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

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.

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.

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!

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

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!

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!!!

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!

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

Mark Normand Sells Out The Beacon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHRIS DISTEFANO SELLS OUT TARRYTOWN MUSIC HALL

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

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

D.L. Hughley Sells Out City Winery

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

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

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

RONNY CHIENG SELLS OUT RADIO CITY

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

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

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

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

JIAOYING SUMMERS SELLS OUT NEW YORK COMEDY CLUB

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

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

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

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

STAND UP NEW YORK MOVES TO TIMES SQUARE

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

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

SHORT BITS

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!!!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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???

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!!!

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

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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!

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