Last night I experienced my first comedy show in the City at New York Comedy Club. Now this wasn't my first comedy show, but certainly a different experience than previous shows I had ever experienced. Imagine the one bar in college you frequented that was a total dive bar, but there was something special about it. Although I had never been to this club before, there was an ora about it where I just knew it was more than a place where people are entertained, but a place that, to many, meant more than I could possibly understand.
When I first entered the Club I found myself in a dark, mildew-smelling room with an old, polished bar. Lining the walls were photos and paper mache heads of past comedians like Lucille Ball. While I waited to be escorted to the main stage, I met the headliner for that night's show, Clayton Fletcher, who is one of the few comedians successful enough to perform for a living. He has toured across the world and acted in several movies and TV shows. Fletcher performs at the Club each weekend, and his act consists of many sets featuring friends and fellow comedians, one being a friend and mentor of mine. I noticed many of the audience members and comedians exchanging pleasantries with one another, almost like a community based off a common interest: a love for performing.
Soon after I was lead to the "main stage," a dingy room of about ten tables and handmade wooden platform substituting as the stage. The crowd was small (Fletcher would later tell me it was the smallest he had ever seen), only a handful of about 12 people. But again, it was a community of diverse people all coming together for common interests, whether that be to gain a few laughs for the night or supporting family or friends.
The lady across from me was there to see her "daughter's father," as she described him to me, and said she saw all his shows. Well honey, I give you credit for being overly-supportive to someone you only give credit to for being the sperm-donor. There were two guys we later learned were from New Jersey, only in the City for the night...of course that would explain the Jager bombs they were taking at the bar in the lobby, and their public admittance later in the show that they dabbled in the nose candy. There were also two guys around my age in the crowd, whom I was certain were gay due to their impeccable dress and perfect bodies (because aren't the best-looking guys always gay)? It turns out they were from Norway and became the butt of most of the evening's jokes because the comedians had to explain every joke to them, but then again I'm sure they didn't even understand they were the punch line. There were two couples also in attendance, one sat at the table I shared with the one comedian's baby mama, and the other couple sat at the table behind me. It was evident that the couple at my table were on a date, possibly their first based on their awkwardness. The other couple sat canoodled at their table the whole night rarely laughing at any jokes, meaning they were probably the old married couple. And then there were the rest of us, the singles, praying that no one would make a joke out of us for flying solo.
The show began with the host for the night, Stephanie Holmes, who is likely the life of every frat party. Her sense of humor was vulgar and on the verge of offensive-- you certainly don't find those words coming from a Southern girl's mouth. But her style was so hilarious I found I sometimes had tears in my eyes. The majority of her jokes were based on putting herself down or harassing the audience, never knowing what she may say next or whom she would target. It is evident that she is the budding young comedian in this family of comics, and clearly the cheerleader of her mentors.
Over the course of two hours I listened to a variety of different comics, each with extremely different backgrounds. The show featured everyone from a Russian immigrant bartender and PhD dropout to a co-founder and extremely successful PR professional to a once homeless girl obsessed with her cat, Pasta, and determined to never get married or have children (think she may one day be the "old cat lady?"), each with their own humor and style, but all loving comedy, making them a family in and amongst themselves.
Some of the humor turned me off, like the lady's "daughter's father" who referred to every female as a bitch (including his mother and grandmother), and some so hysterical my cheeks ached, such as the comedian who talked about his 90-year-old father enjoying NJ's medical marijuana after being diagnosed with Glaucoma. Every comedian had his/her own flare based upon their life growing up or day-to-day life experiences.
If you've never gone to a show in the City I highly recommend it because it is truly what this city is about. It's a melting pot of different people with different lives and different backgrounds, but they are each brought together through one thing. Like we are all brought together by the love for this wild and chaotic city, they are all brought together because they love to make people laugh. When you walk through that door it doesn't matter if you are the unemployed father of an illegitimate baby or the owner of a successful company, you are all the same, and you are all a family.
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