COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH JEREMY PIVEN, CHRIS DISTEFANO, JEFF ROSS, JOE LIST, MARK NORMAND, CORINNE FISHER, NYCF, GROSSINGERS DOC PREMIERE AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

JEREMY PIVEN – THE ONLY ACTOR WHO CAN REALLY DO STAND-UP

I’ve been a fan of Jeremy Piven since he created the iconic role of Ari Gold on Entourage. We met when he was performing stand-up at the old Stand Up NY club on West 78th Street. I went expecting to hate it because for some reason many actors and social media influencers think that just because they’re used to being on stage or seen in public, that will automatically translate to them being funny on stage! Couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of them are HORRIBLE!!!

I was invited as a guest of a friend to attend a show recently where a social media influencer was headlining, and I would never mention her name, but she was so bad that the owner of the venue called people the next day to apologize. Fortunately they had a real standup comic open for her which kind of saved the show.

In any case that night at Stand Up I was blown away by Jeremy’s performance, and stage presence. He was a natural and I was so pleasantly surprised I had to tell him when he got off stage, and we’ve been friends ever since. So when I heard he’d be performing at Sony Hall I knew I had to be there.

It was a packed house and I was seated next to my old friends Ice-T and his amazing wife Coco Austin. We were all pleasantly surprised to see each other. Sean Millea a comic I knew from Gary Vaynerchuck’s Vayner Media was one of Jeremy’s openers, and he did great. Although I asked him afterwards how he was able to do certain jokes he chose to do with his mother in the audience! (LOL) I could NEVER with my Mom!!!

Anyway Jeremy did not disappoint. He’s really so funny and so likable on stage, and he does amazing impressions. His impression of Stallone was truly incredible. Many people lined up after the show to meet him and he’s exceptionally gracious to all of his fans.

We hung out backstage and shot a little video and talked about our respective Moms who we both loved and miss greatly. He’s basically the exact opposite of Ari Gold, which shows you what a good actor he is! But he’s a great stand-up too!!! ( And I’m glad to call him a friend!)

CHRIS DISTEFANO INVITES ME TO PERFORM AT THE CELLAR

November 11th was a very special day for me. Aside from the fact that it was 11/11 which is a very mystical and magical combination of numbers, it was the day I got to perform at the legendary Comedy Cellar at the invitation of Chris Distefano, whose career gets more huge with every passing day. I was with him when he made comedy history by selling out Radio City Music Hall on a Friday night and the very next night sold out MSG Theater! James Mattern, one of the best hosts, and Chris’s usual host was the host that evening and we had a blast! And right from there I ran to perform on Laura Slutsky’s amazing cancer benefit you’ll read about below!

SOHO INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST CELEBRATES SWEET 16

Hard to believe it’s been 16 years since Jorge Ballos created the Soho International Film Fest run by the incredible team of Sibyl and Carlos Santiago, and I make sure to attend every year and do red carpet interviews! Filmmakers and stars come from all over the world, and this year I even got to moderate one of the films, a comedy film called ” A Cell Phone Movie” created by a talented guy named Will Sterling who wrote, produced, directed and starred in the film shot entirely on a cell phone. And the nighttime parties, as well as the closing party were totally awesome!!! Film people definitely know how to party!!! Already looking forward to year 17!!!

CORINNE FISHER IS GROWING UP

I first met Corinne Fisher when she was a little girl! At least it seems that way! LOL We worked together for a year when she was new in comedy. And it’s been so fun watching her become the big star, and classy lady she has become. So for her birthday at a really cool place called Pinky Swear she only invited 219 of her closest friends and I think that every single one of them showed up… and more!!!

I know I did, and it was the best time! It was sandwiches from Joe DeRosa’s place Joey Roses, and a kick-ass band called the Up All Nighters which was truly amazing and got everybody going with their high energy and great musical choices!

TAMMY PESCATELLI AT THE TRIAD WITH AN AFTER PARTY AT GOTHAM

I’ve known Tammy Pescatelli for a very long time but I’ve known her husband comedian/actor Luca Palanca even longer! So I was really psyched when Luca called me to tell me that Tammy was coming to NY to tape a special, at The Triad Theater one of my favorite places, which will appear again later in this column. I wouldn’t swear to it but I think Tammy told me her special will be called ” Tammy The Bull.”

The show was great, packed crowd, and the after-party was in the downstairs lounge at Gotham where I got to meet Brian Holtzman, a wild man who Luca said was the funniest guy he ever met, and who has his own show at Joe Rogan’s Mothership, a club I must get to! His show is called Holtzman and Friends and is on every Thursday night.

LAURA SLUTSKY’S CANCER FUNDRAISER AT THE TRIAD

Since I already mentioned The Triad, I may as well do the piece on producer Laura Slutsky’s show in honor of a man named Ryan Dwars, who beat pancreatic cancer. Laura met him and his wife by chance, took a liking to them, and told him if he could get to the point where he was in remission she’d produce a show in his honor. I guess that was an incentive to him, cause he beat the cancer and Laura produced the show, a 3 hour show with amazing talent and Ryan and his wife traveled up from down South to attend. I was honored to perform.

NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL IN IT’S 21ST YEAR

The New York Comedy Festival can finally vote and drink legally now since it’s 21 years old! (LOL) I’m pretty sure I’ve been covering it every year, and even got to perform in two shows there the last weekend before it closed after 30 years, thanks to Jeffrey Ross who invited me to do a set on his last show.

Major congratulations to Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox as well as their hard-working team of Louis Faranda, Carolyn Gitomer and Greg Charles. I could easily do an entire column on just the shows I saw at the fest, and all the parties I attended but I’ll try and give you a taste of what it was like.

Maybe I’ll just summarize the talent I got to see and where I got to see them, which might make it a bit easier. I was excited to meet Ban Bankas who’s from Canada and came down to do an awesome show at The Gramercy Theater. Ben’s comedy is very much out there, brave, courageous and done in good spirit, where he laughs at himself sometimes, as if he can’t believe what he just said, but you can tell he’s a great guy who loves people. And as someone who had a Chinese girlfriend for many years, I can attest to the fact that his Chinese accent is on point!!! We exchanged info and I hope to see him again!

Joe List and Friends was also held at The Gramercy, … another sold out show, … and as I walked in to the green room I was greeted by Joe, his wife comedian Sarah Tollemache, Mark Normand, Sam Morril, comedy exec Maureen Taran, Liz Furiati who runs The Cellar, and who always calls me “Gurian”, Kerryn Feehan, and Matt Salacuse who was filming the backstage action. The show was amazing, the backdrop named Joe List as ” The Man of the Year” and back stage there was a delicious chocolate cake with that very inscription. Someone couldn’t wait to taste it before I got the pic, and it wasn’t ME!!!!

Right after this show Mark Normand and Matt Ruby did their own show “Shtick or Treat” where they came out dressed as Saudi princes and comics came out in different get-ups doing other comedian’s material. Jeff Ross came out with a wig as the late, great Richard Lewis! Joe and Sarah were on their way to SkankFest in Vegas!!!

Some stand-outs for me at the fest were Gastor Almonte, who has such a unique delivery coupled with clever material, Nacya Marreiro from LA, who came with her dog Oslo, and Richard Villa who were all part of a Latino show at New York Comedy Club. The backstage area was like a party with these fun people, and it was so good to re-connect with Richard who remembered me from when I was out in LA and showed up at the Refried Comedy Show. In the video we shot outside in the street he was mobbed by audience members who needed to tell him how much they loved the show and I left it in the video!

Then I got to see a club I hadn’t been to before , the new and very special Highline Comedy Club run by Tom Luciano, who I told that if the club stayed as successful as it is, they’d call him Lucky Luciano! Great show with Gary Vider, Andy Fiori my pal from Sirius XM days, Meghan Hanley who was a great host, and J.P.McDade. All very funny which is perfect for a comedy show! Really nice room with a huge green room restaurant on the floor above.

Another new club I was glad to check out is owned by another guy with only two initials as his first name, my buddy P.J. Landers, who opened the new two story Comedy Village on West 44th Street. Beautiful club. P.J.showed me around and I even tried out the stage!

Speaking of new venues, major congrats to Cris and Paul Italia at The Stand who are making the Chelsea Music Hall into The Stand West. It’s a great space. I’ve been on that stage several times including Seth Herzog’s Sweet shows, and these Italia guys really know how to build a successful club. I got to see Daniel Bridge-Gadd there, hosting the Ed Bassmaster show. Daniel is an ex-football player who transitioned into comedy and is very funny.

Daniel describes himself as a “white-talking Black Jewish guy” which basically covers all the bases, and which explained why he was able to get away with using the “N” word. He’s really light-skinned. As for me, I’m so politically correct I don’t even take the “N” train!!! (LOL)

The Stand East had one of the hottest NYCF parties and lots of fun peeps showed up.

And the Hard Rock was the main base of operations where I got to see a bunch of new faces and one of the best shows was hosted by Ryan Long, who I hadn’t seen in a long time!

PERIEL AND FRIENDS AT WEST SIDE COMEDY

Comedian Periel Aschenbrand put together a great show at West Side Comedy Club, with Dan Naturman, who she does the Comedy Cellar podcast with, Olga Namer and the incredible Matt Friend. I say “incredible” because on one of his Instagram posts where he literally turns into Rami Malek my comment on his amazing ability to transform himself already has over 1850 likes and climbing every single day.

I have worked with several legendary impressionists in the past like Rich Little, Frank Gorshin, Fred Travalena, and the great political impressionist and my old friend Jim Morris, and Matt Friend is up there with the best of them. It’s uncanny to watch him morph into the person he’s imitating, especially when he does Mitch McConnell! After all my years in comedy, very few things make me laugh out loud. That does!!!

WORLD PREMIERE OF “WE MET AT GROSSINGERS”

A world premiere of any film is always exciting, but even moreso when you’re in the film!!! The tremendous success of the Netflix hit ” The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” spurred a renewed interest in that time period, the 1950’s when the Borscht Belt in upstate New York, had gorgeous hotels like Grossingers, The Concord, Kutcher’s, The Nevele and lots more. Grossingers stood out as it had it’s own airport, a ski slope where they brought in artificial snow so you could ski in the summer, an ice skating rink, indoor and huge outdoor pools, and all the biggest comedy talent of the time.

I was at Grossingers at two different points in my life. As a child.from 10-13, singing solo in the Samuel Sterner choir, that performed there on the High Holy Days, and as an adult writing for the major comedians who performed at the hotel like Milton Berle, who was my sponsor in The Friars Club, Jerry Lewis, Allen and Rossi, Dick Capri, Freddy Roman and tons more.

That’s why I was honored to be included in this wonderful film that focussed on the life of Jennie Grossinger. Jennie, who always came out to greet me as a child, was the only woman who owned and ran such a huge hotel and was known world-wide for her hospitality, hosting heads of state as well as famous athletes like Jackie Robinson. Jackie broke the color barrier not only in sports but in hotel stays at Grossingers.

Thanks to Harris Salomon of Atlantic Overseas Pictures, who came up with the idea, and Bobby Friedman from Bungalow Entertainment, and especially thanks to award-winning director Paula Eiselt the film is a masterpiece and a very important film for our time, showing the tremendous contribution of the Jewish people to our society, and how they worked hard to include the Black community in places where they were previously not allowed. This film is a “Must See.”

Then a few days after the premiere there was a huge party and comedy show at Mr. Purple, a very hip downtown space co-hosted by Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond, and comic Judy Gold! And I got to sit with my old pal Robert Klein who was being honored with an award, and who told me he was not planning on performing, but wound up performing anyway due to popular demand!!!

COMEDY MATTERS GIRL OF THE MONTH

And with that I thank you all for indulging me with this very long column, but there was just so much to see and do since the last one. I had so much more, it could have been even longer!!!

Until next time, follow Jeffrey on Instagram at @jeffreygurian and on TikTok at @jeffreylgurian and we’ll see you out in the clubs!!! AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS WITH A FRIEND WHO LIKES COMEDY!!!