Posts Tagged “Leah Bonnema”

Joe De Rosa Takes On A "Friendly" Heckler at Broadway Comedy Club

Sometimes in the middle of a set, if a comic doesn’t think the joke they just told got enough of a response they mention it to the audience. Personally, I try and avoid it although I have been known to say, ” Thank you for obeying the “No Laughing” signs!”

Joe De Rosa on-stage at Broadway Comedy Club!

Joe De Rosa who is always funny and proved that long ago, was doing a bit in the main room of Broadway Comedy the other night about nurses, and about how some of them are not that attentive when you’re in the hospital. He was using his Mom’s recent hospital stay as a reference, and he happened to comment to the audience something along the lines of he felt he was losing them over this nursing material, when one woman in the audience became quite vocal in her response, that she wasn’t feeling the nurse material and said something to the effect, “I’m feeling your pain but you’re not rocking it right now!” Which was a strange remark on many levels.

Mostly I wondered where she had learned the term “rocking it”, and I pictured her just waiting for any opportunity to use it. Here was her chance so she yelled it out right in the middle of Joe’s set. Granted he basically asked the audience for their opinion of the nurse material, but not all questions have to be answered. You take a chance when you do that. People mixed with alcohol, can lead to a noisy result, which is what happened here.

Joe had also wondered where the concept of “hot nurses” came from, as they are often portrayed mostly in porn films, because the nurses he saw did not quite fit that bill. One of them said to him, ” Anything I can do for your Mom Mr. De Rosa?” And he said, ” Yeh, stay away from her wallet! You got a spider tattoo on your neck and I don’t trust you!”

Because Joe has so much stage experience he chose to engage her, and she kept insisting that she was a “friend”, and “fan” of Joe’s, hence the “Friendly Heckler” title, and she said she liked him as a comic but felt the need to stand up for nurses. All this while the show was going on, … or not going on!

Joe handled it well, but a lesser comic wouldn’t have been able to. He also said ” The President did badly in the debate because he ran out of lies. Politicians promise you things you like. You like water slides? If I’m elected, everyone will have a water slide!” It can’t be done. They know it but they promise it to you anyway!

Joe’s got a new book out called Cheat: A Man’s Guide to Infidelity, from Simon and Schuster, that he wrote with Bill Burr, and Robert Kelly, and the book is a hit! You can get it on Amazon!

Leah Bonnema was the host and she’s great at that.

Funny lady Leah Bonnema hosting the show at Broadway Comedy!

I also got to see Jason Salman who I had only seen doing five minute sets on some of my late night shows before that, but this night he did a 20 minute set and got lots of laughs with things like ” In Texas, ( where he’s from), we believe you can kill any animal for food, except a stork, because we consider that an abortion!”

Jason Salman, accompanied by his ever-present moustache onstage at Broadway Comedy!

And growing up in Texas, he thought vegans and French people were fictional characters from literature!

Neko White closed the show. Neko is very funny, and is only 19 years old, which is such a great time to be performing. I’ve performed with him many times and I see great things ahead for him. He’s one of those performers that the audience just loves to laugh at. He brings a strong comedic presence to the stage.

He questions some of the things that Black people fought for in the past, for instance not having to sit in the back of the bus. He feels that’s the most comfortable place to sit on the bus, and he’s right! It’s less crowded, and the seats are bigger, but thankfully you won’t find Rosa Parks there!

Nineteen year old Neko White killing it onstage at Broadway Comedy!

He talked about why he can’t be with “big girls”, cause he’s too thin and his bone density is not what it’s supposed to be. If a big girl layed down on him, he’s afraid his chest would pop like bubble wrap!

It was an entertaining show just like always at Broadway Comedy!

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Broadway Comedy Always A Treat

At any given night you will find an amazing line-up of comedians at Broadway Comedy Club, on West 53rd Street, right in the heart of the Times Square area. On a recent Tuesday night when I stopped by, the place was packed as it usually is, and Dan Siegel was MC’ing.

Some of the top performers were Leah Bonnema, who recently performed at the Glascow Comedy Festival, where she was in the America Stands Up Showcase, the Huffington Post voted her one of their 53 favorite comedians to watch, … and I really meant to ask her how they came up with that number, because most news organizations stop at their favorite 51 comics!, (I on the other hand was listed as one of the top 10 comics to keep under surveillance!), and College Candy listed her as one of their top ten female comics in the country! So that’s all good!

Leah Bonnema onstage at Broadway Comedy Club!

Ricky Velez went up and killed it as usual. I just find it hard to believe he’s only 23. He comes across as much more mature than that! Not by his material, by his appearance! It’s a great time to start performing when you’re in your 20’s, but then you have to be funny for 60 or 70 years. That’s a long time. I only wanted to have to be funny for 20-25 years tops. That’s why I started so late!

A young but mature looking Ricky Velez making people laugh at Broadway Comedy!

And I was glad to see Ross Bennett on the show because he is always a crowd pleaser! Ross talks about a guy who got killed in a skydiving accident, because his parachute failed to open, and at the funeral they said that at least he died doing what he loved. Ross differs with that. Ross said the guy probably was doing what he loved up until about a minute before he died, unless what he loved was seeing small things become larger very quickly!

He talks about speaking to a young woman who was willing to share with him what men she would “do”, and he came to the conclusion that when a young woman feels comfortable enough with you to share who she would “do”, she will NEVER do YOU! (LOL)

Ross Bennett entertaining the folks at Broadway Comedy Club in NYC!

At the end of his act, he asked the audience if they minded if he did an older joke because it was one of his favorites, and when they agreed he said, ” How about that Watergate thing?”

Every night at Broadway is a great line-up, so be sure to stop by and tell ’em I sent you!

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Al Martin’s Broadway Comedy Club

Al Martin’s Broadway Comedy Club

I dropped by Broadway Comedy the other night, cause I heard that Ruperto Vanderpool was headlining, and I hadn’t seen him since he performed in one of Anthony Anderson’s fabulous Mixtape Comedy shows. Ruperto and I go back a long ways, and he’s really funny, so I made time to check out the show.

The Broadway Comedy Club entrance on West 53rd Street in Manhattan is like a beacon for comedy and people who need to laugh!

After I got there, and felt the Broadway Comedy energy, I started asking myself why I don’t get over there more!

Then I ran into my old buddy Al Martin who owns the place. Al is a fascinating guy with a long history in comedy.

He’s one of only two comedy club owners I know to own more than one club in NYC at the same time. Besides Broadway on West 53rd Street, which also encompasses “The World” Comedy Club, he also has New York Comedy Club on East 24th Street, which was where I first started to perform when I started doing stand-up.

Al was a stand-up himself, having started performing back in 1988, which gives him a different perspective on comedy than other club owners who don’t perform. Al puts it to good use when he hosts shows, which I’ve seen him do many times. He’s a funny guy.

I remember back when he had New York Comedy on 2nd Avenue around 48th Street, I believe. It was an upstairs club, and I used to drop in pretty often since I lived on 54th and 2nd. I recall meeting Eric Douglas there. Eric was Michael Douglas’s younger half- brother who was a stand-up, and who unfortunately died back in 2004 of a drug overdose.

As a stand-up Al did a lot of TV, including A&E’s Evening at The Improv, Comedy Tonight, and Joan Rivers’ talk show, besides gigs in A.C. and Las Vegas.

New York Comedy opened on East 24th Street in 1994, which I happen to know, ( and don’t ask me how! LOL) had been the exact location of a well known after-hours club!

As of 2001, Al also has a New York Comedy Club in Boca Raton, Florida! And it seats 350. That’s big!

Then in 2005, Al was involved with Boston Comedy Club, down in the Village which left him operating three clubs in NYC at the same time, also a record!
( Somebody call Guinness! LOL )

Anyway this night, I ran into a whole bunch of funny comics I know like Stacey Prussman, Leah Bonnema , Jason Salmon, Ricky Velez, and a new comic to me, who’s opening for Ruperto, named Edgar Rivera.

Headliner Ruperto Vanderpool, Leah Bonnema, and Edgar Rivera at Broadway Comedy Club!

Leah Bonnema had some good lines. She said there are no divorces in her family. There’s lots of murder, but no divorces!

She also dreams of something she never had, … health care! I think she said she was awakened during a dream by her boyfriend, where she was just about to get dental! I thought she should have added the tag, “ but instead I got oral!”

I forgot to tell her, but maybe she’ll read this! (LOL)

Edgar Rivera commented that it was so cold last week that white people stopped jogging! (LOL)

Ruperto Vanderpool killing it onstage at Broadway Comedy Club, with his sleeves rolled up imitating the Jersey Shore guys!

And Ruperto who’s always funny, killed it with his reminiscences about the old days, schoolyard games, playground stuff, and his comparisons between encyclopedias vs. i-Pads. Ruperto and Edgar will be performing together on an upcoming date!

Ruperto, who’s Dominican, and calls himself a “Blacktino”, does fantastic dialects, which always amazes me. He even does Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Audiences love when comics can imitate an accent! Of course it helps when they do it well! (LOL)

When Ruperto talks about Coney Island being the worst amusement park in the world, he gets very physical. He says it’s so old that you have to bring your own tools to tighten up the rides, and he makes his body vibrate as if he was on an out of control ride. It’s very funny!

Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV with headliner Ruperto Vanderpool at Broadway Comedy Club!

When I left I ran into comic/producer Aaron Haber who not only produces shows at Broadway Comedy and The World, but also on Tuesday nights at The Friars Club, where I will probably see him tonight!

Al, who seems to always be planning a new project will soon launch New York Comedy World… a website devoted to everything comedy in New York! Sure hope there’s a place for Comedy Matters TV on there!!! (LOL)

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