When the lights go down, the real show starts
“Comedy Underground with Dave Atell” has been one of the most successful comedy shows to hit the stage. Many great performers have performed at the Comedy Underground such as Louis C.K. and more. Kicking off the first night of New York Comedy Festival, the host for the night, Dave Attell, promised an extremely raunchy and funny show. He did not disappoint. All the proceeds from the show went to the charity “Mighty Mutt” which helps rescue dogs find homes for them. There was a raffle for the show and the winner would receive exclusive merchandise from the comedians themselves.
The first comic of the night was Jessica Kirson who came right out of the gate with some hilarious material. She started off talking about her drug addiction and what it was like tripping out from them. But, most of all, she talked about how much she misses drugs. This fast-paced raunchy humor left people gasping for air because it was so raw and raunchy, and who doesn’t like some good bad mouthed humor from time to time?
Following Kirson was comic Kurt Metzger whose one hour comedy special, “White Precious,” is now available. He started his set with how he thinks catcalling is disgusting but at the same time, thinks it boosts the egos of beautiful women too much. He feels like if there is catcalling around, let’s aim some of it at the lesser attractive women so they feel special too. The great thing about Metzger is that he has the ability to see the line in comedy but then chooses to step over it. Most of his jokes come from pop culture but at the same time he takes his topics and pushes the boundaries on them.
Next up was comedic legend Gibert Gottfried. We all know who Gottfried is. He was the parrot in “Aladdin” and previously the voice of the Aflac duck before he was booted out for inappropriate comments. But that’s the great thing about Gilbert, he has no filter at all. He just goes on and on with his loud and over the top voice but that’s what makes him so great. His set consisted of typical Gilbert jokes, starting off with what seems like an average and clean joke, but then takes a huge left turn for the worse (or better depending on how bad of a person you really are). His set was an onslaught of great jokes that only Gilbert could pull off, one of which is how he supposedly hates kids with cancer, saying that he is “anti-kids with cancer.” He had the crowd in tears after he was done, and his unique performance was a treat.
Following Gilbert was comedian Ari Shaffir who talked about the struggles of getting STDs and making that dreaded phone call to all your ex’s telling them to get tested. He also talked about travelling the world and getting high in each place, something Ari is known for. He had a very solid set and left the crowd laughing and very pleased. After Ari left, comedian Jay Oakerson came on stage and mostly did crowd work which is his specialty. His set was tastefully offensive minus the tastefully part. But it was funny, so that all evens out in the end.
Lastly, the special guest of the night was the “Roast Master General” himself, Jeff Ross. As soon as he came on stage, Dave and Jeff had a little bit of a back and forth, trying to get as many digs in at each other as possible. Jeff is known for making fun of people as a profession so the people he did target in his jokes were ripped to shreds, but everyone seemed to like it.
Overall, the show had a lot of laughs and was a very successful show. People had a great time and tears were shed.
-Vinesh Vora
