Tragedy Plus Time

I haven't been to Comedy Bar in 6 years though I was a frequent visitor when they first opened. On Monday night, I dropped by for an 8 pm show in the smaller cabaret room. The venue was relatively empty but was packed for the later shows. Mine was a Just For Laughs showcase: ostensibly each comic had 6 minutes for their best material. The prize: possible inclusion in the real festival but I wasn't convinced there were any actual judges in the crowd. The downside: 10 performers in about 80 minutes. The upside: if you don't like some material or if they weren't connecting, another would be on soon.

Almost half the comics were POCs so there were plenty of "we're like this, they're like that" jokes. Most didn't work for me except for the two Black comedians. One riffed on dating the "wrong kind" of white man (Ivan not Evan) but still getting some privilege (living for free in his parent's spare house). The other related the travails of having a philandering Jamaican dad and opening for R'n'B act dvsn. The final comic also got huge laughs for his Chinese-related jokes. Asians will eat anything was a little too close to a stereotype. But his extended riff on Chinese New Year being a "bullshit holiday" because every Zodiac animal had to "work hard" was gold.

The other comedians mined their own shortcomings. One detailed his hair transplant (via Turkey) experience and being a tourist queer (i.e., "gay when high"). Another talked about being vanilla sexually in a world of people with exciting kinks (turns out he wasn't that vanilla). One stand-up quipped that a comedy show was the ideal date because you look good compared to all the losers on stage. Certainly, several performers turned their personal or family trauma into punchlines.

I'm more of a smiler and the Netflix shows I've watched haven't generated much physical reaction from me. So I was concerned when the stagehand gave me a table at the front (the perils of showing up early). But I was surprised that I was in stitches and laughing out loud several times.