With Eddie Brill no longer booking Letterman, it’s now being done by group decision. Alex, Ryan, and Kelly from the Letterman show recently came down to The Strip to watch a showcase that included a great line-up of comics. I’m leaving out their last names to protect their anonymity! (LOL)
Ryan, Alex and Kelly, the three bookers from Letterman at The Comic Strip!
The MC was Dean Obeidallah, always a favorite and a great MC. Jon Fisch warmed up the crowd as only he can do, and then the procession of ten minute sets started. Every comic did well. First was Mike Burton who opens his eyes so wide, he looked like the photo of my National Lampoon article entitled, “Man Displays Uncanny Ability to Lift Heavy Objects With His Eye.”
Dean Obeidallah, MC'ing the Letterman auditions at The Comic Strip!
Mike Burton attempting to open his eyes to their maximum capacity for the enjoyment of the crowd!
LeighAnn Lord said flying used to be like a date. You got dinner and a movie. Now it’s more like a one night stand. You slink away with your shoes in your hand, all humiliated, thinking I gotta stop doing this!”
LeighAnn Lord making people laugh, onstage at The Comic Strip!
Ross Bennett ends by asking the audience if they mind if he does a joke he used to do in his act and when they agree he says, ” How about that whole Watergate thing?” They love it and so did the Letterman people!
Ross Bennett with a very topical joke on Watergate onstage at The Comic Strip!
Teddy Smith said his mom never had any money even though she worked all day every day. He thought she was a slave! Which is a funny line even if you didn’t know that Teddy was black!
Teddy Smith wearing his gang colors onstage at The Comic Strip! (LOL) I'm guessing Bloods!
Colin Jost a writer from SNL did a really strong set and was also a favorite of the Letterman folk, and they plan to come back to see Brian Scott McFadden again as well as Mike Vecchione.
Colin Jost from SNL showing proper mic technique to the Letterman people at The Strip!
The Strip’s own Joe Machi did Fallon last night for the first time and totally killed it! Look out for Joe! He’s very unique and he’s going to do big things!
For the past 15 years Rob Goldstone and David Wilson founders of Oui 2 Public Relations have been creating HUGE events and representing even bigger stars! They have a national and international network of connections.
Even in his early days, Rob was a force to be reckoned with. Originally from the U.K., (which is where he got that great accent! LOL) he traveled with Michael Jackson, as the only journalist personally chosen by Michael to cover his “down under” tour in Australia, and was chosen to accompany Bob Geldof to Ethiopia for his Band Aid Relief Fund concert back in 1985.
While living in Australia Rob represented almost every major international artist touring that country; from Cyndi Lauper to Julio Iglesias, James Taylor, Tracy Chapman, BB King, Marianne Faithful and Poison! Among his corporate clients were Saatchi and Saatchi, The Hard Rock Cafe, Chess: The Musical, Richard Branson’s Virgin Megastores, and HMV Music Stores.
After returning to England in 1991, he moved to The States the following year as the Head of International Marketing for HMV Group, (part of EMI Records)- a position he held until 1998. In this capacity, he oversaw the international marketing for the world’s largest music retail corporation, from the U.S. and Canada, to the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Japan, and Australia. His work led to close working relationships with artists, managers, and record labels across the globe.
David Wilson made similar moves, starting out in Northern California where he grew up, and winding up in Sydney, Australia, where he began his PR career at Rob Goldstone’s company, Crawford Goldstone Corporation, which at the time was one of the leading entertainment/lifestyle PR firms in the country. He moved first to London and then to NYC where he worked with a cross section of both music and entertainment heavyweights including Joe Cocker, Lisa Stansfield, Warner Bros. TV, Atlantic Records, HMV Records, and the New York Friars Club.
Which brings me to the purpose of this post. Yesterday I personally witnessed the talent of these two Oui 2 guys as they pulled off two HUGE events in the same day! I first attended the red carpet event for the Friars Club Roast of Betty White, and finished off the day by covering the red carpet for the Caron Foundation event at Cipriani’s on 42nd STreet, in honor of Clive Davis and Judy Collins.
Jeffrey Gurian from Comedy Matters TV with Gilbert Gottfried at the Betty White Roast!
Needless to say, (then why am I saying it? LOL) both were star-studded events, and packed with press. David and Rob made sure that everything ran smoothly, and you could see how hard David was working by how wet his shirt was! LOL Despite the tremendous pressure, and various demands made on him, he was still very accomodating.
The actual red carpet was so crowded with photogs and press, that David was kind enough to set me up with a spot at the end, so I could get some great video interviews for Comedy Matters TV with legends like Dick Cavett, Larry King, and Abe Vigoda, as well as Prior of The Friars Club Stewie Stone.
Larry King, making a point to both Uggie from The Artist, and Jeffrey Gurian from Comedy Matters TV at the Betty White Roast!
Old friends Jeffrey Gurian from Comedy Matters TV and actor/singer Dominic Chianese at the Friars Roast for Betty White!
Although I didn’t get to talk to Betty White or some of my old pals like Norm Crosby,(who just didn’t hear me when I called out to him! LOL), and Liza Minelli, I did get to talk to Donny Deutsch, who was shocked that I had met his parents at a comedy event I produced at the Westbury Country Club, Dominic Chianese who was shocked that we hadn’t seen each other in so long, and legendary talent agent Don Buchwald who was just plain shocked that I wanted to do an interview with him, (he’s just very humble!LOL)
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV with Donny Deutsch at the Friars Club Roast of Betty White!
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV with the legendary Liza Minelli at an earlier event! I missed her at both the Roast and the Caron event!
After the Roast, I went home to change my clothes so I wouldn’t be dressed the same in both events, got hold of a second DP to shoot the Clive Davis/Judy Collins event, and headed over to Cipriani’s where I got to interview not only Clive, and reminisce with him about the time I got him invited to his first Friars Roast, but also Laurie Dhue the MC for the evening, my old friend Chris Lawford, Geraldo Rivera, and Judy Collins, who pleasantly surprised both Geraldo and I by coming over to join us during our red carpet interview. It turned into a fantastic three-way, you should excuse the expression!
Patrick McMullen's photo of Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV interviewing both Geraldo Rivera and Judy Collins at the same time!
MC Laurie Dhue with Stephanie Seymour on the red carpet for the Caron Foundation event honoring Clive Davis and Judy Collins!
Geraldo Rivera with his wife Erica at the Caron event honoring Clive Davis and Judy Collins!
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV with honoree Clive Davis at the Caron event at Cipriani's!
I also got to reminisce with Geraldo about an evening we spent with Salvador Dali many years before at the St. Regis Hotel in the King Cole Lounge where Dali held court whenever he was in New York!
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV reminiscing with Geraldo Rivera at Cipriani's about an evening long ago with Salvador Dali!
You’ll see lots more when the video is posted, in the meantime I just wanted to give props to Oui 2, and Rob and David, for their amazing accomplishment!
It’s hard enough to own one comedy club in NYC and make it successful. Two is pretty amazing, but three is completely off the charts. Meet Al Martin the guy who soon will be opening this third comedy club, the Greenwich Village Comedy Club, somewhere on MacDougal Street.
That will mean he has New York Comedy Club on 24th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenue, Broadway Comedy Club on West 53rd Street, which is almost like three clubs in one anyway, with The World, and the upstairs and downstairs rooms going constantly, and now Greenwich Village Comedy.
I have a feeling Al won’t stop until he has a room in every part of the city. The Soho Comedy Club, The Turtle Bay area Comedy Club, … well actually he did have a club in Turtle Bay!
I remember when New York Comedy Club was around 52nd Street and 2nd avenue, and I’d come by to see the variety of shows he had. I recall meeting the late Eric Douglas there, the comedian brother of Michael Douglas, who died very young.
One of the things that Al prides himself on is the variety of the shows he offers. For instance coming up on June 3rd, “The Big Brown Comedy Show” hosted by Aasif Manvi from The Daily Show. Indian comedy is definitely on the rise, as evidenced by the success of Russell Peters, Aziz Ansari, and Kal Penn who plays Kumar in the wildly successful Harold and Kumar films.
The legendary J.J. Walker will be hosting a show there at the end of June, and one night recently, Vinny Parco from the TV show Parco P.I. was there hosting a show called “Naughty Girls”. Despite everything else he does, and with all the reality shows he’s planning, Vinny always makes time to perform comedy, a great love of his.
Vinny Parco of Parco P.I. fame hosting the "Naughty Girls" show at Broadway Comedy Club!
And true to the name of his show he brought a bunch of very naughty girls to do stand-up.
Tatiana, one of Parco's "Naughty Girls" comics onstage at Broadway Comedy Club!
It was a very fun show including Judy Cianciotto, Maureen Langan, and Jen Raumero!
Vinny Parco with one of his "naughtiest" girls on stage at Broadway Comedy Club!
Al is a funny comic in his own right, so now he doesn’t have to audition at any other clubs. (LOL) He’ll have three stages with which to indulge his passion! Good luck Al. Can’t wait to start hanging out there!
Hands down there’s no nicer guy than Ardie Fuqua and no one who loved his kids more than Ardie Fuqua. What a shock to hear that he lost his 19 year old son Jamal in a car accident a day ago. How does anyone make sense of something like that?
Jeffrey Gurian with Ardie Fuqua in happier times. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ardie!
The last time I saw Ardie and Jamal was last March 31st, at Chris Rock’s The Motherf**ker With The Hat! I was there with Richie Tienken and Ardie and Jamal sat right in front of us. He was so proud he could bring his son with him to see Chris and afterwards we all went up to Chris’ dressing room to congratulate him. Ardie was beaming as he introduced Richie and I to his son. He couldn’t have been prouder and rightfully so. He was a beautiful kid. Very respectful, and just like his Dad.
Most people who experience a tragedy of this magnitude are allowed to grieve, but comedians are in that rarefied place where no matter what happens in their lives they still have to go out and make other people laugh. It’s what they do. It’s all they know how to do. It’s in their DNA.
I pray that God gives Ardie the strength! My deepest and sincerest condolences to you Ardie in your terrible loss!
On any night at Broadway Comedy you’re liable to be surprised as to who drops in to perform. Recently both David Spade and Steven Wright stopped by and thrilled the audience with a surprise performance.
Dan Soder hosting the show at Broadway Comedy!
On the recent night I stopped by, the very funny Dan Soder was hosting, and had a line-up of funny local comics like Orlando Baxter who I had never seen before but offered his opinion on fire drills in schools. How often does it happen that there’s a fire in a school. He thinks it would be better to have “Hey, that M-F’er’s got a dun drill.” That would probably be more effective!
Orlando Baxter telling the audience about fire drills and what other things strike him funny!
Or Jeff Wesselschmidt, who once he got over his obsession with what I refer to as bathroom type material, had this comment on girls with big butts: “If a girl has a big butt, ,she has to know it cause guys who like big butts are generally not stingy with compliments!”
Jeff Wesselschmidt onstage at Broadway Comedy!
The always popular Jon Fisch came out and killed it for the crowd, but it felt like he was doing a longer set than usual, and it turned out that he was. Whoever was supposed to light him seems to have gone on vacation in the middle of Jon’s set, so being the pro that he is, he just kept coming up with more material, until finally someone noticed, and brought up the next comic! The audience had no idea, but Jon and I had a good laugh about it!
Jon Fisch killing it onstage at Broadway Comedy in a "hyper-extended" set! (LOL)
What Jon didn’t realize was that I caught him standing in what I can only describe as some sort of “ballet position”, which is something I have to ask him about! He seemed very comfortable in that position, so maybe he studied ballet at some point in his past!
Jon Fisch in "resting position", or some sort of ballet stance onstage at Broadway Comedy! Nice going Jon! (LOL)
Kurt Braunholer, who teaches improv at The Pit, which is also where he co-hosted Hot Tub Variety Show, is another crowd pleaser who still performs with Kristen Schaal, a talented comic and Daily Show correspondent! They host a show together out in Brooklyn, and also do a show together on Sirus Radio called “High Five With Kurt and Kristen.”
Kurt Braunholer performing directly into the mic at Broadway Comedy Club!
The highlight for me was seeing Todd Barry who I don’t get to see perform all that often, but who I always enjoy. His laid-back understated delivery just makes me laugh out loud, which I don’t often do. If most comics had to face an audience filled with people like me, they’d be very unhappy.
I do a lot of smiling, but it takes a lot to make me laugh out loud. Not because I don’t want to, but I like to let it just happen because I can’t help it!
Todd Barry in a surprise guest spot at Broadway Comedy Club!
Todd makes me laugh out loud! His combination of sarcasm, and clever punchlines do it for me.
You’ve seen Todd in Louie, on Sarah Silverman, (not exactly on HER, but on her show!), in the 2nd season of Adult Swim’s “Delocated”, and in films like “The Wrestler.” I try and see him whenever I can. I think he tours a lot and appears in festivals occasionally!
But it was a great night at Broadway Comedy, and it just shows that you never know who’s liable to pop in!
Recent Comments