Caught in the Act: Big Jay Oakerson Celebrates a Birthday in NYC

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With Caught in the Act, each week, Amy will share one moment in New York Comedy that you need to know about. For her column debut, Amy shared a moment from The Bitter End. This week, Amy celebrated Big Jay Oakerson’s birthday at The Stand. Amy’s column appears every Thursday. Catch it to find out what you missed and why you shoulda been there.


Big Jay Has a Birthday

Monday night The Stand was jam packed with friends, fans and admirers of Big Jay Oakerson. That’s not exactly a rare occurrence, Jay is a staple of The Stand lineups and has legions (no pun intended) of avid showgoing fans, but this night was special because we were celebrating Jay’s birthday.

The Stand’s free Monday show Frantic has been the scene of numerous birthday celebrations for comedians and staff, with host Aaron Berg presenting a mid-show birthday cake and a raunchy, roasty toast to the birthday boy or girl. Jay skipped the onstage fanfare, keeping the cake upstairs and opting to be the one throwing the zingers at Berg. “I can tell it’s a special day because Aaron’s dressed up like Joey Buttafuoco at the holidays!” And while he didn’t get a cake onstage, he did get some presents in the form of an audience ripe with the kind of interesting people Jay loves to crowdwork. There was the couple down front who had married at the young age of 20 and the guy readily divulged that he had been a virgin until 19. Jay’s response: “That’s it? You don’t wonder what else is out there? Just 3 pussies and you’re checking out?” Then there was the “Dudes Night Out” group with one tag-along girlfriend. Instead of going in on that couple, though, Jay started asking all the other guys where their girlfriends were, with one guy’s evasive answers leading to Jay prodding, “Oh, she’s got to get up early? Why, does she work at a deli?” and the fella finally admitting she worked as a secretary. Jay gave him kudos. “You’re a good dude, man, you tried fifteen different ways not to tell everyone she’s just a dumb secretary.. You’re better than her, don’t ever forget that.”

The audience got some presents of their own, with special drop-ins from Dave Attell and Kevin Nealon and the chance to gawk at party guests Impractical Jokers’ Sal Vulcano, and porn stars Alia Janine and Mary Jean. The quote of the night, appropriately, came from Jay, but while he was offstage, “Christine got me this really nice wallet, wasn’t that sweet? But now we have to go to this place tomorrow so they can punch a hole in it for my chain.” (If that doesn’t sound better than terrorizing virgins and secretaries, just picture a stoned Jay saying that with a weird mix of pride and sheepish embarrassment at one of his trademark accessories.)

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Amy E Hawthorne is a New York by way of LA comedy journalist and founder of ComedyGroupie.com. She's also a produced numerous stand-up shows, got a paycheck and a drinking problem from The Comedy Store and is convinced that the Big Avocado lobby are the ones who really pull the strings in this country.
Amy Hawthorne
Amy Hawthorne
Amy E Hawthorne is a New York by way of LA comedy journalist and founder of ComedyGroupie.com. She's also a produced numerous stand-up shows, got a paycheck and a drinking problem from The Comedy Store and is convinced that the Big Avocado lobby are the ones who really pull the strings in this country.