I worked at cc back in the early ‘90s when the weeknight regulars, or folks hoping to squeeze a set in, were dave chappell, jon stewart, jeff ross, dave attell, ray romano and brian reagan. I found that the best night actually depended heavily on the crowd, how into it they were. If the crowd was hostile, there wasn’t much the comics could do to overcome that, and there wasn’t much rhyme or reason for a ‘good crowd’ night - if they paid a heavy cover charge, they wanted to be there, but they might have high expectations, wanting their money’s worth so to speak, and the comp nights, when you only had to buy a couple drinks, could fall flat because they weren’t necessarily into stand up. I remember one night when romano was doing his standard married mope schtick and the audience was stone faced, they gave him nothing, it was painful. then a few days later, he killed it, the audience was eating out of the palm of his hand. there was another night where the headliner was coked out of his head and completely incomprehensible. all of that is to say there is no magic night, it’s always going to be gamble because there are too many variables with live comedy…
Love this! I came from your salads post - and need to say, I had the exact same situation at comedy cellar in 2021 but I got trapped in a 45 min Louis CK set (and it was also the worst set of the night)
part kismet, part strategy - trying to remain anonymous on here but substack helpfully suggested something randomized with bbq and i tweaked it. glad it also has a nice ring to it to you 🍖 ✨
It’s rough - I think even worse somehow for me is watching awful Improv; watching people have to react to one another when they know it’s not working is brutal
Hey thanks so much! Glad to hear that, and makes sense about thursday, that feels like the day that i would be most likely to go see a comedy show so makes sense that they'd be headlining then
Joe this is great!! Keeping your notes for my next time in the city.
P.S. both this and cozy bar data belong on TikTok!
Thank you!!! I will try to pluck up my courage to download it and try haha
I worked at cc back in the early ‘90s when the weeknight regulars, or folks hoping to squeeze a set in, were dave chappell, jon stewart, jeff ross, dave attell, ray romano and brian reagan. I found that the best night actually depended heavily on the crowd, how into it they were. If the crowd was hostile, there wasn’t much the comics could do to overcome that, and there wasn’t much rhyme or reason for a ‘good crowd’ night - if they paid a heavy cover charge, they wanted to be there, but they might have high expectations, wanting their money’s worth so to speak, and the comp nights, when you only had to buy a couple drinks, could fall flat because they weren’t necessarily into stand up. I remember one night when romano was doing his standard married mope schtick and the audience was stone faced, they gave him nothing, it was painful. then a few days later, he killed it, the audience was eating out of the palm of his hand. there was another night where the headliner was coked out of his head and completely incomprehensible. all of that is to say there is no magic night, it’s always going to be gamble because there are too many variables with live comedy…
Fascinating! What a cool time to have worked there. Thank you for sharing
Fun read - let’s get together IRL soon
Would love to !
Love this! I came from your salads post - and need to say, I had the exact same situation at comedy cellar in 2021 but I got trapped in a 45 min Louis CK set (and it was also the worst set of the night)
Ha that’s rough! He definitely was out of it that year. Thanks for the note !
I am such an advocate of early in the week revelry (great phrase), makes the work week pass just a little faster. thank you for these tips !!
So good! But I was hoping for a bit about how to get tickets / waiting in line
More data-driven NYC MNPI please - this is excellent.
Thank you!! Also can i ask about the origin of your username? Baroque BBQ is appealing to me
part kismet, part strategy - trying to remain anonymous on here but substack helpfully suggested something randomized with bbq and i tweaked it. glad it also has a nice ring to it to you 🍖 ✨
This is awesome and super helpful! I feel like we may been at the same Louis Ck show summer of 2021 too.
Ha! That's funny. That was a weird moment
Giving us the info we've been wondering about! Data at its finest
DATA 🤩 love it, Joe. Great piece and breakdowns. Gotta say, there is nothing like seeing a comedian bomb—a truly awful, incredible experience.
It’s rough - I think even worse somehow for me is watching awful Improv; watching people have to react to one another when they know it’s not working is brutal
This is great! Reminds me of the time when I randomly saw Aziz Ansari on a Monday
I feel like he was a frequent drop in for a while!
This is stellar, thank you for sharing your knowledge (and love of graphs)
Thank you Eden!!!
This is fantastic. As per usual
Thank you!!!! Really appreciate it
Hey thanks so much! Glad to hear that, and makes sense about thursday, that feels like the day that i would be most likely to go see a comedy show so makes sense that they'd be headlining then