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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH BILL BURR, PATRICE O’NEAL BENEFIT, KEVIN HART ROAST, DREW LYNCH, COMEDY WITH MAURY, BK IMPROV, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on May 19, 2026

13TH ANNUAL PATRICE O’NEAL BENEFIT

Every year since Patrice left us in 2011, comedy exec. Maureen Taran and Bill Burr have worked tirelessly ( especially Maureen! LOL) to keep the love for Patrice alive. And I know for sure it exists because I had the honor of being Patrice’s co-host on the Black Phillip Show on XM radio back in 2008 and I STILL get notes from guys thanking me for the information we put out!

I’ll never forget the phone call from Patrice at 4: 05 in the morning the first night we did the show together. It was me, Patrice and Dante Nero, Patrice’s first co-host. This phone call was also one of my greatest honors coming from Patrice when he told me he wanted us to do our own show!

At this 13th benefit Rich Vos was the perennial host, and as always brought it home with solid jokes. He was a big hit! First comic up was my buddy Matt Richards who I was so happy to see up there. Everyone killed by the way. Followed by Jordan Jensen who said she wears makeup so men can see she has features.

Then one of my personal faves, who I first met up in Montreal at JFL, and was so impressed that I featured him in a pilot I shot at Gotham Comedy Club called “The Raw Side of Comedy.”, the great Drew Dunn! Drew was trying to picture Gen Z if there was ever a civil war. They wouldn’t show up! “They don’t even wannna go to work!“

Next up was Modi who’s absolutely killing it these days, and was the only comic to mention Patrice. He also said he tore up a magazine that referred to him as an up and coming comedian. He also said he wasn’t gay but his gay husband is! #hilarious

The crowd went wild when Tim Dillon came out. He got HUGE applause and deservedly so. Needless to say but I’ll say it anway, he totally killed. Later at the afterparty he held court outside The Stand and we got a chance to catch up cause I hadn’t seen him in quite a while.

**CATCHING UP WITH TIM DILLON OUTSIDE THE STAND**

Zarna Garg was next who admitted that she and her husband do math for fun! Followed by Adam Ray who was the next to kill and did not come out as Dr. Phil. Funny because Patrice considered himself the Black Dr. Phil. Then a guest spot from Dave Attell drew tons of applause and you can always count on Dave to say something like, ” it happened years before dogs wore clothes!” He also announced that he was the new Supreme Leader of Iran!

And then of course Bill Burr closed as strong as ever, and in talking about his family disclosed that his father was a dentist. I can’t believe he never told me that!!! No wonder they didn’t get along! (LOL) I couldn’t wait to see him at the after party at The Stand where it’s held every year. Comics came who weren’t able to attend the show. And I went to see Bill who always sits in the back protected by a man you would want to protect YOU, Ken Feder, AKA Club Soda Kenny!!! He greeted me by saying, ” Now I know its a party if Jeffrey Gurian is here! That makes it official!” LOL

I brought a picture of me and Bill on my phone from 21 years ago, and Bill liked it so much he put it on HIS phone! So great!!! And he was there with his beautiful wife Nia.

**BILL BURR WITH OUR OLD PHOTO ON HIS PHONE**

BROOKLYN IMPROV IS AMAZING!!!

I don’t get to Brooklyn much cause I have no beard, but when I got a call from Alireza Ghaemian, the CEO of Levity Live in LA that handles so many major comedy stars, inviting me to come see their new club I threw caution to the wind and decided to make the trip! And I’m so glad I did!

Levity Live now owns this club and 25 in all across the country! Great move, and major congrats to Alireza and Judi Marmel the co-founder and President of Levity Live!!!

He connected me to Levity Exec. Italia Carmona and Jayk Burczyk the Director of Operations who made me feel very at home, and made sure that everything went perfectly, and coincidentally the night I went they were doing Subway Takes LIve with Kareem Rahma, so I was psyched to attend. My own Subway Takes has almost 900,000 views. Check it out on my Instagram, ((@jeffreygurian ) and Gilbert Gottfried’s daughter Lily is in it!!!

I even met Summer, in charge of marketing, whose ripped jeans are exactly the thing I talk about on stage , because the truth is that ripped jeans are basically just torn pants, and if you went into a store and saw a sign that said ” Sale Torn Pants”, there’s a good chance you’d pass it up. But if you rip your pants on purpose now it’s time to hit the clubs! I saw a girl last week just wearing pockets! LOL So when I met Summer she was kind enough to let me take pictures of her legs!!! (LOL)

Well I wasn’t prepared for such a beautiful club. It’s huge with different sections, like a separate bar area where you can just hang out, but the show room is like a casino room in Las Vegas. Really beautiful and in a couple of days from when you read this column I will be back for the Grand Opening party! I NEVER miss a party with or without a beard!!!

Kareem assembled a panel of comedians to judge the “takes” of members of the audience which I thought was an interesting spin on the concept. Included on the team was ex-SNL member Ego Nwodim, and comic Jay Jurden who opened the show!

**WITH KAREEM RAHMA AT SUBWAY TAKES LIVE AT THE BK IMPROV**

KEVIN HART ROAST

Having been the main writer for the famed Friars Roasts for 12 years I know a bit about roasting. Kev set the tone with his opening remarks heavy on the “N” word. it just gets tricky when you have too many people performing who are NOT comedians, but are just doing lines written for them by comedy writers. All the comics did great!

**WITH KEVIN WHO STARRED IN MY BENEFIT FOR HAITI**

There’s a distinct difference between just being loud and being funny. Having Tom Brady come out in the beginning was a great move and Tom was very funny, referring to Kevin as a hobbit. What else can they say about a man as successful as Kevin except to make fun of his size.

Shane Gillis was a great host, and did it in a very humble and respectful way, as if he respected the honor he was given to host this celeb packed event. Shane said that all of Kevin’s ancestors came to America in a slave ship in a bottle, and that in Saudi Arabia at the Riyadh Fest they gave him a sword and a shield and he had to fight a scorpion, two great visuals!

Pete Davidson had all his tats removed and looked very neat and corporate. He told Jeff Ross that he looked like the inside of a clam. Hilarious visual. And then he added , ” Like my Dad if he had somehow survived 9/11.” I feel a great affinity for Pete, knowing him since he was a teen and started out performing at The Comic Strip when I was hosting late night with Jordan Rock. Pete would come in with Jordan and work on his material and he was always so kind and respectful. He’s been through so much and I always hope he’s ok.

Almost all the comedians directed gay jokes at Tony Hinchcliffe who has never come out as gay as far as I know, but sometimes where there’s smoke there’s fire, as they say! I’m always grateful to Tony for secretly telling me not to do his show at Skankfest one year. Someone had signed me up but I was not familiar with the format of the show, and Tony came over and said he didn’t think I would like it, and that I shouldn’t do it. After I saw it I was grateful for the advice! (LOL)

**WITH JEFFREY ROSS BACKSTAGE ON BROADWAY**

It was no surprise that Jeffrey Ross, the Roastmaster General would kill. He said about Kevin that he put ” the elf in Philadelphia”! So clever!!!

Great to see Big Jay Oakerson on the dais with the streak of red hair in the front and red nail polish on his middle finger on both hands while the rest of his fingers sported black polish. He told a story about how he and Kev both had the same mentor Keith Robinson, as if Keith was dead, but they flashed to Keith who was in the audience hysterical laughing!

Basketball player Draymond Green took a lot of hits especially when Naim Lynn one of Kevin’s “Plastic Cup Boys”, who I met many years ago when I produced Kevin in a benefit for Haiti, said that Draymond Green “sounds like an ugly paint color. I think I’ll paint my bathroon Draymond Green! ” Draymond almost fell off his seat laughing so hard!

I have to say that Lizzo shocked me. First that she was not in a thong, but that she looked absolutely beautiful and elegant in the dress she wore covered with feathers. Not being a comedian she laughed her way through her set. Other non-comedians who appeared were Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor who were there I guess as eye candy and because they’re so popular.

And then there were the great surprise guests like Chris Rock who totally roasted Kev, Katt Williams, dressed like a pimp, who previously had beef with Kev, and Kev seemed genuinely shocked that Katt was there, and they made up live on set! And then at the end The Rock, Kev’s co-star in so many films, came out to first make fun of Kev and then to honor him, and people went crazy. Absolutely crazy, and Kev took some potshots at The Rock as well!!! A fun three hours!!!

Also lots of fun peeps in the audience, like Hasan Minhaj, George Wallace, Bert Kreischer and John Stamos!

COMEDY WITH MAURY

When you hear the name Maury you know there’s only one and it’s Maury Povich. So director Ari Rubin is having a conversation with comedy videographer/director The Homeless Pimp ( Mike Lavin), who has directed more than 30 comedy specials, and he says, ” I need someone to play a talent agent in this social media sketch with Maury Povich, someone like Jeffrey Gurian.” And Pimp says, ” Well why don’t I just text Jeffrey Gurian?” which he did and that’s how I wound up on this fun project brought to you by AIR, a company helmed by Tyler Strand, which is described as “a platform that revolutionizes creative operations.”

**HOMELESS PIMP WITH COMEDIAN DAN CARNEY WHO IS ALSO ONE OF THE PRODUCERS OF THE MAURY PROJECT**

**ARI RUBIN MAKING SURE EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN**

More than that I couldn’t tell you but it was a really fun project and I played a talent agent under my own name who interrupts a Maury Povich shoot to offer a singer a recording contract! It’s actually a lot more complicated than that, but that was the bottom line. It was such a fun shoot and then there was the screening party at the AIR offices downtown that brought out hundreds of people including Maury.

I like bringing people photos of us from decades before as I did with Bill Burr in the opening story, so I did the same thing with Maury. I had done Maury’s TV show 20 years ago which he said was more like 30 years ago, and we had a good laugh about it!

DREW LYNCH THE NON-STUTTERING COMEDIAN

SAY is a wonderful organization that stands for Stuttering Association for the Young. It’s headed up by Taro Alexander an actor I met years ago at Naked Angels theater troupe. I went to support because I stuttered badly for many years, from about the age of 6 or 7 through my 20’s and beyond. It took me many years of hard work to cure myself. And as an avocation I work with stutterers all over the world to teach them how NOT to stutter. My criterion is that if you can speak better when you are alone, then my cognitive techniques can help you.

Paul Rudd is often the face of SAY, not because he stuttered but because he played a stutterer in a play, and relates to the difficulty people face who stutter.

**WITH PAUL RUDD AT AN EVENT AT CHELSEA MUSIC HALL**

I was anxious to meet Drew Lynch who is often called “The Stuttering Comedian.” I got to speak with Drew, and shoot a video which I will be posting, who was a really nice guy, and I was surprised to learn that Drew didn’t start stuttering until he was 20 as the result of a brain injury. He was hit in the throat with a baseball, fell and hit his head and got a concussion, which caused him to stutter.

His speech sounds great and I was amazed to see that he used many of the same principles I teach to get better. I was not aware that you could accomplish that with a brain injury but Drew is proof that you can. He was being honored and was there with his family and his producer Lydia Rasmussen, who took photos of us together and promised to send them to me. Lydia if you read this please send them!!! (LOL)

**WITH DREW LYNCH AND YES THAT IS OUR MUTUAL FRIEND JOE GATTO FROM IMPRACTICAL JOKERS** **WHO ALSO ATTENDED THE EVENT**

SHOUT OUT TO FUNNY AF FINALISTS

Major congrats to two NYC homies Reg Thomas and Usama Siddiquee for making it to the Final Four of Kevin Hart’s Funny AF competition. I’ve known them both for a long time, performed on shows with them. and watched them come up in the NY comedy scene and I can attest to the fact that they are both FUNNY AF!!!

And I think that’s more than enough for this issue of Comedy Matters!!! If it goes any longer I’ll have to look for a publisher cause it will be a book! You can follow Jeffrey on IG at @jeffreygurian and on TikTok at @jeffreylgurian.

SEE YOU IN THE CLUBS!!!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "Maury Povich", "Tom Brady", Bill Burr, Celebrity Roast, Dave Attell, Drew Lynch, Duane johnson, Funny AF, Jeffrey Gurian, Kareem, Kareem Rahma, Katt Williams, Keep The Meter Running, Kevin Hart, Kevin Hart Roast, Patrice Oneal, people who stutter, Reg Thomas, Stuttering, Subway Takes, The Rock, Usama Siddiquee, Webbu Awards

Posted in: Celeb Photos, Charity Events, Comedians In The News, Comedy, Comedy Central, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Events, Comedy Festivals, Comedy Matters, Comedy Thoughts, Comedy Videos, Entertainment News, Jeffrey Gurian News, Nightlife Events, Red Carpet Events, Sketch Comedy, Social Media, Stand-Up Comedy

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH GARY VEE, COMEDY AT THE GRAMMYS, COMEDY IN A.C., TRIBUTE TO ERNIE ANASTOS, BROADWAY COMEDY AND MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on April 6, 2026

GARY VEE LOVES COMEDY

Growing up there were only three people I ever wanted to meet, Woody Allen, Salvador Dali and The Beach Boys. I got to meet all of them in very meaningful ways. Woody sat with me and read all of my earliest comedy material and encouraged me to make films of my ideas which I eventually did. Each meeting is a story unto itself, but in recent years I added Gary Vaynerchuk, known as Gary Vee to that short list.

SHARING A LAUGH WITH GARY VEE AT VAYNER MEDIA

You probably already know who he is, as he has a massive following. Born in Belarus, he’s an entrepreneur owning Vayner Media, a huge digital marketing agency, a field in which he’s considered a pioneer. He’s a best selling author with 6 N.Y. TImes best sellers, he’s an early angel investor in little known tech companies like Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, Facebook, Venmo, Tumblr and Coinbase, and he’s just a very unique human being , with over 45 million social media followers, who I had the feeling I needed to know.

He’s also a comedy lover and admits to being influenced by Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. He curses a lot when he speaks but it’s endearing and genuine. From the heart!

He and his Dad Sasha own The Wine Library, a wine store in New Jersey where I first tried to meet him two years ago. Gary, using his marketing skills, took that business from $3 million to $65 million. I wound up meeting his Dad that day, but the line to meet Gary was too long and I left determined to meet him another way.

On May 9, 2025 I got a notice that he was appearing at Dave and Adam’s card shop on Broadway with his line of trading cards for another company of his, Vee Friends. I was determined to attend. I watched him greeting strangers as if they were family of his. I was amazed at his open heart and generosity of spirit.

WITH GARY VEE THE FIRST TIME WE MET ON FRIDAY MAY 9TH, 2025

When it was my turn to meet him I don’t recall everything I said but the next thing I knew we were hugging and I felt the connection. A kindred spirit. I remember telling him I never met anyone like him. He took my phone and sent himself a message and told me he would call me after the weekend. He said it a couple of times. This was on a Friday. I left on a high.

Monday came and there was no call. I didn’t understand it. I was very surprised and disappointed. Nine months later, on Feb. 18th, 2026 there was another live appearance at Dave and Adam’s this time for his stickers. I decided I would go again, but I wasn’t sure what to say. I was prepared to re-introduce myself.

The place was mobbed and he was greeting people again so warmly on the red carpet and when he saw me he ran over and embraced me and said ” I’m so happy you’re here. I was thinking about you this morning hoping you would come!” I couldn’t believe it. He remembered everything we said 9 months before. He said he was very sorry he didn’t call me. This is a man who probably gets hundreds if not thousands of messages a day.

This time he called over one of his employees, a great guy named Train, and asked him to take my infomation so he could set up a private meeting with me at his office. That meeting happened this past week. I won’t divulge what came out of that meeting because it’s premature, but there’s a very good chance something very cool will be happening soon.

THE VIDEO WE SHOT BEFORE I LEFT GARY’S OFFICE

TRIBUTE TO ERNIE ANASTOS

Ernie Anastos was a legend in the world of news. I considered him a dear friend. Our friendship went back more than 25 years when we met at The Friars, and I first wrote him a speech to deliver at The White House of all places. It went very well and we became real friends.

ERNIE AND I BACK IN 2004

He wasn’t a comedian but he was the King of Positivity, which was something we bonded over. The topics I talk about and write about are Happiness, mindset, overcoming obstacles and changing negative thinking to positive thinking. Ernie had a show on WABC radio called Positively Ernie which I was on a couple of times, and we really enjoyed each other. His loss was a loss to the world and to all who knew him. He was a very special and genuine guy, with such a youthful spirit, and got real joy from spreading a positive message. R.I.P Ernie!

COMEDIANS AT THE GRAMMYS

Lots of POC’s ( People of Comedy) showed up at the Grammys. First, it was ably hosted by Trevor Noah, who did a lot of fun crowd work with the stars. Other appearances were Kumail Nanjiani who presented an award, Billy Crystal who did a tribute to his dear friend Rob Reiner, Marcello Hernandez who came out with Karol G and did a fun thing in Spanish saying he couldn’t help it, and then a group of funny women with Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper presented the award for Best Original Score and Best Sound, an award that everyone was waiting for with baited breath, whatever that is!!! ( Btw, Marcello’s imitation of Sebastian Maniscalco is so on point, it actually makes me laugh out loud, which is not easy to do! LOL)

BILLY DOING HSISTRIBUTE TO ROB AND MICHELLE REINER

BILLY CRYSTAL AND I OUT IN LA POINTING TO HIS TEETH BECAUSE HIS MANAGER, THE LEGENDARY JACK ROLLINS WANTED HIM TO PLAY ME IN A SIT-COM ABOUT A DENTIST IN SHOW BIZ!

GRAMMY HOST TREVOR NOAH

MARCELLO HERNANDEZ AND KAROL G

MELISSA McCARTHY, ROSE BYRNE, KRISTEN WIIG, MAYA RUDOLPH, AND ELLIE KEMPER

FUN GOINGS ON AT BROADWAY COMEDY CLUB

I wound up at three different cool events at Broadway Comedy Club which looks amazing these days. Unfortunately they had to wait till owner Al Martin left the stage to do any remodeling but it looks fantastic.

Atsushi Ogata did a fun show called World Comedy with comics from other countries. If you guessed that he was repping Japan you would be right. I met him recently when he stopped me at a comedy show and told me he saw me performing in Japan. I couldn’t believe it. Someone to actually verify that I performed in Japan! (LOL) That was back in 2019 and it was an amazing experience. They don’t have comedy clubs there like we do, they have tap rooms that offer comedy.

Thash Mose who I had met during the last NYCF, and who has one of the most interesting names I ever saw, was repping Denmark and was blonde enough to be believable! Audrey Mora repped Mexico, and Ellen Feeney repped the USA! And from Norway was one of my personal faves Daniel Simonsen who I try and get on every show I produce.

ATSUSHI OGATA ON STAGE

DANIEL SIMONSEN ON STAGE

Then Cristina Cote did her legendary Hersterical show with Corinne Fisher and Harrison Greenbaum, two of my favorite peeps in the whole, entire world who got together and made a get well video for me with about 50 other comics when I was in the hospital with Covid Double Pneumonia. Cristina does as many costume changes during her show as the hosts do at The Oscars. She’s amazing!!!

CRISTINA AS HERSELF

CRISTINA AS SVETTY

CRISTINA AS AN OLD WOMAN

WITH MY GIRLS CORINNE FISHER AND CRISTINA COTE

HARRISON GREENBAUM ON STAGE

And up and comer Mika Lorenzo is killing it with producing and performing. I’ve watched him progress from the beginning to being a polished performer. He needed a venue and I suggested Broadway for his type of show and it worked out great! Sold out crowd and included Todd Barry and Daniel Simonsen!!! Trust me, I think you’ll be seeing a lot of Mika in the coming weeks and months. Mika making moves!!! (Alliteration, … get it???)

WITH MIKA LORENZO AT BROADWAY COMEDY CLUB

JACKIE MASON DOC

Last month I reported on the Mel Brooks doc. This month Jackie Mason’s daughter is hard at work shooting a doc about her Dad, Jackie Mason, the man who never openly acknowledged that she was his daughter. I was part of Jackie’s entourage for many years and actually wrote a movie script for him, so I was glad to share some stories for the doc.

Sheba and Ian Wehrle who plays Jackie in their Jackie Mason Musical came to the Comedy Matters crib to shoot the interview. We shot for a few hours and it was great. At the end we were joined by comic/producer Laura Slutsky who had a few Jackie stories of her own. They were also interviewing some big name comics out in LA and as I recall Colin Quinn will also be in it. Can’t wait to see the finished product!

WITH SHEBA MASON IN THE COMEDY MUSEUM- COMEDY PHOTOS GOING BACK DECADES

ATLANTIC CITY COMEDY CLUB THANKS TO EMILIO SAVONE

I first met NYCC owner Emilio back around 2008 when I started working on the book ” Make ‘Em Laugh” about the history of The Comic Strip which opened on June 1, 1976 and launched the careers of some comics you may have heard of, … Eddie Murphy, Colin Quinn, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Chris wrote the intro to the book besides being interviewed for a chapter.

At the time Emilio was selling tickets through his company Empire Tickets, and now all these years later he took that background, and created his own empire, currenly owning five comedy clubs, one of them being in Atlantic City at The Tropicana Hotel. It’s run by comic/producer Rus Gutin, or Papa Rus as he’s affectionately known, who at one time ran the Comedy Juice shows at Gotham Comedy Club. He’s a great guy and brings energy to the stage almost on the level of Sebastian Maniscalco! ( 2nd Sebastian reference!!!)

I hadn’t been to AC in many years, but I was so glad I went. Rus has an amazing team of people working with him to make sure that each show comes off perfectly. Jeff FN Murray (DM me to find out what the FN stands for!!! ), and Lenny Schafer both made sure that every single detail was taken care of.

Jeff not only manages the club but also runs the main restaurant Wild Honey ( a Beach Boy reference!) and he immediately took me under his wing and made sure I was taken care of. The show was great, the room was great and the audience was great and I can’t wait to go back. Besides Rus who hosted I was on with old friend Phill Hunt and Noah Miller.

They already invited me back in the Spring so I could go out on the boardwalk. This time it was too cold. I couldn’t gamble either cause I couldn’t figure out the machines, which also happened when I went to Aruba, and which you’ll read about below!

WITH PAPA RUS GUTIN

PAPA RUS KILLING IT ON STAGE

WITH JEFF FN MURRAY

JEFFREY G ON STAGE

PHILL HUNT AND NOAH MILLER

RAY ELLIN OWNS ARUBA

Around 14 years ago Ray Ellin had an interesting idea. He was vacationing in Aruba and thought it would be a good place for a comedy club. A year later he made it happen and it’s been thriving ever since. Every place you go in Aruba they know Aruba Ray. The club moved locations a couple of times but these days it’s held in a great space as part of the Eagle Aruba Resort, a truly beautiful resort in Eagle Beach.

I got to check one more thing off my bucket list when Ray invited me down to perform for the week. The week was perfect except for my experience at JFK during the time the TSA workers weren’t being paid. I could do a whole column on just that, but suffice it to say that despite thanking every TSA employee I could find, … and there weren’t many, … they patted me down like I was Osama Bin Laden! Even with TSA pre-check!!!

But my room was awesome, and I got to do shows all week with old friends Tom Cotter, his wife Kerri Louise, and Ross Bennett all of whom I’m friends with for many, many years. Tom and Kerri had two of their three sons with them and their son Harry was amazing and turned out to be such a big help with filming and taking photos. What a great guy!!!

Ray is always so busy but he took a few hours out of his busy day to drive around the island with me, showing me the sights and telling me the stories that led up to the club being the great success it is now. Plus 85 degrees every day, but very windy. which was bad for my hair! (LOL) The crowds were great. Packed room every night. Hope I get to go back.

ON STAGE

LOOK HOW WINDY IT IS!!!

WITH THE MAN, ARUBA RAY ELLIN

ALL OVER THE ISLAND YOU SEE SIGNS FOR ARUBA RAY

(L-R) HARRY COTTER, ( YES THAT’S HIS NAME!!!) TOM COTTER, KERRI LOUISE, RAY ELLIN, YOURS TRULY, ROSS BENNETT, GWEN BENNETT

CHARITY EVENT AT GOTHAM

Chris Mazzilli owner of Gotham should be very proud of how many charity events they do at the club, because he supports so many good causes, and they all run smoothly thanks to Events Manager Kris Alexander. Every detail is taken care of. So when Brett Hess of Rippling contacted me to do a charity event for Access- Supports for Living, a huge charity that for the last 50 years has been helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as mental health and addiction issues, … which sounds like a charity for comedians, … I knew exactly where to go!

The event was a HUGE success and came off without a hitch. Great food and drinks, a beautifully set up room, and I have to say I chose a great line-up with Gina Brillon, Bonnie McFarlane, and Derek Gaines to close, cause it’s really hard to follow Derek Gaines! (LOL) I

I was the host, and the people from Rippling, Lockton and Disrupt HR, which at first when I heard the name Disrupt, I was afraid they were an arm of Antifa, (LOL) but they all turned out to be very nice people, and they all felt this would be the first of many comedy shows to raise money for good causes. Laughter carries a great message, and is a very effective way to bring attention to a problem!

HOSTING THE SHOW

WITH THE ALWAYS HILARIOUS BONNIE MCFARLANE

DEREK GAINES KILLING IT ON STAGE

PRAYERS FOR RON BENNINGTON

I hated writing this heading but I couldn’t figure out what else to write. This past week Ron, the long-running host of The Bennington Show, with his daughter Gail, the biggest comedy show on Sirius XM radio, announced that he was diagnosed with colon cancer that spread to other areas.

In a perfect world, people like Ron who bring so much joy to others are not supposed to be seriously ill. The first thing I saw was an Instagram post that showed Ron smiling from a hospital bed with Gail by his side. A day or two later he announced his diagnosis.

When I was in the hospital with my heart attack, back in 2015, I had been with Ron and Deb from The Interrobang, and Chris Stanley the night before partying at Sammy’s Roumanian, where the specialty is bowls of cholesterol, and Ron posted about my illness and asked his listeners for prayers for me. He did the same thing when I was in the hospital with Covid Double Pneumonia back in 2020.

I don’t have his reach, but now it’s my turn to return the kindness. Ron is such a good man and I truly believe in the power of prayer, so please keep him in your thoughts because I believe he can beat this. He’s a tough guy with a good heart, and we need him.

WITH RON WHEN FEZ MARIE WAS STILL WITH US

WITH RON WHEN HE HONORED ME BY BEING MY GUEST ON MY COMEDY MATTERS TV PODCAST, 4 DAYS BEFORE I CAME DOWN WITH COVID DOUBLE PNEUMONIA!!!

FOLLOW JEFFREY ON INSTAGRAM AT @JEFFREYGURIAN AND ON TIKTOK AT @JEFFREYLGURIAN. CONSIDER JOINING HIS PATREON- LINK ON WEBSITE HTTPS://WWW.COMEDYMATTERSTV.COM OR ALSO ON SUBSTACK. SEE YOU IN THE CLUBS!!!

Tags: "America's Got Talent", "Corinne Fisher", "Jackie Mason", "Ron Bennington", AGT, Billy Crystal, Ernie Anastos, Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary Vee, Harrison Greenbaum, Jeffrey Gurian, Kumail Nanjiani, Marcello Hernandez, POdcast with Friends, Rob Reiner, The Gary Vee Audio Experience, The Grammys, Tom Cotter, Trevor Noah, Vayner Media, Vee Friends

Posted in: Celeb Photos, Celebrity Death, Celebrity Passing, Charity Events, Comedians In The News, Comedy, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Events, Comedy Festivals, Comedy Matters, Comedy Thoughts, Comedy Videos, Entertainment News, Jeffrey Gurian News, Podcasts, Red Carpet Events, Social Media, Stand-Up Comedy

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH NIKKI GLASER AT THE GLOBES, MEL BROOKS DOC, KILL TONY ON NETFLIX, BORSCHT BELT FEST, JACKIE MASON SHOW, COMEDY PARTIES AT NY COMEDY CLUB AND GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB, AND OF COURSE LOTS MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on January 26, 2026

(L-R) FROM THE ARCHIVES – WITH NIKKI GLASER, RACHEL FEINSTEIN, SOME GUY, AMY SCHUMER, AND MARINA FRANKLIN – THE POWER WOMEN OF COMEDY

NIKKI GLASER KILLS AT AT THE GLOBES … AGAIN!!!

It came as no surprise that Nikki Glaser absolutely crushed at the 83rd annual Golden Globes where she was the host for the 2nd year in a row. I have a feeling she will be the ongoing host from now on! She’s so funny, so well poised, so elegant in all of her 9 changes of outfits, and really commands the room which is not easy to do when you’re facing the biggest stars in the game. But Nikki did it! She made her entrance in a gorgeous red gown fit for a Princess! ( Click the link)

Her lines were so sharp. In particular when she came out said ” There are so many A-listers here, and by A-listers I mean people who are on “A list” that has been heavily redacted!

Then she announced the award for MOST editing goes to CBS News, America’s newest place to “C-BS News!” Such a clever line I wish I had written it myself!

And lastly when she saw Sean Penn who looked kind of wild, with his hair a total mess she said, ” I love you Sean. You’re such an original. Everyone in this town is so obsessed with looking younger, meanwhile Sean is like, ” What if I slowly morph into a sexy leather handbag! Even HE had to laugh!!!

Lots of comics appeared on the show and won awards like Amy Poehler, who won for Best Podcast, for ” Good Hang With Amy Poehler”, while Joe Rogan whose podcast is #1 on Spotify wasn’t even nominated.

AMY POEHLER ON THE RED CARPET FOR ET NETWORK

Kevin Hart was on the red carpet and Judd Apatow presented the award for Best Diirector and joked that he was on a “10-year quiet boycott” after his film Trainwreck lost the Best Comedy award in 2016.

KEVIN HART AT THE GLOBES

JUDD APATOW PRESENTING FOR BEST DIRECTOR

Pamela Anderson and Miley Cyrus presented the award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture, and I really didn’trecognize Pam Anderson. She looked so different than when I first met her.

THE JACKIE MASON MUSICAL AT RODNEY’S

The Jackie Mason Musical”, is sometimes also known as Both Sides of a Famous Love Affair: The Jackie Mason Musical. It’s an off-Broadway production starring Sheba Mason, the real-life daughter of comedian Jackie Mason. but playing her mother GInger Reiter, who created the concept ,and wrote the dialogue, music and lyrics for the play. An incredible achievement! Jackie Mason is played by Ian Wehrle who is so much like Jackie Mason , he’s absolutely perfect for the role. I had seen it a couple of times but I went to see it again at Rodney’s because it’s so good!

Unfortunately the play is based on a true story, and you’ll see why I say that in a moment. It’s the story of how Jackie was involved with GInger Reiter in a ten year-long affair and had this wonderful daughter but never acknowledged her as his daughter throughout his entire life, despite the fact of a nasty paternity suit, and that she looks exactly like him. A fact she often jokes about!

Sheba’s a great girl and so funny. It’s definitely Jackie’s loss not to have acknowledged her. She and I once did a comedy show at a funeral, which is a crazy story for another time, and I’ve done her show at 3 Monkeys several times.

WITH SHEBA MASON AT HER SHOW AT 3 MONKEYS

Ginger wrote a masterful piece that truly portrays what Jackie was like and I can vouch for that because I was part of his “entourage” for many years. I knew Jackie well for more than 25 years. Jackie was one of the funniest men that ever lived but a very complicated and often stubborn, and very difficult man to get along with, and that’s putting it mildly. What kind of man doesn’t acknowledge his own daughter? Mister, you know what I’m talkin’ about???

I remember how excited my Mom was when I brought her to meet Jackie backstage after one of his 8 one-man shows on Broadway.

JACKIE MASON WITH MY MOM, MARJORIE GURIAN BACK IN 2005

I actually wrote a movie for Jackie which he bought, called “The Detective” in which he played a Jewish ( what else?) bumbling private eye named Harry Snavish, on the syle of Inspector Clouseau, who accidentally becomes a hero, by saving the world from a dreaded “pants virus” that would have destroyed every pair of pants in the country leaving us a nation of men in our underwear. Terororists knew they couldn’t beat us militarily so they wanted to humiliate us in the eyes of the world and Snavish manages to save the day.

THROWING JEWISH GANG SIGNS WITH JACKIE MASON

JACKIE MASON AND I GOING OVER MY SCRIPT

The musical has a really fun talented cast including producer Laura Slutsky and even Mark Yosef the owner of Rodney’s Comedy Club who was up on stage acting and singing his little heart out!

THE CAST OF JACKIE MASON MUSICAL

MARK YOSEF ON STAGE

THE WHOLE CAST WITH LAURA SLUTSKY IN THE PINK TOP

COMEDY COMMUNITY COMES OUT FOR THE PARTIES

Comedy can often feel very lonely because it’s mostly a solo event. You write alone, rehearse alone and you’re usually on stage alone. So it’s a wonderful feeling when the comedy community actually gets together like they do for the holiday parties. Emilio Savone, owner and face of all five New York Comedy Clubs told me that I had the distinct honor of being the ONLY person he texted about the party to make sure I showed up, because as he always kindly says, ” It’s not a party unless you’re there”! (LOL)

It was at the 4th street location and I got there early to get the pizza while it was still fresh. It was already crowded with lots of my favorite people. It was so great to see my pals Joe DeRosa and Brian Quinn from The Impractical Jokers. I almost didn’t recognize Brian because the last time I saw him he didn’t have that huge beard. Joe and I are planning to do another video since the success of Mouth On My Money, and as sick as it sounds, I have been named the official dancer for Joe’s band Salsa Windfall! Besides trying to see him at parties, you can also see Joe featured in the new Kill Tony special on Netflix!

GOTHAM HOLIDAY PARTY

Chris Mazzilli always plans his annual holiday party AFTER New Years which makes it even more special. It’s another amazing event, so well attended with an open bar, and an assortment of hot and cold food, lots of sliders, and platters of sushi. One of the first people I saw was Brian Fischler who has a new seeing-eye dog named Wesley, and when I told him I’m producing a big charity event there on Tuesday 2/24/26 he told me he’s done 18 events at Gotham for his charity “Fight for Sight.”

The party not only drew comedians but also industry as Chris is connected to everyone on both sides of the camera, in particular Conan Smith from the Buchwald Agency, one of the good ones!!! (LOL)

And so glad I got to see Bonnie McFarlane who besides being Rich Vos’s wife is one of the funniest comics in the game and was also one of the writers on The Golden Globes. It was so exciting to see her name in the credits. A well deserved honor! And reuniting with Chris Roach was also cool. I made him sit down for the photo so you’d be able to see both of us, and we were photobombed by Harrison Greenbaum. I never saw Harrison and it was probably one of his amazing magic tricks that he suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

WITH THE AMAZING BONNIE MCFARLANE

WITH CHRIS ROACH AND THE MAGICAL HARRISON GREENBAUM

Also got to reunite with Robin Montague who writes for the daytime Emmy award winning Sherri show starring the great Sherri Shepherd, and Subhah Agarwal who many years ago started on my late night show at The Comic Strip and just moved back to NY from Cali. I saw Subhah again a few nights later when I was performing at the new comedy room Room 52 started by Adam Strauss. A really cool space on East 52nd Street.

WITH ROBIN MONTAGUE WRITER FOR SHERRI

WITH SHERRI SHEPHERD HOLDING ONE OF MY BOOKS

WITH SUBHAH AGARWAL

KOSHER COMEDY ON AND AT BROADWAY

Thanks to Kenny Gluck Jewish comics have something to do on Chistmas Eve and I was so glad to get to do a set at the new and upgraded Broadway Comedy Club on the eve of December 24th. Since it’s founder the great Al Martin left the stage, they really updated the club and made it look much more modern. A really fun show with a great, … I would guess mostly Hebraic crowd!

WITH KENNY GLUCK

ONSTAGE IN THE NEW ROOM

BORSCHT BELT FESTIVAL CONTINUES TO GROW

Alejandro Morales is the comic/producer responsible for keeping the Borscht Belt Festival growing bigger and bigger as time goes on. This past July we celebrated it’s 2nd year with a whole bunch of shows and a special event honoring Robert Klein at the Borscht Belt Museum. So I was very glad when I got the call asking me to be the first headliner of the new year series. I did 45 minutes to a packed crowd at Shadowlands Stages.

WITH MILTON BERLE IN LA CIRCA 1985

WITH JERRY LEWIS AT HIS ROAST CIRCA 1986

I may be the only one around who actually worked with the Borscht Belt stars of yesteryear as well as the stars of today. Milton Berle, AKA Mr. Television was my sponsor in The Friars Club, and I got to write for him, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Mason, Pat Cooper, Joan Rivers, Dick Capri, Morty Gunty, Dick Shawn, Freddie Roman, and so many others who graced the stages of the Borscht Belt, whether it was at Grossingers, The Concord, The Nevele, The Fallsview or any of the other multitude of hotels and bungalow colonies that were up in The Catskills.

One of the weirdest and most fun experiences I ever had was this past weekend, being put into the Honors Haven Resort as literally the only guest on the premises. This huge resort which was once the Fallsview Hotel. now only books groups and somehow there were groups the previous weekend and the following weekend but not the weekend I was there.

Big thank you to Naomi Brill for arranging that for me. I brought my assistant Dave ” The Ironer” who started out ironing people’s clothes at parties and hot clubs in NY, even on the dance floor, if they looked wrinkled. So it was just the two of us in this entire huge, gorgeous resort! So in our downtime we made this little video:

MEL BROOKS THE 99 YEAR OLD MAN

Judd Apatow and Mike Bonfiglio both of whom I have the pleasure of calling friends have Exec. Produced and directed a fabulous 2 part HBO documentary on Mel Brooks called “Mel Brooks – The 99 Year Old Man” kind of a take-off on his 2000 Year Old Man that he did with his dear friend, the late Carl Reiner. It’s a masterful piece of work that must have taken years to create! The editor deserves an award of some kind as well!

And Judd must have been so excited sitting with Mel and doing the interviews,. I know how I felt sitting with legends I saw as a kid, like Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, George Burns, Woody Allen and Jackie Mason. I’m glad he gave himself screentime as opposed to the docs where you just hear the interviewer speaking offfscreen.

WITH THE GREAT MEL BROOKS WHEN HE WAS ONLY 90

The film is filled with sound bytes and video from the comedy greats of yesteryear like Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, and Richard Pryor, several scenes with poor Rob Reiner, as well as the stars of today like Jerry Seinfeld, Nick Kroll. Sarah Silverman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dave Chappelle, Ronny Chieng and my friend Nick Brooks one of Mel’s sons. It’s a must see if you like comedy and if you’re reading this column I have to assume you do. I stayed up till 3:30 A.M. watching both parts. I tried to leave to go to sleep but I just couldn’t do it!!! (LOL)

WITH NICK KROLL

WITH NICK BROOKS

In watching the doc I came to realize how much I had been influenced by Mel and Carl in early films I did like interviewing a woman married to a well known busimessman who turned out to be an infant, and an interview with a woman who was robbed by two men disguised as jewelry, the dreaded Masters of Disguise!

MISS BRAZIL DROPS BY THE COMEDY MATTERS CRIB

So nice of comedy fan Gizele ( Miss Brazil) to take time off from her national tour to visit me at the Comedy Matters crib!

OWNING MANHATTAN- THE PARTY

In truth it’s not a comedy, Owning Manhattan is reality TV, the Netflix hit about Serhant Realty and the exciting world of real estate, but a lot of funny stuff goes on and Ryan Serhant is definitely a force. I had met him years ago when he was doing Million Dollar Listing and then he created Serhant Realty and it’s taking over the country! The man sells $60-$100 million of real estate a month. For anyone who doesnt know, … that’s a lot of money!!! Truthfully that’s more than some people make in a year!!!

WITH REAL ESTATE SUPERSTAR RYAN SERHANT

So I got invited to the party for the 2nd season downtown in the beautiful Serhant townhouse that serves as his office. I got to be interviewed in a couple of videos and got to meet my favorite Serhant team member on the show, Genesis Suero a true superstar in the making! Even in this climate of high interest rates,who wouldn’t take out a mortgage to buy something from Genesis???

MIKA LORENZO ON THE RISE

Up and coming comic Mika Lorenzo will be hosting at Gotham Comedy Club on Feb. 4th and just had the honor of introducing Jerry Seinfeld to the Gotham crowd on another night he was hosting. He’ll be doing what he describes as a mini-special on Feb. 28th at Fear City on the Lower east Side, and there’s a good chance that I will be on the show!!! This column has to end somewhere and I think this is a good time for that to happen!

THIS COLUMN WILL ALSO APPEAR ON SUBSTACK AND YOU CAN FOLLOW JEFFREY ON INSTAGRAM AT @JEFFREYGURIAN AND ON TIKTOK AT @JEFFREYLGURIAN AND THANKS TO MANY SUGGESTIONS, COMEDY MATTERS IS NOW ON PATREON AFTER ALL THESE YEARS TO HELP DEFRAY THE COSTS INVOLVED. CLICK ON THE LINK TO SEE THE DIFFERENT TIERS. https://www.patreon.com/c/comedymatterstv/shop?vanity=comedymatterstv

Tags: Alejandro Morales, Borsacht Belt Comedy Festival, Borscht Belt Museum, Brian Quinn, Chris Roach, comedy parties, Emilio Savone, Gotham Comedy Club, Harrison Greenbaum, Impractical Jokers, Jackie Mason, Jeffrey Gurian, Joe DeRosa, Judd Apatow, Mel Brooks, New York Comedy Club, Nikki Glaser, Robin Montague, Sheba Mason, Sherri Shepherd, Subhah Agarwal

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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!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on November 24, 2025

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!!!

JEREMY PIVEN WITH ICE-T AND THE BEAUTIFUL COCO AUSTIN

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!

ONSTAGE AT THE CELLAR

WITH MY MAIN MAN, CHRIS DISTEFANO

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!!!

WITH MULTI-TALENTED WRITER/ACTOR/DIRECTOR WILL STERLING

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!!!

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL GETS HER CAKE!!!

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!

WITH CORINNE FISHER, … AND THAT GREEN LIGHT IS HER HEART LIGHT CAUSE SHE HAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL HEART!!!

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.”

(L-R) WITH LUCA PALANCA AND BRIAN HOLTZMAN

WITH TAMMY PESCATELLI AT GOTHAM

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.

(L-R) BOB GREENBERG, DAVE KONIG, SANDY EHLERS, AND YOU KNOW WHO!!!

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!

WITH THE GREAT BEN BANKAS

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!!!!

WITH JOE AND SARAH

MARK NORMAND GIVING ME A HAND

WITH JEFF ROSS SANS WIG

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!

GASTOR ALMONTE AT NYCC

WITH NACYA MARREIRO AND OSLO

WITH RICHARD VILLA OUTSIDE OF NYCC INCLUDING RAVES FROM THE AUDIENCE

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.

(L-R) ANDY FIORI, GARY VIDER, MEGHAN HANLEY AND J.P. MCDADE

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 BRIDGE-GADD ON STAGE AT THE STAND WEST

(L-R) WITH PAUL ITALIA AND LOUIS FARANDA THE HUMBLE LONG-TIME HEAD OF THE NYCF

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.

(L-R) COMEDY EXECS JODI LIEBERMAN, AND ZOE FRIEDMAN

WITH T.J.MILLER

WITH SEATON SMITH

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!

WITH RYAN LONG AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL SHOWROOM

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!!!

WITH RICH LITTLE AT A FRIARS ROAST-80’S

MATT FRIEND ON STAGE

WITH PERIEL ASCHENBRAND

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.

ME AT 10 YEARS OLD AT GROSSINGERS WITH MY MOM AND DAD DRESSED TO SING FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ( FROM THE ORIGINAL PHOTO PACKET!!! REMEMBER THOSE ???)

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.”

PROMO PHOTO FOR WE MET AT GROSSINGERS

WITH AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR PAULA EISELT

WITH PAULA EISELT AND PRODUCER BOBBY FRIEDMAN FROM BUNGALOW ENTERTAINMENT

A PANEL WE DID FOR THE FILM AT THE BORSCHT BELT FESTIVAL IN ELLENVILLE, NY–HARRIS SALOMON IS IN THE REAR

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

HERE’S TO KATY FOR HER LOVE OF COMEDY AND SUPPORT OF THE COMEDY SCENE

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!!!

Tags: "Comedy Cellar", "Comedy Matters TV", "Corinne Fisher", "New York Comedy Club", "New York Comedy Festival", "NY Comedy Festival", Ari Gold, Ben Bankas, Chris Distefano, Entourage, Gotham Comedy Club, Gramercy Theater, Jacob Williams, Jeff Ross, Jeffrey Gurian, Jeffrey Ross, Jeremy Piven, Joe List, Mark Normand, Matt Friend, Nacya Marriero, NYCF, Richard Villa, Ryan Long, Sam Morril, Soho International Film Festival, T.J>Miller, The Stand NYC, Triad Theater, West Side Comedy Club, Wild 'n Out

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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!

WITH JEFFREY IN 2005

WITH JEFFREY IN 2006 AT A FRIARS ROAST

WITH JEFFREY IN 2007

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“

AT JOAN RIVERS’ FUNERAL- JEFF LOOKS LIKE AN MMA FIGHTER

WITH JEFF AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB

WITH JEFF IN 2014

WITH JEFF IN 2015

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!)

NOEL LEON ON STAGE

CORINNE FISHER ON STAGE

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

CHRISSY D LOOKING LIKE THE ROCK STAR HE IS!!!

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

WITH COLIN IN 2010

WHEN COLIN WAS MY VERY FIRST GUEST ON SIRIUS XM WITH RON AND FEZ-2014

WITH COLIN IN 2018 WHEN WE SHOT AN EPISODE OF HBO’S CRASHING AT THE COMEDY CELLAR

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!

WITH NATE AT SIRIUS XM – 2014

WITH NATE AT JFL-2015

WITH NATE AT THE RICH VOS ROAST 2017

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

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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???

HAVING A BLAST WITH JEFF GARLIN

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!!!

WITH PAUL RUDD

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!

WITH JOHN HAMMOND

KAREEM AND JOHNNY ON SCREEN

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.

MIKA LORENZO ON STAGE

JARED WATERS AND BRITTANY BRAVE

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!

WITH MY MAN D.L.

DL KILLIN’ IT ON STAGE

(L-R) MARK CURRY, D.L. HUGHLEY AND ROYALE WATKINS

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 LEIFER AND SUSIE ESSMAN

WITH SUSIE ESSMAN

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

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on October 3, 2024

COMEDY MATTERS 25th ANNIVERSARY

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

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

TOM BRADY ROAST IS HUGE FOR NIKKI GLASER

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

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

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

WITH SARA SCHAEFER AND NIKKI GLASER AT MTV BACK IN 2013

GROSSINGERS DOC DUE FROM BUNGALOW ENTERTAINMENT AND ATLANTIC OVERSEAS PICTURES

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

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

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

WITH AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR PAULA EISELT AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB

UCB IS BACK WITH ASSSSCAT BETTER THAN EVER

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

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

CELEB PHOTOG MARCUS RUSSELL PRICE PRODUCING SHOWS

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

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

MIKE BERKOWITZ REACTING TO SEEING ME ENTER NICK KROLL’S DRESSING ROOM

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

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

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

NEW YORK COMEDY CLUB TAKES OVER STAND UP NY LOCATION

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

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

WITH CHRIS DISTEFANO WHO JUST GOT A HULU SPECIAL

WITH CORINNE FISHER

WITH CHRISSY D AND EMILIO

COMEDY TIDBITS

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

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

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

WITH GREG GIRALDO JR. A VERY FUNNY YOUNG GUY

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

WITH TONY LOBIANCO

WITH JOE PISCOPO AND FRANK MORANO

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

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

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

WITH SOO RA THE COMEDIAN/FLIGHT ATTENDANT

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

ON STAGE AT THE RED ROOM WITH ANNA MANIS

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

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

HOLISTIC COMEDY

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

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

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

WITH FRANK MORANO

WITH KRYSTYNA HUTCHINSON IN HER BRAND NEW STUDIO

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

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

SWEET CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

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

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

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

MICHAEL IAN BLACK AND SETH HERZOG

TODD BARRY

JANEANE GAROFOLO AND HER BAG OF PANTS

RICHARD KIND MID-SONG

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

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

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

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on April 29, 2024

WITH THE AMAZING BILL BURR AT THE STAND

THE LOVE FOR PATRICE GOES ON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WITH BILL IN 2005

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

WITH BOBBY KELLY

WITH KEITH ROBINSON

WITH MICHAEL CHE

WITH MIKE VECCHIONE AND RICH ARONOVICH

WITH REGGIE CONQUEST

WITH EVENT PRODUCER MAUREEN TARAN

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

WITH A VERY SERIOUS LOOKING KEN FEDER

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

GARDEN OF LAUGHS INSANITY

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

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

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

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

WITH SAM MORRIL

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

WITH MY PAL TRACY MORGAN

LAUGHING BUDDHA FEST FOR $2,000.

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

WITH DARYN PASSARELLO AND JEFF LAWRENCE AT THE TRIAD

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

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

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

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

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

BIG COMEDIC HUGS FOR ISRAEL

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

AVI LIBERMAN

GINA BRILLON

JIM GAFFIGAN

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

DEAN EDWARDS WHOSE HAIR IS WILDER THAN MINE

DAN NATURMAN

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

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

BEN CARSON IS A HERO IN MY BOOK

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

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

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

COMEDY BENEFIT FOR MENTAL ILLNESS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted in: Jeffrey Gurian News

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH COLIN QUINN … SINGING, MICHAEL CHE, JOHN OLIVER, “DICE” CLAY’S SURPRISE AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on July 16, 2023

WITH COLIN QUINN AT THE CELL THEATRE FOR ROAD RECOVERY

Colin Quinn and I go back to his days on MTV’s Remote Control and maybe even before. It was around the time I was writing scripts for MTV VJ Mark Goodman on MTV’s Friday Night Video Fights. He was my very first guest on Sirius XM’s Ron and Fez show when I was a regular for two years. And I’ve been at all of his amazing one man shows, and he’s just so funny and smart, so whenever I get a chance to see him perform I’m there.

WITH COLIN CIRCA 2005

WITH COLIN NOW 2023

He’s a unique talent and maybe only Jackie Mason, and Mike Birbiglia have had more one man shows than Colin, but it’s definitely close. Colin is known to give his time to worthwhile causes so when I got the invite to attend a one act play reading called Obsessed at the Cell Theatre on 23rd Street, with a special guest appearance by Colin Quinn I made it my business to be there.

Road Recovery is a non-profit that strives to help 13-25 year-olds manage (or avoid) the pitfalls and challenges of behavioral issues, or physical or mental health trauma, poverty, or drug or alcohol dependency. Some of its supporters are Slash, Denis Leary, Darryl â€œDMCâ€ McDaniels, Sharon Osbourne , and Simon Kirke the drummer from Bad Company who was there at the event, and got Colin Quinn to sing along with the Crosby, Stills, Nash song “Teach Your Children”.

MICHAEL CHE AT CITY WINERY

City Winery has been killing it with great comedy line-ups, evidenced by the show that Michael Che put on. I got there early so say “what’s up” to Michael, or more accurately “Wassup!” as I hadn’t seen him in a long time.

WITH MICHAEL AND COLIN UP AT JFL IN MONTREAL

WITH MICHAEL AT THE STAND FOR PATRICE ONEAL BENEFIT

I always try and say a brief “hi” BEFORE the show in case the green room is packed afterwards or the star leaves quickly when he’s done.

Michael’s been very busy not only as the co-anchor of SNL’s Weekend Update with Colin Jost, but he has two Netflix specials, and an HBO sketch series under his belt called That Damn Michael Che which he wrote stars in and Exec. Produced.

He was planning on disrupting Colin Jost’s wedding to Scarlet Johanssen by objecting to their union but decided against it at the last minute. Colin says Michael likes to disrupt things.

Michael came out of the green room to say hi, and afterwards I took my seat in the showroom, and a guy came by in a black hoodie wearing a black mask, greeted me with a fist bump and walked by. With just his eyes showing I couldn’t tell it was Wil Sylvince who was hosting the show. Wil is always a great host and really got the audience pumped up.

Jacob Williams from Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out was also on the show. I hadn’t seen him in a while either . We originally met when we were both in a TV pilot called “Off The Rip” starring Rip Micheals, also one of the stars of Wild ‘N Out. It’s where I first met Cardi Bi who was in some sketches that day also.

WITH JACOB WILLIAMS

WITH CARDI B ON SET ( NOT OFFSET)

Jacob has such an interesting stage presence. He ended his set by telling the audience, ” I do have to get out of here cause I’m having a panic attack.” Also great seeing Monroe Martin who’s always a crowd favorite as well.

When Michael came out he did just an interesting thing. He sat down on a stool, brought Will back out and opened the show to the audience in a very interactive kind of thing, where he encouraged the audience to participate. Very risky if you’re not a pro like Michael!

MICHAEL WITH WIL SYLVINCE

MONROE MARTIN KILLING IT ONSTAGE

DAN LAMORTE AND NATALIE CUOMO ENGAGED

Not long after the Michael Che show I was back at City Winery to see my pal Dan Lamorte perform with his fiance Natalie Cuomo, who are engaged and getting married next year. So cool that Dan and Natalie perform together and go on the road together too!

The show was hosted by J.C. Mendoza who often hosts at The Stand, and also featured Samantha Santos, making them another couple in a relationship who get to perform together. They have a show coming up at The Stand on July 29th at 5 P.M.called Soft Launch, and do a podcast with the same name!

I admire Dan Lamorte tremendously for how he has changed his life. We met several years ago when he opened for me at a show I headlined in Pennsylvania. At the time he was over 300 pounds and was driving himself across the country doing shows wherever he could.

WITH THE PREVIOUSLY LARGE VERSION OF DAN LAMORTE

As I recall he lost a baseball career due to a shoulder injury. Anyway he managed to lose 190 pounds after having been in a car accident. He lost 50 pounds by giving up gluten and the rest by running. He told me he ran a 50 mile run while blasted on mushrooms!

One thing I didn’t know about him till the evening of this show is that he was also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and is on the spectrum of autism, which is why he looks down most of the time when he’s performing.

He said as a child he asked his parents for 100 red balloons and they got them for him instead of testing him for autism! Many people let obstacles stop them but not Dan which is why I admire him so much. He’s definitely high functioning, and the first time I saw him since the huge weight loss, I actually didn’t recognize him.

So when he and Natalie, … his soul-mate, … perform together they each do 30 minutes solo, and then they close the show together. This night both of their parents were in the audience and Natalie did some very graphic sexually-oriented material she said she couldn’t believe she was doing in front of her parents. She managed to survive that ordeal, but I was nervous for her! (LOL) She really made me laugh when she asked the audience, ” Is anyone else a woman?”

I spent most of the show running back and forth from the showroom to backstage and we had a lot of laughs! They are definitely a match made in Heaven right down to the tattoos!!!

DAN AND NATALIE

SKINNY DAN ON STAGE LOOKING DOWN

US HAVING FUN

JOHN OLIVER AT STAND UP NEW YORK

I LOVE John Oliver and due to the writer’s strike he’s got more time on his hands than he would like. BUT it’s giving him more time to perform and he likes the stage at Stand Up New York. I popped in to see him and shot this little fun video, testing out my new little wireless lavalier mics that work off my i-Phone. John was smart enough to hold it in his hand and talk right into it!

I asked him how he spends his days and he said “Sitting around nervously!”

Also on John’s show was my pal Craig Gass who is one of the most talented impressionists and voice-over guys on the scene today. He’s probably best known for his roles in King of Queens, Family Guy, American Dad, and Sex and The City.

He has such a fascinating back story coming from a family of all deaf people. He had to learn to speak from watching TV and movies. This night he did amazing impressions of Tracy Morgan, Chris Walken and Morgan Freeman.

WITH MY TALENTED PAL CRAIG GASS

AARON BERG STARTS HIS OWN RECORD LABEL

Aaron Berg is a unique talent which Is why I try and have him on every show I produce. He spits jokes like street rappers spit beats. But faster!!! I was with him the night he made the record for doing the most sets in one night. I think it was 25! So when he told me he was starting his own record label I had to find out more about it!

It’s called Uncancellable Records, and it’s co-owned by Aaron and upcoming comedian Bobby Tamburro. They describe it as a “beacon of opportunity for comedians who sought an alternative to conforming to the standards set by major labels in the industry.” Their primary goal is to shine a spotlight on deserving comedians who might not have otherwise found an opportunity while allowing them to maintain their creative independence. And they included Canadian comics in honor of where Aaron is originally from!

WITH AARON BERG

Aaron told me that “Uncancellable Records is solely dedicated to comedy and humor, irrespective of politics. The label firmly believes in the power of laughter to transcend boundaries and connect people from all walks of life.” This openness to inclusivity has earned them a reputation for nurturing and promoting comedic talent without limitations, … hence the name “Uncancellable.”.

He went on to say that “Uncancellable Records is there for comics that are sick of the mainstream labels gouging them, and for the comics that want to take chances on their albums. Of course I wanted to give back to my birthplace and put some Canadians on the map who deserve American exposure.”

All I can say is, … it’s about time!!!

JORDAN CARLOS IN THE OPEN

I get invited to the most interesting and unusual shows. One time a few years ago I wound up performing in a park. I don’t recall the event and don’t know why, … it wasn’t due to Covid, there was just an outdoor show in a park. It was weird, and I accepted because it’s important to do everything that makes you uncomfortable!

So I went to see Laughter In The Park which was kind of near me in Manhattan and right away ran into two great comics, Pedro Gonzalez, who I also love to use on my shows, and Vanessa Hollingshead once married to Lucien Hold who ran The Comic Strip for 25 years.

Jordan Carlos was the headliner and he was excited to tell me that his half hour animated comedy “Teenage Euthanasia” is in its 2nd season on Adult Swim. He described it to me as a former runaway teen mom who is dead but now is undead comes back seeking redemption with her daughter, and is failing miserably.

He said he gets to do about 5 different characters on the show which also features Bebe Neuwirth, Jo Firestone, Tim Robinson from SNL, and Maria Bamford, and was created by Alyson Levy. They record it at a studio in The Village! He said the best part is that he gets paid for each character!!!

SEASON 2 STARTS ON JULY 26TH!!!

During Jordan’s set a very unusual thing happened which he handled very well. A very old woman wheeling a cart filled with what looked like her laundry came out and started yelling in a foreign accent, and I think she was yelling about her life. A very awkward moment to be sure!

To his credit Jordan embraced her, and made her part of the show for a few minutes until she was led away. But he handled it very kindly and professionally! He’s a good man!

WITH JORDAN CARLOS

JORDAN WITH HIS UNEXPECTED GUEST

STICKS AND STONES WILL NOT BREAK YOUR BONES- IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH!!!

Last summer Page Six of the NY Post wrote a piece about me looking for a place in Southampton to bring comedy. Like lots of other things in show biz it never happened until this summer when filmmaker/producer Abby Russell contacted me to tell me she was opening a comedy club in Southampton with Lynn Kaplan, who has worked with Conan and Louis CK.

It’s called Sticks and Stones, it’s a great room, and it’s in the Southampton Cultural Center. It opened on Friday June 30th with Carmen Lynch as the headliner, and I know all this because I got to perform the next night on Saturday July 1st with Jordan Rock, and my old friend Benny DeMarco from Fat Baby, who I prefer to call Benny D! Hosting was local comic Joe Winchell.

WITH JORDAN BACK IN THE DAY

JORDAN, JLG, AND BENNY D

WITH JOE WINCHELL

I got to catch up with Jordan who I hadn’t seen in a minute. He came in from LA to do the show. Jordan and I hold the honor of being the only two comedians to have ever hosted Late Night at The Comic Strip thanks to owner/founder Richie Tienken. I did Sunday and Monday and he did Tuesday and Wednesday. Before that the comedians brought each other up to the stage. Richie asked us to host. #greathonor

Jordan and I sat and talked in the huge green room between shows, where we also had a great assortment of food and drinks ,and he told me he’s touring and will be coming out with his first album probably in the Fall. The working title is Shout Out My Mental Capacity.

He did six spots at New York Comedy Club, a week residency, which he said is kind of an unorthodox way to do a special. He said he came in and just knocked it out, and didn’t tell anybody he was doing it. It will be strictly audio. No name for his tour just Jordan Rock on tour! He said he wants to do pop up events to promote the album, kind of like album release parties where he makes merch available.

I got to help promote the show on WABC radio with Frank Morano who was kind enough to let me give away two tickets on the air to the first two listeners who called in, They showed up at the show and said they had an amazing time. And also did Gov’s Radio with Matt Nappo on his show Coffee With The Dog. I’m guessing he’s the dog cause it wasn’t me! (LOL)

I decided to work squeaky clean, no F-bombs, and did over 20 minutes on each show, so I can send my set to Dry Bar and see if I can get my own special going. I really like what they do, so we’ll just see what happens!

POSITIVELY ERNIE AND POSITIVELY JEFFREY

Many years ago I had a friendship with legendary newscaster Ernie Anastos when we were both Friars, in the days when it was truly an honor to be a Friar. I had the honor of writing jokes for Ernie and also wrote him a speech that he delivered at The White House.

I was so glad to be able to reconnect with him after all these years to be on his WABC podcast called Positively Ernie where he puts out Positive Energy to The Universe which has always been my goal. Ernie is like a bright light, spreading a positive message wherever he goes, and is the perfect person to host this kind of show. Kudos to WABC owner John Catsimatidis for realizing that!!!

We had the best time talking about Happiness, the power of laughter, Spirituality, and changing negative thinking to positive thinking. If you have 20 minutes you can hear it right here:

WITH THE GREAT ERNIE ANASTOS UP AT 77 WABC RADIO

SURPRISED BY ANDREW ‘DICE” CLAY

This seems to be a column about old friends, but when you’ve been in comedy so long it seems like everyone is an old friend. Dice and I go back to 1998, when I was out in LA and we met one night at The Comedy Store and stood in the street talking till 4 A.M. I was really tired but I would never leave because I thought to myself, ” I’m talking to Andrew “Dice” Clay!“

So I hold the honor of being one of the very few people who’s ever written for Dice, which is something I’m very proud of. This past weekend I was at the premiere of the new Bravo TV show Crappie Lake starring my dear longtime friend Countess Luann DeLesseps from RHONY, and my newer friend Sonja Morgan.

WITH THE AMAZING LUANN

SEE HOW GOOD WE MATCH?

They spent 5 or 6 weeks in the tiny town of Benton, Illinois population just under 7,000. I think I have more people than that in my building. Anyway it’s a hilarious fish-out-of-water concept putting these two fancy ladies in a small town like that, and hilarity definitely ensued.

The party was at the Ascent Lounge in Columbus Circle, and it was a blast. Strictly by coincidence Luann, Sonja, Broadway star Constantine Maroulis and I wore the same colors as you can see in the photos below. Constantine is currently starring in Rock and Roll Man, which chronicles the amazing life of Alan Freed, the legendary disc jockey rebel from the 50’s and 60’s who popularized the records that became the foundation of rock and roll. It’s at the New Stages Theatre and I can’t wait to see it.

WITH CONSTANTINE MAROULIS AND SONJA MORGAN- SELFIE COURTESY OF CONSTANTINE

I always see Constantine performing at Donnie Kehr’s Rockers on Broadway which is a fantastic organization that describes itself as a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting arts education & community. They do a lot to help kids also and I attend every year to hear fabulous stars like Constantine sing all the rock hits we love.

Anyway I was talking to some people when someone came up behind me, put their arm around my neck and whispered into my ear a filthy line, which I won’t repeat, but it had the words “nutritious” and “pipeline” in it, and I recognized it as a line I had written for Dice many years before.

I turned around and who was it but Dice himself. Celeb real estate guy Jamin Lin who is also doing comedy these days mentioned to Dice that I was there, and he came up and surprised me. He was with his beautiful girlfriend who I can only refer to as “Sugah Plum” which is the spelling that Dice prefers!

It’s always so good to see him and he told me he’s planning a series of live shows, and I hope he lets me know when cause he said he’s using my jokes again and I’d love to hear him do them. When we took photos he was like, “Give me your phone”, and he took a selfie, which I am so bad at, and he is so good at!

WITH DICE HOLDING A PHOTO OF US FROM 1998

WITH DICE AT CRAPPIE LAKE PREMIERE

DICE’S SELFIE

Since all good things must come to an end, this is the end of this column. Until next time stay well and keep laughing! And follow me on Instagram at @jeffreygurian for more fun stuff!!!

Tags: 77 WABC radio, Andrew "Dice" Clay, Bravo TV, Colin Quinn, Constantine Maroulis, Countess LuAnn, Crappie Lake, Ernie Anastos, Jeffrey Gurian, RHONY, Sonja Morgan

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUNDUP WITH BILLY CRYSTAL, JIM GAFFIGAN, BUPKIS, 92NY, HAMPTONS COMEDY, CITY WINERY, GRISLY PEAR AND LOTS MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on June 4, 2023

BILLY CRYSTAL POINTING TO HIS TEETH AND YOU KNOW WHY!!!

JIM GAFFIGAN’S DREAM WAS TO PLAY SMEE

The 92NY has been absolutely killing it with comedy related events. And luckily for me I get to cover them all! So when I heard that Jim Gaffigan would be interviewed by MTV’s Josh Horowitz, about his co-starring role as Smee, in the new Peter Pan and Wendy movie, I knew I had to attend.

Jim and I go back to his very earliest days in comedy in NY, and I’ve seen him go from one incredibly successful project to the next. I was at the premiere of the sit-com he did with Christine Baranski called “Welcome To New York.” He was also one of the very special interviews I did back in 2008 for my book “Make ‘Em Laugh” on the history of The Comic Strip.

WITH JIM IN 2001

WITH JIM AT THE STRIP-2009- AFTER HIS INTERVIEW FOR MAKE ‘EM LAUGH

WITH JIM AND JEANNIE AT CAROLINES-2015

So after the event at the 92Y I went backstage to congratulate Jim and catch up! I got to show him the cover story about me in Sutton Place Magazine where the first few words say, ” Growing up my idol was Peter Pan”, and Jim told me that growing up he always wanted to be Smee! (I got it on video!) Most kids can’t wait to grow up but I always wanted to stay a kid. My inner child is my best friend!

Jim told me this great story of how he got the part. Years earlier he was in an indie film and one of the producers was James Johnson. Somehow they got to talking about Peter Pan and Jim told James he would make a great Smee! Years later James Johnson was one of the producers on this new Peter Pan film and he remembered what Jim said! #Magic

Jim is playing Smee to Jude Law’s Captain Hook. Smee is Captain Hook’s right hand man, and I told Jim it would be more appropriate if he was his left hand man, since it was his left hand that Hook lost to the crocodile!

Jim was about to set off on a European tour where he was hitting several countries and major cities like Helsinki, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris, all within about a week and a half, and mostly in countries where he blends right in!!! (LOL)

COMEDY SPOTLIGHT WITH CHRIS MILLHOUSE

I dropped by City Winery which is also killing it with their comedy line-up to see Chris Millhouse’s Comedy Spotlight show with Regina DeCicco hosting and a heavy duty line-up with Mark Normand, Joe List, and Charles McBee in a guaranteed hit show.

CHRIS MILLHOUSE ON STAGE

JOE LIST FAST ASLEEP, MARK NORMAND, CHARLES MCBEE, AND CHRIS MILLHOUSE BACKSTAGE

(L-R) REGINA DECICCO, MARK NORMAND, CHRIS MILLHOUSE, YOURS TRULY AND JOE LIST

Joe List is in the process of editing his new special which will be coming out on You Tube. It’s called Enough for Everyone and he shot it at The Village Underground this past February. Matt Wayne opened for him and you can expect to see it this summer, probably sometime in August!

Regina DeCicco is so used to warming up the audience for The View which is such a huge thing that when I asked her what she had going on she had to think about it for a minute! She’s been doing it since the Fall of 2018, which is nothing like the fall of the Roman Empire, but it just shows you that people get used to everything! No matter how big it is!!!

Charles McBee was waiting for the WGA strike to settle so he can get back to being the head writer and on-air personality for Comedy Central’s Hell of a Week with Charlamagne tha God!

Mark Normand is being repped by UTA, and he and Joe List have been doing their podcast Tuesday with Stories for 10 years now, … and I still haven’t been on! Mostly because they don’t have guests, … but that’s no excuse!!! Mark’s new special Soup to Nuts will be dropping on Netflix on July 25th! Be there!!!

COMEDY AT THE EXPO WAS A BIG HIT

So I’m at this new food market in Chelsea with the weird name of Olly Olly, and this young guy comes over, who turns out to be the manager, and says ” Are you Jeffrey Gurian?” I admit to it and HE admits to being a big fan of what we did on the Black Phillip Show when I was Patrice O’Neal’s co-host.

As the result of that meeting, I got to bring an awesome comedy show to their event space which they refer to as The Expo. It was Aaron Berg, Raanan Hershberg, Drew Dunn, who I met last year up at JFL in Montreal and told him that some day we would be doing something cool together, Andre Kim, and Jeff Arcuri who only has 270,000 followers on Instagram! Poor guy!

(L-R) ANDRE KIM, JEFF ARCURI, YOURS TRULY, RAANAN HERSHBERG, AND DREW DUNN- PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF SMITH

We had over 100 people in the audience and it was a big success! So much so that we might even do it again.

And to promote the show I went up to Sirius XM studios to be on with Ron and Gail Bennington and joined Bobby Kelly who was also a guest that day, and then I got to do WABC radio with Frank Morano who has the highest rated overnight show on A.M. radio called The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano. Frank is one of the best and most knowledgable hosts on the air and it’s always so fun to be on with him. Plus they have an amazing candy room and he lets me take as much as I want!

BOBBY KELLY, GAIL BENNINGTON AND RON BENNINGTON

WITH FRANK MORANO UP AT WABC

What made it even more special was the surprise guest spot from my pal Derek Gaines one of the funniest, and most unpredictable on stage guys in the game! I love seeing Derek in Pete Davidson’s new show Bupkis on Peacock with Joe Pesci playing Pete’s grandfather, and Edie Falco playing his Mom! And Dave Sirus is writing on the show!

WITH MY BUDDY DEREK GAINES

ANTHONY DEVITO’S DAD WAS DEFINITELY NOT DANNY DEVITO

About ten years ago Jordan Rock and I were chosen by Richie Tienken, owner and founder of The Comic Strip, to be the first and only hosts for “late night” where new comics get a chance to perform after the last show. In the early days of the club that could have been 2 or 3 A.M. When we did it it started at 11.

Not just any new comics but new comics who had to pass an audition process and showed major promise.

Anthony Devito was one of those young comics along with comics like Sam Morril, Joe Machi, and Subhah Agarwal, all of whom have gone on to do great things. So I was so glad to be able to see Anthony Devito perform his one man show “Danny Devito Isn’t My Dad” at the Soho Playhouse after debuting it at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

The show must be a real catharsis for Anthony because he lost his Dad as an infant of only 7 weeks old and was raised by his Mom who worked very hard to give him the best childhood she could, while keeping the secret of who his Dad really was.

When he reached 18 his Mom finally told him the truth about his Dad. He found out that his Dad had been a hit man for a major crime family and had killed many people in the course of his career. He was even portrayed as one of the main characters in the movie Goodfellas.

Understandably this would be a lot to handle for anyone but because Anthony was blessed with a good sense of humor he was able to turn this into a poignant and funny one man show. I give him a lot of credit for doing so, because it’s a very courageous thing to do to make yourself so vulnerable on stage. Especially when you’re Italian! (LOL) After the show we got to reminisce about the old days at The Strip!

WITH ANTHONY DEVITO AT THE SOHO PLAYHOUSE

STICKS AND STONES WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH

Kudos to producer/filmmaker and now comedy club owner Abby Russell who’s opening a new comedy club in Southhampton later this month on June 30th. It’s called Sticks and Stones and it’s located in the Southampton Cultural Center. Abby will be doing this with comedy club producer Lynn Kaplan, a veteran comedy and TV executive, who worked with both Louis C.K. and Conan Oâ€™Brien.

Opening weekend will feature national headliner Carmen Lynch and my buddy Jordan Rock who can also be seen in Pete Davidson’s new show “Bupkis.” And as I’m writing this I just got the news that I will also be on both shows with headliner Jordan Rock on Saturday July 1st.

WITH MY PAL JORDAN ROCK

Abby and I go back more than 20 years to when she produced the original Hamptons Comedy Festival back in 2000 and brought me in as a co-producer. It was the fund-raising arm for Comedy Fights Cancer and it was a big success.

I remember being interviewed by none other than Countess LuAnn De Lesseps of RHONY fame who in those days, pre-RHONY, was doing interviews for a local TV network. I think it was for Plum TV!

In more recent years Abby and I worked together again when she produced the documentary film on the legendary comedy club The Comic Strip. At the time I was working on the book, and I was also a producer on the film. It was called “Eat, Drink and Laugh” and we debuted it at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. I went up with owner/founder Richie Tienken and at the premiere were some of the comics who came out of The Strip and went on to become big stars like George Wallace, Judy Gold, Paul Provenza and Robert Wuhl!

(L-R) BRENT STERLING-NEMETZ, ABBY RUSSELL, JUDY GOLD, PAUL PROVENZA, RICHIE TIENKEN, YOURS TRULY, AND IN THE BACK GEORGE WALLACE AND ROBERT WUHL.

There hasn’t been a comedy club in The Hamptons since the 80’s when famed comedy manager Rick Messina was then running the East End Comedy Club. And Judd Apatow’s Mom Tami actually worked as a hostess at the club. Judd was only 14 and got to hang out there and meet a lot of the comedians he loved.

Abby moved back from LA to raise her daughter Aria on the East coast, and to be near her family, and now lives in the Hamptons full time.

It was actually Aria who chose the name Sticks and Stones and it was seconded by Eddie Brill who will be performing at the club one weekend as well. The club will present national headliners year round but will also be producing comedy, special events, and wellness programming as well. I’ve been offered to participate and perform and truthfully I can not wait to do so!!!

CHANEL OMARI BRINGS LAUGHS FOR CITY HARVEST

Kenny Warren and Gabe Dorado, the powers behind The Grisly Pear both downtown and the new space in midtown had worked really hard to make The Grisly Pear the success that it is, which is why I was pretty surprised to learn that they’re no longer involved. I had performed in the downtown club many times which they made very comic-friendly by covering the walls with posters of each comic that performed there.

I hadn’t had the opportunity to perform in this new club on West 54th Street until comic/producer/host of the popular “Chanel In The City” podcast on iHeart Radio, (which is about the only podcast I have not been on yet! LOL) and former reality TV star Chanel Omari invited me to perform in a fundraiser for City Harvest, a charity that provides food for the poor and homeless.

Chanel opened the show, and arranged for a great line-up including my pal Josh Adam Meyers, the creator of Goddam Comedy Jam, Natalie Cuomo who I was so glad to finally get to meet in person, Che Durena, who I had been hearing so much about, Shaun Murphy and Jeff Quintana.

Josh Adam Meyers had some exciting news to share. He’ll be touring with musical superstar Jelly Roll, hosting his shows in 44 arenas across the country from July 28th to Oct. 15th. It came about when Jelly Roll saw him performing at Skank Fest in Las Vegas and said he never saw anyone combining music and comedy the way Josh does. They were on stage performing together, and I’m pretty sure he told me that Shane Gillis and Big Jay Oakerson were performing as well. A classic example of being in the right place at the right time.

INTERVIEWING JOSH ADAM MEYERS AT THE LAS VEGAS COMEDY FESTIVAL

I was glad to finally meet Natalie Cuomo, not only because she’s funny, but because she’s engaged to my buddy Dan Lamorte and between them they have enough tattoos to open an art museum and give tours of their bodies! (LOL) They often work the road together! And they both got signed to APA this very week.

WITH CHANEL OMARI

(L-R) NATALIE CUOMO, THAT SAMEGUY, CHANEL OMARI

JOSH ADAM MEYERS, CHANEL OMARI AND THAT SAME GUY AGAIN!

It was a packed room, everybody killed and I wound up going up right after Chanel ably warmed up the crowd. She’s there on the regular and I’m looking forward to coming back!

BILLY CRYSTAL IS MR. EVERY NIGHT

My history with Billy Crystal goes back to the 80’s when the legendary comedy manager Jack Rollins, who managed Woody Allen and produced all his films, and was managing Robin Williams and Billy at the time brought me down to his office to meet Billy who he thought should play me in a sit-com about a dentist who wanted to be in show biz.

Billy was too busy at the time so I suggested a new comic I had seen named Paul Reiser who I thought would be perfect. I called Paul and asked his permission and he said “Sure” but almost immediately he got a huge role in what I recall to be the film “Diner.”

Billy was the first comic to hit the stage on June 1, 1976 when The Comic Strip opened and he’s in my book “Make ‘Em Laugh”. The photo above where he’s pointing to his teeth is because he remembered how we met!

When The Friars dedicated the ground floor bar to Billy as The Billy Crystal Bar I was there and took this photo of Billy, with Catch a Rising Star owner Rick Newman and Richard Belzer both of whom left us in recent months, only one day apart!!!

(L-R) RICK NEWMAN, BILLY CRYSTAL, AND RICHARD BELZER AT THE FRIARS CLUB

I never got to see Mr. Saturday Night, Billy’s Broadway masterpiece so when the 92NY notified me of an event where it was being shown in it’s entirety as a musical, where Billy was being interviewed by Bette Midler, even though I HATE musicals I knew I had to attend.

I hate musicals because it always seemed weird to me that right in the middle of some piece of business happening in the story suddenly everybody starts singing and they all know the words. It take me out of it.

But in this case Billy was so good as was his cast of characters that I totally enjoyed it. And in the production he referenced so many people I knew, as well as during the interview with Bette Midler.

He talked about Robin Williams being like his brother, especially after they did HBO’s Comic Relief together in 1986, ( I was there!), and he said they both had problems sleeping and would often call each other at 2 A.M. for long talks. He also said that when he did “Scat” which is a jazz thing you do with your voice, it was an homage to Sid Caesar who had a great talent for making believe he spoke many languages.

He said that over the 8 years of doing Comic Relief they raised over 72 million dollars for the homeless. We could sure use another Comic Relief right now!

Billy is also a master impressionist and did impressions of Mohammed Ali, Howard Cosell. Robert Deniro and Joe Pesci!

And he said that in the classic scene in “When Harry Met Sally” , when Rob Reiner’s mother Estelle uttered the classic line ” I’ll have what she’s having” the room exploded with laughter and he and Rob wound up holding hands! Funny what people remember!

I know for me I will never forget this!

TAKEN IN BILLY’S OFFICE IN BEVERLY HILLS

And now it’s time for me to go because if this column gets any longer it will no longer be just a column but a book! (LOL) Hope to see you in the clubs! Please feel free to leave comments and to contact me at jeffrey@jeffreygurian.com

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", Billy Crystal, Comedy Matters, Jeffrey Gurian

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