Thursday night we spent at The Comedy Cellar. One of the most recognised clubs in New York. I guess you could say that when you are a regular at the Cellar, you have in some sense made it. It should be a great show. Every night. It wasn't. Apart from James Smith, who was the first comic to hit the stage, none of them had done their homework. Apart from James, and the first 10 minutes of Judah Friedlander's set it was a really bad show although the room was almost packed.
Every single comedian took the stage and started talking to the audience. The same members of the audience. Same questions, same response. If you must talk to the audience, please, please, please look at the performers before you so we don't have to hear the same shit over and over again.
Wasn't much better when they started doing material either. The Octomom, planes landing on the Hudson River and the election was 3 very dated and booring subjects shared by almost all of the comedians. One of them even went in to his old Bush-jokes. Write new stuff! And if you don't write new stuff, at least don't do the same old stuff as all the others on the same night. I want my 12 bucks back.
Yesterday was another thing entirely. The Wicked Monk in Brooklyn is more like a scene from Fightclub than a comedyclub. The room is very narrow and long with some really, really drunk Irish people at the very end. They constantly heckled the comedians and basicly gave everybody a hard time. On top of that, the PA wasn't the best I've worked with. But still, it was so much more fun than the Comedy Cellar. To do 10 minutes in that room and get the audience to listen is a real challange. Some of us pulled it off and some didn't. To be honest, I don't know many that could. Yannis headlined and kept the audience in the palm of his hand for 40 minutes. Now, THAT is a pro.
So, if you ever get the choice between Comedy Cellar and the Wicked Monk, the choice should be fairly easy. At least if Yannis is headlining.
My set went well, so I'm really looking forward to tonight when I will do 20 minutes at Shades restaurant in Hoboken, NJ. Do not miss that if you are in New York today.
