There’s an excellent chance that Ryan Hamilton may be the only person in the world to get hit by a bus and turn it into a Netflix special. It’s a tremendous accomplishment to be able to take what could have been a catastrophe and make it funny. Not only funny but turn it into a Netflix special called “This Just Hit Me”, produced and directed by another fave of mine, Nate Bargatze.
WITH RYAN HAMILTON AT GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB
Back in 2014 I brought Nate on Sirius XM as my guest on the Ron and Fez show with the great Ron Bennington on Sirius XM radio. Talk about taking something serious and making it funny, Ron is currently openly battling stage 4 colon cancer and doing what he calls a “Portcast” jokingly named after the port in his chest. The whole comedy world and his millions of listeners are praying for him, and if it’s true that laughter is the best medicine, he will beat this thing!!!
WITH NATE BARGATZE UP AT SIRIUS XM RADIO TO DO THE RON AND FEZ SHOW
I have known Ryan for a long time, and for whatever reason he has always reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld, so I think it’s absolutely perfect that he wound up opening for him. There’s something about his smile, and the way he carries himself and his delivery that reminds me and lots of other people of Seinfeld.
Btw, how do you think your own last name would sound as the title of a show? It’s been so long that “Seinfeld” sounds like a perfect name for a comedy show. But what if your last name was Schwartzvontz and you were really funny and got your own TV show! Can you picture tuning into Schwartzvontz every week??? ( Just a thought!)
SEINFELD OR SCHWARTZVONTZ???
Anyway, I dropped by The Cellar one night and manager Liz Furiati, who only calls me “Gurian”, led me to a place where I could watch Ryan do his set. He takes self-deprecating humor to the next level, which is something every audience loves. I always say if anyone on the street said the things to us that we say about ourselves, violence would ensue! (LOL) I went right home and watched his Netflix special that night and it’s great! Absolutely great!
THAT NIGHT AT THE CELLARRYAN ON NETFLIX “THIS JUST HIT ME”
Nate btw, co-wrote and starred in his first feature film called “The Breadwinner” this past May and also set a Guinness World Record for selling over two MILLION tickets on his ” Big Dumb Eyes” tour, making it the most well-attended stand-up tour in history. I have such a good eye for talent!!! (LOLOL)
JEFF ARCURI AND KATIE THURSTON AT THE 92Y
Before I even start this paragraph please go to Instagram and follow Jeff Arcuri. He only has 2.1 million followers and I feel bad for him cause he’s just so funny! Only 2.1 million followers!!!
When I had Jeff perform on one of my shows, which I believe was at an event space on the West side, I knew he was funny but had no idea how huge his career would become. I really just have a good eye for talent!!!
His stage presence is very unique, and the fact that he laughs out loud once in a while, in a signature laugh, makes what he says even more endearing. Some people, like Eddie Murphy have a signature laugh. You hear it and you immediately know who it is!
The 92Y on 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue always has a fantastic line-up of talent and I get to cover the comedy related shows. Jeff’s Netflix special is called “Jeff Arcuri: Nice To Meet You” and it’s a lot about his marriage to Katie Thurston, which just happened in March of 2025. Katie was on reality TV as one of the stars of The Bachelorette, but the special not only talks about how they met, and how grateful he is for that, but it also centers on how they manage to get through her diagnosis with stage IV breast cancer, which thank G-d is in remission.
Real “meet cute” of how they first met. Katie came across Jeff’s posts on IG and DM’ed him, telling her friends that she found her future husband. After connecting on the phone they finally met in 2024, and married the following March AFTER her diagnosis. That is a good man! Such a great story, and a great couple. It takes a true comedic artist to take a potentially dark subject and make it funny! Make sure to watch it!!! I was supposed to see them after the screening and hopefully will be able to do that soon!
JEFF AND KATIE WATCHING JEFF ON THE BIG 92Y SCREEN
TWO FILM SCREENINGS IN A WEEK
In an embarrassment of riches, two films I was involved in had screenings within one week. The first was called “Eat, Drink, and Laugh” about the history of the legendary comedy club The Comic Strip that opened on June 1st of 1976, and is still going strong today. It launched the careers of so many big stars including Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, Colin Quinn, and I could go on and on.
The reason I know so much about it is because I wrote the book on the club, called ” Make ‘Em Laugh”, featuring a foreword by Chris Rock, and the book led to the making of the film, which I was honored to be a co-producer on. The other Exec. Producers were Abby Russell who now owns the only comedy club in Southampton called “Sticks and Stones” and her partner at the time Brent Sterling Nemetz.
GILBERT GOTTFRIED AND I AT THE STRIP COACHING ANN CURRY ON COMEDY- THE DAY I CONCEIVED OF THE BOOK, … WITH PR WHIZ RYAN MCCORMICK AND OWNER RICHIE TIENKEN
The screening was at the Greenport, Long Island Arts Center and it was very exciting for me to see the film again as I hadn’t seen it since Comic Strip owner and founder Richie Tienken and I brought it to Montreal to be shown at the Just for Laughs Festival, the biggest comedy festival in the world. After the screening we participated in a Q&A joined by national headliner and Comic Strip alum Sherrod Small, whose Comic Strip story will always stand out in my mind.
He and Tony Rock, another of Chris Rock’s brothers, auditioned for The Strip and passed together, by the notoriously difficult to please Lucien Hold, R.I.P., and they were so happy that they literally “cried on the corner!” I never forgot that they told me that! That’s how much it meant to be passed at The Strip!
A few days later Sherrod headlined Sticks and Stones and I opened for him. It’s a great space and it was a great show!!!
HEADLINER SHERROD SMALLJEFFREY ON STAGEWITH MY PAL SHERROD
(L-R) ABBY RUSSELL, SHERROD SMALL, JEFFREY GURIAN, INTERVIEWER FOR THE Q&A
FILM NUMBER 2- WE MET AT GROSSINGERS
This is such an important film for our time. The success of Netflix’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” brought renewed interest in that time period of the 50’s when Jewish people and Black people were denied staying at many of the grand hotels of the time. They actually had the nerve to put up signs saying ” No Blacks and No Jews.”
So when Jewish people started becoming successful through very hard work, they built their own hotels that far outshone any others in existence. They were all upstate N.Y. and the area became known as The Borscht Belt because many of the immigrants were from Russia and eastern Europe where borscht ( beet soup) was a staple of the diet.
Grossingers was owned and run by Jenny Grossinger, who was the first woman to ever own a hotel. It had been started by her parents as a small boarding house, but she wound up with a hotel the size of a small city with it’s own airstrip. They would fly in the big stars.
I was there at two different times in my life, as a child from 10-13 singing solo in a professional choir that would sing there for the High Holidays, and then again as an adult as a comedy writer, writing for many of the big stars that performed there like Milton Berle, who became my sponsor in The Friars Club, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Mason, Pat Cooper, Henny Youngman, Dick Shawn, Myron Cohen, Dick Capri and so many more. The comedians of the Golden Age of comedy!
Jackie Robinson was a superstar baseball player but because he was Black he was not allowed in any of the hotels. As a matter of fact he wasn’t even allowed to fraternize with his teammates socially after the games. But Jenny Grossinger made a home for him and his family at the hotel, and as strange as it may seem in our times, when she was honored on a TV show ” This Is Your Life” Jackie came on as a guest and they hugged on national TV and it was the very first “inter-racial hug” seen on national television.
JACKIE ROBINSON AND WIFE IN THE BACK AND JENNY GROSSINGER THE BLONDE WOMAN IN FRONT
Sad to even have to write something like that, … but true!!! The Jewish community was always very inclusive of everyone which is why this is an important story for today’s times, so big thanks to Bobby Friedman of Bungalow Entertainment, and Harris Salomon of Atlantic Overseas Pictures for producing it and big thanks to Paula Eiselt, award winning director for directing the film, and for telling me I was one of her favorite interviews! In case I didn’t mention it I’m in several scenes!!! (LOL)
PAULA EISELT AND BOBBY FRIEDMAN AT THE Q&A
EDDIE MURPHY’S SON DOING COMEDY
While making my comedy rounds my intuition told me to stop by West Side Comedy Club. As I walked in I was so pleasantly surprised to see comedy staple and my old friend GIna Savage back at the club as a Manager/Producer. She’s been at Carolines, the Comedy Cellar, and now back at West Side to make some changes, and she’s producing a show of clean comedy called ” Clean Up Your Act.”
So we’re sitting together enjoying the show with Drew Michael and Eva Evans when she tells me that Eddie Murphy’s son Myles is in from LA and will be doing a spot! Now I’m past the point of getting excited when I meet people cause people say I know everyone. Well, I was excited only a few times in my life. I was excited to meet Mick Jagger, I was excited to meet Billy Idol, I was excited to meet Woody Allen and Salvador Dali, and The Beach Boys, and I was excited to meet Melanie Hamrick who’s Mick Jagger’s girlfriend for many years. And for whatever reason I was really excited to meet Myles Murphy.And after I met himmy excitement was warranted!
MYLES MURPHY ON STAGEWITH MYLES MURPHYWITH MYLES MURPHY, AND MANAGER/PRODUCER GINA SAVAGE
He was not introduced to the audience as Eddie’s son, and he never mentioned it in his act. He had great stage presence and was very comfortable on stage, which surprised me when I found out he had only been performing for 11 months.
When he came off stage we sat for quite a while, and I shared many stories with him about his Dad that he told me he never knew. The only reason I knew them was because I wrote the book on the history of the legendary comedy club The Comic Strip, where Eddie started his career. He never knew that his Dad started out in a trio called “The Identical Triplets” with Rob Bartlett, and Bob Nelson, two White guys and him.
He also never knew the story of how his Dad discovered Chris Rock at The Strip, and he also never knew how Joe Piscopo gave SNL newcomer Eddie a break that would change his career. The show was running short one week and producer Jean Doumanian who produced the show for one year asked Joe if he would do five minutes of stand-up. Joe graciously gave the time to Eddie, but Eddie was nervous to do it, so he called his manager, Comic Strip owner Richie Tienken and when Richie asked him why, Eddie said, ” Because I curse.” So Richie said, ” Then don’t curse!”
Eddie did the five minutes, accidentally cursed and was bleeped but when it came time for his contract to be renewed Richie negotiated for him to go from a featured player to a cast player by reminding them that he saved the show with his five minutes, and Eddie went from making $750. a week to making $3,000. a week and Richie told me that’s when he started taking his manager’s percentage. I even told Myles a story about his grandmother, … Eddie’s mother, who is still alive today and in her 80’s.
So I Ieave the club and am driving home listening to Joe Piscopo’s Sinatra show on WABC radio when suddenly Joe starts talking about Eddie Murphy. Then he mentions he’s doing a live broadcast from Winnie’s Jazz Club on West 38th Street, so I take it as a sign that I’m supposed to go and tell the story of how he helped Eddie at SNL, … hopefully on the air. I ran home and got a sport jacket cause I was dressed for comedy and showed up at Winnie’s. It was packed. I hesitantly walked up towards the desk where Joe was broadcasting from and stood there until he saw me.
WITH MY PAL JOE PISCOPO BACK IN THE 80’S WITH JOE PISCOPO AT WINNIE’S
Now Joe and I have been friends for more than 30 years. He looks up from his notes and says ” Jeff what are you doing here?” And I hurriedly whisper the story of Myles Murphy and why I came. Next thing I know Joe is introducing me on the radio and I get to tell the story to millions of his listeners all over the world! On my way out I got stopped by comic L.A. Hardy and we shared some fun stories about mutual friends. Crazy night!!!
KILLER JOE PISCOPO ON THE MICWITH L.A. HARDY
JERRY SEINFELD AS AN OPENER???
Very few people can say that Jerry Seinfeld opened for them. One who honestly can is premiere mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was prepping for his first Netflix special at Gotham Comedy Club. The special will be due later this year, but Gotham is also Jerry Seinfeld’s favorite club to work out new material.
Jerry and Gotham owner Chris Mazzilli are close friends, and also major car enthusiasts, and Jerry is known to pop in every so often when he’s working on something new. The crowd goes absolutely insane as it did the night I was there. I go to see Oz any time I can as he’s an old friend and I hold the honor of arranging his very first TV appearance, about 17 years ago when he was performing as part of The Unseen, a two man mentalism act with then partner Ken Salaz.
WITH OZ PEARLMAN AND KEN SALAZ IN FRONT OF THE NBC TRUCK BACK IN 2009
This night in particular the host introduced a “special guest” who just happened to drop by, and Jerry came out to a standing ovation. During his set he announced that his family was there and when he was done he introduced Oz to the stage and stayed up there with him.
BACKSTAGE WITH OZJERRY SEINFELD BRINGING UP OZ PEARLMANJERRY SEINFELD HUGGING OZ PEARLMAN AFTER THE REVEAL
Oz blew Jerry’s mind when he asked him to think of a date of a special event in his life that he couldn’t possibly know, and then he wrote May 4th on a huge sketch pad that he keeps on stage to show what he predicted before the person says it out loud. When Jerry said ” May 4th” the crowd went wild. Turned out that May 4th was Jerry’s dog’s birthday and he hugged Oz on stage before he left! I’ve seen lots of mentalists but there’s no one like Oz Pearlman, the best of the best!!!
MARCUS RUSSELL PRICE BRINGS THE HEAT
You may know Marcus Russell Price as a celeb photographer and videographer in the comedy world, shooting at all big comedy-related events, but he’s also the producer of great comedy shows at Lincoln Center. His recent show featured Julie Kim and Simeon Goodson, but it also a promised a secret guest! And who that secret guest was I couldn’t wait to find out!
MARCUS RUSSELL PRICE HOSTING HIS SHOW AT LINCOLN CENTER
Turns out his secret guest was one of my faves and not an easy guest to get, the great Ronny Chieng! There’s something about Ronny Chieng’s delivery that really gets me. Having a unique delivery is so important in comedy, so not only is he so funny, but the way he delivers his material is just so unique, I could listen to it all night! I can hear it in my mind as I’m writing this. Can’t wait for Marcus’ next show and hopefully I’ll be on it!!!
COMEDY MATTERS GIRL OF THE MONTH
You may have seen Nagah Ezaldein weekly on Newsmax with John Tabacco, on his hit show Wiseguys, but she’s also really funny with a great sense of humor, and she dropped by the Comedy Matters crib to check out the comedy museum!!!
NAGAH EZALDEIN IN THE COMEDY MATTERS CRIB
Congratulations if you’ve been able to get through the whole column. There was just so much to say and I had even more, but that will have to wait till the next one! In the meantime keep laughing, as hard as it may be these days, and remember “COMEDY MATTERS”!!!
YOU CAN FOLLOW JEFFREY ON INSTAGRAM AT @JEFFREYGURIAN AND ON YOU TUBE AT HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/COMEDYMATTERSTV
L-R – NAPOLEON EMIL, CHRIS MILLHOUSE, NICK KROLL , REGINA DECICCO, MIKE FEENEY, JAMES MATTERN AND YOU KNOW WHO IN FRONT BACKSTAGE AT CITY WINERY!!!
NICK KROLL DOES CITY WINERY
Chris Millhouse brings great talent to City Winery as evidenced by his recent show I attended with all the comedy stars shown above. He performs but doesn’t host, and often has uber-host James Mattern do the hosting honors. James always hosts all the shows for Chris Distefano and I assume he will be there when Chris does MSG on September 11th.
It was one hilarious set after the other and to top it off Nick Kroll closed out the show with such a killer set filled with very different and unique humor. I couldn’t even begin to describe it but that’s what Nick does because he’s so creative. The audience was really excited to see him as were the other comics on the show. Make sure to check out the 8th and final season of “Big Mouth†on Netflix! And celeb photog Marcus Russell Price was there to immortalize the evening and was the one who took that group photo above! Shortly after, he visited the Comedy Matters crib and we did our own unique shoot which you will see shortly!
Comedy Matters TV is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribed
ANNUAL PATRICE BENEFIT AT CITY CENTER
For the 12th year in a row, comedy exec. Maureen Taran and Bill Burr have brought over 2,000 people together at City Center to celebrate the life of the great Patrice O’Neal who left us way too young at only 41 years old. For those of us lucky enough to have known Patrice he was a trip!
I had the honor of being the third co-host on The Black Phillip Show, a radio show we did on XM radio before it became Sirius XM radio. It was me, Dante Nero and Patrice and we had a blast. That show touched a lot of hearts and minds and to this day, as recently as two weeks ago, I still get guys coming up to me to thank me for my input on the show. This phone call came from Patrice the first night we did the show together. If you listen till the end you’ll see that he called me at 4:05 A.M. to tell me how much he liked the show and suggested that we should do a show together. Truly one of my greatest honors!
I had such a unique relationship with Patrice and everyone involved knew it. At Patrice’s funeral, his wife Von came over to me and said “Patrice really loved you.†It was sad but definitely one of my greatest honors. Patrice was so much more than a comedian, To me he was a comedy philosopher!
WITH PATRICE AND DANTE NERO; #2-WITH MY GIRL JACQUI; PHOTO#3- WITH MY GUESTS, AND DREW BOOGIE,
That kind of response from Patrice didn’t come easy as any comic can attest to who went up against him, or got on his bad side. He and I never had any kind of adversarial relationship. It was pure love. As one of the only white guys that was ever honored for Black History Month ( true fact see the photo of the invite!) for creating comedy workshops for inner city kids, Patrice came to Gotham to inspire the people in the workshop.
PHOTO #1-THE INVITE TO BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENT HONORING ME; PHOTO #2- MY LAST PHOTO WITH PATRICE IN 2011 THE YEAR HE LEFT US
Rich Vos was the perennial host of the event at City Center and he was sharp as ever. No one escapes his barbs! All phones went into Yondr bags so there was no photos to be had. Needless to say everyone killed. Vos opened with about 15 minutes. Cipha Sounds was missed and was not here this year on the ones and twos. Sean Patton was the first to hit the stage, and he did great, followed by Rosebud Baker who had an interesting take on abortion, and several jokes on her husband Andy Haynes, another great comic who I last saw when we did Subway Takes the same day with Kareem Rahma.
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
Nimesh Patel had a strong set as usual after Vos introduced him as an Uber driver. He was followed by D.C. Benny who is a great story teller. Years ago I did a story telling show he was producing at a place on Houston Street called Madame X.
Greer Barnes is a force unto himself. He’s just so talented, not only with his jokes, but with the sound effects, impressions and accents he mimics so perfectly. His African accent totally kills, and when we see each other all we do is laugh. He has such a great spirit and was one of the few comics on the show that showed up at the after-party at The Stand where it’s held every year.
While at the after-party Bruce Hills, multi-year President of JFL Montreal, the largest and most prestigious comedy festival in the world, and most recently inducted into the Canada Comedy Hall of Fame, and even more importantly a friend of mine for 30 years, asked if he could take a photo with me, and honored me by saying I was “an icon!†At JFL’s 40th year festival, Bruce and I took a photo with my JFL VIP pass from 1992, which I treasure and is still in pristine condition.
WITH GREER BARNES(L-R) ZOE FRIEDMAN, JODI LIEBERMAN, JEFFREY@JEFFREYGURIAN.COM, AND LIZ HILLSWITH JFL PRES. BRUCE HILLS
But I digress! Back to the benefit, Vos announced a special guest and Stavros Halkias came out and did a really strong set which I was glad I got the chance to congratulate him on at the after-party. I love being able to congratulate comics when they kill, cause we all need to be reaffirmed. It’s an important thing to do, and not enough people do that. He lost 40 pounds on Zepbound which he described as a very disrespectful medicine. I think it was he who had the great line, “If you wait too long to come out to your grandmother, you’re going to have to do it every time you see her! “ Genius!!!
And then Bill Burr came out and destroyed the crowd as he usually does. First he went after Vos by sarcastically saying, “ Did you see all his jewelry? He looks very successful!†Every so often Bill laughs during his set like he can’t believe what he just said. I know him for so long. I know him since the days he had red hair!
PHOTO #1-BACK IN 2005; PHOTO #2- MONTREAL 2011
And as long as I know him I still don’t know when he’s kidding with me. At the after-party at The Stand I was sitting alone eating at a table when I heard someone call my name. It was Club Soda Kenny, my longtime friend, who’s Bill’s security. I left my food and went over to say hi and share a hug and Bill was at the table sitting with Jodi Lieberman, Zoe Friedman, Maureen Taran and producer Masavia Greer.
I said hello to all, hugged Jodi, Zoe and Maureen who thanked me for coming every year, and I said hello to Bill but I didn’t sit down at the table. I just stood there and finally to break the ice I leaned over and said to Bill, “Congratulations on doing Broadway. How long were you in rehearsal? And he said something like “ I’m just relaxing and there you are crouching over to do an interview. You’re always working!†But he said it in a Bill Burr kind of way where you think he’s pissed off. So I said, “ I was just making conversation cause I think it’s so great that you’re on Broadway.†And then he paused, and smiled and said, “ I rehearsed for about six weeks!†So I knew he was just busting my balls like he likes to do.
Then he went off on my outfit cause I was wearing a leather blazer and he asked me if I was in The Ramones, and kept coming up with old rock references that I reminded him of. I told him that I always try and wear something he can make fun of! At that point, I was afraid to ask him for our usual annual photo, so I’m using some of mine from the past! (LOL)
JOE DEROSA SPECIAL AS A FILM
Sometimes I make a note in my phone when I meet someone I think is talented. I first met Joe DeRosa November, 2007 at Carolines during a comedy competition.
At the end of April, NY Comedy Club owner Emilio Savone texted me to let me know that Joe was premiering his latest special “ I Never Promised You A Rose Garden†at The Angelika Film Center as a film, and as usual he wrote “ It’s not an event unless you’re there!†, which always makes me feel special! ( No pun intended!)
The special is described as “ an all new hour of hopeless comedy derived from the dark mind of Joe DeRosa. Joe’s bleak outlook on society will actually bring joy to you in the dire climate we’re all living in.â€
The description didn’t do it justice as it is a remarkable piece of work. So well thought out, so original, and so well rehearsed that it sounded like it was the first time he was saying what he said. I told him so at the theater, and had my chance to say the same thing to the audience on the mic at the Q&A that followed moderated by comic Nick Alexander, but the next day I felt I had to text him again. I wrote “Hey Joe, I hope you don’t mind me repeating myself but last night was so special. So clever, so intelligent, so well thought out and so well pereformed in such a natural way, not like a performance. Just needed to tell you that.†I got a heartfelt response.
A lot of Joe’s fans in the audience recognized me from my wild dancing debut in Joe’s music video for his band Salsa Windfall called “Mouth On My Money.†If you haven’t seen it yet this is your chance! We plan to do more!!!
And the after party at Joey Roses, ( Joe’s sandwich shop) was awesome and I ran into my old friend Pauly Shore there who was in town to perform at The Stand the next night which I of course attended! When Pauly saw me the first thing he said after introducing me to people as his agent, was “Baby and Max†which was a romantic comedy feature script I wrote that Pauly loved and wanted to star in back in the day! Just the fact that he still remembered that was so awesome! Maybe it could still happen!!!
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
PAULY SHORE DOES THE STAND
The main room was packed with Pauly fans. He even did a little of “The Weasel†for them from his days on MTV, and the line-up was very cool with Todd Barry, one of the only guys who makes me laugh out loud, my old pal from Playboy Comedy Cort McCown who was in from LA, and new Dad Mark Normand who I’ve never seen have a bad set. Pauly was so funny and often does very self-deprecating humor, especially about his career. He said he wants to do more movies so maybe “Baby and Max†still has a chance! Noted film producer Noel Ashman has it listed on IMDb as being in pre-production! All we need is the money!!! $$$
TODD BARRYCORT MCCOWNMARK NORMAND
GOTHAM ALL STARS
Always a good time at Gotham and I even have my own table #69, but it doesn’t have a number on it like all the other tables do, cause people keep stealing it! My dear friend Marion Grodin is always a great host and gets people in the mood to laugh, and this time it was Kyle Grooms in from Florida who it’s so great to see looking so healthy after he conquered his health problems! He always gets me when he describes how it was growing up in the hood with the name “Kyleâ€. As he says “ No one’s afraid of a guy named Kyle!â€
Marina Franklin is always just so funny and so honest on stage and thankfully conquered her own health problems. She even announced her age which is a brave thing to do!
I was really excited to see Tommy Brennan who absolutely killed, and who I hadn’t seen since we filmed our pilot at Gotham called “The Raw Side of Comedy†which hopefully will finally find a home some day. Tommy was one of the stand-outs in the pilot!!!
COMEDY SHOUT-OUTS
Shout out to Tommy Gooch who saved the show by being so funny at Famee Furlane, a private Italian club out in College Point that I attended with entrepreneur Gus Podias!
WITH TOMMY GOOCH AND ENTREPRENEUR GUS PODIAS
Shout out to Nore Davis my old pal from Comic Strip days who I saw was performing at West Side Comedy Club so I made sure to get over there. Nore is also nothing but honest on stage as he discussed being in professional therapy, ( as opposed to street therapy!) dealing with grief and actually managed to make his Mom’s funeral funny. He’ll be shooting yet another special, currently unnamed, this coming November at a venue in Brooklyn.
And lastly a huge shout out and congratulations to Chuck Zito, the baddest guy on the planet, on his amazing documentary “ Chuck Zito – An American Story†that I was honored to be invited to by Chuck himself. More than 400 people showed up to the AMC Theater in Westbury for a one hour red carpet and screening of the film. I got to re-connect with actor/writer/producer Gary Pastore, actor/writer/director Willie Demeo who I know since he was in my film “I Am Woody†about a mob boss obsessed with Woody Allen, and the legend himself Bo Dietl who has the very first reserved table at Rao’s.
Chuck spent many years as the Pres. of the Hell’s Angels before he went on to become a famous actor in films like Carlito’s Way, The Rock, Homefront and TV shows like Law and Order, Entourage and his amazing turn as the head of the Italian gang in HBO’s hit show OZ. Chuck and I have been friends since he was bodyguarding Charlie Sheen so many years ago, and I brought that photo with me of the day we met. So wonderful that his 93 year old mother was there to enjoy the honor with him.
ScreenshotWITH CHARLIE SHEEN AND CHUCK ZITO; WITH CHUCK ON THE RED CARPET; CHUCK ZITO FILM POSTER AND LOOK WHO’S IN IT!!!
I actually have more but all good things must come to an end as they say! I’ll put them in the next column. In the meantime follow me on Instagram at @jeffreygurian and feel free to share this with a friend, and please consider subscribing! Due to the length : If the newsletter is truncated in an email, readers can click on “View entire message” and they’ll be able to view the entire post in their email app.
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
COMEDY MATTERS ROUNDUP WITH NICK KROLL, BILL BURR, PAULY SHORE, JOE DEROSA, TODD BARRY, NORE DAVIS, MARINA FRANKLIN, CHUCK ZITO, PATRICE BENEFIT, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!
L-R – NAPOLEON EMIL, CHRIS MILLHOUSE, NICK KROLL , REGINA DECICCO, MIKE FEENEY, JAMES MATTERN AND YOU KNOW WHO IN FRONT BACKSTAGE AT CITY WINERY!!!
NICK KROLL DOES CITY WINERY
Chris Millhouse brings great talent to City Winery as evidenced by his recent show I attended with all the comedy stars shown above. He performs but doesn’t host, and often has uber-host James Mattern do the hosting honors. James always hosts all the shows for Chris Distefano and I assume he will be there when Chris does MSG on September 11th.
It was one hilarious set after the other and to top it off Nick Kroll closed out the show with such a killer set filled with very different and unique humor. I couldn’t even begin to describe it but that’s what Nick does because he’s so creative. The audience was really excited to see him as were the other comics on the show. Make sure to check out the 8th and final season of “Big Mouth†on Netflix! And celeb photog Marcus Russell Price was there to immortalize the evening and was the one who took that group photo above! Shortly after, he visited the Comedy Matters crib and we did our own unique shoot which you will see shortly!
Comedy Matters TV is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribed
ANNUAL PATRICE BENEFIT AT CITY CENTER
For the 12th year in a row, comedy exec. Maureen Taran and Bill Burr have brought over 2,000 people together at City Center to celebrate the life of the great Patrice O’Neal who left us way too young at only 41 years old. For those of us lucky enough to have known Patrice he was a trip!
I had the honor of being the third co-host on The Black Phillip Show, a radio show we did on XM radio before it became Sirius XM radio. It was me, Dante Nero and Patrice and we had a blast. That show touched a lot of hearts and minds and to this day, as recently as two weeks ago, I still get guys coming up to me to thank me for my input on the show. This phone call came from Patrice the first night we did the show together. If you listen till the end you’ll see that he called me at 4:05 A.M. to tell me how much he liked the show and suggested that we should do a show together. Truly one of my greatest honors!
I had such a unique relationship with Patrice and everyone involved knew it. At Patrice’s funeral, his wife Von came over to me and said “Patrice really loved you.†It was sad but definitely one of my greatest honors. Patrice was so much more than a comedian, To me he was a comedy philosopher!
WITH PATRICE AND DANTE NERO; #2-WITH MY GIRL JACQUI; PHOTO#3- WITH MY GUESTS, AND DREW BOOGIE,
That kind of response from Patrice didn’t come easy as any comic can attest to who went up against him, or got on his bad side. He and I never had any kind of adversarial relationship. It was pure love. As one of the only white guys that was ever honored for Black History Month ( true fact see the photo of the invite!) for creating comedy workshops for inner city kids, Patrice came to Gotham to inspire the people in the workshop.
PHOTO #1-THE INVITE TO BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENT HONORING ME; PHOTO #2- MY LAST PHOTO WITH PATRICE IN 2011 THE YEAR HE LEFT US
Rich Vos was the perennial host of the event at City Center and he was sharp as ever. No one escapes his barbs! All phones went into Yondr bags so there was no photos to be had. Needless to say everyone killed. Vos opened with about 15 minutes. Cipha Sounds was missed and was not here this year on the ones and twos. Sean Patton was the first to hit the stage, and he did great, followed by Rosebud Baker who had an interesting take on abortion, and several jokes on her husband Andy Haynes, another great comic who I last saw when we did Subway Takes the same day with Kareem Rahma.
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
Nimesh Patel had a strong set as usual after Vos introduced him as an Uber driver. He did some questionable political material, which he played off by saying his wife was Jewish, a fact which he confirmed to me at the after-party, and he was followed by D.C. Benny who is a great story teller. Years ago I did a story telling show he was producing at a place on Houston Street called Madame X.
Greer Barnes is a force unto himself. He’s just so talented, not only with his jokes, but with the sound effects, impressions and accents he mimics so perfectly. His African accent totally kills, and when we see each other all we do is laugh. He has such a great spirit and was one of the few comics on the show that showed up at the after-party at The Stand where it’s held every year.
While at the after-party Bruce Hills, multi-year President of JFL Montreal, the largest and most prestigious comedy festival in the world, and most recently inducted into the Canada Comedy Hall of Fame, and even more importantly a friend of mine for 30 years, asked if he could take a photo with me, and honored me by saying I was “an icon!†At JFL’s 40th year festival, Bruce and I took a photo with my JFL VIP pass from 1992, which I treasure and is still in pristine condition.
PHOTO#1-WITH GREER BARNES;PHOTO#2- (L-R) ZOE FRIEDMAN, JODI LIEBERMAN, J.G. AND LIZ HILLS; WITH COMEDY EXEC LEGEND BRUCE HILLS (Greer Barnes and Bruce Hills photos courtesy of Marcus Russell Price)
But I digress! Back to the benefit, Vos announced a special guest and Stavros Halkias came out and did a really strong set which I was glad I got the chance to congratulate him on at the after-party. I love being able to congratulate comics when they kill, cause we all need to be reaffirmed. It’s an important thing to do, and not enough people do that. He lost 40 pounds on Zepbound which he described as a very disrespectful medicine. I think it was he who had the great line, “If you wait too long to come out to your grandmother, you’re going to have to do it every time you see her! “ Genius!!!
And then Bill Burr came out and destroyed the crowd as he usually does. First he went after Vos by sarcastically saying, “ Did you see all his jewelry? He looks very successful!†Every so often Bill laughs during his set like he can’t believe what he just said. I know him for so long. I know him since the days he had red hair!
PHOTO #1-BACK IN 2005; PHOTO #2- MONTREAL 2011
And as long as I know him I still don’t know when he’s kidding with me. At the after-party at The Stand I was sitting alone eating at a table when I heard someone call my name. It was Club Soda Kenny, my longtime friend, who’s Bill’s security. I left my food and went over to say hi and share a hug and Bill was at the table sitting with Jodi Lieberman, Zoe Friedman, Maureen Taran and producer Masavia Greer.
I said hello to all, hugged Jodi, Zoe and Maureen who thanked me for coming every year, and I said hello to Bill but I didn’t sit down at the table. I just stood there and finally to break the ice I leaned over and said to Bill, “Congratulations on doing Broadway. How long were you in rehearsal? And he said something like “ I’m just relaxing and there you are crouching over to do an interview. You’re always working!†But he said it in a Bill Burr kind of way where you think he’s pissed off. So I said, “ I was just making conversation cause I think it’s so great that you’re on Broadway.†And then he paused, and smiled and said, “ I rehearsed for about six weeks!†So I knew he was just busting my balls like he likes to do.
Then he went off on my outfit cause I was wearing a leather blazer and he asked me if I was in The Ramones, and kept coming up with old rock references that I reminded him of. I told him that I always try and wear something he can make fun of! At that point, I was afraid to ask him for our usual annual photo, so I’m using some of mine from the past! (LOL)
ME AND BILL THROUGH THE YEARS
JOE DEROSA SPECIAL AS A FILM
Sometimes I make a note in my phone when I meet someone I think is talented. I first met Joe DeRosa November, 2007 at Carolines during a comedy competition.
At the end of April, NY Comedy Club owner Emilio Savone texted me to let me know that Joe was premiering his latest special “ I Never Promised You A Rose Garden†at The Angelika Film Center as a film, and as usual he wrote “ It’s not an event unless you’re there!†, which always makes me feel special! ( No pun intended!)
The special is described as “ an all new hour of hopeless comedy derived from the dark mind of Joe DeRosa. Joe’s bleak outlook on society will actually bring joy to you in the dire climate we’re all living in.â€
The description didn’t do it justice as it is a remarkable piece of work. So well thought out, so original, and so well rehearsed that it sounded like it was the first time he was saying what he said. I told him so at the theater, and had my chance to say the same thing to the audience on the mic at the Q&A that followed moderated by comic Nick Alexander, but the next day I felt I had to text him again. I wrote “Hey Joe, I hope you don’t mind me repeating myself but last night was so special. So clever, so intelligent, so well thought out and so well pereformed in such a natural way, not like a performance. Just needed to tell you that.†I got a heartfelt response.
PHOTO #1- JOE D. ON THE BIG SCREEN; PHOTO #2- NICK ANGELO MODERATING WITH JOE D.
A lot of Joe’s fans in the audience recognized me from my wild dancing debut in Joe’s music video for his band Salsa Windfall called “Mouth On My Money.†If you haven’t seen it yet this is your chance! We plan to do more!!!
And the after party at Joey Roses, ( Joe’s sandwich shop) was awesome and I ran into my old friend Pauly Shore there who was in town to perform at The Stand the next night which I of course attended! When Pauly saw me the first thing he said after introducing me to people as his agent, was “Baby and Max†which was a romantic comedy feature script I wrote that Pauly loved and wanted to star in back in the day! Just the fact that he still remembered that was so awesome! Maybe it could still happen!!!
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
PAULY SHORE DOES THE STAND
The main room was packed with Pauly fans. He even did a little of “The Weasel†for them from his days on MTV, and the line-up was very cool with Todd Barry, one of the only guys who makes me laugh out loud, my old pal from Playboy Comedy Cort McCown who was in from LA, and new Dad Mark Normand who I’ve never seen have a bad set. Pauly was so funny and often does very self-deprecating humor, especially about his career. He said he wants to do more movies so maybe “Baby and Max†still has a chance! Noted film producer Noel Ashman has it listed on IMDb as being in pre-production! All we need is the money!!! $$$
(Clockwise) PAULY SHORE; MARK NORMAND, CORT MCCOWN AND TODD BARRY
GOTHAM ALL STARS
Always a good time at Gotham and I even have my own table #69, but it doesn’t have a number on it like all the other tables do, cause people keep stealing it! My dear friend Marion Grodin is always a great host and gets people in the mood to laugh, and this time it was Kyle Grooms in from Florida who it’s so great to see looking so healthy after he conquered his health problems! He always gets me when he describes how it was growing up in the hood with the name “Kyleâ€. As he says “ No one’s afraid of a guy named Kyle!â€
Marina Franklin is always just so funny and so honest on stage and thankfully conquered her own health problems. She even announced her age which is a brave thing to do!
I was really excited to see Tommy Brennan who absolutely killed, and who I hadn’t seen since we filmed our pilot at Gotham called “The Raw Side of Comedy†which hopefully will finally find a home some day. Tommy was one of the stand-outs in the pilot!!!
MARINA FRANKLIN AND TOMMY BRENNAN
COMEDY SHOUT-OUTS
Shout out to Tommy Gooch who saved the show by being so funny at Famee Furlane, a private Italian club out in College Point that I attended with entrepreneur Gus Podias!
WITH TOMMY GOOCH AND ENTREPRENEUR GUS PODIAS
Shout out to Nore Davis my old pal from Comic Strip days who I saw was performing at West Side Comedy Club so I made sure to get over there. Nore is also nothing but honest on stage as he discussed being in professional therapy, ( as opposed to street therapy!) dealing with grief and actually managed to make his Mom’s funeral funny. He’ll be shooting yet another special, currently unnamed, this coming November at a venue in Brooklyn.
And lastly a huge shout out and congratulations to Chuck Zito, the baddest guy on the planet, on his amazing documentary “ Chuck Zito – An American Story†that I was honored to be invited to by Chuck himself. More than 400 people showed up to the AMC Theater in Westbury for a one hour red carpet and screening of the film. I got to re-connect with actor/writer/producer Gary Pastore, actor/writer/director Willie Demeo who I know since he was in my film “I Am Woody†about a mob boss obsessed with Woody Allen, and the legend himself Bo Dietl who has the very first reserved table at Rao’s.
Chuck spent many years as the Pres. of the Hell’s Angels before he went on to become a famous actor in films like Carlito’s Way, The Rock, Homefront and TV shows like Law and Order, Entourage and his amazing turn as the head of the Italian gang in HBO’s hit show OZ. Chuck and I have been friends since he was bodyguarding Charlie Sheen so many years ago, and I brought that photo with me of the day we met. So wonderful that his 93 year old mother was there to enjoy the honor with him.
WITH CHARLIE SHEEN AND CHUCK ZITO; WITH CHUCK ON THE RED CARPET; CHUCK ZITO FILM POSTER AND LOOK WHO’S IN IT!!!
I actually have more but all good things must come to an end as they say! I’ll put them in the next column. In the meantime follow me on Instagram at @jeffreygurian and feel free to share this with a friend, and please consider subscribing! Due to the length : If the newsletter is truncated in an email, readers can click on “View entire message” and they’ll be able to view the entire post in their email app.
Thanks for reading Comedy Matters TV! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribed
If you look at this little video below, you’ll hear Paul Provenza openly declare that I know everyone in comedy and you’ll hear Nick Kroll freely declaring that no one has more access to people in comedy than me. So when I hear about a comedy star that has 12 million followers on Twitter, 2.5 million on You Tube, and 1.5 million on Instagram and I realize I don’t know that person, it makes me very nervous!
Such was the case with Rafi Bastos, the comedy superstar from Brazil. I heard he was performing at Gotham Comedy Club in an early 7 P.M. show. It was Wednesday and really cold out, and I wondered if he’d draw a good crowd. It was beyond expectation and when I got there the room was packed with fans.
I took my usual table and heard a voice call my name. It was the hilarious Aaron Berg, the tatted up body builder from the foreign country of Can-A-Da!
He was sitting with Alexis Guerreros, and Charles McBee who was hosting the show, and he said, “Hey Jeff I wanted you to meet Rafi, he’s headlining tonight.”
So I shook hands with Rafi who was sitting down and who seemed to be the same size as all the other guys at the table. I say that, not because people usually look to see what size someone is, but because I didn’t notice anything until he stood up and saw that he was 6’7″.
Aaron went up and totally killed as usual. He always announces his Jewishness, despite the fact as he says that he looks like he eats Jews and mixes them with protein powder.
He and his wife and baby Piper are moving to a new house next week. Congrats and best of luck to the Bergs!
Anyway Rafi went up and did an amazing thing. He did a smooth hour in a language that is not his first language. He has a nice Portuguese accent, and his English is amazing. It’s hard enough to be funny, but to be funny in another language you were not born into is a whole other thing. And he like Aaron Berg also announced his Jewishness. It seems we come in all shapes and sizes!
He had lots of Brazilian fans there, and said that when people think of Brazil they think of two things, Brazilian waxes and Pele. At the end of his set he did a Q&A in which he invited questions in both English and Portuguese.
The Portuguese fans were very exuberant, and for a few moments I was afraid that a soccer game might break out, complete with hooligans. But fortunately everything stayed under control.
After the show Rafi was very gracious and stayed to take photos with all of his fans. Afterwards we sat together in the green room so I could ask him a few questions, and shoot a little video.
He was a funny kid growing up but not the class clown. He’d sit in the back of the room in school waiting for the right opportunity to say something funny.
He originally thought he wanted to play basketball, but according to him he had the height but he wasn’t good enough, and wound up with a broken cheekbone. I think he made a better choice, and so does he.
He owns the biggest comedy club in Latin America and since Brazil shares a border with 10 other countries including Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, he has plenty of room to expand!
The club holds about 300 people and he described it as kind of a cross between Gotham and the old Comix on 14th Street which he experienced, because he came here in those years to check out NYC.
In 1999 he had won a scholarship to play basketball in Nebraska. A tall, Brazilian Jewish guy with a good sense of humor playing b-ball in Nebraska. It doesn’t sound right and it didn’t feel right either.
I complimented him on his English and compared it to our mutual friend Gad Elmaleh, who also studied very hard to lose his accent so he could perform in English.
Rafi said his biggest challenge has been to speak English and have sex at the same time. He can only do one or the other comfortably. By the reaction of the female part of the crowd, I have a feeling there were a lot of girls at the show who would have been willing to give him a chance.
He’s also the Exec. Producer of Brazil’s version of SNL, and he’s the host of the Brazilian version of the Netflix show “The Ultimate Beastmaster.”
He was heading first to Boston to perform this weekend at Laugh Boston, a club the size of Gotham, then back to Cali to work on his comedy, and plan a tour with the working title of “Conquering America”, but we made plans to get together when he comes back to NY and hopefully do some comedy together someplace!
Gotham Comedy Club is known for getting great headliners so when owner Chris Mazzilli told me that Bill Burr would be doing a special early show there one night I wasn’t the least surprised. I got there early because I knew it would be packed but before I could even get to my regular table, #69 which is what they give me, I ran into J.Ken Feder, formerly known as comic Club Soda Kenny, who’s a former FDNY police detective and now owns a security company. Club Soda Kenny was a name he got from Andrew “Dice” Clay who he often did security work for as well.
We greeted each other and he asked me who I was there to see. I said I was there to see Bill Burr and he said very seriously that Bill wasn’t performing that night and I must be mistaken. Now I knew from the owner that Bill was expected and had even seen it on the website but Kenny sounded so convincing that I asked him who HE was there to see and he said ” Joe List.” Now Joe List is very funny, and would probably fill Gotham but the place was overflowing with people, and something didn’t seem right. I couldn’t see how I could have made that big a mistake.
I sat down with Kenny at the comics table on the side as it was so crowded that my regular table was already taken, and we just talked about comedy and stuff and then we were joined by Paul Virzi who travels with Bill and is usually his opening act. This was really strange.
Joe List comes over to say hello and then goes up on stage to host the show. I order my usual chicken sandwich, and am still talking to Kenny about comedy and all kinds of stuff. Joe gets off after warming up the audience, and then Paul Virzi goes up and kills for about 20 minutes. My food comes and I’m looking down at my salad when I hear a familiar voice laughingly say, ” So you’re watchin’ your weight eh?” and I look up and of course it’s Bill Burr.
Kenny and Paul were playing a trick on me and I fell for it. Kenny was actually there as Bill’s security, but he played it so well that for a moment I actually questioned whether I was wrong and that Bill wasn’t going to come. I happen to like Joe List and was going to stay anyway!
So Paul finishes his set and then Bill is set to go up when out of the corner of my eye I see a familiar form with a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes, and it’s Seinfeld standing with Chris Mazzilli. Joe List goes up on stage and tells the audience that at Gotham, you never know who’s going to stop by, and announces Jerry Seinfeld and the crowd goes berserk!
Full on standing ovation as he takes the stage. Very rare to get a standing O before you even say a word. Jerry came out with papers and did about 20 minutes of what sounded like new material. Whether it’s old or new it’s always hilarious. He also did a Q&A and announced that he’d be back at The Beacon Theatre where he’s had a residency. He loves Gotham and is good friends with Chris Mazzilli. They are both avid car collectors.
And when he was done Bill Burr greeted him as he got off stage and they hugged. And then Joe List announced Bill Burr and it was another standing ovation. It was a straight hour of laughs and only one woman stood up and said she was “offended” by something innocuous that Bill said. The audience cheered as she walked across the room and left. And Seinfeld stood in the back watching Bill’s set. He hardly ever does that, but it was so fun watching him laugh at Bill. They couldn’t be more different in their styles and type of material, but talent at that level respects other talent at that level.
Keeping 300 people laughing for a straight hour is not an easy task but they both know how to do it. The audience got more than what they paid for and it was an amazing night!
Due to popular request I am bringing back my Comedy Matters blog/vlog. It’s an inside look at The Comedy World letting you hang with the comedy peeps you love, and meeting them on a personal basis. In this first one I will be doing a short review of some cool things that have happened in the comedy world recently, including Nick Kroll and John Mulaney debuting Season 2 of Netflix’ Big Mouth at the 92Y, the NY Comedy Festival with Bert Kreischer, Mike Birbiglia and Lisa Lampanelli, Hasan Minhaj talking about his new show Patriot Act also on Netflix. Ray Romano, Bill Burr, Scott Rogowsky from HQ Trivia, D.L. Hughley and John Oliver plus lots more with photos and videos of and with your fave comedy stars.Â
BIG MOUTH DEBUT AT 92Y
WITH NICK KROLL AND JOHNÂ MULANEY
The 92 Y keeps bringing in the heavy hitters in comedy.  Nick Kroll, John Mulaney and Jason Mantzoukas came to the 92nd Street Y along with their whole team from their Netflix hit “Big Mouth” to kick off the new second season.  Exec. Producer Andrew Goldberg, a childhood friend of Nick’s was there and he and Nick were the ones who came up with the idea for the show.  They premiered episode three from this new second season, and needless to say it was HILARIOUS.
The event was moderated by LA Times editor Meredith Blake, and other Exec. Producers on the panel were Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett. For anyone who doesn’t know, the animated series follows a group of 7th graders through their experiences with puberty and sexual coming of age  including best friends Nick Birch played by Nick, Andrew Glouberman played by John Mulaney, and with Jason Mantzoukas voicing characters like Jay Bilzerian a guy who has sex with his pillow and with a character named Socrates.
WITH JASON MANTZOUKAS BACKSTAGE AT THE 92Y
Â
Nick plays 12 different characters, including everyone’s favorite the Hormone Monster, plus the ghosts of Picasso and Richard Burton, while  Mulaney who’s plagued by the hormone monster who constantly makes him masturbate, plays at least three voices as well, as do Jordan Peele and Fred Armisen to name just two of the big stars whose voices recur on the show. Someone even plays Nick’s pubic hair, and Jessi Klein’s vagina.
During the Q&A a girl asked Jason Manztoukas if he wanted to “hang out”, and suggested that they meet at a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street.  He wasn’t taking any chances in this #MeToo age and invited everyone else there to join them.  And Jon Mulaney admitted that growing up his sexual fantasy was to be 40 and rich!  He must be very satisfied!
ACCIDENTALLY PERFORMING FOR JERRY SEINFELD
It all started on what was supposed to be a regular night at West Side Comedy Club.  I was scheduled to go on second around 8:30 or 8:45 when GM Gina Savage came in and said that Jerry Seinfeld had Tweeted that he’d be stopping by around 8:30.  That’s when people started streaming in.  And that’s what you call real live-streaming! I happened to be sitting near the front door watching the MC warm up the ever growing crowd when I caught a glance of Jerry walking down the stairs.  He had his baseball cap pulled down low and was alone.  He greeted a few people and shook my hand as he walked by.
The comic scheduled to go on first had done 8 shows in the last couple of days, felt she was tired and decided to leave.  Gina asked Jerry if he wanted to go right up and he said he wanted to wait a minute so Gina looked at me and said “ Jeffrey, you’re up.† Before I even had a chance to think about it or get nervous I was on stage while Jerry was in the room.  For whatever reason I felt calm, and was able to edit what I was doing while I was up there.  I often open with stuff about the weather, cell phones, and texting but for whatever reason I decided not to do any of that and went right into other material.
       WITH JERRY SEINFELD
Anyway Jerry went up after me to screaming and absolutely HUGE applause, and talked about many things including the weather, cell phones and texting, and it made me wonder what would have happened if I had actually done those same topics just moments before.  Might he have said, “ Well Jeffrey said all there is to say on these subjects!†LOL  I highly doubt it, but it made me think that at least I made good choices of topics to discuss. After I got off stage I totally re-thought all the stuff I could have done with Jerry in the room, which I think is pretty common for comics to do.
Needless to say Jerry killed with all of his new material, then did a Q&A with the audience which he likes to do.  One guy asked him what his favorite thing to do was and he said it was his show “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee†and doing stand-up.
When he finished he left as low key as when he arrived. Â By himself with his hat down over his eyes. Â It was a special experience, made even moreso by the fact that it wound up on Page 6 in the NY Post and also on Page 6 TV.
Jerry Seinfeld and Jeffrey Gurian on Page 6 TV
D.L. HUGHLEY DOES IT UP RIGHT
I went to see my good pal D.L. Hughley truly one of the official Kings of Comedy. Â He was headlining at Carolines and there was not a seat to be had. Â I was with him for all three nights and it was as much fun as you would have expected it to be.
As usual D.L. is very generous with his opening spots and gives stage time to comics on their way up.  Bo “Last Name†Dacious is one of his regular openers who is always a killer, and Clint Coley has such a unique stage persona, and is so funny that you gotta come away liking the guy.  He really takes command of the stage. Part of Bo’s merch is “Miss Hattie’s rag†which you have to see to understand but it’s a great gimmick and he said one of his best ideas ever!
BACKSTAGE WITH D.L. HUGHLEY AT CAROLINES ON BROADWAY
D.L. is one of the only comics I know who is confident and relaxed enough to either hang out with friends backstage until literally the moment he’s announced to go up, and I know this because I’m usually sitting right next to him when I’m there, and I walk with him to the showroom, or else he arrives at the club just minutes before he’s due to go on, and just goes right up.  That is amazing to me.  Many comics like to be alone before, and center themselves in some way.  Some are still looking over their material until right before they go up.
The girl I was with sparked a deep conversation about the power of women that D.L. and I will continue on his radio show very soon! His radio co-host Jasmine Sanders was backstage on the second night that I went. Â Always so good to see Jaz!
D.L. hits the stage, always dressed to the nines with his unique style, and does a flawless hour plus with no stress.  He saves his crowd work for the end.  And he always proves why he’s one of the true Kings of Comedy. I made it back for Sunday night’s closing night hang, which is always fun with DL. The dressing room was just D.L., his two nephews, and his long-time friends and fellow comics Smokey Suarez, and George Willborn.
We laughed for about 2 hours after the show ended until we closed the place down.  It was just us and the help.  Then they went out to grab a bit to eat, and I uncharacteristically went to get some rest for what I knew would be a crazy week at the NY Comedy Festival.
PLANNING A SCARF BUSINESS WITH BILL BURR
I kicked off New York Comedy Festival week with a kind of secret show from Bill Burr at West Side Comedy Club. Secret only in terms of, … you had to know to know. The room was packed to the proverbial gills. Joe Bartnick was the host and Mark Normand featured.
Unsurprisingly Bill did a flawless hour and has such a tremendous range of topics to talk about. He challenges people’s sensibilities which is such a good thing and he’s so smart that he presents things in a way that you have to see his point of view. Being that his wife is black he does a lot of very pertinent and necessary racial humor that everyone responded to very positively. He described himself as being so white he looks like a “bearded moon!â€
He was gearing up for his headlining gig that Wed. at Madison Square Garden. He was there with “Late Night with David Letterman” legendary guitarist and Paul Shaffer staple Felicia Collins who happens to be an old friend of mine as well. The room was so dark, and there were no seats, but thanks to owners Eugene and Nina Ashe they pulled me into a seat right next to Felicia, and she leaned over and said “ Jeffrey is that you?†After thoroughly checking, I came to the conclusion that it was me!
WITH BILL BURR AT WESTSIDE COMEDY CLUB
After the amazing show and huge applause that followed, Bill hung out to meet some fans, and take photos, and then Face Timed his wife Nia and their little daughter and he introduced us and we all got to say “hi” over his phone. It was Felicia, GM Gina Savage, and manager Lori Sommer.
Bill’s got the third season of his hit show “F Is For Family†starting November 30th and besides Paul Virzi’s special that he just produced he has three more coming down the pike, if they still use that expression, all under the banner of his “All Things Comedy†network. Next he was off to Chicago.
When I asked him what he had coming up the first thing he said was that he was designing a line of scarves, because he loves to joke about the way I dress, and some genius said he should call the line “Burrrrrrâ€, which would be incredibly perfect. We also had a long chat about fatherhood and how he felt when he first saw his daughter being born, because everyone told him it would bring tears to his eyes, but it didn’t. I told him that when my daughters were born it brought tears to my eyes and he said that was because I was a wonderful person but that HE on the other hand was a German/Irish serial killer!
MIKE BIRBIGLIA’S NEW ONEÂ
Mike Birbiglia never disappoints. His one man shows are always amazing and “The New One†at The Cort Theatre is no different. I’ve seen them all starting with his first, “Sleepwalk With Me†and the man is a master story teller. He opens the show and takes a minute to talk about his couch and you have no idea where he’s going with that, but he manages to weave it into a thread that carries throughout the entire show.
WITH MIKE BIRBIGLIA AT THE CORT THEATRE
It’s a wonderful story and again it’s a lot about becoming a Dad even though he had never planned on having children. Mike paces the stage a lot during the show and sometimes walks in circles, and there’s one HUGE surprise that I promised I wouldn’t divulge. It adds so much to the show and it’s something you’ve never seen before, and something that will totally surprise you.
After the show we went back to say hi and to congratulate him on his masterful performance, and ran into Nikki Glaser, Carmen Lynch and Myq Kaplan.
The show will run for only 12 weeks so make sure you get out to see it. You’ll hate yourself forever if you miss it!
BERT KREISCHER UNCUT AND UNDRESSED
Bert “The Machine†Kreischer was in town for the festival and had a show at Town Hall, which I knew for sure I had to attend. I absolutely LOVE Bert Kreischer who like Mike Birbiglia, also happens to be a master story teller. He’s just so unique, and when he came out on stage and immediately whipped off his shirt the crowd went insane. It was non-stop laughs through the whole thing and he ended the show with his story of how “The Machine†came to be, and how he committed actual crimes with the Russian Mob. His stories are so insane you know they have to be true. No one could make that up!
SHIRT-SHOPPING WITH BERT KREISCHER AT TOWN HALL
After the show we went back to hang out and his Levity Entertainment crew was there to support, along with a bunch of industry people from different TV shows, with one Levity rep Bjorn Wentlandt having flown in from the UK. Judy Marmel from Levity was there making sure that everything ran smoothly, and Bert greeted his friends still without his shirt. We decided to shoot an Instagram video which seems to be the thing these days except that Bert took my phone from me and said “ Watch thisâ€,  as he started filming from below his belly and up into his belly button to his chest while he addressed me and I talked about the show and the standing ovation he received when he was done.
Ray Romano came to The Cutting Room to do a charity spot for Bobby Collins’ Zeno Mountain Farm, a nationally acclaimed, ground-breaking camp for kids with disabilities.  They have facilities in Vermont, Los Angeles and Florida. It was a rare experience because it’s not often that you get to see Ray on stage in a smaller venue these days. He’s currently starring in “Get Shorty†a new series on Epix in which he plays a film producer.
Ray came out to tremendous applause and started out by apologizing for his moustache, which he said there was a reason for but didn’t explain.  He told great stories about getting older and about his family and especially his kids.  He’s got four, one daughter and three sons two of whom are twins.  He’s a real family guy and his stories are great.  I got to reminisce with him for a minute after his set about a time about 15 years ago when I brought Michael Bolton to the set of Everybody Loves Raymond so they could meet.
It seems they were mutual fans of each other but had never met.  I was out in LA talking to Michael about a potential TV show he wanted me to develop for him, and I had called Ray’s manager, and my longtime friend Rory Rosegarten, and so the three of us went over to the set to introduce Michael to Ray, and they were really excited to meet, which they did in front of the live audience, and we all had a great time.  Then Michael and I went back to his hotel and watched Ray on TV.  I brought the photo from that day of me, Michael and Ray, and Ray and I took a photo holding that old photo which is something I like to do.  Fortunately people indulge me! (LOL)
WITH RAY ROMANO AT THE CUTTING ROOM HOLDING A PHOTO OF ME, RAY ROMANO AND MICHAEL BOLTON
TEAM COCO PARTY WITH SCOTT ROGOWSKY AND JOHN OLIVER
Team Coco teamed up with TBS and took over SONY Hall on West 46th Street to create a pop-up comedy club called Team Coco House as part of this 15th annual New York Comedy Festival, which by the way gets bigger and better every year thanks to Caroline Hirsch and Louis Faranda the man who magically books all the shows. Team Coco House lit up the street with it’s huge lighted signs and it featured shows, podcasts, musical acts, magicians, and all kinds of talent hand-picked by Team Coco and Conan himself.
Caroline and Louis were both at the huge party that took place on Thursday night after Bert’s show. Louis doesn’t usually attend those things or stay out too late but he stayed at this one and everyone in comedy was there. It would be impossible to name all the names but it was absolutely packed with comics and industry, and they served great drinks and passed hors d’oeuvres, and tons of desserts, and when I left around 1:30 A.M. it was still going strong.
One nice surprise was seeing my dear friend Countess LuAnn from the Real Housewives of New York come in with her super-agent Rich Super, and she told me that she’s with Live Nation now and will be going on a huge tour starting Dec. 19th at the Gramercy Theatre with Alexa Ray Joel, and comedian Murray Hill, and you can bet I’ll be there too. In the meantime she’s still filming for RHONY and I always tell her it’s so amazing watching her fulfill her dreams because this was what she always wanted, and she made it happen. Most people don’t have the wherewithal, but she worked so hard and accomplished her dream.
WITH COUNTESS LUANN FROM RHONY
I was back there again to catch HQ Trivia star Scott Rogowsky do his long-running talk show Running Late this time starring John Oliver. I walked in and the place was so packed there were literally no seats and then Matt Richards, who opened the show and is also an HQ Trivia host grabbed me and we hung out together at the bar with HQ Trivia producer Ellen Burke.
Scott wore a crazy jacket and joked with John about how long he had been trying to get him on as a guest. John was his ever-pleasant self and told a lot of great stories and Scott had somehow found old video footage of John as a kid in some early TV show he did in England. They showed the poster for the new season of Last Week Tonight and John had his face down on a desk which he explained by saying that he doesn’t like to see his face on posters. For the last two seasons the poster didn’t show his face. But he showed his face in our photo below! (LOL)
WITH JOHN OLIVER
He talked about his wife who was a combat medic and his three year old son, and among other things told a funny story of how he had to interview the Dalai Lama and it dawned on him after he flew all the way to India that he was about to “fuck with the Dalai Lama.† But he said thAt luckily the Dalai Lama was “a fan of fuckery†and they had a great time.
Backstage afterwards was a crazy scene and I got to see John and Scott and Matt, and Scott’s Dad who’s always on the show with him as well.
(L-R) MATT RICHARDS, JEFFREY, SCOTT ROGOWSKY, MARTY ROGOWSKY
LISA LAMPANELLI IS “LOSIN’ IT” – QUITS STAND-UP COMEDY
When Lisa Lampanelli told me she quit stand-up comedy I could almost hear the relief in her voice. I wasn’t really surprised.  I was actually surprised she was able to have kept doing it so long.  I think it’s very hard to create a persona that is opposite to who you really are and which can often be misunderstood, … especially these days, when there’s an entire segment of the population that can not WAIT to be offended by something.
There was a reason that Lisa had been known as not just The Queen of Mean, but as “The Lovable Queen of Mean.† Anyone with an IQ over 11 knew she was always coming from a good place. She made fun of everyone starting with herself.  She probably made fun of gays the most and they were her biggest fans, as well as her main charity.
I know Lisa long before she became really famous, and saw her agonize more than once about whether the audience was truly getting what she was about. One particular time in Montreal at Just for Laughs was a particularly stressful time for her when the audience wasn’t sure how to take her “insult†comedy.  And it bothered her to the point where she said, “ I’m quitting comedy.† I was there to hear her say that.  And then she went on to become a superstar, selling out Radio City and Carnegie Hall during her stand-up career.
Enough people “got her†to keep the venues packed where she performed. But around late 2013 when her beloved Dad got sick she started what I can only refer to as her Spiritual transformation which led to her having weight-loss surgery and losing 107 pounds, and going through what I can only describe as a “Spiritual divorce†in which she introduced  her ex-husband Jimmy Cannizzaro to his new wife Jenna, and made them part of her extended family.
Lisa has always had a good heart so when she announced her departure from stand-up comedy on Howard Stern recently, and said she was transitioning not sexually but to become a story-teller and Life Coach, it made perfect sense. She had been thinking about it for quite a while, and she tends to do these major things only after she has thoroughly thought them through.
WITH LISA LAMPANELLI BACKSTAGE AT THE GRAMERCY THEATRE
I had attended all of the incarnations of her one woman shows, where she started carrying her message of empowerment, and self-love. I was with her when she made her singing debut at The Friars Club.
When she did her AOL Build talk to announce her Grammy nominated album “Back to the Drawing Board†she honored me by having me moderate the four camera shoot and it was amazing.  We talked all about Spiritual principles, food, body-issues, self-empowerment and achieving your goals in life.
When Ron Bennington, king of Sirius XM radio helped me create a radio pilot called “The Happiness Show†to teach people how to bring Happiness into their lives, my first three guests were Colin Quinn, Susie Essman, and Lisa Lampanelli to talk about how they bring Happiness into their own lives. We have a long history.
So Lisa and I had made plans to meet up backstage at The Gramercy Theatre before she went onstage to perform her newest ensemble piece called “Losin’ It†as part of the New York Comedy Festival.  When I got there she was in her dressing room with her niece Christine Schiefer and Christine’s podcast partner Em Schulz, the hosts of “And That’s Why We Drink.†And typical of the new Lisa Lampanelli’s selflessness she wanted the focus to be on them.
I wound up shooting two separate videos with Lisa, one with her and the hosts of “And That’s Why We Drinkâ€, and a separate one with just Lisa and I, with her talking about my best selling book on Happiness and how much she enjoyed it because of the principles that we share. The audiobook will be out next month sometime.
You can see the first video on my Comedy Matters TV channel on You Tube at www.youtube.com/guriannewsnetwork This is the direct link :Â Â Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F-iD4mslnc
“Losin’ It” was great and it had Lisa being just one of the ensemble of story-tellers, with her mainstay Frank DeCaro from Sirius XM, Lauren Ann Brickman from UCB and Lisa’s former play “Stuffed†and Eden Malyn from Orange is the New Black. It was about empowerment, body image, and learning to love yourself, and incorporated a game show and a Q&A with the audience. A really fun evening of entertainment with a very powerful message. Major congrats to Lisa on this major life choice.
HASAN MINHAJ FIRST INDIAN HOST OF MAJOR TV SHOW
I was excited to see huge billboards around town of my pal Hasan Minhaj announcing his new Sunday night Netflix show “Patriot Act†and even more excited to find out that he’d be appearing at the 92Y.  The 92Y has been outdoing itself lately bringing in major comedy figures for special events, and this was another great one.
Hasan got an unprecedented order of 32 episodes of the show which is a comedy series exploring “ the modern cultural and political landscape†one topic at a time.  Each of the episodes I saw is kind of like a short one-man show on pertinent topics like our dependence on oil, and the one they showed at the Y on “Affirmative Action.â€
Hasan is very animated in his delivery and it’s a multi-media production which I always appreciate.  It adds so much when you do more than just talk.  The evening started out as a one to one interview moderated by Vinson Cunningham, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and then they were joined by Exec. Producers Jim Margolis and
Prasanth Venkataramanujam, which even Hasan didn’t dare try to pronounce, and which Prasanth joked about himself. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him as a child to learn how to write his own name.
The episode they showed on “Affirmative Action†dealt with Asian students who feel discriminated against by Harvard admissions, where they’re only 22% of all students, while Hasan noted that Asian parents who emphasize education would probably only be happy with 100%.
The story was that he had asked a girl named Bethany to his high school prom and when he got to her house to pick her up she was getting ready to go with another guy, because her family was concerned that Hasan wouldn’t look right in the pictures they would inevitably be taking that night to send to their family. I had seen him do the story on earlier performances and was so moved by it that I told him it would make a great one-man show.
I shared the excitement with him when he became a correspondent on The Daily Show, which lasted four years, and then again when he hosted the White House correspondent’s dinner last year.
So it was a great feeling to see him now the master of his own show. Â I never had any doubt that he would make it big.
I certainly hope you enjoyed this comedy review of recent events and hope you will subscribe for upcoming Comedy Matters blogs/vlogs! Please check out the website at www.comedymatterstv.com and subscribe to Comedy Matters TV on You Tube at www.youtune.com/guriannewsnetwork @jeffreygurian on Twitter and IG
Netflix, the world’s leading Internet television network with more than 36 million members in 40 countries, is going all out to promote the fact that it’s bringing back the highly anticipated return of the hit show “Arrested Development”, with a fourth season this coming Sunday, May 26th.
Starting in London, they are launching the Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand Worldwide Tour. As of May 8th, Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand will pop up in different locations around London on May 8th, 9th, 15th and the 21st. The banana stand will then come to the US and appear in different cities leading up to the show’s debut on May 26th.
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters Tv with David Cross in Montreal at The Just for Laughs Festival where David is doing his best to cover up Jeffrey’s first book “Filthy, Funny, and Totally Offensive!”
The series was created by it’s Exec Producer Mitch Hurwitz, and all 15 new episodes of the Emmy® Award-winning comedy will be available for Netflix members to watch instantly at launch in all territories where Netflix is available – U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Brazil and the Nordics. The first three seasons of “Arrested Development†are currently available to stream in all Netflix territories.
The storyline of “Arrested Development†centers around Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family comprised of his son George Michael (Michael Cera), his father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter), his brothers George Oscar Bluth II, known as Gob (pronounced Jobe) played by (Will Arnett), Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) and sister Lindsay Funke (Portia de Rossi), Lindsay’s husband Tobias (David Cross) and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat). Ron Howard, another one of the the Exec Producers is the offscreen narrator.
Other Exec Producers besides Hurwitz are Brian Grazer, Jim Vallely and Troy Miller, and it is produced by Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox Television for Netflix. Some pretty heavyweight names!
The hit series originally aired on FOX from 2003-2006, but in this new season each episode will be told from the point of view of a different character, which Hurwitz said made it easier to get the original stars to return. There’s also been rumours of a possible Arrested Development movie.
Details on the banana stand’s location and other activities can be found on Twitter at @ArrestedDev
David Cross is best known for his stand-up, and for his HBO hit show “Mr. Show” that ran from 1995-1998 and co-starred Bob Odenkirk. Bob recently did a very serious role on HBO’s hit show “Breaking Bad” where he played a sleazy lawyer, and did it very well I might add!
David Cross with king of comedy Louis CK in Montreal at the Just for Laughs Festival!
I recently interviewed David, who plays Tobias Funke, (two dots over the “u”, which I’m not sure how to do so just try and picture that in your mind! LOL), at an event at The Friars Club:
For Free Books, Private Celeb Videos and One-On-One Skype Calls To Meet Jeffrey Please Join Our Patreon Page
