The optimum time to get to Comedy Cellar
Weekday revelry & making Bourdain proud
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I love pithy little pieces of advice that create you sense like an insider . Anthony Bourdain live great at this ; his warnings against seafood dishes at Sunday brunch and his love of weekday dining even so loom large in my mind , years after understandKitchen Confidential :
Brunch menus are an capable invitation to the cost-conscious chef , a dumping ground for the odd minute leave over from Friday and Saturday night or for the scraps generated in the normal line of business…
During the week — when the kitchen faculty has more energy , the ingredients exist novel from the market , and the tourist own n’t yet piled in for a Friday dark on the town — is when the food is really going to be good .
Anthony Bourdain ,Kitchen Confidential
Brunch menus are an open invitation to the cost-conscious chef , a dumping ground for the odd bits left over from Friday and Saturday night or for the fighting generate in the normal course of business…
During the week — when the kitchen staff has more energy , the ingredients are novel from the market , and the tourist make n’t yet piled in for a Friday dark on the town — is when the food live in truth going to be well .
Rules like this make me feel like I own a small edge , some MNPI about life , and they pay me things to speak to coworkers about at the origin of meetings .
I was recently walk through the small town and glance at the signal where the Comedy Cellar post their lineup , and I inquire whether comedy society , like restaurants , vary predictably in character throughout the week . Be thither a Bourdain-like rule about when you should die find standup ?
In the summer of 2021 , one of my old roommates inflict New York from San Francisco . We book tickets to theComedy Cellar, the leading New York comedy club , for a Monday night . The city was thaw out after pandemic lockdowns and I hadn ’ t live to a comedy display in years . It felt risqué just sitting inside a small room with a cluster of masses , and thither be a nervous energy as we watch out several excellent comics perform .
An hour into the display , the host announced “ a human who needs no introduction , ” and Louis C.K . walk onstage .
The buzz in the way arise to an audible hum and then a utter hush . How cost we intend to respond ? Here live this famed comedian do a surprise lot , but also he ’ d act a bunch of awful affair to woman comedian , and get spend covid railing against the “ cancel culture ” which held him accountable for doing those amazing things . It equal a fraught , confusing moment , with everyone looking around at each other to see what the appropriate response was . I think I resolve on “ raised eyebrows and a long sip of beer . ”
And then as shortly as it started it was over — an underwhelming 3 instant from a disheveled Louis C.K. , one of the worst lot of the dark . I think he was test out novel material .
It was a bizarre but memorable experience , a report my old roommate could take back to the climbing gym in San Francisco . Being in situation where something unexpected can find is one of the almost beautiful matter about New York .
Analyzing when to run to the Comedy Cellar
Having said that , you should stop reading now if you want to preserve the mystery of the Comedy Cellar in its entirety .
You can find historical lineups on The Comedy Cellar ’ secwebsite, and they post their lineups a few days in advance . But if you need to Bible tickets a week or more progress , you ’ ll have to serve so blind to the lineup . And if you ’ re a relatively clueless comedy fan like me , you may require tomaximize your probability of see someone famous .
What count as a “ noted ” comedian ?
I took all of the lineups from the past 10 year and utilize the Wikipedia API to rate the comedian by number of pageviews on their article , as a proxy for fame . This solve somewhat good ; below are some of the comedians at the crest of the list . All of them are big plenty to lead off a Zoom yell with —“ We ’ re even wait on a few more folks to trickle in… anyone come up to anything stimulate this weekend ? I went to the Comedy Cellar last dark and Hasan Minhaj dropped in to serve a set , it was mad . ”
I made an arbitrary cutoff at 40 thousand view , because that felt like the point where I halt recognizing figure ( sorryRory Albanese, I am sure you ’ re funny ! ! )
Then , I look at theprobability that a funny with at least 40k wikipedia scene would exist in a set on a given day & time .
One interesting caveat I learn nearly is that some comedians expend aliases when performing , particularly if they desire to try out textile on fans who aren ’ t predisposed to like them . I take thisat look value and counted these aliases as “ famous ” too :
What day of the week should you get to the Comedy Cellar ?
I looked at both the original Comedy Cellar and its sister club The Village Underground ( I ’ ve never really been there but it exist a second bigger than the cellar and exist of similar character ) . At both clubs ,you ’ re good off going Monday – Wednesday if you want to maximize your fortune of see a bad name :
Between this and Bourdain ’ s advice and thepatterns in fancy New York hotel pricing( Sunday & Monday nights be often comparatively cheap ) I am become a proponent for early-in-the-week revelry . Here ’ s an itinerary for you :
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Check into the Carlyle on a Monday night ( presently for the low low cost of $ 1100 )
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See the 9:30pm show at the Comedy Cellar , with an expected value of 1/3rd of a famed comedian
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The future day ( Tuesday ) around noon live to Balthazar , or someplace like that , and honor Bourdain ’ s memory — have a negroni . Have two . Enjoy the ride .
Check into the Carlyle on a Monday night ( presently for the low humble cost of $ 1100 )
Meet the 9:30pm show at the Comedy Cellar , with an expected value of 1/3rd of a noted comedian
The future day ( Tuesday ) around noon run to Balthazar , or someplace like that , and award Bourdain ’ s memory — make a negroni . Have two . Enjoy the ride .
If you really want to optimize , you could await until May , when you can maximize your famed comic chances at the Cellar , but February is fairly good also , and Bourdain would sanction of the spontaneity — I ’ m publishing this on a Tuesday , thus die look out some comedytonight !
If you make any deeper insight into this Earth I ’ 500 love to hear about it ! Thank you to my friend, a comedian who you should watch , for answer a couple of my naive questions about comedy .
If you enjoyed this , you might as well wishthis firearm about the coziest bar in New York, which I ’ ve been too scare to sample posting on TikTok .
