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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!

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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

Posted in: Celeb Photos, Celebrity Death, Celebrity Passing, Comedians In The News, Comedy, Comedy Central, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Events, Comedy Matters, Comedy Thoughts, Comedy Videos, Entertainment News, Film Festivals, General Information, Jeffrey Gurian News, New Films, Podcasts, Radio Show, Red Carpet Events, Stand-Up Comedy, TV Show, Variety Show

STAR STUDDED GARDEN OF LAUGHS RAISES 2 MILLION BUCKS FOR KIDS

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on April 15, 2019

I had been waiting for weeks to cover the biennial “Garden of Laughs” at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. It’s a star studded event that raises money for underprivileged kids and kids with disabilities. It’s produced by Rory Rosegarten of The Conversation Company and his team, and features some of the biggest comedy stars in the biz as well as many top actors. We were expecting Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, Jon Stewart, John Mulaney, Michael Che, John Oliver, Iliza Shlesinger, Tiffany Haddish, Brian Regan, and actors Debra Messing, Lucas Hedges, Ansel Elgort, Michael K. Williams, Toby Leonard Moore, Gaten Matarazzo, and all hosted by 3 time host Steve Schirripa of Sopranos fame.

WITH RORY ROSEGARTEN PRODUCER OF GARDEN OF LAUGHS

A lot of people don’t know that Steve booked some of the biggest comedy acts when he used to book talent in Las Vegas, and he’s very funny in his own right. Not every star decides to do the red carpet so we’re never really sure who’s going to come out. It was slated to start at 6:30, so I made sure to get there at 5:30 to have time to set up because there’s no real schedule with a red carpet. It’s very stressful. Sometimes several stars come out at once and while you’re talking to one, another one you would have liked to talk to walks by. It’s also all improv. Some journalists come with stock questions that they ask each person. Not me! All my stuff is improv’ed on the spot.

I specifically had my videographer show up at 4 to pack the camera bag and make 100% sure we had all of our equipment. We went over it together. So imagine my surprise at 6:10 when he suggested that we do a mic check and the shock ran through my body when we realized we hadn’t packed the microphone. I can’t describe the horror, and the icy cold feeling that ran through my body. Weeks of planning, and I’m on the red carpet with no mic.

The one thing you need to do interviews besides the camera and we didn’t bring it. I decided I’d have to run home and get it. But I live on the other side of town and it was rush hour. Perfect! I told my assistant to try and shoot some B-roll, and I ran out like a maniac, flashing my red carpet badge to security as I ran through one door after another. As I was running I tried to figure out which would be the fastest way to get home. Should I run back to 8th avenue to take the train, call an Uber, or just jump into a taxi.

I chose the closest taxi and just like in the movies I told the guy to step on it. I said I had to get across town and back in 20 minutes which was impossible. I turned on my WAZE and we got to my house at 6:26. I told him to wait in the downtown direction, jumped out of the cab, ran past my doormen, got the mic and ran back downstairs so fast that both of my shoes opened and I didn’t stop to re-tie them.

Just past 6:30 my assistant texted me that no one had come out yet. As we got closer to the Garden he texted me that John Mulaney was on the red carpet! Shoot! I was hoping he’d come out late but he came out first. Luckily my videographer had the sense to tell John he was working with me, and that I had to run home to get my mic, so John left me this hilarious message, which made it a little bit better!

Of course as we got near the Garden we got stuck in traffic, and every block seemed to take a year. Finally we pulled up in front, I gave the driver a big tip just like in the movies and ran back in, not expecting to have to go through airport-like security again. But I was wrong. Very wrong. I flashed my badge but it did no good. I told the guy I had forgotten my mic and had to run home to get it and I was missing the whole red carpet but he wouldn’t hear of it. He said he had to do his job. The only man in Manhattan who had to do his job. And of course because I was so nervous I kept leaving something metal in one pocket or another and literally had to go through the metal detector about 10 times while the people behind me waited patiently.

Finally he let me through and then I first had to re-fill my pockets. By the time I got upstairs I had missed Mulaney and Tobey Leonard Moore from Billions who I would have loved to talk to, so I finally bent down to re-tie my shoes, and then Michael K. Williams came along. I loved Michael’s characters “Omar” on “The Wire” and “Chalkie” White on Boardwalk Empire so I was excited to talk to him. He told me that working with Martin Scorcese was a dream come true for him and that he also works with kids from Garden of Dreams which is the charity itself that Garden of Laughs raises money for.

WITH MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS ON THE RED CARPET AT MSG

To tell you the truth I had never noticed that he had a scar that ran from his forehead right near his eye and down onto his cheek. Obviously I didn’t bring it up, he did. He said he was working with a young boy of 14 who also has scars on his face from an assault, and that he was able to give him some reassurance that he’d be okay. Michael told me he had been assaulted by a gang on his 25th birthday. Man’s inhumanity to man.

Rory Rosegarten came out and told me had been looking for me because he knows I always come early to these things. When I told him the mic story he said the exact same thing that John Mulaney said without having heard him say it. You can hear it for yourself in the video below. He was there with his family. I was able to congratulate him on another successful show, and it was great to see him looking so healthy again.

Michael Imperioli who played cousin Christopher Moltisante on The Sopranos came out next, and we hadn’t seen each other in years so it was so nice to re-connect. He’s got a movie coming out with Nick Cage, and an NBC TV series based on the movie The Bone Collector, and when we inquired about each other’s health and I told him I had survived a heart attack he said he was sorry, and it sounded like he said he was sorry I survived. Funny!!!

WITH MICHAEL IMPERIOLI ON THE RED CARPET AT GARDEN OF LAUGHS

Bill Burr is always a great time on the red carpet and as soon as he sees me he starts yelling out things like “Oh no”, and “This is gonna be good.” I told him I was thinking of texting him to let him know I was going to be there so he could think up some insults for me, but he said he didn’t need any advance notice because they just came naturally. He started out by asking me about my sport jacket and if I had gotten it at Woodstock, which was actually very funny.

LAUGHING WITH BILL BURR AT GARDEN OF LAUGHS

I asked him if he knew of the You Tube video called “Bill Burr Roasting People” which has over 5.4 million views and opens with he and I on the red carpet where he says he hopes I go bald so that one day we’re two old bald guys on the red carpet.” He said that not only does he know about it he hates that people think he doesn’t like me because he LOVES me, … and that made me feel really good.

I had sent him a recording that the late great Patrice O’Neal had left for me on my phone one night at 4:05 A.M. It was the first night we had done the Black Phillip Show together and Patrice was so happy with it he couldn’t wait to call me and so humbly suggested that we do a show together just the two of us. He said he didn’t want to assume anything, as if I might have said “No”, but unfortunately we never got to do it. I still get messages and e-mails from guys who track me down to give me props on my work on Black Phillip. R.I.P Patrice. Btw Bill said he listened to it, and I hope he did cause it’s one of my greatest possessions, along with the phone message that Richard Lewis left me saying that some jokes I had written for him were “hilarious” and if he was ever going to use anyone else’s jokes it would be mine!

Bill’s interview went on so long that at one point he asked me if it was still an interview or just two guys talking on the corner! Then he offered me a $700. class he was giving on how to end an interview. He’s hilarious and the very best! And he’s off on a tour from Iceland to Israel!

Just when I thought it was over, I left the red carpet but luckily didn’t pack up yet when I saw Tracy Morgan talking to Bill Burr and went over to catch up with Tracy. His new season if his TBS show “The Last O.G.” was premiering that night and we had a few laughs on camera. He always says something so nice to me and this time he said, “You ARE comedy!”

WITH TRACY MORGAN AT GARDEN OF LAUGHS

Last on the red carpet was John Oliver who was going to be the very first presenter that night. I asked him if his kids were old enough to know that he’s playing Zazu the bird in the new remake of The Lion King directed by John Favreau due out this July. He said his son is only three and he took him to a movie in which he did the voice of a porcupine named Steve. He told him that was his Dad and his son said ” No it isn’t”, just like my Too Much Tuna sketch with Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. Anyway this little video is a recap of my adventurous day on the red carpet of Garden of Laughs.

Please feel free to “Like”, Comment and Subscribe and please share it with a friend. On Twitter and IG I’m @jeffreygurian

Tags: "Brian Regan", "Nick Kroll", a dream within a dream, Bill Burr, charity, Comedy, comedy night, Darryl McDaniels, Debra Messing, dream, Garden of Dreams, Garden of Laughs, HBO, Hilarious, iliza shlesinger, Jerry Seinfeld, Jill Martin, John Mulaney, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Just For Laughs, Justin Tuck, kids, kids with disabilities, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Laughing, Lucas Hedges, Manhattan, michael che, MSG, MSG events, New York City, NFL, night life, NYC, red carpet, red carpet events, SNL, sports, the garden, The Giants, Toby Leonard Moore, Tracy Morgan, underprivileged kids, victor cruz

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Rafi Bastos Comedy Superstar With Only 12 MM Twitter Followers

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on January 18, 2019

If you look at this little video below, you’ll hear Paul Provenza openly declare that I know everyone in comedy and you’ll hear Nick Kroll freely declaring that no one has more access to people in comedy than me. So when I hear about a comedy star that has 12 million followers on Twitter, 2.5 million on You Tube, and 1.5 million on Instagram and I realize I don’t know that person, it makes me very nervous!

Such was the case with Rafi Bastos, the comedy superstar from Brazil. I heard he was performing at Gotham Comedy Club in an early 7 P.M. show. It was Wednesday and really cold out, and I wondered if he’d draw a good crowd. It was beyond expectation and when I got there the room was packed with fans.

I took my usual table and heard a voice call my name. It was the hilarious Aaron Berg, the tatted up body builder from the foreign country of Can-A-Da!

He was sitting with Alexis Guerreros, and Charles McBee who was hosting the show, and he said, “Hey Jeff I wanted you to meet Rafi, he’s headlining tonight.”

So I shook hands with Rafi who was sitting down and who seemed to be the same size as all the other guys at the table. I say that, not because people usually look to see what size someone is, but because I didn’t notice anything until he stood up and saw that he was 6’7″.

Aaron went up and totally killed as usual. He always announces his Jewishness, despite the fact as he says that he looks like he eats Jews and mixes them with protein powder.

He and his wife and baby Piper are moving to a new house next week. Congrats and best of luck to the Bergs!

Anyway Rafi went up and did an amazing thing. He did a smooth hour in a language that is not his first language. He has a nice Portuguese accent, and his English is amazing. It’s hard enough to be funny, but to be funny in another language you were not born into is a whole other thing. And he like Aaron Berg also announced his Jewishness. It seems we come in all shapes and sizes!

He had lots of Brazilian fans there, and said that when people think of Brazil they think of two things, Brazilian waxes and Pele. At the end of his set he did a Q&A in which he invited questions in both English and Portuguese.

The Portuguese fans were very exuberant, and for a few moments I was afraid that a soccer game might break out, complete with hooligans. But fortunately everything stayed under control.

After the show Rafi was very gracious and stayed to take photos with all of his fans. Afterwards we sat together in the green room so I could ask him a few questions, and shoot a little video.

He was a funny kid growing up but not the class clown. He’d sit in the back of the room in school waiting for the right opportunity to say something funny.

He originally thought he wanted to play basketball, but according to him he had the height but he wasn’t good enough, and wound up with a broken cheekbone. I think he made a better choice, and so does he.

He owns the biggest comedy club in Latin America and since Brazil shares a border with 10 other countries including Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, he has plenty of room to expand!

The club holds about 300 people and he described it as kind of a cross between Gotham and the old Comix on 14th Street which he experienced, because he came here in those years to check out NYC.

In 1999 he had won a scholarship to play basketball in Nebraska. A tall, Brazilian Jewish guy with a good sense of humor playing b-ball in Nebraska. It doesn’t sound right and it didn’t feel right either.

I complimented him on his English and compared it to our mutual friend Gad Elmaleh, who also studied very hard to lose his accent so he could perform in English.

Rafi said his biggest challenge has been to speak English and have sex at the same time. He can only do one or the other comfortably. By the reaction of the female part of the crowd, I have a feeling there were a lot of girls at the show who would have been willing to give him a chance.

He’s also the Exec. Producer of Brazil’s version of SNL, and he’s the host of the Brazilian version of the Netflix show “The Ultimate Beastmaster.”

He was heading first to Boston to perform this weekend at Laugh Boston, a club the size of Gotham, then back to Cali to work on his comedy, and plan a tour with the working title of “Conquering America”, but we made plans to get together when he comes back to NY and hopefully do some comedy together someplace!

There was no one with us to shoot the video but his extended reach came in handy and he shot it himself. After I left I realized I had totally forgotten to tell him that Pele lives in my building! Maybe he’ll see this and we’ll have a good laugh about it!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "stand-up comedy", "Sylvester Stallone", Brazil, comedians, Comedy, comedy clubs, Comedy Matters, English, Funny, Gad Elmaleh, Hilarious, Jeffrey Gurian, Jokes, Netflix, performing in English, Rafi Bastos, speaking English, Ultimate Beastmaster

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