LA’s Midnight Snack Descends on New York Comedy Club with Pure Mayhem to Put a Cap on the First Day of the New York Comedy Festival
Last night the New York Comedy Festival kicked off all over New York City with shows in every imaginable type of venue from comedy clubs to bars, to trendy hotels. Reports came in from all around of great shows, with fantastic stars but I’ve yet to hear of a single event that could outdo Midnight Snack at the New York Comedy Club for that “you had to be there” kind of show.
Los Angeles musicians and comedians Josh Adam Meyers, Avery Pearson, and Jeremiah Watkins, who you may already know from Adams’ Goddamn Comedy Jam took an element of the Jam’s show open, and turned it into a show all its own.
It’s improv, it’s a musical, it’s stand up, its silly, it’s funny, it’s a clusterfuck in all the ways that you want a midnight show to be a clusterfuck. Without the Goddamn Comedy Jam in town to provide that end-of-the-night, you-can’t-watch-another-straight-comedy-show-but-you-don’t-want-the laughs-and-the-party-to-end-vibe, Midnight Snack provides that same energy, in a more intimate environment. How to explain it? Like it’s older sibling The Goddamn Comedy Jam, it’s easy to explain but the show description doesn’t capture what a blast it is. Frontman Josh Adam Meyers takes the lead mic, while Avery and Jeremiah back him up both vocally and instrumentally (keyboard and saxophone, specifically), in an improved, crowd worked, sing-a-long show and it’s bizarre. Meyers growls out lyrics that oftentimes belong in a bad musical; and a single catchphrase can lead to a full all-out rock song, riffed and based on crowd work with the audience. At one point, Meyers spent maybe ten minutes singing about a “sprinkler of love” with “flip flops of truth” after deciding an audience member’s beard made him a likely racist. Another moment in the show- to protect the innocent and the guilty I won’t print the details- had Jeremiah wondering if this show might be the band’s downfall.
Meyers took a break from leading the mayhem from time to time to bring up other comedians- like Dulce Sloan a recent Los Angeles to New York convert who now is a Daily Show correspondent. After doing some fantastic stand up and riffing about wanting to bed Meyers, Sloan sang a duet with him where he asked her, musically of course, why she wants to fuck him after singing out his flaws (including having a canceled Comedy Central series).
Later Matteo Lane took the mic and stayed in song for his entire time on stage, and we learned that its okay to start singing Christmas music in early November– if you’re gay– and the audience was treated to hilarious renditions of Liza, Britney, Celine, Mariah, and even Andrea Boccelli. Not exactly impressions, more vocal caricatures and they were spot on. Later, the onstage ensemble ventured into a rock-scream, operatic, gospel-tinged, deeply religious version of Eidelweiss, yes, that song from the Sound of Music, to round out Matteo’s set.
And no one was spared from the madness of Sean Patton, the last comedian to jump up on stage that night. He didn’t do any impressions of divas, but his Josh Adam Meyers take brought the house down. And most of what Patton did on stage can’t be relayed in print- both because of the high jizz reference count, and because it just wouldn’t translate well. The night ended with attempts to get the audience to contribute Josh Adams Meyers-esque references- largely in vain- but the tension of the search for someone who got the bit coupled with a dramatic finale, left everyone in the audience as satisfied as a Sean Patton cum joke.
Not enough credit can possibly be given to Pearson and Watkins whose ability to follow not only band-mate Josh Adam Meyers’ lead but also the lead of the guest comedians cannot be overstated. Bottom line, if you ever get the chance to experience Midnight Snack, you’ve got to experience it for yourself.
