Posts Tagged Comedy

COMEDY MATTERS – SPECIAL EDITION WITH JEFFREY ROSS ON BROADWAY, CHRIS DISTEFANO AT THE THEATER AT MSG, AND NATE BARGATZE AT THE EMMY’S!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on September 15, 2025

JEFF ROSS BRINGS A BANANA TO BROADWAY

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jeffrey Ross for more than 20 years, and there’s nothing better than seeing a friend do well, except maybe seeing YOURSELF do well! (LOL) I was at the Roast they did of Jeff Ross back in the day, when my pal uber-manager Barry Katz, who managed Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Tracy Morgan, Nick Swardson, Wanda Sykes and so many more, owned the Boston Comedy Club down in the Village! Below are just some of the photos of me and Jeffrey taken over the years!

As a member of The Friars Club for so many years, ( humble brag – Milton Berle was my sponsor! LOL) and as the main writer for the legendary Roasts for 12 years under producer Bob Saks, I was thrilled to watch Jeff climb to the honored position of RoastMaster General. He kind of took over for Milton as being the Roast Master and could always be counted on to absolutely destroy the crowd with such sharp material.

**WITH COMIC STRIP OWNER RICHIE TIENKEN WHEN WE DID JEFF’S INTERVIEW FOR MY BOOK “MAKE ‘EM LAUGH**“

So it was very exciting for me to see Jeffrey attain the honor of having a one-man show on Broadway, which only a handful of other comedians have done, like Jackie Mason and Mike Birbiglia. Other comics like the great Dick Capri, the very first comedian I ever wrote for, were stars in an ensemble like Catskills on Broadway which was still a HUGE honor, but doing it all by yourself is truly a rarity.

“Take A Banana For The Ride” is not only funny but the very touching story of Jeffrey’s life, having lost both of his parents at a very early age, and basically being raised by his maternal grandfather Jack, who he affectionately called “Pop Jack” and who Jeffrey credits for giving him the incentive to be in comedy. As a young man his grandfather would give him a few bucks and told him to “take a banana for the ride” referring to the bus ride from New Jersey to Manhattan where Jeffrey would perform in clubs.

No one outside of comedy knows the struggles you have to face and the obstacles you have to overcome to become known in comedy. It’s truly amazing that anyone ever makes it at all! Besides the personal struggles, which were huge, Jeffrey fortunately overcame a battle with colon cancer, the story of which he makes part of the show, revealing that they had to take 9 inches off of his colon, leaving him with just a “semi-colon”, a great joke that only a true comedian could come up with.

The show is much more than a “performance”, because a performance can feel just that, … like a performance, … like it’s contrived. Jeff speaks from his heart, as if you were with him one on one. It’s very personal. There were moments that It moved me and many people to tears. It needs to have an extended run!!!

**WITH JEFF BACKSTAGE AT THE NEDERLANDER THEATER**

Backstage after the show I had the opportunity to congratulate Jeff personally and reminisce about some special times we shared. Like the time in Montreal at the JFL Festival, when he and I were having lunch together, and a man came over to the table and apologized for interrupting our lunch but told Jeffrey to stay another day, because his film Patriot Act had won the top award! I never forgot that and neither did Jeff!

Then there was the time he lost his phone in an Uber, which is a very traumatic thing, and we were outside of a comedy club in Manhattan, and I felt so bad for him that instead of going inside to watch the show, I stayed with him and we used my phone to track down his phone and actually got it back!

THANK YOU TO STAND-UP COLORING BOOK!

Every once in a while I get contacted by some talented artist who gifts me with something special. This time it was Christian of Stand-Up Coloring Books on Instagram that created this little cartoon thingy for me promoting the new video about me, shot and directed by @TheHomeless Pimp, which you can see below if you are so inclined!!!

NOEL LEON AT EASTVILLE COMEDY

Noel Leon, comic/actress/influencer did a show at Eastville Comedy Club out in Brooklyn and people know that basically the only way to get me out to Brooklyn is to put me on the show, so she did! (LOL) Last year we had done a little film together called “A Walk In The Park” which she described as “an homage to Woody Allen” who was my comedic inspiration. He actually read my earliest material, and encouraged me to go further with it. Also I find it hard to go to Brooklyn because I have no beard!

Noel’s show is more like a performance piece, which would be great in a theater, as she does characters, mixed in with the jokes. She had Kate Robards as the host, with Mickey Gooch, who was there with his family including his Mom, but didn’t let that stop him from doing his material, and the always funny Corinne Fisher from her hit podcast “Guys We F***ed” dropped by to do a guest spot. Always special to see Corinne! Little did I know that I’d have the pleasure of seeing her again the following week backstage at Chris Distefano’s show at The Theater at MSG, which you’ll be reading about next! Totally fun night out in Brooklyn, … even with no beard! !

**PROOF THAT I WAS THERE!!! ((NO BEARD!)**

CHRIS DISTEFANO KILLS IT AGAIN AT MSG THEATER

Everybody loves Chris Distefano. There’s just something about the guy. You gotta love him! And talking about how long I know someone. I know Chris Distefano through his transformation from an infant when he was my guest on Sirius XM’s Ron and Fez show back in 2014 to the rock star he looks like now!

**CHRIS D AS AN INFANT WITH ME ON SIRIUS XM**

So when his manager Emilio Savone, owner of 5 NY Comedy Clubs told me that he would be back at the Theater at MSG for the second time, I told him to save me two seats!

Of course Chris had his main guy James Mattern hosting the show. James opens for Chris all over the world. And I think it’s safe to say that nobody brings the energy like James Mattern, … and the guy doesn’t even need a mic! He could be whispering and you’re like ” James, tone it down!” LOL He gets the audience psyched and won’t even let Chris come out ’til they are at a fever pitch!

“Aruba Ray” Ellin flew in from Aruba … where he spends half the year performing at his own comedy club, … to be the first comic to entertain after James warmed up the crowd. Ray is reliably funny and takes self-deprecating humor to another level. Every audience loves self-deprecating humor cause it males them feel like they’re ok, but when Ray does a thing about his hair that makes him look like certain historical figures, the audience is screaming with laughter.

I’ll never forget the first night I met Ray, many, many years ago at The Comic Strip. I don’t even know if he remembers this. I started Comedy Matters 25 years ago and it was fairly new when this happened, but Ray saw me taking notes at his show, and didn’t know I was writing a column. He thought I was copying down his jokes, and when he found out the truth we both had a good laugh about it, and have been friends ever since.

He even hosted a diabetes fund-raiser for me at The Strip and starred in a little film I wrote for YouTube star Lauren Francesca, who played a character known as Besame Mucho, the best kisser in the world, and Ray had to kiss her in the film. I think he still owes me for that! (LOL)

( Well, … he did invite me down to Aruba this coming March, so that’s something!!! )

Then James announced a very special guest and Colin Quinn came out to thunderous applause. Colin and I go back probably even before I started writing Comedy Matters, to the days he was doing MTV’s Remote Control, and I was writing for MTV’s Friday Night Video Fights! We were both children, and MTV was in it’s infancy! LOL

Colin was my very first guest on Sirius XM with Ron Bennington and Fez Whatley back in 2014. I knew him before he had any facial hair. Then we did an episode of Crashing together at The Comedy Cellar back in 2018 and in December of 2023 I got to open for him at the Vermont Comedy Festival and we had a blast hanging out and running around Vermont for the weekend. Then we drove back to NY together. It’s ALWAYS great to see Colin!

**WITH COLIN QUINN BACKSTAGE AT THE THEATER AT MSG AFTER CHRIS D’S SHOW-9/11/25**

After the show we all got to hang out backstage which as I always say is the fun part for me. It’s the part that most people never get to see! But that’s why you read this column! (LOL) Here’s a sneak peek for you guys, starting with the ovation Chris got after the show!

**WITH MY MAN CHRIS D AT THE THEATER AT MSG**

THE PROGRESSION OF NATE BARGATZE

No one can ever tell me I don’t have a good eye for talent. When I brought Nate Bargatze on Sirius XM as my guest back in 2014, I knew he’d be big, but had no idea HOW big! Highest grossing comedy performer in Boxscore history in 2024, when his “The Be Funny Tour” brought in 82.2 million buckaroos! In 2023 his special “Hello World” on Amazon Prime became the platform’s most-streamed original comedy special in its first 28 days of viewership, and this Sunday he Exec. Produced and hosted The Emmy awards on CBS at the Peacock Theater in LA. I think that’s a pretty big thing! And he looks like a different person! Success does that for people. It allows you to become who you were meant to be!

And this is how he looks now hosting The Emmy’s!!!

**NATE BARGATZE HOSTING THE 2025 EMMY’S**

Sorry but that’s it for this issue! More coming soon, but I wanted to get the Jeffrey Ross story out asap to encourage the powers that be to extend the show!

Make sure to follow Jeffrey on IG at @jeffreygurian and on TikTok at @jeffreylgurian and of course on YouTube when you watch the videos in this column!!! Bye for now!!!

Tags: backstage interview, backstage passes, celebrity interview, Chris Distefano, Comedy, Comedy Matters TV, Frairs Roast, Friars Club, Jeff Ross, Jeffrey Gurian, Jeffrey Ross on Broadway, Nate Bargatze, Noel Leon, RoastMaster General, Ron Bennington, Sirius XM radio, Sold Out Show, Stand Up Comedy, Take a Banana For The Ride, The Emmy Awards, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, TV host, vip access, VIP interview

Posted in: Breaking News, Broadway Show, Celeb Photos, Comedians In The News, Comedy Central, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Events, Comedy Festivals, Comedy Matters, Comedy Videos, Film Review, General Information, Jeffrey Gurian News, Nightlife Events, Red Carpet Events, Sketch Comedy, Social Media, Stand-Up Comedy, TV Show

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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 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 IS BACK!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on February 15, 2023

With Marc Maron, Nick Kroll, Jeff Ross, Chris Distefano, Jiaoying Summers, Pauly Shore, NY Comedy Fest, and so much more!!!

Due to public demand Comedy Matters is back on the scene!!!

It’s been very gratifying to see how many people and clubs have asked me to cover what they’re doing, so I’m back jumping around again like before. Not EXACTLY like before, because nothing is really like it was before, but as close to before as possible.

There are so many things to write about I’m not sure whether to try and do them in chronological order, grouping them by category, or what but what I do know is that this will be a long-ass column. I may even have to do it in two parts. These are the comedy highlights from recent months!!!

NEW TV PILOT COMING FROM

GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB

Very excited to announce the creation of an indie TV pilot called “The Raw Side of Comedy” that will be filmed at the great 300 seat Gotham Comedy Club in the next few weeks. Despite the fact that they tend to say there’s nothing new in comedy, this will be kind of new. It’s a competition/reality show, and I’ve been scouting talent for the last few months as one of the Exec. Producers on the show along with Gotham owner and founder Chris Mazzilli, Fawziyya Fox, Marlisa Patterson, Sherry Patterson and Darvin Milligan.

Some of the talent I chose will be Pedro Gonzalez, Drew Dunn, Rich Aronovich, Tony Dabas, Max May, Tommy Brennan, Elon Altman, Ryan Joseph and Talent Harris Jr. More to be revealed very shortly!!!

MARC MARON’S MOMA MOMENT

Not just an alliteration but a real thing, … Marc Maron had a 92Y talk at one of the most famous museums in the world, The Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street in Manhattan. Very prestigious. Packed crowd. It was to highlight the premiere of his first HBO special premiering the next night called “From Bleak to Dark” in which he talks about things like aging, antisemitism, grief, and other topics that only Marc Maron can make funny.

Moderated by MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, Marc had previously done Josh’s Happy, Sad, Confused podcast where hit on a lot of the same topics including reuniting with his Dad, why cats are better than kids, stories from WTF and things that Marc’s fans expect him to talk about. Marc of course being the acknowledged “King of Candidness and Introspection.”

Knowing Marc as long as I do I can honestly say that I think Marc changed the game with his one man show Scorching The Earth. I attended that show at 45 Bleecker, a theatre down in the Village and to this day I recall my own personal shock at his honesty and what he was willing to share with the audience. Especially concerning the break-up with his second wife Mishna who I happened to know at the time.

**THE NIGHT OF SCORCHING THE EARTH-2009**

Since that time, others have tried to copy Marc but I do believe he was the first to have the courage to go so deep and reveal himself to the audience in that way.

It affected me because I’m not sure I have the ability to share things so honestly, but Marc went where no other human had gone before to share something, … which I think may be a quote from Star Trek. The audience loved it and since that time other comedians have tried to bare their souls on stage but I truly believe that Marc was the first.

Embarrassment is just a thought after all. If I share something that’s hard for me to say, I’m the only one who blushes, and who’s hands sweat. No one ever had to stay home from work the next day from anything I shared.

NICK KROLL IN A SPECIAL SHOW

Who would ever expect to have the opportunity to see Nick Kroll in a relatively small, intimate show after selling out Carnegie Hall? ( Redundant question!) When I got the e-mail that Nick would be performing at Kol Ami Temple in White Plains I thought it might be a misprint. It seems it was a retirement event for a Rabbi named Tom Wiener and Nick had been a student of his and went with him on a trip to Israel. (Not just the two of them! It was with a whole group! LOL)

I hadn’t seen Nick since that magical night when he sold out Carnegie Hall, and Covid restrictions were so strict that they wouldn’t even let his family backstage to visit him, but for some reason they let me in.

I expected a big crowd backstage but it was just Nick, his super-agemt Mike Berkowitz from WME and celeb photographer Marcus Russell Price who happened to be stationed right by the door, and caught the action right as I came in to hysterical laughter from both Nick and Mike who couldn’t believe they blocked Nick’s family but let ME in! I was actually embarrassed! Nick immediately took out his phone and posted it on Instagram.

I brought my daughters to meet Nick and called him before to ask if I could see him after the show to take a photo and introduce him to my daughters Elizabeth and Kathryn. He’s always the best!

Chrissy D and The Podcast/Radio Scene

Last summer when I was in Montreal at JFL’s 40th anniversary I found myself hanging with NY Comedy Club owner Emilio Savone, Chris DiStefano, Nimesh Patel, and Adam Gilbert at one of the raucous parties that is part of that scene. Chrissy D invited me to come on his Chrissy Chaos podcast and that actually happened.

I drove out to Staten Island to his beautiful studio, overlooking the water, and was greeted by his team led by his producer who goes by the name of The Homeless Pimp! You gotta respect that choice! I found out his real name but I’m not gonna share it in case he does’t want people to know!

Needless to say we had a blast! Chrissy is a riot as you all know. I brought the jacket that Nick Kroll and John Mulaney made for me for their “Oh, Hello” Show on Broadway and Chrissy wore the red beret cause I don’t do hats, … cause of the hair! I know you get it!!! (LOL)

**This jacket is one of my greatest treasures!!!**

He invited me back to do the pod he does with Sal Vulcano, and I’m really looking forward to that. I think he posted my episode on his Patreon. And a day or two later they posted that my heart attack story got over 1 million views! It’ a rough way to get views but I hope it gets me back there again!

And as I was leaving, Sam Morril came in to do another episode. Sam is one of the young comics that used to do my late night show at The Comic Strip back in the day, and it’s so great to see him getting the recognition he deserves. I always knew he was very unique and now he’s killing it all over the country. Most of those guys from that late night show went on to do very well.

Gary Vaynerchuk better known to his millions of fans as Gary Vee had a podcast coming out of his studios in Hudson Yards. So I’m at 3 different events and three different employees of his tell me separately that I’d be a great guest on Gary Vee’s podcast. Now I’m totally psyched because I had wanted to connect with Gary in the past as so many people tell me we should know each other. Now it was gonna happen. Except it didn’t.

The first girl totally flaked. The second guy was a comic himself, Sean Millea who actually did bring me down to tape a podcast in Gary’s studio in the One37 part of Vayner Media. We waited weeks to set it up and when I finally got there it went superb. Really great stuff and it never got posted. Don’t know if it even ever got edited. The podcast was told to close up shop. But it was really fun for me to see the world of Vayner Media. Literally hundreds of Gen Z’s working in cubicles , and I got the tour so I saw it for myself. Amazing!!!

A big shout out to Xen Sams for her wonderful top-rated radio show ” A Moment of Xen” on iHeart Radio on Saturday nights from 9-10 P.M. Xen is a fund of knowledge about everything and has a great love for comedy. which is why we get along so well. I hadn’t seen her in a while till I ran into her at The Friars Club on one of the rare occasions that it was open. We decided we had to do something cool together and she invited me on twice so far. A really cool, funny, innovative show and Xen is the best.

And Paul Chamberlain is back! You might remember him as having produced the Maui Comedy Fest8val, and then the Crapshoot Comedy festival in Vegas which I attended. I was shooting videos with all the stars for a company named “Be Terrific” who hired me get all the interviews and run the red carpet.

Paul has a fascinating story and one that’s very admirable. After Vegas, and I’m not spilling any secrets, because he’s very open about it, despite all of his hard work, he had a very hard time emotionally because of a lot of stuff that went down. It took him out for a while but now he regrouped and is doing amazingly well again.

He contacted me to tell me he always appreciated my support because he knew I love supporting talented hard working people and I became a guest on his “Smart, Funny Tortured Podcast” which was an emotionally cleansing thing for both of us. So glad to hear he’s doing great and has some big plans for the future involving comedy.

And no column would be complete in talking about radio and podcasts without mentioning the great Frank Morano who has the top rated overnight show on WABC Radio called “The Other Side of Midnight.” He’s on all week from 1-5 A.M. and fills the time slot with fun and interesting segments because he’s another fund of knowledge who also loves comedy and is funny in his own right. Radio funny!

There’a big difference between radio funny and comedy club funny because radio is basically straight improv. Not easy to fill four hours every night but Frank does it and he does his homework and is very gracious to his guests in the way he treats them on air.

I always have the best time and besides speaking about my Happiness books I also get to tell stories from GNN ( Gurian News Network) and from my book “Man Robs Bank With His Chin – And Other Unusual Stories Missed by Mainstream Media.”

Stories like ” Man Displays Uncanny Ability To Pick Up Heavy Things With His Eye”, and “Man Paints Replica of the Cistine Chapel With His Beard.”, which is really fun for me, and the reason that GNN is your source for All The News That’s Fit To Dance To.” We laugh away the hour together, and it always goes really fast.

On April 19, 2023 at the New York Botanical Gardens, the National Psoriasis Foundation will be honoring Frank Morano for his dedication and support in helping to find a cure for psoriatic disease patients. And I will be there for sure!!!

PAULY SHORE’S ONE MAN SHOW

AT NY COMEDY FEST

I was so happy to hear that Pauly was bringing his one man show “Stick to the Dancing- Stories From My Childhood” to The Asylum. The Asylum is an art house on Manhattan’s West Side, and the old UCB space, and Pauly’s show was part of the 18th annual New York Comedy Festival produced by Caroline Hirsch of Carolines on Broadway, which alas closed down on Dec. 31st after 30 years in that same location. We’ll get to that in another section of this column.

Pauly has an amazing story growing up in LA’s Comedy Store owned by his parents Mitzi Shore, and Sammy Shore a funny comedian I had met several times, but first through Milton Berle, my sponsor in The Friars Club!

How Pauly survived is a miracle having Sam Kinison as a babysitter, and the show goes through Pauly’s years on MTV, making movies like Biodome, Son-In-Law, his days as The Weasel and his catch phrase Hey, BU-DDY, and I was touched by his genuine humility and gratitude for all the good things he’s experienced as well as all the painful things he’s experienced.

I know him a long time, since the late 90’s and he seems like a truly changed man. He was very grateful to the audience and very gracious to people after the show. It was very touching and I really enjoyed it.

18th ANNUAL NY COMEDY FEST

AND CAROLINES CLOSING

For the last 18 years Caroline Hirsch and her amazing team like Louis Faranda, and Greg Charles, plus relative newbies like Carolyn Gitomer and Jonny Moran have put on the New York Comedy Festival, the biggest and most prestigious comedy festival in the US. Hundreds of shows in every possible venue throughout the boroughs!

At the time in November, I don’t think people were aware that Carolines would be closing on Dec. 31st in it’s Times Square location after 30 years in the same spot. It was described in the news as a rent dispute. The landlord had to be pretty dumb or just very greedy to lose the jewel of Times Square. Jeff Ross and I got to talk about it on FOX TV.

The main hangout for the fest was The Hard Rock Hotel in Times Square. It was a constant party and several of the shows were in the hotel. I actually got to see some new talent and drew a few names from one of the shows for my new show Raw Side, where Chris Mazzilli and Rick Dorfman were two of the judges. Always good to see Reg Thomas, and Daniel Simonsen who I’ve had on a couple of my own self-produced shows.

Also great to see my man Cipha Sounds DJ’ing and doing comedy opening Mo Amer’s sold out show at Manhattan Community College way downtown. Now that I’m jumping around again I go everywhere!!!

**CIPHA SOUNDS ON THE ONES AND TWOS WITH MO AMER**

My history with Carolines goes back to the 80’s when she first opened in a much smaller space on 26th and 8th. I clearly recall the night I first met Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser there. They were both pretty new, and both on the same show and I remember being so impressed with them that I went over to introduce myself and offered to introduce them to my manager at the time, David Jonas, probably best known for managing Freddie Prinze.

When Carolines moved to The Seaport, I did too, very often to see my buddy Gilbert Gottfried, who used to make me laugh so hard in those early days I recall once begging him to stop because I couldn’t take the pain of laughing anymore! And then I brought Jackie Mason down there one night to see a comedy group I thought would be perfect for a movie I was writing for him called “The Detective” which was set in a fictional “tough Jewish neighborhood.” He played a Jewish version of a bumbling Detective Clouseau.

Anyway, every comic wanted to be on that stage before it closed and I was lucky enough to do two spots there that month, one on Jeff Ross’s last headline show on Sunday, Dec. 18th. A night to remember for me! Jeff has always been very gracious and we have shared some special moments, like the time in Montreal when he and I were having lunch together, and a man came over to tell him that he won the award for his film “Patriot Act.” A very special moment to be shared!

Carolines made a touching speech to Jeff on stage about how long he had been at the club, and afterwards we hung out backstage and she said that Carolines isn’t going anywhere and would be back bigger and better than ever, And knowing Caroline I can’t wait to see her next move!!!

ASIAN WOMEN TAKING OVER COMEDY

(ESPECIALLY BLOND ASIAN WOMEN)

I had been hearing so much about this Cali based comedian Jiaoying Summers, so I was so glad to finally be able to meet her at The Stand one night. I was so impressed with her story and how she managed to escape the one-child policy in China at the time she was born, where the “one-child” that everyone was allowed to keep was a boy. And boy are they paying for that now!

I love her story , I love the way she speaks English with such perfection, and I especially love when she says she would be considered ugly in China because that is certainly not the case here. She came to the Comedy Matters offices where we shot some fun videos and she got to connect to a photo of her idol Phyllis Diller. She couldn’t believe I knew her. I will try and post the video for you to see how quick she is, how funny, and how far from ugly she is in any country! (LOL)

Since then we’ve become friends and I’ve seen her perform at Carolines, The Stand and other clubs as well. We even shot a couple of fun videos together at the Comedy Matters TV crib!

Then L.A. comic Kiki Yeung, the founder of “Crazy, Woke Asians”, who’s also one of the parents on the ABC show Parent Test came to town to host her own show as part of the NY Comedy Festival. The show was down at Alex Carabano’s St. Marks Comedy Club.

She was kind enough to let me know she was coming to town, so I made sure to make it down there. The funny part was that the show was called “Kiki Funny Mama’s Night Out”, so I didn’t realize till half way through that all the comedians were Asian by choice. Somehow I thought it was just a coincidence! (LOL) ‘The Parent Test’ is on Thursday nights on ABC and streams on Hulu the next day.

Kiki Yeung at St. Marks Comedy Club

And lastly, she’s not blonde but she’s back in town! It’s Kilara Sen back from Japan. I first met Kilara playing the clubs around town, and was struck by how good she was especially performing in a language that was not her native tongue!

In 2019 I went to Japan alone, and she was kind enough to meet me at my hotel the night I landed which made my trip an amazing experience because it’s pretty weird getting to another country alone where the culture is so different.

We ran around and shot some fun videos there and she told me her dream was to one day move back to The States, and now she’s here performing again! She’s really funny, … not blond as you can see, … but really funny!

AND I THINK THAT’S IT FOR THIS COLUMN! I HAVE A LOT MORE BUT I WILL FINISH IT UP IN MY NEXT COLUMN COMING VERY SOON! STAY TUNED FOR WHAT’S HAPPENING IN COMEDY ON THE COMEDY MATTERS BLOG/VLOG!

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Tags: Chris Distefano, Chris Rock, Comedy, Comedy Central, Comedy Matters, Gotham Comedy Club, Jeff Ross, Jeffrey Gurian, Jiaoying Summers, John Mulaney, Kiki Yeung, Marc Maron, Marcus Russell Price, Mike Berkowitz, Nick Kroll, The Comic Strip, William Morris Entertainment, WME

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The King of Staten Island Rocks

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on June 17, 2020

**PETE DAVIDSON/SCOTT CARLIN WITH HIS BOYS MOISES ARIAS, RICKY VELEZ AND LOU WILSON ON STATEN ISLAND**

People who know me know I don’t do “review” reviews. I write about my experience seeing a show, or a film or any type of creative performance. I write about how it made me feel, and what the characters did. And if I don’t like it I don’t write about it at all.

**WITH PETE DAVIDSON THE STAR OF KING OF STATEN ISLAND**

Fortunately that’s not the case with The King of Staten Island because it would have been very difficult for me to ignore this project. It’s literally packed with comedian friends and people I know for a really long time.

Kudos first of all to director Judd Apatow, for bringing this amazing cast together, and creating cinematic magic. He produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Pete, and former SNL writer Dave Sirus who all did an amazing job telling this poignant story. When I spoke to Dave he said the experience working with Judd was surreal, and opening day was “a very weird day”, … in a good way!

**WITH THE KING OF HOLLYWOOD COMEDY JUDD APATOW**

Just to name the comedy people first, it’s Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Ricky Velez, Lynn Koplitz, Derek Gaines, Keith Robinson, Pamela Adlon, Rich Vos and Bonnie Macfarlane, Liza Treyger, Mike Vecchione, Carly Aquilino, and Jessica Kirson.

WITH BILL BURR

WITH RICKY VELEZ

I’m particularly happy for Pete Davidson, because I think he had a lot riding on this film personally. So many people including me were waiting excitedly for it to come out, and it would have been devastating if it had not turned out as well as it did.

Pete gets so much press about so many different things, from all different angles, but he should be very proud of this project, which is loosely based on his own life.

And Judd must have been so proud that his daughter Maude was so great in the film playing Pete’s sister, who loves Pete/Scott in spite of himself.
I called Dave to congratulate him and he said it was a really crazy, “weird” day for him. I can only imagine.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film where I had a connection to so many people and even to a location in the film. I can’t do any spoilers so I’m going to keep this article limited mostly to the talent and the parts they played.

Pete, who stars in the film as Scott Carlin, and co-wrote it with Judd and Dave, plays a 24 year old Staten Island stoner who doesn’t have much direction, thanks to the confusion caused by his severe A.D.D.

He does have a dream though and that is to someday open a tattoo restaurant, which would be the first of it’s kind. Until that either happened or didn’t happen, he’d be just as comfortable hanging out in his basement with a few friends getting stoned.

He’s torn up about the death of his fireman Dad when he was only 7, but isn’t really in touch with that as the cause of his inner turmoil and emotional pain.

I happen to know Pete since he was about 17. He used to do my late night show at The Comic Strip. He’d come in late at night with Jordan Rock and was really shy and really funny. I had a feeling he was gonna do big things, but nobody could guess at the time where he would go, and the heights he would reach.

**PETE DAVIDSON WITH JORDAN ROCK BACK IN 2011**

I shared the excitement with him when Nick Cannon took him under his wing and brought him out on the road, and Pete used to tell me how amazing it was being with Nick and Mariah.

And then some years later we shot some fun video interviews up in Montreal, when he was asked to perform at the Just for Laughs Festival two years in a row. I remember how excited he was about being up there.

Then one night at Gotham Comedy Club, where he performed pretty often, he introduced me to his girlfriend at the time, super funny comedian Carly Aquilino, and told her she could tell me anything because I was someone who could be trusted. That was very cool.

Carly also has a part in the movie as Tara, and I almost didn’t recognize her with her super blonde hair which has been many other colors including pink!

**WITH CARLY AQUILINO OUTSIDE OF A COMEDY CLUB IN NYC**

The last time I saw Pete was with Bill Burr when he and Bill produced Paul Virzi’s special and I drove up to watch the taping and hang out backstage with those guys.

Bill Burr, who is so great in this part, plays a fireman named Ray with a big caterpiller moustache, who winds up dating Pete’s Mom Margie, in the film played by my old friend, the incredibly talented Marisa Tomei.

**WITH ACADEMY AWARD WINNER MARISA TOMEI**

In 1995 I was working with the Audrey Hepburn Foundation and went to the first year of the Aspen Comedy Festival representing the foundation, whose goal was to help poor children all over the world. I knew Marisa from the Naked Angels theatre troupe, as she was one of the founding members, and I used to go every week as one of the writers whose work they’d read.

When I got back from Aspen the Hepburn foundation had a big event at Planet Hollywood and I asked Marisa to come and make a special appearance which she did as a favor. She had already won the Oscar for her performance in My Cousin Vinny, so it was a really big thing. And Bill Burr gets to kiss her in this film! #sojealous

**BILL BURR WITH HIS BIG MOUSTACHE AND MARISA TOMEI**

So many people had fun parts. Ricky Velez who’s one of Pete’s best friends in real life plays a best friend in the film as well, and is absolutely superb. He even gets to wear his favorite clothes, which is usually just jeans and a hoodie. He has a very big and important part in terms of what happens to him and to Pete/Scott during the film.

**RICKY VELEZ JUST CHILLIN’ ON STATEN ISLAND**

Derek Gaines from The Last O.G. plays a waiter in the Staten Island restaurant where Pete gets a job, and Derek is also a close friend and an old roommate of Pete’s. They actually lived together in real life and when I called him right after I saw the film to congratulate him he told me he was “so glad to work with a cast that knew how to play the line of comedy and drama together. Pete and Judd are a power collaboration that I’m so glad to be a part of.”

He went on to say ” Pete is my friend, we sorta grew up together in comedy. He was my roommate for Christ’s sake … I’m glad we stayed cool and he called me to do the part, .. and in the words of Lil Wayne, … it all worked out! (Tha Carter 5).” In the film he even gets to show off his pop-and-lock skills!

**WITH DEREK GAINES WHEN HE WAS MY GUEST ON SIRIUS XM RADIO**

Keith Robinson has a funny scene playing a security guard, and Pamela Adlon who has a big part plays Bill Burr’s ex-wife, and the mother of their two adorable kids. Rich Vos and Bonnie Macfarlane have a cool scene in an Italian restaurant called Denino’s which happens to be owned by my dear friend Joe McBratney’s brother, Jimmy McBratney, and where I’ve actually eaten. Great food by the way!

**WITH PAMELA ADLON STAR OF BETTER THINGS AT THE FRIARS CLUB**

Lynne Koplitz has a very fun part and gets to let out her “inner Lynn” by playing a wise-cracking nurse and best friend to Marisa Tomei. All these people had a chance to act with Marisa Tomei! Amazing.

**WITH LYNNE KOPLITZ BACKSTAGE AT SOME SHOW SOMEWHERE**

And when I asked Lynne about working with Marisa she said, “ she was great to work with and needless to say so professional. It was very surreal at first being that it was my first role in a full length movie and there I was at rehearsal with this fantastic Oscar winning beauty, but she was very friendly and the entire environment of the movie was very family like which enabled me to get comfortable quickly.”

She went on to say, “ I honestly can’t say enough nice things about working on this film. I adore Pete and always have and Ricky and Dave are just so generous, and fun and creative. And Judd, … well he just sets this confident and easy going collaborative tone that’s really great to work with.” Sounds like she liked it!

Liza Treyger plays a waitress in that same Italian restaurant where Pete’s character gets a job, Mike Vecchione doesn’t play a cop for which he’s so well suited, but he plays a fireman also with a moustache, and Jessica Kirson plays the owner of a pharmacy who has a very unusual interaction with Ricky Velez and his boys.

And Steve Buscemi who has done some comedy parts in the past, like on Jim Gaffigan’s show, (where I accidentally walked onto the set while they were filming to say hello to Jim and ruined the take), plays a senior fireman as well, and adds his great talent to the already amazing cast.

But seeing Ray romance Margie stirred an emotional note with me because of all things, my parents were named Margie and Ray. That can’t even happen. When I told Bill Burr about it he said, “ What are the odds of that?” I was like “Basically zero.” And he also said he was glad I liked the film because he had a lot of fun doing it.

The film was very emotional in several spots, and ran the entire gamut of feelings. Some very funny parts and some very touching parts where Pete and I both had tears welling up in our eyes. Pete really showed that he had quite a range. He’s basically in every scene and it was very special to see him be so good and so believable in his role.

And I must give a special shout out to English actress Bel Powley who played Pete’s childhood friend and occasional hook-up in the film. She was just so good in her part as Kelsey, and she learned the Staten Island accent as if it was her own.

I read one review of the film where the writer used such big words and flowery expressions I couldn’t tell whether she liked it or not. I don’t even know how to write that way. I just write it simply the way I see it.

This is definitely a film you should see and I’m sure it will do great things for everyone who was involved in it. I sure wish I had been! (LOL)

Tags: "Academy Award winner", "Academy Award", "Comedy Cellar", "Keith Robinson", "Pete Davidson", "Ricky Velez", Bill Burr, Comedy, Derek Gaines, director, feature film, hit film, Judd Apatow, King, Liza Treyger, Marisa Tomei, masterful, Saturday Night Live, sex., SNL, so funny, Staten Island, Tattoos, The King of Staten Island

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP-WEST SIDE OWNER EUGENE ASHE AT SUNDANCE, EDDIE MURPHY HOSTS SNL, CHAPELLE AT THE CELLAR, THE SULTAN ROOM, MARINA FRANKLIN BIRTHDAY AND MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on December 26, 2019

SYLVIE’S LOVE PREMIERES AT SUNDANCE

**WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR EUGENE ASHE AT WEST SIDE COMEDY CLUB**
**(I’M THE GUY ON THE RIGHT!!!)**

I dropped by West Side Comedy Club to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and ran into owner Eugene Ashe. Always good to see Gene but he’s not there as much as he used to be because he’s also a writer/director/filmmaker and travels quite a bit.

He had great and exciting news for me. A film he wrote and directed called Sylvie’s Love, will have its world premiere at Sundance on Jan. 27, 2020, less than a month from when you read this.

It’s a period piece set in 1957, with a star studded cast, including Tessa Thompson,and Eva Longoria. Tessa Thompson plays Sylvie a young woman fighting to stay loyal to her fiancee who’s off fighting in the Korean War. She’s an aspiring film producer working in her father’s record store in Harlem when she falls for Robert, a talented saxophonist played by Nnamdi Asomugha, and try saying THAT 3 times fast.

Nnamdi Asomugha is a Nigerian-American actor, producer and former American football cornerback who’s married to Kerry Washington, and played for the Oakland Raiders, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Francisco 49’ers.A

Years pass, the world changes, and their lives take different paths — but fate brings them together again, and they discover that their feelings for each other remain. Now both must decide what they truly want.

It’s Gene’s 2nd feature and took him about five years to write. Many good scripts take that long and longer. In an exclusive interview while sitting in a booth at West Side, Gene told me they originally wanted to shoot in New York, but because of the weather and the schedules of the actors they used they had to shoot in LA. They basically shot around Tessa Thompson’s schedule because the girl is so crazy busy.

But he said it was so cool to shoot on the classic backlots like at Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Disney, and “we kind of leaned into the fact that we were shooting on these incredible historical backlots and created this fantastical Hollywood love story.”

He continued, “The film’s period ranged from 1957 into 1962-63 so it went into like the Mad Men/Breakfast at Tiffany’s era, and people compare it to The Notebook, or The Way We Were, or Mahogany with Diana Ross.”

I asked him if it was a problem getting the cars and clothing for a period piece like that and he said it was “but one thing about that was that we got gowns donated to us from Chanel, so we have about 11 gowns that Tessa Thompson wears, and all from that era.”

“Tessa had about three to four weeks available in February, between shooting Marvel movies, Westworld, and Lady and the Tramp for Disney and we just decided to shoot it then in Los Angeles and just followed her wherever we could, because she was just such a perfect lead for our movie.”

I wish him so much luck, but even more I wish I could be there with him in Sundance to actually see the premiere!

EDDIE MURPHY HOSTS SNL

They say if you wait long enough everything will happen. Well if you were willing to wait 35 years you got to see Eddie Murphy come back to host Saturday Night Live.

I actually stayed home to watch it and it was worth the wait. In the middle of Eddie’s opening monologue he was first joined by Tracy Morgan, then by Dave Chappelle, who I ran into the very next night but that’s a story for a few paragraphs down, and then by Chris Rock who he discovered at The Comic Strip back in 1985. Each one of them asked Eddie if he looked at the sketch they supposedly sent him.

**WITH CHRIS ROCK, AND RICHIE TIENKEN AT THE COMIC STRIP AFTER CHRIS’ INTERVIEW FOR THE BOOK “MAKE ‘EM LAU**hGH“

Chris wrote the intro to my book “Make ‘Em Laugh” which is about the history of The Comic Strip and features interviews with all the big stars who came out of that club like Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Colin Quinn, George Wallace, Billy Crystal, Jim Gaffigan, Susie Essman, Lisa Lampanelli and more.

Eddie was being managed by Comic Strip founder/owner Richie Tienken, whose son Richie Jr. now works at SNL and introduced himself to Eddie after the show. Eddie remarked that Richie Jr. has the same cleft in his chin as Richie Sr.

**TRACY MORGAN, DAVE CHAPPELLE, EDDIE MURPHY, AND CHRIS ROCK**

Eddie himself is not in the book as we were told that he often doesn’t like to relive the past. However he did shout out Richie on a comedy awards show in recent years.

**DAVE CHAPPELLE READING MY BOOK AT THE BAR OF THE COMIC STRIP**

DAVE CHAPPELLE AT THE CELLAR

When you walk into the Olive Tree Cafe which is the restaurant connected to the original Comedy Cellar on Macdougal Street you never know who you’re going to see there.

I walked in on the Sunday night after Eddie hosted SNL and it was so crowded, you would have thought they were giving away money. “The table” where the Cellar comics sit was packed into two rows, and was headed by Dave Chappelle himself. Also around the table were Keith Robinson, Rachel Feinstein, Michelle Wolf, Mark Normand, Sam Morril, club manager Liz Furiati, and several more!

**INTERVIEWING DAVE CHAPPELLE AT THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL IN MONTREAL IN A RARE RED CARPET APPEARANCE**

I joined a friend at the bar and sat across from Eagle Witt, Neko White and Rafi Bastos the 6’7″ Brazilian comedian, actor, journalist and TV personality with literally millions of followers on social media, who I’ve profiled in the past and who came to the Comedy Matters TV offices to shoot a video interview.

**AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB WITH RAFI BASTOS, WHO FORTUNATELY WAS SITTING DOWN AT THE TIME!**

Rafi told me he moved here permanently after living in LA for a very short time. He said he was thrilled to be passed at The Cellar right away after auditioning for Estee!

Anyway Dave held court as comics came and went to say hello and pay their respects, and as he turned, saw me, and waved, I went over to exchange holiday hugs and tell him how cool it was to see him with Eddie on SNL.

Sometime after 1 A.M. as I was leaving I saw him go downstairs with Wil Sylvince and take the stage to the delight of the crowd. That’s how it is at The Cellar!

NEW COMIC MEZZY AT BROADWAY COMEDY

Every once in a while I’ll go check out a new comic which I did recently because I had met her years before while doing a radio show with L’il Nat. Her name is Mezzy Desravines and I took her to some comedy shows, and now years later she’s performing. She says I’m her mentor and I’m good with that because she’s a natural. She’s got great stage presence and was born to do comedy!

BRETT DAVIS AT THE SULTAN ROOM

Brett Davis is an Andy Kaufman award winning comedian, known for doing some pretty cool and unique shows. He took over Chris Gethard’s space at MNN to produce The Special Without Brett Davis which I attended, and was a guest on more than once, as well as his Podcast for Laundry, and now he’s one of the creators on Evan Shapiro’s new National Lampoon Radio Hour.

So when he invited me to be the special guest to be interviewed on his new variety show at a place called “The Sultan Room” I immediately said “yes” even though it was out in Brooklyn. I packed a beard and headed out there. It was a real variety show with comics, sketches, character pieces, music, and surprise audience interaction!

The Sultan Room lived up to it’s name, and I was so impressed with the decor. I don’t think you could have a place like that in Manhattan. Maybe on West Broadway, but it was perfect Brooklyn vibe. The theme was New Year’s Eve 1970 and I might have been the only one there who actually remembered it! (LOL)

**BRETT DAVIS CAME OUT WEARING A CROWN AND HUGE WINGS**

Brett produced the show with a band called Tredici Bacci and had a cast of interesting and very talented characters like Dougie Poole, Colin Burgess, Caroline Yost, and Sally Burtnick. I had such a great time. It was a real experience and I was sorry when the night ended with the entire room dancing and swaying to the tune of Auld Lang Zyne!

BRETT DAVIS GETTING READY TO RING IN THE NEW YEAR OF 1970

MARINA FRANKLIN BIRTHDAY PARTY

Before I hit The Cellar and ran into Dave Chappelle I stopped off at Fat Black Pussycat bar which is also part of The Cellar to wish Marina Franklin a Happy Birthday!

When I walked in the party was in full swing with Yamaneika Saunders, Matteo Lane, Keith Robinson, Vondecarlo and Marina singing along to hot songs that the DJ was playing. They all had great voices. At one point Keith shouted me out on the mic.

**(L-R) MATTEO LANE, YAMANEIKA, (BACK) MARINA, KEITH ROBINSON, AND VONDECARLO**

There were all kinds of snacks, like fries, cupcakes, chicken wings and other good stuff and I sat down with my man Derek Gaines until he got up to dance with Marina.

Marina complained that not enough people were dancing, so the highlight of the evening was when Keith Robinson, despite having had a stroke, ripped off his jacket and got down with Marina, and she said ” If Keith can do it, the rest of you can too!” Keith is a perfect example of not letting obstacles stand in your way.

MARINA FRANKLIN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY AT FAT BLACK

At one point Marina made a very heartfelt speech thanking everyone for coming and alluding to people we lost recently. It was a very special evening.

There’s probably more but I’m tired, so tune in soon for the next edition of Comedy Matters! And please subscribe to Comedy Matters TV with over 2.1 million views at https://www.youtube.com/guriannewsnetwork

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY COMEDY MATTERS PEEPS!!!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "stand-up comedy", Comedy, Comedy Matters, Dave Chappelle, Gotham Comedy Club, insider, Jeffrey Gurian, Olive Tree Cafe, The Sultan Room, West Side Comedy Club

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Comedy Matters TV On The Scene with National Lampoon, Chris Distefano at Gotham, The Irishman, and more!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on December 11, 2019

National Lampoon Back on the Scene!

National Lampoon which celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2020, just launched a new comedy space and weekly stand-up series, “LIC Comedy,” in Long Island City thanks to Lampoon Pres. Evan Shapiro, and Exec. V.P. of Digital Media Gian Hunjan, along with Creative Associate Claudia Barran. They acquired the brand back in 2017 but just partnered with LIC Artists and The Plaxall Gallery to do a series of comedy shows, besides bringing back the beloved and iconic National Lampoon Radio hour.

Premiering December 19, the new, 11-episode podcast, in partnership with Forever Dog Podcast Network and available on iTunes, Spotify and other podcasting platforms will feature a collection of National Lampoon comedy sketches, characters, music and more, thanks to lead writers Cole Escola (Emmy-nominated “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” “Difficult People”) and Jo Firestone (Adult Swim, “The Tonight Show”).

I went out there for the inaugural show and the place is amazing. It’s a huge 12,000 square foot community center/art gallery, with many rooms, and fortunately I got there early enough that Gian found me wandering in the street, greeted me and guided me in, and then Evan gave me the tour including an outdoor space right on some kind of waterway that will be amazing for parties during the nice weather. That’s THEIR plan not mine! Those who know me know that I LOVE parties! (LOL)

The plan is to have a show every Friday night in perpetuity. The inaugural show was well attended by an interesting and upscale, handpicked group of people, in a very relaxed setting and each of the comics commented on the unusual setting, … performing in a spacious art gallery, with a slide of a huge frame on the wall behind them.

First up was Pat Burtscher, who was originally from Toronto, then lived in London and moved here to NY as of last May. He stuck out to me because he had such unusual and unique premises, which I love and respect. Things like, ” We’re the only animals that give ourselves jobs” which is a great premise and then he expanded upon it, which is how I learned to do comedy, from some of the greats. You get a strong premise and build a bunch of jokes around it. That’s the essence of writing comedy. Or at least it should be!

When I went up to him after the show to compliment him he reminded me that we had already met back in August when we were on the same show at the Fairfield Comedy Club, and I drove him and two other comics, Beecher and Jason Salmon back to New York. Pat was sitting in the back seat so I didn’t get to learn his face! (LOL) I love unique because it’s so hard to find!

Also on the show was Ali Kolbert who talks a lot about being 27 but looking much younger, which is true. Ali had been an NBC page and wound up making her late night debut on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

And the always funny Ricky Velez came on next. Ricky’s part of the Fat Baby crew with Giulio Gallarotti, Josh Wesson and Benny Demarco and I love the energy that those guys bring wherever they go. Ricky is also tight with Pete Davidson and performs on shows with him on the road.

Ricky talked a lot about his baby, being a Dad, his own Dad, and how his wife comes from money and wears pajamas, which to paraphrase him is a rich person’s game!

**RICKY VELEZ HOLDING IT DOWN, IN THE TIGHTEST SAGGIEST PANTS EVER- – – BUT SOMEHOW HE MAKES THEM LOOK GOOD!**

Dave Merheje followed and I had seen Dave this past summer on the Ronnie Chieng TV gala when he surprised me by performing in shorts and a T-shirt for television, while Ronnie was in a beautiful suit.

Dave’s background is Lebanese and it was funny hearing him tell the story of how his uncle once came to the door for Christmas proclaiming that he was Santa Claus, without a costume, just a beard, yelled out “Ha, Ha, Ha” instead of “Ho, Ho, Ho”, and the kids were scared that Santa Claus had an Arabic accent! Btw, he didn’t wear shorts this time, he wore bright red sweats pants!

Giulio Gallarotti came out and closed the show with a strong set, talking about how he doesn’t like to smoke weed and gave a strong reason why, and I was hoping he’d do a song as Lil Young Big his rapper alter-ego. Maybe next time.

But it was a very cool event, and when I asked Evan what he wanted people to know about it he said to tell you guys that the show will run every Friday at 10, part of the ticket sales go to support local artists, the tickets are 15 bucks and they have the least expensive drinks of any comedy club in the five boroughs!

Chris Distefano Uses Family As Inspiration for Jokes

I’ve known Chris Distefano since the beginning when we used to do open mic shows at Gotham Comedy Club and he was honing bits like “Tell me no”, and talking about his Mom dating a guy named Phineas with polio, and he was always hilarious. So it was great to see him headlining Gotham with sold out shows. The place was so packed they threatened to put strangers with me at my table! (LOL)

I was seated right next to Chris’ manager comedy heavyweight Rick Dorfman of Authentic Talent and Literary Agency, who jokingly asked me if I didn’t have anything better to do than go to a comedy show!

**BACKSTAGE WITH CHRIS DISTEFANO AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB AFTER HIS SOLD OUT SHOW!**

He held it down for an hour with non-stop laughs and his very unique delivery. That’s a very rare thing to have and I was glad to tell him that after the show. It’s very hard to have a unique delivery. Gilbert Gottfried does it, Judah Friedlander does it, and Chris does it too.

He makes it sound like he doesn’t know what he’s going to say next in that very kind of staccato way he has of speaking, jumping from one thing to another. To the audience it sounds like he’s saying it all for the very first time. He hits on very current topics like memes, peanut allergies, cancel culture etc.

And he kept his jacket on the whole time too, but took it off for the VIP meet and greet after the show. Almost the whole audience signed up for it and lined up to buy merch and take photos.

A lot of his merch was about History Hyenas the podcast he does with his comedy bro’ Yannis Pappas. Both of these guys were my guests on Sirius XM’s Bennington Show. After the Gotham show I went backstage to ask him a couple of questions.

THE INTERVIEW

JG: So tell me about History Hyenas.
CD – History Hyenas is a podcast I do with Yannis Pappas, it’s been going on about 18 months now, we just sold out The Gramercy Theatre a couple of weeks ago and we’re gonna do another show , actually a residency there throughout 2020, and we’ve had Jim Gaffigan on, Bill Burr, Andrew Schulz, and all the episodes are available on i-Tunes…
JG – But what’s the concept of the show?

CD – The concept of the show is it’s a history show but it’s comedy first, so you’ll learn but you’ll laugh first and foremost, it’s always comedy and then we’ll throw in some history stuff that you can regurgitate at a party and sound and look cool!

JG – Do the comics have to study history before they come on?

CD – No, we don’t require comics to study at all. They come on and if they are passionate about it, like Jim Gaffigan came on and did a whole episode about the Samurai culture in Japan because he had just come from there and he loved it. Bill Burr came on and did a whole history tour of Boston because he knows all about it, and that works but we’ve had other episodes where we just had Michael Kosta on or Sam Morril and just shoot the shit just being three comics in a room.

JG – I just got back from Japan and it’s crazy over there. I did a couple of shows there and it’s insane.
CD – Yeh, I would love to go to Japan.

JG – It’s a long fucking trip!

CD – Yeh, I’ll take an edible.

JG – You better bring more than one for 14 hours. What else do you have that people should know about, … your special 38 Waist?

CD – Well my special 38 Waist is on Comedy Central, but I’m gonna do a second special Size 36 Waist, that comes out on Comedy Central in August of 2021.
JG- Really? Or are you just fuckin’ with me?

CD – No I swear. Cause I’ve been on Keto, and I have a good boxing trainer Paulie, who’s here tonight that feeds me oregano pills, he’s here in the green room, I have a cartoon in development with Comedy Central, and of course I hope that all those things go, but my real passion right now is the podcast Hisstory Hyenas. That’s why the shows were sold out at Gotham this weekend, and why shows in general are selling out for me now is because of that podcast.

JG – Where do you tape it from?

CD – We tape it from The Comedy Cellar, RiotCast Studios, Bobby Kelly’s podcast network, and we tape anywhere from 4 hours a week to 8 hours a week depending on how much coffee Yannis has had.

JG – Tell me about the cartoon.

CD – It’s slated to come out hopefully some time in 2020, and I also have a non-scripted show in development with Comedy Central. The cartoon’s about my life. it’s about being a single Dad, with a bi-racial kid, and a father who’s in the Mafia. ( Lots of laughter)

JG – That’s a hilarious story. It’s gotta be a hit.

CD – So it’s me and my Dad raising this Puerto Rican kid doing the best we can.

JG – Is there anything you’d like to do that you haven’t done yet?

CD – Well in 2020, I moved up in certain markets to theaters, so I’m hoping to go from the comedy clubs to the theaters, and start selling theaters out, that’s really my main goal for 2020.

JG – Well I just have to say that I’ve seen you from the beginning and you’ve always been funny so I’m not surprised that you’re doing so well because you deserve it because you worked really hard.

CD – Thank you Jeff I really appreciate that. Thank you brother. Always a pleasure to see you!

John Belushi on Saint Marks

Thanks to long-time comedy manager Jason Steinberg of Steinberg Talent, I got to see this play. It’s called “With A Little Help – It’s John Belushi” and it’s at Theatre 80 on St. Marks Place, and owner Lorcan Otway told me his family has been in the theatre business for over 300 years! That’s longer than I’ve been in comedy!!! And the theatre is beautiful by the way filled with show biz memorabilia including some rare posters!

The award winning play is an ensemble piece with about 8 characters all of whom playing two or three parts except for Jack Zullo who wrote the show and plays a very spirited John Belushi. He definitely brings John’s energy level to the stage.

All good actors and very entertaining, but if I had to say anything at all in a positive yet constructive manner, 90 minutes into it they hadn’t gotten to the SNL years yet, and John’s discovery by Lorne Michaels. Otherwise as I said, … very entertaining. They mentioned National Lampoon a lot, so it was very fitting that when I left I ran out to LIC to catch the inaugural National Lampoon show mentioned above.

Jason by the way. who has been instrumental in the careers of many big stars handles Tony Woods who just had a big thing in the New York Times, and Donnell Rawlings who just launched a new podcast, The Donnell Rawlings Show. He announced it on Joe Rogan’s podcast that for the very first time he spoke by himself, all alone for 44 minutes! Joe had been encouraging him to do it for months, and he didn’t wanna show up on the show again without having done it, … so he finally did it!

KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON GOES SOLO

I caught up with my girl Krystyna Hutchinson at Stand Up New York, and we hadn’t seen each other in too long so we took a moment to catch up. She was hanging with Justin Silver and she just did her first time solo headlining gig at American Comedy Company in San Diego and brought Justin to open for her.

She said that 4 out of 5 shows were sold out and she did 45 minutes for the first time and found it very draining, but lots of fun.

**KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON AND JUSTIN SILVER AT STAND UP NEW YORK**

GM Jon Borromeo told me the club is focussing on discovering and promoting young talent, that hadn’t been able to get stage time at other clubs, and he named Zach Zimmerman as an example, who just happened to be standing next to him at the time, and said he did his one man show at the club!

COMEDIANS IN “THE IRISHMAN”

If you’re willing to sit through 3 hours of Martin Scorcese’s new hit “The Irishman” which I did because it’s on Netflix and I could get up, walk around, get a snack and pause it when I wanted to you’d see a bunch of comedians in roles, and I personally counted about 18 people I knew personally from the comedy and acting world.

Ray Romano has a big part as Bill Bufalino, the attorney who repped Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa and was the cousin of mob boss Russell Bufalino played by Joe Pesci.

In an example of perfect casting, Jim Norton had a nightclub scene where he portrayed the late legendary Don Rickles, and Sebastian Maniscalco who’s always hilarious had a great serious role playing the part of “Crazy Joe” Gallo, which he did so well.

**WITH SEBASTIAN AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN AFTER HIS SOLD OUT SHOW**

Bobby Funaro who started out working the door at Carolines on Broadway and went on to be in The Sopranos played a character named Johnny, Paulie Herman who used to own Columbus Cafe and is in just about every mob movie played Whispers DiTullio, the late Vinny Vella played a meat company manager and others I’ve known and/or worked with or interviewed in different projects over the years were the amazingly talented Bobby Cannavale who played a crazy character named Skinny Razor, Bo Dietl, legendary detective who recently ran for Mayor and unfortunately did not win, Kathrine Narducci who played Russell Bufalino’s wife Carrie, as well as Artie Bucco’s wife in The Sopranos, and attended my play “A Punch In The Face” dedicated to actor/martial artist/Hells Angel Chuck Zito who also attended, Stevie Van Zandt from E-Street who played Jerry Vale in this movie, and Silvio Dante in The Sopranos, my old friend Danny Abeckaser who went from a club promoter/owner to movie actor and producer, Garry Pastore who played Albert Anastasia, and most recently played a gangster named Matty ” The Horse” in HBO’s The Deuce and is the cousin of another old friend of mine, Vinny “Big Pussy” Pastore, and there were more!

**BACKSTAGE WITH BOBBY CANNAVALE AND CHRIS ROCK AND THE CAST ON BROADWAY WHEN COMIC STRIP OWNER RICHIE TIENKEN AND I WENT TO SEE “THE M-F’ER WITH THE HAT”**

LOVE FOR PATRICE GOES ON

So I’m walking down St. Marks Place the other night on my way to the John Belushi play when I hear someone yelling out to me. At first I didn’t turn around cause I’m from New York, but then he said “Mr. Gurian”, so I turned and looked.

It was this nice young musician named Supremo Massiv who happened to have a gig right across the street but ran out and had to tell me what a big fan he was of the work I did with Patrice O’Neal on the Black Phillip Show and how much the show meant to him.

It happens wherever I go, most recently in Japan, but in Boston, at Skankfest, at a Syndicate event, and with people from all over the world, the love for Patrice lives on. And a few months ago I started taking a photo with each and every one of them.

**WITH “BLACK PHILLIP” FAN SUPREMO MASSIV ON ST. MARKS PLACE IN NYC**

MEDERI CENTER BENEFIT

The Mederi Center located in Ashland, Oregon was founded by a master nutritionist named Donnie Yance, who specializes in treating cancer and other serious illnesses with herbs and nutrition in conjunction with traditional medicine.

Some friends of his, including consciousness guru Alan Steinfeld of New Realities, saw me performing at West Side Comedy Club one night and the next thing I knew I was the MC at a big fundraiser they held on 11/22 at the Warehouse of the Fairfield Theatre Company in Fairfield, CT starring pop star and cross over artist Gino Vannelli and jazz singer Grammy nominee Roberta Gambarini. It was a fabulous night, well attended and raised a lot of money!

**WITH JENNIFER YANCE, GINO VANNELLI AND DONNIE YANCE AT THE WAREHOUSE OF THE FAIRFIELD THEATRE COMPANY**

Tags: "Jim Norton", "National Lampoon", "stand-up comedy", cancer treatment, Chris Distefano, Comedy, comedy world, Gino Vannelli, Healing, inside look at the comedy world, National Lampoon movies, Patrice Oneal, Ray Romano, The Irishman

Posted in: Comedy, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Events, Comedy Matters, Entertainment News, Jeffrey Gurian News, National Lampoon, Podcasts, Point of View, Self Help Information, Social Media, Stand-Up Comedy, Variety Show

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The Love For Patrice O’Neal Lives On!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on July 7, 2019

**WITH THE LEGEND KNOWN AS PATRICE O’NEAL**

On Nov. 29, 2011 the comedy world and the world at large lost a luminous presence, … the great Patrice O’Neal. I thought of Patrice not only as a comedian but as a comedy philosopher. He had such a specific and well thought out point of view. One of my greatest honors was being named a co-host of The Black Phillip Show on XM radio, by Patrice himself.

The first night we went on the radio together was Feb. 10th 2008. It went so well that he called me that night at 4:05 in the morning, and left me a message which I keep on my phone to this day, to tell me how much he liked the show, and that we should do our own show together. But he was so humble, that when you listen to the phone call (below) you’ll hear him say that he didn’t want to assume anything.

As if I might not have wanted to do it with him. I would have done ANYTHING to have been able to do that show with Patrice. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Bill Burr and Maureen Taran produce a benefit for Patrice every year for the last 7 years. It’s usually held at Town Hall in NYC, which holds 3,000 people, and sells out well before the date.

I always knew The Black Phillip Show had a great influence on a lot of guys by the calls that came in while we were on the air, but it’s been pointed out to me lately by the amount of messages I receive on Instagram, and by random encounters in the street.

Recently I was down at The Village Underground which is part of The Comedy Cellar hanging out with Ardie Fuqua who was hosting a great show that night, and as I left and was walking to my car I heard someone yell out, ” Holy shit, it’s Jeffrey Gurian.” Not accustomed to getting called out like that I turned and saw two brothers, … and not brothers because they were Black, (which they were) but because they were true biological brothers.

**WITH ARDIE FUQUA AT THE COMEDY CELLAR**

We stopped to chat and they told me what big fans they were of Black Phillip and how much the show changed their lives. They were so sincere and so excited that I stayed there talking with them for quite a while and told them how it was working with Patrice and then I walked them back to the Fat Black Pussycat bar to meet Ardie.

**BLACK PHILLIP FANS THAT STOPPED ME IN THE STREET**

This past weekend I went to a wedding in Boston. Late at night I went into the basement of the hotel I was staying in to grab a snack from a vending machine, and two guys were sitting at a table looking like they were doing some writing work. Next thing I know one yelled out, ” We love your interviews!” and when I went over to chat, once again it was two “brothers” but this time not biological, … and they admitted to being big fans of The Black Phillip Show but said they were reluctant to yell that out.

**MAKALANI ADISA AND RAKIM WILLIAMS IN BOSTON**

We talked for quite a while and again I shared stories of the fun we had up at the studio and how when I brought models up to the show, which I did each time, I would warn them that Patrice would try and “deconstruct” them to take away their power. They were always cool enough to go with the flow!

And the show didn’t only have Black fans. White guys stop me too lately. Skankfest, the outrageously crazy comedy festival out in Brooklyn draws fans from all over the world. Last year at Skankfest two guys from Ireland stopped me about Black Phillip and I didn’t think to take photos of them, which I try and do now each time it happens.

This year at Skankfest two Indian looking guys from Scotland stopped me who were Black Phillip fans, then a guy from England and then three guys from Canada came up to me talking about how much Black Phillip changed their lives as well. Only two are in the photo below because the third one volunteered to take the pic!

**NOT SURE OF THE ORDER BUT IT WAS JOHN BOWLEY AND JAMIE MALCOLM AND BEN DELLER I BELIEVE WHO SNAPPED THE PHOTO! ALL FROM CANADA!**

At this years’ Patrice benefit produced by Bill Burr and hosted by Rich Vos, I heard someone calling my name at the after-party. It turned out to be Patrice’s Mom Georgia, who called me over to take a pic with her and her daughter Zinder. It’s always so wonderful to see her. The first time we met was backstage at the taping of “Elephant In The Room” when Patrice called me over to introduce me.

**AT THE PATRICE BENEFIT AFTER PARTY WITH PATRICE’S MOM GEORGIA AND SISTER ZINDER**

**BACKSTAGE AT THE TAPING OF ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM WITH HARRIS STANTON AND PATRICE O’NEAL**

These are just some of the messages I’ve received lately on Instagram for my work with Patrice on The Black Phillip Show.

It’s just nice to know that Patrice’s memory and his words and his commentary live on to inspire people and that in some small way I was part of that history.
R.I.P Patrice!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "The Black Phillip Show", advice, advice on women, beloved, Black Phillip, Charlie Sheen, Comedy, Comedy Central, Comedy Matters, Dante Nero, dating advice, Drew Boogie, Georgia O'Neal, Hilarious, how to meet women, Instagram, Jeffrey Gurian, outrageous, Patrice Oneal, Roast, roasts, Superstar, talk radio, Vondecarlo, XM radio, Zinder O'Neal

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Samuel J. Comroe, A Man of Inspiration

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on May 13, 2019

Every single one of us has some kind of obstacle to face in our lives. Some people allow it to overcome them and never accomplish anything. Others rise above it. Samuel J. Comroe is one who rose above it, and in a hilarious way.

Sam developed Tourette’s Syndrome at 6 years old. It’s a neurological condition characterized by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. It was named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, a French neurologist who first described the condition back in 1885 before many of you were born!

Sam describes it more as a “twitch”, which can be embarrassing to people who have the condition, but Sam decided to take it and use it to create a successful comedy career. He took what could have been considered as a negative and turning it into a positive. As he says, ” I got 99 problems, but a twitch ain’t one!”

He made his TV debut on Conan, appeared on BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood with Kevin Hart, and became nationally known for his appearance on America’s Got Talent where he totally wowed Howie Mandel, and the other judges. He said that show changed the game for him.

He also won Ricky Gervais’ “San Francisco Comedy Competition” and has a huge following on social media. So when I heard he was headlining at Gotham Comedy Club I made sure to make it down there to see him.

Good thing I have my own table cause the place was so packed people had to pull in their stomachs and hold their breath to squeeze in and get a seat. Sam is pure high energy, and speaks so quickly it’s amazing. He spits jokes like rappers spit beats. Like a machine gun!

His positive energy is contagious and spreads to the audience who absolutely loved him and kept interrupting him with applause breaks. He brings a real likability to the stage as he talks about life with Tourette’s and a whole host of other things, like when his parents sent him to Tourettes camp.

He also does a Q&A with the audience towards the end and answers questions like ” What’s it like having sex with Tourette’s?”

In my recent best seller on Happiness I write a lot about the concept of “acceptance” and how there are certain things about ourselves that we must accept or else it will drive you crazy. Then there are things you can change. It’s the basis for what’s known as The Serenity Prayer, … “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

That last line is the most important as far as I’m concerned, … the wisdom to know the difference. In my case my own major obstacle was that I stuttered very badly starting around age 7 or 8, continuing well into my 20’s and beyond. If I had “accepted” that I would still be stuttering today, but I consider it Grace that I realized one day that I didn’t stutter when I was alone. I only stuttered when trying to talk to somebody else which told me that there was really nothing wrong with me, because you can’t have a disability based on your location.

A man with a limp limps in every room of his house. He can’t go into a room alone and walk perfectly. But if I could speak perfectly when I was alone then theoretically I could speak perfectly all the time. I used that fact to help me work on myself for the next few years.

I had no one to help me. I basically took my mind apart and examined all of my thoughts and identified thoughts I was holding that were not valid for me and were negative against myself. I was obsessed with getting better and after much hard work I was able to free myself from the bondage of stuttering.

Now as an avocation I work with stutterers to teach them how not to stutter. And I use my voice in everything I do whether it’s on the phone, on stage, on the radio or on TV.

I look at Sam Comroe as an example of what you can accomplish if you refuse to let your particular obstacle define you. Make sure you go see Sam when he’s performing in your town, … and tell him I sent you! (LOL)

Tags: "America's Got Talent", "Comedy Matters TV", "Howie Mandel", "stand-up comedy", AGT, Comedy, Comedy Matters, confidence, Funny, Hilarious, Jeffrey Gurian, let nothing stand in your way, NBC, overcoming obstacles, performance, Samuel J Comroe, Tourette's Syndrome, Tourettes

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The Virzi Effect Live For The First Time

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on May 9, 2019

Paul Virzi’s 400th Virzi Effect Podcast But His First One Live with Sal Vulcano as the Special Guest!

Paul Virzi is killing it! He’s having a really great year and it’s well deserved. He often opens for Bill Burr when Bill is on tour.

When I go to Gotham Comedy Club, as I do almost every night, I usually go backstage first to say hello to whoever is performing and wish him luck.

Paul was celebrating the 400th episode of his podcast “The Virzi Effect” but doing it live for the first time, and he chose The Impractical Jokers own Sal Vulcano to be his special guest.

The Virzi Effect is a really fun show. I have had the honor of being on the podcast and we did it from my place in the city. Paul was nice enough to bring his equipment and we did it from my “comedy museum”! (LOL) I knew that Paul would appreciate seeing all the photos of many of the greats in comedy going back to The Golden Age.

This night I opened the backstage door expecting to find Paul, and instead was greeted by a mob scene. A whole bunch of guys standing and chatting in a circle, and when that happens, and you realize that you know everyone, you don’t know who to say hello to first! (LOL) It’s awkward!

I tried saying hello to all of them at once. It was co-owner Steve Mazzilli, uber-agent and producer Rory Rosegarten who had just produced the huge Garden of Laughs event, and he was there with his son Ryan, Paul Virzi of course, Sal Vulcano and a close friend of Paul’s Sam Jackalow, who just happened to know my daughter Liz. Then Jon Fisch came in and he was doing another show upstairs and he and Sal realized that they had the exact same Members Only jacket that they bonded over!

We hung out and shared stories and laughed until it was time to start the show. Paul brought up Sal to huge applause from the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FS5tH4oOH8

They are very close friends and it was obvious the affection that they had for each other. Paul gave Sal a gift of some very expensive alcoholic beverage, which as a non-drinker I was not familiar with, but Sal was very touched.

They talked about all kinds of fun stuff, and Sal was comfortable enough to admit to being very sensitive. He said he once cried at a Pep Boys commercial. I totally relate and have gotten emotional about songs, movies TV shows, and when talking about my daughters. I have to censor everything I watch, or watch it alone so I don’t have to feel embarrassed! (LOL)

Paul always does an “Unacceptable” segment where the guest and then members of the audience share experiences they had that they deem unacceptable.

I asked Rory Rosegarten if he thought I should share my experience of showing up at Madison Square Garden to do interviews for the Garden of Laughs event with Bill Burr, Tracy Morgan, Jon Oliver, John Mulaney, and a bunch of famous actors, and realizing that I had no microphone with me because my video assistant had forgotten to pack it. I would call that quite unacceptable and Rory agreed but Paul and Sal had already moved on, so I’m sharing it right here.

Luckily my assistant slightly redeemed himself by getting this little snippet from John Mulaney while I had to run home like a maniac through rush hour traffic to get my mic!

Bill Burr had his own take on the situation after I nearly killed myself to run home and get my mic!

Sal talked a lot about the new 8th season of his tru TV hit Impractical Jokers and told some funny stories, including the times when the guys almost got assaulted by people who were pranked.

Fans of Paul and Sal traveled from all over to attend this live show, so they saved a few minutes for a Q&A during which time I raised my hand to ask if they were still entertaining “Unacceptable” stories, which I was informed they were not!

Good thing I have this platform! (LOL) At one point Paul was trying to tell a story while Sal hummed ” I Believe I Can Fly” in the background, until Paul found it too distracting.

It was a really fun hour and even ran long because Paul wanted to get in some other things. He invited anyone who wanted to to hang out at Jake’s Tavern which is basically next door, to grab a drink and a snack, and he gave all of his guests special posters he had made up to commemorate his 400th episode and first live show.

I’m really glad I was there to celebrate this with them!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "Comedy Podcast", "stand-up comedy", All Things Comedy, Bill Burr, Comedy, Comedy Matters, Gotham Comedy Club, Impractical Jokers, Jeffrey Gurian, Paul Virzi, Sal Vulcano, tru TV

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