There’s probably no better day to schedule a comedy festival than the day after the election. After months of mudslinging and endless policy wonkery, it’s going to feel good to laugh at something where the punchline isn’t “bayonets.”
The New York Comedy Festival kicks off today and features big names including Robin Williams, Bill Maher and Kevin Hart.
The five-day festival, in its ninth year, takes over various venues around town and is produced by Carolines on Broadway, one of the city’s most prominent comedy clubs.
RELATED: THE BEST SHOWS AT THIS YEAR’S NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL
Now in Times Square, the club opened in 1981 in a small space at 26th Street and Eighth Avenue. Its influential owner, Caroline Hirsch, is still heavily involved in the club and the comedy festival.
“I try to stop into every show during the week,” she says of the festival. “But it’s hard. There are so many.”
Dozens of big names worked Carolines stages early in their careers, including Richard Lewis, Joy Behar and Jerry “Didja Ever Notice” Seinfeld himself.
“He used to come to work with his navy blazer on, and he looked quite proper,” Hirsch says of Seinfeld. “That was probably 1983 or 1984. He was very confident. He was dating at that time, so lots of what he talked about onstage was what he was doing at the time, whereas now he talks about being married with children.”
Hirsch reminisces about the early days of some of the industry’s biggest stars.
Jon Stewart Before He Got Political
“We started to use Jon as an opening act. He eventually headlined. He wasn’t doing anything political like he does now. It was amazing how people grow into themselves. Back then, it was all observational material — his girlfriends or whatever. The young male kind of stuff.
“In the early 1990s, I had this TV show with A&E called ‘Caroline’s Comedy Hour,’ and Jon was one of the writers on that show. He and Michael Patrick King, who later went on to produce ‘Sex and the City,’ wrote these skits called ‘Clown Therapy.’ One played the doctor, and one played the clown.”
Billy Crystal Before He Looked “Marvelous”
“Billy was on that [1977-1981] show ‘Soap,’ and after that, to my knowledge, he wasn’t really working. A friend of mine was an agent and said, ‘Why don’t you get Billy to come in?’ He did come in, and at that time, Dick Ebersol was producing ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and he came in and saw Billy and put him on ‘SNL.’ That was the start of a whole new blossoming of Billy’s career.”
Pee-wee Herman Before His Big Adventure
“I saw him on a [1981] HBO special, and I put something in his agent’s ear about coming to New York. His whole act was him in character. He never got out of character, even backstage.
“He sold out every show. We couldn’t get enough of him in New York. Andy Warhol came to one of the shows with his pajamas on. I think it was the first and last time he came to Carolines.”
Jay Leno Before “The Tonight Show”
“When I was a kid, I used to watch Johnny Carson, and I remember I’d see David Steinberg, the comedian, talking with Johnny and saying he was playing Mister Kelly’s in Chicago. I always thought, ‘Oh, if I’m ever in Chicago, I’ll go there and see acts that I’ve seen on TV.’ I had this idea, OK, Jay Leno was at Carolines, he’ll mention [it] on TV. That’s kind of how [the club] got its start and how we got national exposure. Jay was very good friends with David Letterman, and when Jay went on David’s show, he would always mention he’d be playing Carolines. David always used to come into the club because of Jay.”
Larry David Before He Mastered His Domain
“He’s a comic genius, right? But early on, the audience would sit and look at him like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Then he’d blame the audience, saying, ‘They’re just not a good audience. They’re terrible.’ I thought he was funny. But that’s another thing [great comedians] do; you have to stay true to yourself.”