This Week in Atlanta! We Visit the Improv, and Uptown Comedy Corner
Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column, right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York This week, Jeffrey headed down to Atlanta to do a set, so instead of his regular Monday column talking about the New York Clubs, Jeffrey took some time to let us know what’s happening in the Atlanta comedy scene.
So sorry for the late column, but I’ve been in Atlanta exploring the Atlanta comedy scene and my technology got the best of me, and I wasn’t able to write it on time. Suffice it to say that comedy is alive and well in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Improv is a major club and I’ve been covering it for a while in my promos on Sirius XM radio talking about all the big stars that appear there, like T.J. Miller, Jim Breuer, Bobby Lee, Brent Morin, Jeff Garlin, and Tom Papa all of whom have shows coming up. So I was really excited to have a spot there last Wednesday. I was supposed to be at the club at 8, thanks to Shayl Patel a funny comic who performs, hosts, and books shows at the club. And I always like to show up early and say “wassup” to everyone involved. But unfortunately, while I was flying in, the pilot makes an announcement that Hartsfield Airport is closed due to a terrible storm and we are being diverted to Savannah. Great! So long story short, after a series of very comedic mishaps, I race into the club just in time to see the closing act Tone Bell, who recently taped his Comedy Central Half Hour in Boston. He was also one of the stars in Russell Simmons’ web series The Green Room, and he will be featured in Montreal at the Just for Laughs festival as one of Variety’s Top 10 Comics to Watch which is a big honor. And I will see him there again.
So Shayl felt bad that I missed my spot and was kind enough to get me a spot the next night on a show headlined by two guys who came up in Atlanta but recently transplanted to New York. Mike Albanese and Gilbert Lawand were on kind of a cross-country tour which was ending with their headlining July 4th weekend at The Improv. They came up in Atlanta but decided to move to New York together this past year and have been playing some of the local clubs. When The Improv offered them the weekend they decided to drive down together and it turned into a comedy tour doing 30 shows on their way. Mike is 6’5” and is an imposing presence, with a big Brooklyn-type beard, but balances that out by being very funny. Next week he heads to the Outerbacks Comedy Club in North Carolina while Gilbert goes off the the Las Vegas Improv. Gilbert has an unusual background. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq to two Catholic parents, and when he was six they moved to Georgia to a town of 500 people where they lived on a farm. So Gilbert has plenty of material for his jokes. Hosting the show was a funny guy you’ll probably be hearing more about named David Perdue.
The Improv is a big beautiful club which that night was being run by Jen Donovan, a manager who was so accommodating as was everyone else I dealt with. Chalk it up to Southern hospitality, but there’s a nice green room, they feed you and it’s a very cool club. Everybody was checking up on me to make sure I was comfortable, and had what I needed, and the place was packed, even on the holiday.
I wanted to perform some more while I was down there and my girl Chaunte Wayans, (yes she’s related!), who’s in the process of creating a very cool web series I’ll be able to tell you about very soon, got me a spot in an “urban club” called Uptown Comedy Corner. Chaunte is from Atlanta but is currently living and performing in LA. She asked me if I felt up to doing this club, which she described as a tough club to do, but I didn’t find out till later that it has such a tough rep that some Black comics are even afraid to do the club cause the audience can be so demanding. I have a feeling I may be one of the only white comics who ever did that club, but I certainly was the only one that night. The host was Kelly “K-Dubb” Walker a very quick and funny dude who killed on Arsenio and runs a tight ship, but doesn’t care too much about intros. One of the comics told me that sometimes he just calls out your name with no background intro at all. When I came in he brought me over to meet the headliner A.J. Jamal, who’s performed in places ranging from Radio City to Caesar’s Palace, and back in the day was the host of Comedy Central’s urban showcase Comic Justice. And A.J. was standing with Terry Hodges who often performs with and writes for Chris Tucker. And they both laughingly told me when they saw me walk into the club, they thought I must be a Hollywood agent!
The comedy was fresh that night, and K-Dubb had them in the palm of his hand as he’s been hosting the show for a while and has a big following. I think it’s safe to say that the audience was surprised to see me on stage. I opened with, “I know what you’re thinking. Just another Black comic!” It was definitely an interesting experience!
Anyway, that’s it for me. Back to my regular column next week. But for now, I’m OUT!!!
Jeffrey Gurian is a comedian, writer and all around bon vivant in New York City. Subscribe to his YouTube channel. Below, photos, Jeffrey Gurian at the Atlanta Improv, and Jeffrey with A.J. Jamal, and Tone Bell.
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