Joe Rogan at Gotham, Lisa Lampanelli’s Show Ends Its Run and More!

jeffrey-gurian

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 covered the scene at Gotham Comedy Club, the Standing Room in Long Island City, and a bus!


Joe Rogan Packs Out Gotham Comedy Club

This week at Gotham, Joe Rogan had a room so packed that when I got there the staff apologized to me for probably not having any seats left. I don’t need seats to watch Joe Rogan so I watched him do his thing from the little alleyway where the production crews set up when they shoot shows there. Joe’s audience loved him, and he gave them an extra long set despite having announced at one point that he “ran out of material ten minutes ago”, but then as the consummate pro that he is, he went on for about another 20 minutes including taking questions from the audience which is tricky after midnight when people have been drinking for so long, but Joe handled it all with aplomb! He also said that he and Bill Burr were planning to go out and hunt pigs together cause that’s the only animal people don’t feel bad about if you hunt ’cause there are just so many of them! And they’re PIGS!!!

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WYFD Tapes Season Two at The Bitter End, With a Surprise!

Great way to start off my comedy week by attending the first Seeso taping of the new season of Big Jay Oakerson’s “What’s Your Fucking Deal?” at The Bitter End. It’s a crowd work show and despite the fact that Jay makes it look easy, it’s not. Big Jay comes out looking like he’s opening for the Hells Angels, with his half-a-head of blond hair, and a long red scarf hanging from his back pocket. I don’t want to give away too many secrets before the show airs, but I was so happy to see the Goddamn Comedy Jam there. Those guys are amazing. They were backing Tony Clifton and this was one for the ages. Although some of the audience was familiar with Tony, many of the younger members were not. Tony was dressed like a Vegas act from the 50’s with a pink brocade jacket, tuxedo pants, dark glasses, a ruffled shirt, a Beatles haircut with bangs, and a Sonny Bono ‘stache! He was doing old style jokes that matched his look and that many in the audience found offensive including dropping the full “N” word, with the “r” included. It was like a bomb went off.

I spoke to Avery Pearson from the Comedy Jam about it afterwards, and he said everyone was shocked. Avery, Josh and Jeremiah do a couple of regular shows out in LA at The Hollywood Improv. Avery has a show called The 88 Show which is a musical improv late night show, where the band is the host. He said it really depends on his chemistry with the guests, and then they do a show called Late Night Snack every Thursday at midnight. It’s a free show with the three of them doing “musical crowd work”, which is how he explained it, and then they have three comic guests interspersed in-between. They give out shots and he referred to it as “musical mayhem.” Some of their guests have been Jeff Ross, Dane Cook, Judd Apatow, Roy Wood Jr., and Brad Williams. Gotta check that out when I’m out in LA.

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Lisa Lampanelli Ends ‘Stuffed’ Run at the WP

I made a point to get over to the WP Theater on Broadway to catch Lisa Lampanelli’s new show Stuffed before it closed yesterday on Nov 13th. I had seen the previous incarnation when it was called Fat Girl Interrupted, but Lisa re-worked it into its current hilarious state. She was joined on stage by her talented cast of women all learning to be proud of their different body types, and made up of Ann Harada, Jessica Luck and Zainab Jah, who at first glance I thought might have been Zainab Johnson just because of the similarity of the names. It was about women’s empowerment and according to Lisa, it’s about a world that forces women to address hard-hitting issues like: Is eating an ice cream sandwich in the shower an emotionally fulfilling activity? When it comes to blue jeans, should one opt for a camel toe or a muffin top? And the ultimate question: Can food and body-image issues ever truly be conquered or are we all just destined to be “Stuffed”?, … but there were plenty of guys in the audience too.

At the end of the show she and Ann stayed on stage to make a pitch for donations to Broadway Cares. For the highest donation amount, Lisa offered to leave a cell phone message on your ex-spouse’s phone calling them the “C” word, which is one of her favorites! It was a great night of entertainment and even though it closed yesterday I have a feeling you’ll be seeing more of it. Lisa told me she had just done the Wendy Williams Show and recently got back from LA after shooting a Roast Battle with Jeffrey Ross for Comedy Central. And of course, she had her assistant holding her beloved rescue dog Parker, her constant companion, who goes with her wherever she goes!

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A Birthday Party in a Bus

Chrissie Mayr’s birthday bus party was really fun and I felt special to be invited. It even had a stripper pole, but no one had drank enough yet to have been on it by the time I had to leave. But there were plenty of drink choices. There were also lots of comics including Frank Pellegrino, Sooyah Jun, Tara Cannistraci, Samantha Bednarz, Camille Theobald, Remy Kassimir, Maryellen Turner, and more who joined as the evening progressed. Let me tell you it was hard for me to leave all those girls when they were drinking, but I had no choice! I’m sure someone hit that stripper pole after I left, and it was probably Chrissie who led the way!

LIC Race Sex Show, Jack Thriller and More

In my quest to be everywhere at once, I headed out to Long Island City to catch JC Best and Tracey Carnazzo’s Race and Sex show at The Standing Room. It’s an outrageous politically incorrect show, which JC explains is basically airing the phone calls between he and Tracey. JC and Tracey, or maybe it was her alter-ego Trixie Tuzzini, open the show together on stage and then take turns introducing the comics. I was only able to stay for the first few; I was on my way racing to Gotham to catch Joe Rogan on stage as he was only on for one night, and I didn’t wanna miss it.

Everything’s about timing as I was leaving PR maven Marie Driven’s party later than I planned to, who do I run into on the stairs but my man Jack Thriller from MTV’s Wild ‘N Out! It was so crazy because I had just been thinking about him that afternoon being that I had just gone to the Wild ‘N Out show out in Jamaica. I was wondering why I didn’t see him there. But he told me he had been out of town. Jack is making moves and just signed a deal with a weed distributor in Las Vegas, doing marketing and promotions and will be shooting an upcoming campaign with none other than Snoop Dogg himself, who has been known to spark up a few himself, for reasons other than medical! Jack has been on Wild ‘N Out for Seasons 5,6,7, and 8 with Season 9 coming up. He has nothing but love for Nick Cannon.

So that’s it for me… I’m OUT!!!


Jeffrey Gurian is a comedian, writer and all around bon vivant in New York City. Subscribe to his YouTube channel, Comedy Matters TV.  Photos below Jeffrey Gurian with Lisa Lampanelli, Jack Thriller, Andy Kindler, and the Birthday Bus.

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Jeffrey Gurian is a comedy writer, comedian, author, producer, comedy connoisseur, comedy journalist, and an all around bon vivant. You can find him on red carpets, at comedy events across the country and hosting Comedy Matters TV. He’s the author of the book Make ‘Em Laugh with an intro by Chris Rock”. You've seen him on Comedy Central's Kroll Show and he's a regular on SiriusXM's Bennington Show and it's predecessor the Ron and Fez Show. He's also A BIG BELIEVER in Happiness and Love.
Jeffrey Gurian
Jeffrey Gurian
Jeffrey Gurian is a comedy writer, comedian, author, producer, comedy connoisseur, comedy journalist, and an all around bon vivant. You can find him on red carpets, at comedy events across the country and hosting Comedy Matters TV. He’s the author of the book Make ‘Em Laugh with an intro by Chris Rock”. You've seen him on Comedy Central's Kroll Show and he's a regular on SiriusXM's Bennington Show and it's predecessor the Ron and Fez Show. He's also A BIG BELIEVER in Happiness and Love.