you what you can accomplish in this country if you work hard. I was truly honored to meet him.

And he happens to have a great sense of humor and was very funny in his speech, so maybe this DOES have something to do with comedy!!! John Cats always gets great guests for his P.A.L. luncheons and on his show on WABC radio which he owns! John told me it’s now in, … I think, … 170 countries and all 50 states! What an accomplishment!

COMEDY BENEFIT FOR MENTAL ILLNESS

A few years ago I flew to Chicago to perform at a meeting of AATH, which stands for the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, which is a community of people who believe humor can help to regain health. I’m on the Board of a group called Laugh M.D. which brings comedy to people in hospitals and people in recovery founded by Frank Chindamo in L.A. the founder of Fun Little Movies, one of the very first to put entertainment on mobile phones.

AATH members include wellness professionals and people who use humor as a wellness strategy, and researchers who study the science of humor. While there I met Joan Accolla , a powerhouse and the founder of Healing Headbands a charitable foundation that also believes in using humor to heal. She and her partner Barbara Grapstein partnered up with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and they’re doing a major fundraiser for mental illness on Thursday May 23rd out on Long Island.

I have the honor of hosting and also on the show are Felicia Madison, booker and talent developer from West Side Comedy Club, and comic and Broadway star Rick Younger as well as local Long Island comic James Lennon. Hope you will come out and join us for a fun evening of food, music and laughter.

This is the site for tickets: https://www.healingheadbands.com/hhp-comedy-show-2024

Hope to see you there and hope to see you again next month when the next Comedy Matters Roundup comes out! In the meantime when you have a moment follow us on Instagram at @jeffreygurian

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "Madison Square Garden:", Bobby Kelly, celebrity interviews, Chris Distefano, City Center, Garden of Laughs, Gotham Comedy Club, Jeffrey Gurian, Jim Gaffigan, Mark Normand, Patrice Oneal, red carpet, Sam Morril, Tracy Morgan

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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!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on March 25, 2024

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!

**WITH ANDREW SANTINO AND MICHAEL ANGORANO IN MONTREAL 2017**

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:

SO NICE TO BE ON TUESDAY WITH STORIES WITH MARK NORMAND AND JOE LIST

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.

**(L-R( LAURA SOGAR, THAT GUY, CALISE HAWKINS**

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!

**WELLIE JACKSON ON STAGE** **HOSTING THE SHOW**

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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COMEDY MATTERS TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT RICHARD LEWIS, R.I. P.

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on March 12, 2024

My friendship with Richard Lewis goes back to the 80’s. I don’t remember exactly how we met or exactly when, but I remember going to see him perform in a very big venue, … maybe Westbury, and I was with my ex-wife which means it had to be in the 80’s.

In 1995 he was starring in the movie Drunks. it was premiering in a theater in Manhattan. I remember discussing it with people but don’t remember how I got invited. All I know is that I got there a little late. I had written up some jokes because one of my dreams as a comedy writer was to write for Richard. I had already written for a lot of big names and REALLY wanted to write for Richard. The only problem was that he openly stated he never worked with writers or used anyone else’s jokes.

But I felt like I knew him so well, … actually too well, … as we seemed to share the same neuroses. I believe they came from growing up Jewish! (LOL) So I was determined to write for him and came up with the title of a tour that I felt fit him, .. “Born To Be Nervous.”

I always said if I had a tattoo that’s what it would say. Some guys have tattoos rhat say “Born To Be Wild.”. … mine would say ” Born To Be Nervous.”

For whatever reason I showed up a little late to the theater. I had the jokes with me and my plan was to get there early, find Richard and give him the jokes. But my nervousness and self-sabotage of which I am an expert, got me there a little late, and there was already a long line of people waiting to get in.

I decided to go to the Men’s Room first and as I was walking down the stairs, who was coming up the stairs but Richard Lewis. That can’t even happen but it’s been happening to me all my life. He sees me and says ” What are YOU doing here?” I’m like “I’m here to support you, and I brought you these jokes.”

The jokes were in a folder. He was like, “You know I don’t use anyone else’s jokes.” And I said, “Just read them and see what you think.” He took the folder, went into the theater and I went to the Men’s Room, and afterwards took my seat and watched the movie. It was great and he did a fantastic job. I don’t recall if I saw him afterwards. At that point he was sober about 2 or 3 years. And he would not mind me saying that! He was very proud of his sobriety.

Later that very same day, around 9:30 P.M., I got a voicemail message from him on my answering machine, if any of you remember what that is, because I don’t think they exist anymore. But in those days answering machines were a good way for you to test out your sense of humor by leaving bizarre messages for people who called you. One of my daughters kept every one of my messages and because she wouldn’t delete them she had to get a new machine because she ran out of memory. This is the message I have kept all these years and still treasure, as he kept using the word “Hilarious” to describe my material.

A few years back I was producing a gala in honor of Susie Essman the great comedian, a dear friend, and a star of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I wanted to create a tribute video and needed to get video quotes from three of Susie’s close friends, Richard, Mario Cantone, and D.L. Hughley. Richard and I had lunch at The Friars Club where we were both longtime members. After lunch I was ready to shoot the video tribute. I asked him where he wanted to do it. He said that for Susie it would be appropriate for us to shoot it in the Men’s Room, so we did.

The photos below are of us having lunch at The Friars, us in the Men’s Room with him reading an article about me in The Friars Epistle, their glossy magazine,and the conceit was that I as an investigative reporter who lets nothing stand in his way of getting a story even follows his subject into the stall of the Men’s Room, which explains the third photo! (LOL) In the video below, Richard wants people to know that it was HIS idea to shoot the video in the Men’s Room, … not mine! (LOL)

Richard got a kick out of the fact that sometimes people would come over to me and think I was him. In 2022 I went to the premiere of DeNiro’s film Savage Salvation and two different people came over to me to tell me they loved me in “Curb.” They thought I was Richard! It’s happened before and I’m sure it’s the hair! (LOL) I wrote to him about it as I often did in long e-mails and he wrote back a short e-mail, … as HE usually did, that just said “Haaa, I love you!” He often wrote me and just said ” I love you.” It meant so much to me!

A few months ago, when he made his Parkinson’s diagnosis public, I asked him about doing a podcast with him like he did with Elayne Boosler. He wrote me back one of his longest emails ever, which I copied below in bold. It’s interesting to see how he wrote with the spacing and just a few words on each line. Maybe like something a poet like Bob Dylan would write! (LOL) This is exactly how it looked, spacing and all!

I’m flattered

Dig
This isn’t a podcast
IT’s to keep me busy
There are tons of podcasts that your 2000000 episodic life that merits your tale… not my bullshit

Is the Friars dead?

I admire you

I’ll see how things go
You should’ve been on Gilbert’s

Xxxx

He told me he was fighting to stay alive. I’m sure he fought as hard as he could. R.I.P. Richard. I’ll miss you my friend!

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Comedy Matters Roundup with Jo Koy, Ali Wong, Jimmy Failla, Troy Bond, Josh Wolf, The Sunshine Comedy Festival, Comedy Cellar Podcast, Gotham Party and So Much More!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on January 24, 2024

COMEDIANS RULE THE GOLDEN GLOBES

I was really happy when I heard that my buddy Jo Koy would be hosting the 81st annual Golden Globes. Such a huge honor. He took the gig with only about 9 days to prepare. It would be a difficult gig to host if he had had a month to prepare but with only 9 days he did an admirable job.

People who don’t do comedy and don’t know what it’s like to be on a stage like that facing an audience of the biggest stars in show biz had all sorts of comments, but I have the video of some of his highlights, and you can judge for yourself.

Ali Wong won an award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, for her starring role in Beef, Ray Romano was funny as a presenter with Keri Russell talking about “truth”, Jim Gaffigan presented the first ever stand up comedy award at the Golden Globes to Ricky Gervais who in true Ricky Gervais style wasn’t there to accept it, a very radiant looking Kristen Wiig and dapper looking Will Ferrell did a very funny dance as presenters, when some weird music kept coming on. It was one of the funniest bits of the evening.

**WITH ALI WONG ON THE RED CARPET OF THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL IN MONTREAL**

All in all it was a big win for comedy!

GOTHAM HOLIDAY PARTY ROCKS

Chris and Steve Mazzilli always go all out with their after the New Year holiday party. It’s tons of good food, a live band upstairs, a DJ downstairs with a photo booth, and a kind of lottery for their employees where they win gifts. Two of the employees each won $500. in cash. Very special! Plus a ton of attendees! Their employees absolutely love them!!!

One of the first people I ran into was my pal JImmy Failla who was just named the host of FOX News’ Saturday night show, which airs Saturday nights at 10 P.M. He’s also the host of FOX News radio “FOX Across America” which airs weekdays from 12-3 PM/ET.

Just 10 years ago he was driving a taxi, and he’s living proof that if you work hard and have the talent to back it up, you can achieve great success. He’s even on billboards in Times Square!!! He told me he plans to infuse lots of comedy into the Saturday night show! You go Jimmy!!! Major congratulations on the show!!!

Comic/magician extraordinaire Harrison Greenbaum was also there with his new wife Emily. They’re back in New York after getting married in Vegas where he holds the honor of being the very first comedian to headline a Cirque du Soleil show after doing 650 shows for them.

David and Emily got married in David Copperfield’s secret magic museum, courtesy of David, … and when it came time to exchange the rings they were nowhere to be found. Then as a surprsie to all in attendance, David called out ” Maybe I can help” and he manifested a rose bush out of which he took the two rings! Congratulations and welcome back to NY to the happy couple!!!

Also at the party was Chris’ other half, comic Elyse DeLucci who I’ve had the pleasure of performing with, and who has such a great comedic delivery and unique voice , you would never know what an accomplished person she is besides her comedy career! She was also astonished that she got Chris to smile for the photo! He’s usually so busy making sure that everything is going 100% perfect he has no time to smile!

**WITH ELYSE DELUCCI AND A SMILING CHRIS MAZZILLI**

SUNSHINE COMEDY FEST A HUGE SUCCESS

As someone who has produced single comedy shows I know how hard that is to do. To produce an entire festival of shows is basically impossible, but Zach Moore, Austin Rodriguez and Brian Thompson, the owner of Side Splitters comedy club in Tampa just did it. More than 100 comedians from all over the country came down to Tampa/St. Pete for four days of shows.

Zach and Austin are partners in Coastal Creative TV a HUGE all-service, ultra-modern facility that is really beautiful and fully equipped to shoot film, TV or live shows in their two showrooms, one of which holds 350 people and the other that holds 150 people. They also have a huge LED room with an amazing screen where they made me this personalized screen for my book signing.

They brought me down there to perform, to do a book signing, and also to be the official interviewer for the festival. It was an exciting four days where I got to meet comics from all over and watch tons of shows, most of them at Coastal Creative hosted by guitar-playing musical comic Dan Bakst. Dan is aware that musical comedy can be something that some people make fun of, so he makes fun of it himself, but fortunately he’s very talented and does funny songs.

They connected me with my very own videographer, a young talented guy named Jake Lemon of Jake Lemon Productions, who accompanied me to all the venues where I wanted to interview people. Ryan Kern was another of the great video guys they had on hand to help me when Jake was busy.

I got to perform at Side Splitters in Tampa which was amazing, and owner Brian Thompson could not have been more accomodating. He set us up at a table to do my interviews and invited me back the next night to perform, which I got to do with new friend Katherine Blanford who is really funny, has done Fallon and I believe is based in Atlanta. I also got to meet and interview Marco Delvecchio from the TV show F-Boy Island who gave me one of the more unusual interviews. Jeff Dye was also there and did a great show.

I was really happy to run into Ryan Joseph who I had recently cast in my new TV pilot, The Raw Side of Comedy, that we shot over this past summer at Gotham Comedy Club. Ryan is a very unique comic, and a great writer with very unpredictable jokes, and an unusual sense of humor. He has a very difficult backstory and I think he’s going to be very big in comedy!

**KATHERINE BLANFORD ON STAGE AT COASTAL**

They had an absolutely HUGE green room at Coastal for the comics, and I was also thrilled to run into a bunch of my New York peeps, brothers and sisters in comedy like Ian Fidance who did his podcast live, Bein’ Ian with Jordan Jensen, and her new puppy, my pal Giulio Gallarotti, whose alter ego, rapper “Lil Young Big” doesn’t come around much anymore, Andy Haynes and wife Rosebud Baker with their adorable new daughter whose name I’m keeping secret, Ted Jones, and Torey Cole from Greenwich Village Comedy Club, who often opens for Troy Bond.

The great Mark Normand, who I try and have on all my shows, was there for one night but I didn’t get to see him. Hopefully I’ll be seeing him this Friday when he headlines The Beacon Theater in NY. I wonder if Jerry Seinfeld will be opening for him, since he’s been opening for Jerry who has nothing but praise for Mark!!!!

On arriving in Tampa I shared a car with LA’s Andrea Jin who I had been watching and liking her style on You Tube. We were both staying at the beautiful Beachcomber Hotel in St. Pete Beach. And on another day thanks to comic Raul Hernandez who was also a driver for the fest, I got to share a car with Jason Ellis the wild man/radio personality from Australia who is also an MMA fighter, skate boarder, podcaster and I’m sure a bunch of other things, who was to host a pool party but the weather was so cold I’m not sure it happened. I heard he came out on stage somewhere in a Speedo! And he’s totally covered in tats as you might expect from a skater!!!

There was a very nice moment when four local medical students approached my book table and asked if they could interview me because of my background as a doctor and how I was able to combine that with a comedy career.

**WITH 4 VERY SPECIAL MED STUDENTS WHO ASKED TO INTERVIEW ME! HI KELLY AND GRACE!**

I also met a couple of other comics from across the country that really stood out to me, Dean Allen Stanfield a good ole Texas boy from Austin, who was fun from the first moment I met him, Bianca Parato, a really funny comic also from Austin, and Nicole Aimee Schreiber a funny girl from LA!

But I had two very special encounters which will very soon be up on my Comedy Matters TV channel, one with NY’s very own up and coming superstar Troy Bond and the other with long-time star Josh Wolf. I had been hearing so much about Troy Bond from everyone I spoke to and I tried to go and see him at City Winery one night but he wasn’t able to make the show. So I was determined to see him at the fest.

Besides several shows he performed at, he was moderating a showing of the film Star Wars, (which I understand is a favorite of his), with off-screen commentary, and I patiently waited till the end to go and introduce myself. I was so pleasantly surprised when he already knew me and greeted me so warmly with a big hug, and when I told him I was looking forward to interviewing him, he humbly said he’d be honored to be on Comedy Matters TV because he’d been watching my interviews for the past 10 years.

WITH HOTTER THAN HOT COMIC TROY BOND AT THE SUNSHINE COMEDY FESTIVAL

I can see what all the buzz is about concerning Troy. He’s really funny, but also such a nice guy and so humble. We had a chance to sit and chat, just the two of us for a while, and it was very special. Can’t wait to show you guys the video. I feel like I made a new friend! He was there with his manager Logan Potter.

Basically the same thing happened with Josh Wolf. He was performing at a beautiful club called The Floridian which was not too far from Coastal. Sold out crowd. They had to add a second show. It’s more like a Broadway type theater than a comedy club. Very elegant stage. Josh performs with his son Jake, a fairly new comic who handles himself admirably, and after the show I went backstage with the other Jake, my videographer, and Coastal owner Zach Moore, and got the same kind of warm greeting from Josh. It was very heart-warming to say the least, to see how many people have seen my stuff! We also shot a really cool video that I’ll be posting soon.

RODNEY’S RE-OPENS IN MANHATTAN

Rodney Dangerfield and Tony Bevacqua opened Dangerfields in 1969. Rodney was the first big star I ever wrote for and besides doing my jokes at the club, he was doing my material on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! #bighonor The club closed in 2020 due to Covid and sat empty on 61st and 1st Avenue for the last three years. It made me sad every time I passed by. Thanks to comic/lawyer Mark Yosef it’s back open again.

Now it’s called Rodney’s and they changed every bit of the club and modernized it because it had the same furniture and decor since it first opened in 1969. I sat with Mark and booking agent Jon Borromeo, who has a lot of experience in booking shows, right after the end of their early 5:30 Saturday evening show before they were getting ready for the 8:30 show.

**(L-R) RODNEY’S OWNER MARK YOSEF WITH BOOKING AGENT JON BORROMEO**

Mark was also responsible for helping The Comic Strip solve a big problem, but now is putting all his efforts into making Rodney’s a success. They signed the lease in September and opened on New Year’s Eve. It took them about four months to re-do the place. All the old furniture had been left so they replaced it with all new furniture and all new fixtures. All the old photos of Rodney and celebs were gone when he took it over. He’s turning Rodney’s old dressing room into the green room for the comics.

Mark’s been so busy he hasn’t been able to perform himself for the past year. They have an open mic at the club most days at 6 P.M. He said the neighborhood has been very receptive and people are very happy that the club is back. They updated the kitchen, hired a chef and plan to be serving food by the Spring.

COMEDY CELLAR : LIVE FROM THE TABLE

Doing anything with or at the Comedy Cellar is a great honor if you’re in the comedy world. I’ve had the occasion over the years to shoot an episode of HBO’s Crashing there, thanks to Judd Apatow and Pete Holmes, to be in a scene with Colin Quinn, Wil Sylvince, Kevin Brennan and legendary booker Estee Adoram, and to do the podcast.

**(L-R) AT THE HBO SHOOT FOR “CRASHING” AT THE FAMOUS ‘TABLE” WITH THAT SAME GUY, WIL SYLVINCE, COLIN QUINN, KEVIN BRENNAN AND ESTEE ADORAM!**

I’ve gotten to sit at “the table” with all the comics who perform there, got to shoot a scene there with Jessica Kirson for the documentary film that was done about me called “Who The F*ck Is Jeffrey Gurian”, and got to cover many comedy events there like Rich Vos’ birthday party, and lots of other shows and events where I shot video interviews, like the one I did with Noam after everything re-opened post Covid.

So when Comedy Cellar podcast producer/comedian Periel Aschenbrand invited me to come on, I was really happy. I had been on before but not since before Covid. They do it from the building adjacent to The Cellar, and Periel is not only the producer, and a very funny comic, but the co-host as well, with Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman, joined by second co-host Dan Naturman, and this time special guest comic and Cellar regular Carmen Lynch.

It’s always nice when you get to do a show with people you already know and feel comfortable with. Also people you know who are funny! But not everything is jokes on this podcast. There’s usually a spirited discussion about something because they all have strong opinions and are very smart. I came in on a discussion of whether Dan Naturman made a good choice about something he did. I won’t go into the details here, but let’s suffice it to say he wound up re-thinking his choice.

**(L-R) DAN NATURMAN, CARMEN LYNCH, THAT GUY, PERIEL ASCHENBRAND, AND COMEDY KING NOAM DWORMAN**

Carmen is so funny, has done a number of late night TV shows, movies, web series, has a special called Queef Week, and also performs in Spanish, which is amazing, … but maybe not if you’re fluent in Spanish! If you don’t speak Spanish at all, but are able to perform jokes in Spanish THAT would be truly amazing!!!

I got to talk about my Happiness books, my cure for stuttering which I used to cure myself and many others around the world, ( www.stopstutteringnowgurian.com) and the fact that I was leaving the very next day for the Sunshine Comedy Festival to perform and be the offical interviewer.

The hour and a half flew by and afterwards I sat with Noam, great comic Dov Davidoff, and Periel and had a bite to eat at the Olive Tree Cafe. It was actually quite a sumptuous dinner ordered for me by Noam himself. I was having such a great time I didn’t want to leave, but I had to go home and finish packing for my trip to Florida in the morning. (One of these days I really need to audition at The Cellar!!!)

ABE BIMPF RUNNING FOR MAYOR

It seems that a fairly unknown comedian named Abe Bimpf says he’s running for Mayor against Eric Adams. He’s blanketing the city with handmade signs drawn in crayon. They were plastered all over my neighborhood so I decided to ask people on the street what they thought about it and if they would ever actually vote for Abe Bimpf. What do YOU think???

UNKNOWN COMIC ABE BIMPF IS RUNNING FOR MAYOR AND MAKING SIGNS IN CRAYON

Anyway that’s it for this column. Come back soon for more! And you can follow Jeffrey on Instagram at @jeffreygurian and there’s a good chance he’ll follow you back!!!

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COMEDY MATTERS HOLIDAY ROUNDUP WITH TUMUA, COLIN QUINN, ESTHER KU, VERMONT COMEDY FESTIVAL, COMEDY HOLIDAY PARTIES AND LOTS MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on December 26, 2023

TUMUA PACKS GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB

It’s not often that I get to see a performer I don’t know or haven’t seen before, especially one with so much heat behind them. Such is the case with Tumua who was one of the closing acts of this year’s New York Comedy Festival.

Tumua is from Oahu, Hawaii and I was surpised to see what a huge following he had in New York, attested to by the sold out show at Gotham I attended. There’s a lot of Hawaiian people in New York that I was not aware of! And they all came out for him.

His website describes him as an actor, stand-up comedian, former collegiate athlete, and social media personality, with a combined online social media presence of more than 400,000 followers. His social media sketches and stand-up bits on Tik Tok are very well known in the Polynesian community throughout the world!

He sells out stadiums, and in December 2021, Tumua sold out the Blaisdell Concert Hall three times in Honolulu, Hawaii (2,100 seater) within hours! He also recently sold out the Blaisdell Arena (6,500 seater) this past November, 2022. His 2023 tour is called “Not Even Joking.”

A lot of his humor is geared towards his particular audience but it struck me funny when he said he has trouble at Starbucks when he orders something and they ask him his name to put on the cup. He orders a latte and then says “Tumua” and the barista says, “So that’s three latte’s then? You want two more? That line stuck with me.

At the end of his act he asked the audience to join him in a song, and surprisingly enough they did, … and they all knew the words, plus waving i-phone flashlights and everything like it was a concert at MSG! See the video below.

UP LATE ON STATEN ISLAND

I don’t get to Staten Island too often. I performed at The Looney Bin a couple of times, and went out to do Chris Distefano’s podcast Chrissy Chaos, with my bud The Homeless Pimp, but it’s not a common occurrence for me. My pal Frank Morano has an awesome show on WABC Radio called The Other Side of Midnight and he’s a great guy, so when he suggested I do his friend’s show “Up Late With Johnny Potenza” out on Staten Island, I was like ” I’m there.”

It was a fun show and I got to be on Johnny’s Christmas Show with my old friend Tom Waites who performed several songs with his band. A good time was had by all!

JEWISH HUMOR REIGNS AT STAND UP NEW YORK

There was a time when almost all comedians were Jewish and even the ones who weren’t were after being in the biz for enough time. Stand Up New York’s Dani Zoldan had the Chosen Comedy Festival this past summer which I was privileged to attend, along with about 4,000 other members of the tribe, and last month he had a comedy show in support of Israel.

Periel Aschenbrand was the host, a job she does so well, and Michael Rapaport opened the show with a very strong message, followed by performers like Keren Margolis who blamed her parents for not knowing how to spell “Karen”, Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz who’s been going viral on TikTok for his amazing videos. and Aaron Berg who came up wearing an amazing jacket that an Eskimo might wear to keep warm in the tundra!

COLIN QUINN AT THE VERMONT COMEDY FESTIVAL

I had always heard great things about Vermont, but I’m not a skier and for whatever reason never wound up going. Then I got contacted by two young comics named Collen Doyle and Matt Vita who produce the Vermont Comedy Festival. I’m always impressed by people who undertake such ambitious projects. I know how much effort it takes to produce a single comedy show. To produce an entire festival is a huge endeavor and takes a tremendous amount of work. It also deserves a tremendous amount of praise for pulling it off.

I was brought up to perform but also to be the official interviewer for the festival, with almost 60 comics attending from all over the country, having done that after covering JFL for 30 years, the NY Comedy Festival, the Las Vegas Comedy Festival and so many major comedy events. Last year they had Joe List as the headliner. I called Joe and got a good recommendation regarding his experience with the festival.

Then they asked me if I could help get a big star as the headliner. Top of their list was Colin Quinn a friend of mine for more than 30 years. So Colin agreed to be the headliner with an hour plus show at the Woodstock Town Hall Theater, a beautiful theater that holds 400 people. Needless to say it was sold out.

The highlight of the weekend for me was taking a little road trip with Colin to a place we both wanted to visit and then spending a couple of days together sharing meals and reminiscing about fun times over the years. We both had lots of stories to share, like when I attended his very first one man show called “An Irish Wake.” Besides Jackie Mason comics weren’t really doing one man shows in those days. I’ll never forget it!

We got to perform together at the Woolen Mill Comedy Club owned by Collen Doyle on the first official night of the festival, and then I got to open for him at his headline show at the Town Hall Theater. We went over in the afternoon to check out the space, and also to be able to see where it was because there are literally no lights in Vermont! (LOL)

I know they have electricity but the roads have no lights so if you don’t know exactly where you’re going once it gets dark, you can’t see the road signs, and you can wind up literally driving into the woods, which is what happened to me the night I got there. Thank G-d for GPS.

The festival connected me with a great videographer named Chris Gramuglia who was my interview partner for the entire time and also filmed the shows. He made it easy! All I had to bring was my Comedy Matters TV hand held mic and my custom mic flag and that was it. On the day of Colin’s headline show we shot this little video at an afternoon industry event featuring Abbey Robertson who books the headliners at New York Comedy Club. I made sure to shout out NYCC owner Emilio Savone for all that he does in the comedy world, and taught Collen Doyle that there’s more than one way to spell Colin! (LOL) And if you don’t believe me just ask Colin Quinn and Colin Jost!!!

We were put up in a beautiful hotel called 506 On The River, with great food, a super attentive staff, a beautiful restaurant, and great ambiance, and while we had some downtime the day of his headlining show I took the opportunity to do a little interview about what he was currently working on, to prep for his show on Dec. 18th at The Fat Black Pussycat, where he had a residency, and how he develops his material. This is what he said!

“Most of my material is still undeveloped. Like I write it, try and memorize it but then when you go on stage you realize it’s undeveloped and you only develop it by working it out in front of a crowd. So you always have to work to another level. Like in movies they stop developing which is why most movies are bad and stand up is funny, because movies, they develop it, then they shoot it, and put it out in front of an audience, maybe with two test audiences, and then it’s finished. They don’t redo it.”

“Like if you did a movie like where you ran it for 80 days, in front of like 80 audiences, then that would be like standup. That’s how stand-up works. Even if the producer comes in and re-edits the film they are re-editing it with THEIR taste. Our editing is with the help of 100 audiences.”

Then I asked him about his connection to The Comedy Cellar. He said it was “his favorite place on the planet. And it was always that way. The first time I saw it I was like this is what comedy is supposed to look like, and I still feel that way. I LOVE it!!!”

“Like with anything else, sometimes you have to take a break, but In general MacDougal Street is my favorite street ever, and to me The Cellar IS MacDougal Street. It’s my favorite place ever! Noam kept the tradition alive that his Dad Manny started.” He even had admiration for Ava, Manny’s wife who he said is a great artist and lives in the building next to The Cellar. “The Cellar is just a magical place, that’s how I feel about it!”

At the end of the weekend we drove back to NY together, over 5 hours through a terrific rainstorm to get home, and thank G-d we trusted Waze which took us around a terrible accident allowing me to get to a venue for VIP Talent as a keynote speaker! And all the VIP’ers were so excited to meet Colin Quinn!

HOLIDAY PARTIES ABOUND

One of the things that makes holiday time so special are the parties where people who often don’t see each other for a while get to hang out and celebrate the season. Such is the case for the comedy community. Below I will post photos from just some of the parties I attended.

New York Comedy Club’s party was packed as usual and I got to catch up with Adam Gilbert who won their 8th annual Fall Competition. It was also where Joe DeRosa, … who also supplied the sandwiches from his Joey Roses sandwich shop, … asked me to be the official mascot/’dancer for Salsa Windfall, his band with Paul Chell that recently headlined Arlene’s Grocery. At that show they played the music video I starred in called “Mouth On My Money” currently up on You Tube, with special effects thanks to The Homeless Pimp, and it was fun to see how many people reccognized me from that fun video. Part of it is below! I can’t wait to shoot more videos with those guys!

These are some photos from the party at The Stand.

And then there are these :

ESTHER KU IN NEW YORK

Esther Ku and I go back quite a ways. I remember helping her prepare for her appearance on Last Comic Stranding which was back in 2008, when she was just a little baby comic! (LOL) And then years later she was one of my special guests on Sirius XM with Ron and Fez!

**WITH ESTHER KU UP AT SIRIUS XM’S RON AND FEZ SHOW-2014**

Now she headlines all over the country so when I heard she’d be doing a show at Arthouse Hotel which is part of Stand Up NY, I knew I had to be there. Also she told me she wanted me to meet Mango her little rescue dog. She came dressed as Mrs Claus and she’ll be doing The Brokerage in Bellmore this coming Saturday December 30th!

Since it was the night of Christmas it was a small show and we talked about that after her set. Most people are home with their families on holidays while comedians are out trying to make strangers laugh. Such a crazy business!

THE LOVE FOR PATRICE O’NEAL GOES ON

Hard to believe it’s been 12 years since Patrice left us. It was Nov. 29th, 2011 and wherever I go guys still stop me who were fans of Patrice and what we did on The Black Phillip Show. At one of the parties just a couple of weeks ago a young guy came over to me and asked if we could take a photo. I do that anyway with anyone who mentions Black Phillip, and I keep them in a folder. He posted it on IG as people tend to do these days! (LOL)

When I was performing in Japan back in 2019, I left the stage and a guy named Devin came over to me all excited that he had been a fan of the show. At Skankfest one year two guys from Ireland came over to me, and one night near the Comedy Cellar two brothers from Africa came over to tell me they were fans of Patrice and the show. Not “brothers” due to their ethnicity but they were really biological brothers! (LOL)

The love for Patrice is still so strong because of the person he was. To me he was not just a comedian, he was a comedy philosopher, and it was truly one of my greatest honors when he named me a co-host of the show. This is a phone call I treasure which I received at 4:05 A.M. the first night we did the show together. I keep it on my phone, and I added stills going back through my history with Patrice.

So today as I’m writing this I was so moved to receive text messages from Patrice’s Mom Georgia who was kind enough to remember me on the holidays. I’m sure she wouidn’t mind me sharing what she wrote, because it meant the world to me as did my friendship with Patrice:

What a great Christmas present! And on that note I want to wish you all HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND ALL GOOD THINGS FOR THE COMING YEAR! 2024, LET’S GO!!!

Tags: Aaron Berg, Abbey Robertson, Adam Gilbert, Chris Distefano, Christine Berg, Colin Quinn, Collen Doyle, Comedy, Comedy Cellar, Dani Zoldan, Emilio Savone, Esther Ku, Frank Morano, Geno Bisconte, Ice-T, Joe DeRosa, Johnny POtenza, Keren Margolis, Kosha Dillz, Kyle Grooms, Lorraine Sylvetz, Matt Vita, Melle Mel, Michael Rapaport, Mike Lavin, Mouth On My Money, New York Comedy Club, New York Comedy Festival, Periel Aschenbrand, Salsa Windfall, Stand Up Comedy, Stand Up New York, The Homeless Pimp, The Stand Comedy Club, Tom Waites, Tumua, Vermont, Vermont comedy festival

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUNDUP WITH PETE DAVIDSON, JIM GAFFIGAN, TONY ROCK, JOE DeROSA, HA HA FEST, GAME BREAKERS AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on November 2, 2023

PETE DAVIDSON HOSTS SNL

With the months-long writer’s strike finally at an end, Pete Davidson was able to host SNL which he was supposed to do last May before the strike started. He opened with a line about the war between Israel and Hamas, and said, ” I know what you’re thinking. Who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson?”

And then he went on to explain how his Dad was the victim of a terrorist attack when the towers came down on 9/11/01. His Dad Scott, had been a fireman who lost his life in the attack when Pete was only 7 years old. His mother tried to shield him from it, but he found out three weeks later by seeing it on TV.

I first met Pete when he was still a teenager and often came to do my late night show at The Comic Strip with his close friend Jordan Rock. Jordan and I were given the honor of hosting “late-night” at The Strip.

Owner/founder Richie Tienken gave us that honor because prior to that the comics introduced each other without much of an intro and just brought the next comic to the stage. I hosted Sunday and Monday night, and Jordan hosted Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Late night happened after the last show ended, and the audience was told they could stay for free to see up and coming comedians. And not just anyone could do “late-night.” You had to be passed in the club by doing “the Lottery Show” which was judged by Richie, and other comics like Patrice O’Neal, and Bobby Kelly.

Pete did such a great job as the SNL host. He was very self-deprecating and showed a lot of humility by referring to himself as a drug addict, talked about being bipolar, and did a sketch making fun of his talent and his great show Bupkis, with co-stars Edie Falco and Joe Pesci. He played a lot of fun characters, some of them shirtless, and people even got to see all his tattoos.

A fond memory of mine with Pete is when he introduced me to his girlfriend at the time, Carly Aquilino, one night at Gotham Comedy Club. Carly was a regular on the MTV show Girl Code at the time, and he said to her, ” This is Jeffrey Gurian, a guy you can trust!” A nicer thing could not have been said.

The night I’m writing this I’ll be seeing Pete perform at City Winery and so many people wanted to come out and see him that they had to add a second show! More on that in my next column!!!

JIM GAFFIGAN POPS IN TO NEW YORK COMEDY CLUB

I didn’t know my buddy Jim Gaffigan was waiting to go on next when I was on stage at New York Comedy Club. Not that it would have changed what I did, and sometimes it’s better if you don’t know who’s out there, but I was very surprised to see him. He didn’t seem that surprised to see me! (LOL) And I almost didn’t even recognize him in the dark!

He was working out some new material which was very funny, … no surprise! Last time I saw him was not too long ago at the 92NY when he was promoting his co-starring role in the new Peter Pan and Wendy movie playing Mr. Smee.

**WITH JIM AT THE STRIP FOR MY BOOK “MAKE ‘EM LAUGH”**

SHEBA, … QUEEN OF THE THREE MONKEYS

Sheba Mason did a very difficult thing. During Covid, July of 2020 to be exact, she opened a new comedy room on West 54th Street in a venue called Three Monkeys! Don’t blame her, that’s the name. In the days when most comedy clubs were closed and people were performing outdoors in parks, Sheba created an indoor/outdoor show that became very popular. The buzz was that it was definitely a room to perform in.

She called the show Sheba’s Speakeasy and Dave Attell was dropping by on the regular and Louis CK popped in as well. Recently she created a podcast that I was a guest on which she called “Beat The Meat” another unusual choice for a name, that has to do with two guests competing against Sheba using artificial intelligence.

I did the show and still can’t promise I understood what was going on, but it was fun. Each contestant gets a turn to choose categories that they “think” they have deep knowledge about, while as Sheba explains it, “Chat GPT generates a riddle about the answer chosen by one contestant while the other two have to guess what the hell it’s describing.” In addition I got to tell my heart attack story!

COMEDY AT THE NED

Mike Young and Ryan Reiss run a weekly comedy show at The Ned which draws great talent in a very upscale environment. It’s in the Ned NoMad Hotel on Broadway, a private club owned by nightlife king Richie Akiva, who I know from back in the Butter days, one of his first super successful celeb hangouts.

In the couple of times I dropped by to catch up with Mike, he had great line-ups like T.J. Miller, Matt Richards, Gina Brillon, Adam Ferrara and Tony Rock. I didn’t know Mike and Tony had toured together for a year and were really tight.

Tony and I go back to our days at The Comic Strip, and he was my feature when I produced Kevin Hart back in 2010 in a benefit for Haiti out at Westbury Theatre. Three thousand people showed up. He and Mike got up on stage together and they told a hilarious story about the time they got involved with a cousin of Tony’s who was 6’9″ and unknown to them was on the run from the law. They wound up spending the night with him in an assisted living facility for the deaf, that had a flashing red light to warn them if the police showed up.

TONY ROCK AT THE NED

MIKE YOUNG AND TONY ROCK ONSTAGE

HA HA FEST IN SAG HARBOR

Comic Paul Anthony produces comedy festivals like the Long Island Comedy Festival, which I have attended, so I was really happy when he asked me to be the surprise guest comedian at the Ha Ha Festival he produced in Sag Harbor out in The Hamptons. Great line-up, great crowd, packed house! No more need be said!!!

WITH PAUL ANTHONY

PAUL ANTHONY, THE SPECIAL GUEST, AND ROB FALCONE

GAME BREAKERS COMES TO AN END

Jeremy Moses ran a great, fun and entertaining show called Game Breakers on Prime Video TV. It was a sports/comedy show hosted by two fun comedians Eitan Levine and Drexton Clemons. I was on last March and had a blast even though I don’t know one thing about sports!

I was happy to be called back this month but sad to learn the show was not being renewed, … but again happy to learn I was being called back because they told me I was one of their favorite guests. I still didn’t know anything about sports, so just told a lot of fun stories, and this time they had added a third fun co-host named Baker Machado, who also made me feel very welcome. We had tons of laughs and I’m sure they and Jeremy will be going on to another fun show.

Last time as I was leaving I ran into Zac Amico who was waiting to go on as the next guest, and this time I ran into the always funny Daniel Perafan.

**WITH DREXTON CLEMONS, EITAN LEVINE, AND BAKER MACHADO**

SHMOOZIN’ WITH SLUTSKY

For anyone not familiar with Laura Slutsky, she is an accomplished producer/performer and a leader and innovator in the advertising world for over 25 years. She made her name with her company People Finders, casting real people for testimonial videos for TV, radio and print ads all over the world. She’s appeared on Oprah, Larry King, GMA, The Today Show and more!

This month she did a fundraiser at The Triad Theater to raise money for the survivors of the Maui wildfires. It was a comedy/variety show that she hosted with comedians like Jamie deRoy, Nancy Parker and Todd Stone, … half of The Stone Brothers, and it was a really fun evening and a great success!!!

COMEDY MOB FEST AT SUNY

Not the State University of NY, but Stand Up New York and it’s an event produced by comedian and SUNY regular Kevin Hurley with his partner in crime comedian George Vanarthos. It’s a comedy competition for up and coming talent and the winners on the most recent night I judged were Alec Preston, Grace Lobo, Omry Hananya, and the overall winner was Mia Wilson. The finals were last week and the overall winner was Julia Kastner and runner up was Farzin Moradi.

(L-R) George Vanarthos, Alec Preston, Grace Lobo, Omry Hananya, Mia Wilson and Kevin Hurley!

BARRY KATZ’S BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS

Trying to write about Barry Katz could require it’s own entire column, because his history in comedy is so vast, so suffice it to say that he’s an Emmy and Grammy nominated TV-film-record producer, talent manager, and podcast host, who has worked with almost every big name in comedy you can imagine.

I know Barry since the days he owned The Boston Comedy Club down on West 3rd Street in the Village, from 1988 until 2005. I recall attending a birthday Roast there for new comic Jeffrey Ross. I’d often drop by with Patrice O’Neal.

Barry has represented and influenced the careers of comics like Louie Anderson, Ken Jeong, Hasan Minhaj, and Mike Epps, gave stage time to comics early in their careers like Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Sarah Silverman, Dave Attell, Bobcat Goldthwait, and the late Patrice O’Neal, as well as helping launch the careers of Dave Chappelle, Nick Swardson, Louie CK, Bill Burr, Marc Maron, Bert Kreischer, Jim Gaffigan, Dane Cook, Steve Byrne, Jeffrey Ross, Neil Brennan, and Tracy Morgan. Is that enough?

There’s more!!! He also sold 39 out of the 40 comedy specials he produced, brokered an unprecedented 100 TV development deals, created 3 television shows, and executive produced over 50 different specials, documentaries, reality shows, and scripted series, and I think the only person he never repped was ME!!!

Now he’s offering memberships to the comedy community called “Blueprint for Success” where comedians get a chances to learn from the great one and from comedy celebs and people on his team. Judging from his past, it’s gotta be a winner!!! I signed up, so maybe I’ll finally learn something!!!

If you’d like to sign up for Barry’s classes and guidance this coupon will give you 25% off using the code JEFFREY, and this is the link to sign-up:
https://www.blueprint-for-success.com/a/2147531462/fzhPFcpo

WORKING WITH NOEL LEON IS LIKE A WALK IN THE PARK

Noel Leon is an LA based comedian/filmmaker/IG influencer with just about 1 million followers. So when she called me to star in her new short film I was definitely up for it especially when she described it as very Woody Allen-esque!

Woody was my early inspiration and my idol, from watching his stand-up on the Ed Sullivan show. He actually spent time with me and read some of my earliest material while I was still a junior in Dental School.

The film is called “A Walk In The Park” and it’s a story about a very unlikely friendship, the kind of story I love. We’re currently shooting it in Central Park. And as a matter of fact the bench we chose to shoot on, very randomly had a plaque on it dedicated to “Jeffry.” Spelled it wrong but theoretically, the fact that it even had my name on it can’t even happen!!! Stay tuned for more on that to come! Also in the film comic Victoria Arnstein!

JOE DEROSA KILLS IT AT ARLENE’S GROCERY

Joe DeRosa is a multi-talented guy. Not only does he do comedy, host a podcast with Sal Vulcano called Taste Buds, and make delicious sandwiches in his shop called “Joey Roses” but he also has a kick-ass band called Salsa Windfall. I can attest to that because I had the honor of starring in the recent music video for his new song “Mouth On My Money.”

We shot it in the offices of The Impractical Jokers, and the song is so catchy I couldn’t get it out of my head for days. I originally thought I’d be part of an ensemble but it turned out it was just me and Joe, mostly me, … crazy dancing and lip-synching to the song.

This past weekend, Salsa Windfall headlined this cool space downtown on Stanton Street, and the place was packed with Joe DeRosa fans, many of whom recognized me from the video, and told me how much they liked it.

The band before SW was a band called Czarface, a rap band that totally blew me away. The lead singer Seamus, was just that good, and Josh Adam Meyers of Goddam Comedy Jam fame was the MC who totally brought the energy to the room.

As I came in the very first person I saw was The Homeless Pimp, uber-producer of the NoPresh network that produces both Taste Buds and Hey Babe the pod done by Chris Distefano and Sal Vulcano. I have been invited to be on both and am just waiting for dates. Pimp snapped some photos of me entering the club and again backstage in the dressing room with the Salsa boys, and their manager Emilio Savone, owner of New York Comedy Club, and the photos of the event below are courtesy of The Homeless Pimp!

**PAUL CHELL, IT COULD BE ME, AND JOE DEROSA**

Joe and his bandmate Paul Chell had such an interesting and innovative sound, some of it purposely discordant which reminded me so much of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention who I absolutely loved. After the show I went up to Joe to congratulate him on such a great show, and took what I thought was a chance telling him his music reminded me of Zappa’s music. The reason I said “took a chance” was because not everyone appreciates their art being compared to someone else.

On the contrary Joe rolled up his non-existent sleeve and showed me a tattoo on his arm that said “Zappa Lives” a complete and total coincidence. It was too noisy for him to tell me the story but I’ll probably have it for the next issue of this column. Gotta go now! Life is waiting!!!

Btw, so fun seeing Joe and Paul do Mouth On My Money live with me dancing on the screen behind him! At the end though he did shout me out on stage, which was very cool!

Hope you will subscribe and you can follow Jeffrey on Instagram at @jeffreygurian

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