This is Essential: Comedy

Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce
The 2004 box set of his work, Let the Buyer Beware, contains a track of Bruce—Long Island native, obscenity-charge magnet and forefather of modern stand-up—getting arrested in the middle of a set at the famous Cafe au Go Go in Greenwich Village. Listening to it still boils the blood.

Getting stopped and asked, “Hey, do you like comedy?” in Times Square
It’s necessary. Every big comic started somewhere. Besides, be honest: If these desperate yuksters ever stopped “barking” outside of midtown clubs, you’d miss them. Still, as fans of comedy, they should get the joke when you politely answer, “No.”

Waiting in line for free tickets to ASSSSCAT
Every New Yorker must spend at least one Sunday evening queueing up outside the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for this long-running improv show. It takes much less time than Shakespeare in the Park and is guaranteed to be funnier.

Dangerfield’s
Walking inside Rodney’s Upper East Side spot is like stepping out of a time machine. It looks exactly the same as it did when it opened in 1969. Also, it still gets little respect—now, that’s a quintessential example of the comedy scene in New York.

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