Ronny Chieng Archives - Jeffrey Gurian

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COMEDY MATTERS ROUND-UP WITH JEFF ARCURI, RYAN HAMILTON, OZ PEARLMAN, SHERROD SMALL, RONNY CHIENG, EDDIE MURPHY’S SON, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on August 25, 2026

RYAN HAMILTON GOT HIT BY A BUS!!!

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!)

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!

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!!!

**(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 him my excitement was warranted!

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**

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!!!

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.

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

SEE YOU IN THE CLUBS!!!

Tags: "Comedy Matters TV", "Oz Pearlman", "Ryan Hamilton", "stand-up comedy", Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy's son Myles, Gotham Comedy Club, Jeff Arcuri, Jeffrey Gurian, John Tabacco, Mentalism, Nagah Ezaldein, Neflix special, Netflix, Newsmax TV, Page Six, Ronny Chieng, Seinfeld, Sherrod Small, The Comic Strip

Posted in: Breaking News, Celeb Photos, Charity Events, Comedians In The News, Comedy Central, Comedy Clubs, Comedy Matters, Comedy Thoughts, Comedy Videos, Entertainment News, Jeffrey Gurian News

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

Posted in: Jeffrey Gurian News

Patrice O’Neal 7th Annual Benefit Smash Success

Posted by Jeffrey Gurian on February 21, 2019

Every year for the last 7 years without fail, Bill Burr and comedy exec. Maureen Taran organize a special tribute to the late, great Patrice O’Neal. It’s truly amazing the respect that Patrice still gets. He left us on Nov. 29, 2011, and the love is still there.

It had a lot to do with the man himself, because other comedians have transitioned to that other plane, but people don’t talk about them as much, or do annual benefits in their honor. I always say that Patrice was much more than just a comedian. He was a comedy philosopher. He had a well thought out point of view, on many things, especially on how men should act around women.

And as I said the love for Patrice is just as strong as ever. I personally come across it, without exaggerating, probably on a weekly basis. People write to me by e-mail, or on FB or even stop me in the street and give me props for what we did on The Black Phillip Show. I’m always surprised because it was back in 2008, but people say that what we did changed their lives. That’s heavy for a radio show. And it was one of the greatest honors of my career to have been Patrice’s co-host on that show. We had a very unique relationship and one that his wife Vondecarlo could attest to.

You can hear it yourself in this rare phone call from Patrice to me the first night we did the Black Phillip Show together. it took a lot to get Patrice excited and he was not known for just throwing around compliments but he called me at 4:05 A.M. because he couldn’t wait till the morning to tell me how much he liked what we did together.

Anyway, Bill and Maureen hold the show at City Center, a venue in the heart of Manhattan which according to Google holds 2750 people, and every one of those 2750 people were there last night to see an incredible line-up of talent.Â Rich Vos MC’ed a show that Patrice would have been proud of.

Although Rich said that it if had been a benefit for him all these years, … maybe Patrice would have shown up, … one year.Â And then Rich brought up Joe List who ( and I’m sure it wasn’t for me) happened to do a lot of dental oriented material which is not a common theme. He even said that in root canal you take out the roots and throw them away and I meant to tell him that it’s the nerves they take out not the roots, but hopefully he’ll read this and find out.

Aussie comic Brendan Burns made the mistake of making fun of Vos, and Vos came back with nuclear weapons. He did that with every comic that made jokes at his expense, which was just about every one of them. And later at the after-party, his wife comic Bonnie McFarlane told me she was backstage with Rich and offered suggestions to him for the comebacks!

At the after party over hors-d’oeuvres I told Vos that he was like President Trump (not anything political), who doesn’t let anyone say anything about him without clapping back twice as hard. No one gets away with anything.

Mark Normand had some good advice for the audience.Â He said it was ok to be offended, just shut up and keep it to yourself. Michele Wolf made fun of Vos’ foot size and he made fun of her voice. She also talked about otters raping baby seals, which she swore to be true, and white women’s privilege, which she also swore was true, and as she left the stage Vos asked for a big hand for Michael Rappaport.

Gary Gulman showed his prowess as a wordsmith as usual by deconstructing the word “ruthless” as having no ruth, like “Buzzi” or “Bader Ginsberg”, and went on to use words like hijinx, and tomfoolery. Writing these notes in the dark by the way was very difficult. I could hardly read my writing. And photos were out of the question. They had everyone place their phones in Yondr bags which in case you don’t know is a special bag that locks the phone inside of it until you leave. They literally leave you holding the bag!

After mine was locked I was worried that I had left the ringer on and that I’d get a call during the show and wouldn’t be able to turn off my phoneÂ because it was locked in that stupid bag, but I didn’t want to leave to have it checked.

The music was hot and was supplied by Cipha Sounds who I had just seen the night before at Chelsea Music Hall where he performed on Ryan Ling’s Bird Brain Comedy Show, but this night he was spinning hip-hop in between acts.

And then it was Chris Redd from SNL followed by Bill Burr who closed the amazing show. Everybody killed. No surprise there.

And then it was off to the after-party at a place called Esther and Carol’s down on Broome Street. It’s the lounge of the Soho Hotel and it was arranged by the owners of The Stand who host the after-party every year. Unfortunately they are still waiting for their new two-level club to be finished down on West 16th Street, so in the meantime they’ve been doing pop-up shows in this cool lounge.

I walked in early and Bill was there talking to Maureen, and he saw me out of the corner of his eye and because he takes pleasure in torturing me, made sure to say something very loud like, “I sure hope that guy Jeffrey Gurian doesn’t come”.Â I laughed and told him it was too late that I had already snuck in.

They had the whole staff there including owner Cris Italia, Joe Harary, and the always lovely Adele Carollo, and they had good food and drinks.Â All of the comics who performed were there, as well as Ronny Chieng, Joe Bartnick who opens for Bill, Luisa Diez, Bonnie McFarlane who I spoke to the longest of anyone, and Krystyna Hutchinson who was also celebrating her birthday and came in with Wendi Starling, whose hair is now short and dark and I almost didn’t recognize her.

Joe List “the dental expert”, with Mark Normand and Michelle Wolf

But the highlight of the party for me was when I heard someone calling out my name and I turned to see Patrice’s Mom Georgia calling me over to say hello. She was sitting in the balcony with her daughter Zinder, because she made it down this long flight of stairs which was not easy for her, and they wanted her to sit in a safe place.

She’s always so gracious and we reminisced about Patrice and how great he was, and I told her how many times people contact me about Black Phillip and she said he always loved that show so much.Â Then we took the photo you see above and for me that was the highlight of the evening.

I didn’t get a photo with Bill because I never know how to approach the man! (LOL) When he was getting ready to leave I walked over to say goodnight and he was talking with Ronny Chieng but he stopped his conversation to yell out, ” Jeffrey you have to stop crashing parties”, and I was concerned that Ronny didn’t know he was kidding!

So I decided to post some of the many photos that Bill and I have taken over the years, starting back in 2005. Great job Bill! Hope to sneak into #8 next year too!