I went out last night; that means I have something to write about. If I didn’t want other people to read this I could just blog about what I ate. If I had a more varied diet that might get other people to read it but how many times can I write about a seasoned burger with pepper jack cheese served on garlic bread? I can write about it every day, but you wouldn’t read it every day. There are lots of problems with being me but one of the benefits is that I am difficult to satiate. Every time I eat food I love it’s a delight.
Last night I went to Stand Up New York. This was my first time I a comedy club since I went to the comedy store in LA. I love comedy, so why don’t I do it more? Because watching bad comedy is worse than hearing bad music and like everything else in the world, 90% of stand-up comedy is crud. So why did I go last night? Because I knew it wasn’t going to be crud, but someone I love, Cynthia aka Cindy Kaplan. I’ve known her for about 19 years, ever since I saw her do my first What I Like About Jew show. First time I saw her my reaction was, “she’s not funny, she’s crude.” Second time I saw her, at the next year’s What I Like About Jew she did the same songs and my reaction was laughing out loud. Huh? Turns out that she’s not crude, I was just being a prude. Hey, it happens, I’ll own it. The more times I saw her the more I liked her. When Sean Altman moved to Jewmongous Cindy followed. I got to know her even though we saw each other only once a year.
I knew she was an author and thought the funny music was just an occasional sideline. Then I discovered, no, it’s a big part of her career. I got her new album, Cindy of Arc and loved it. I told her. She invited me to see her perform. She’s been doing a regular show, Lean Over for four years with Karen Bergreen. Karen is a comedian, do people still use comedienne? and novelist. They do this monthly and raise money for resistance causes each show. Last night it was the ADL. How did they describe their beneficiaries? “Organizations that fight the Orange Monster?” That’s close. There are also guests, last night they were Judy Gold and Ted Alexandro. The show is on the Upper West Side, and the show is the distilled essence of Upper West Side Jewish humor, even if they aren’t all from the UWS or Jewish.
Cindy has a band, Cynthia Kaplan’s Ordeal. Michael Hunter plays cajon and someone I don’t know, yes that’s allowed, played electric guitar. Cindy plays acoustic. She bills it as a Rock band, but you’ll be hearing her on Gord’s Gold on Folk Music Notebook and that makes it folk. I described her act as, “Light innocuous humor, like Leave it to Beaver, if Eddie Haskell were a serial killer.” When I first saw her, it was the profanity that bothered me. Now that I love her I realize that to many people it’s her takes on religion and politics that will offend people. It fits in with my take, nobody in New York is going to be shocked by a song about lusting for Jesus, but something tells me it would be problematic in the bible belt. What do you think? Cindy of Arc.
This needs a video made from film clips and stills. Christine Lavin, do you want to make it? It’s right up her alley. Cindy is not just funny but she’s smart, and she expects the audience to be smart. My dream is for Cindy to play the Budgiedome. Cindy can I talk you into going to the Falcon Ridge?
I trusted Cindy to have only good comedians on the bill with her and my trust was well-grounded. I laughed at everyone. Karen did Upper West Side mom humor. Judy Gold specializes in LGBTQ and Jewish humor. What does the Q stand for? Queer? Questioning? Quesadilla? With that combination it is not surprising that she so often channels Mia. I’m not talking about what she says but how she says it. They both slip into the Jewish aunt voice. When Judy started talking about a bagel with a schmeer if I my eyes were closed I wouldn’t know who was speaking. For the goyim this might take some explaining. Here’s a Jewish aunt joke. Two Jewish aunts are at a Catskill’s resort. Work with me people,]; if you don’t get the picture watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. then come back and finish this.
“Oy, the chicken is too dry.”
“And there’s not enough paprika.”
“The food is terrible.”
“I can hardly eat it.”
“And the portions, they’re so small.”
You cannot imagine that conversation without the Jewish aunt voice.
Ted does Upper West Side dad humor. The stages of a comedian’s life are, sex jokes, parenting jokes, and decrepit jokes. The elevator talk for Lean In is, “the Upper West Side’s only comedy show for people who have lived a decent part of their lives already.”
I’d love to go back with a friend. The only issue is the $18 drink, no food, minimum. If I could afford it I’d be a regular at Lean In and Cast Party at Birdland. As it is I’ll still go back, just can’t say when.
It is super easy for me to get there. The D train to Columbus Circle and the 1 up to 79th. It always seems bad when I have to go downtown and then back up, but it really isn’t. We are taking a 50-minute trip total. It is just a block from the train station. Go next month.
I have totally forgotten about getting a new Social Security card. I will try once again today. This is the bad part of being me, the difficulty doing simple but important tasks. But I sure loved that burger. I also loved the comedy. You take the good with the bad; you don’t have a choice.
Wise Madness 