Confessions of a Comic

By Wesley Williams

Put your phone on airplane mode! Take out your airpods! Step into the spirit of Greenwich Village! Begin at the IFC Center on the Avenue of the Americas and proceed on West 3rd, passing the shuttered McDonald’s that will soon become a comedy venue, passing the line outside Village Underground, passing Blue Note, hearing the barker on the corner bleating, “Stand up comedy!” 

Hang a right on MacDougal, passing Caffe Reggio, passing the subterranean marquee of Comedy Cellar, more barkers outside the Grisly Pear and Greenwich Village Comedy Club yelling, “Stand up comedy! The show’s about to start!”

As a writer wrestling for years with attempts at writing novels, plays, and screenplays, I reached a point of burn out. I wanted to write and I wanted instant gratification. On Marc Maron’s podcast, Jay Leno broke down stand-up comedy as simply: “Write joke. Tell joke. Get check.” This is what I wanted. I wanted to write, perform what I wrote, and whether it was good or bad, I wanted an immediate reaction. My first open mic was at the great stage Q.E.D. in Astoria, Queens. As a Queens resident at the time, I would perform open mics there and at the Creek and the Cave in Long Island City which has since moved to Austin, Texas. The silence I would receive at jokes that misfired was painful and the chuckles I would receive would transcend me to heaven.

I’m now a resident of Manhattan, eager to jump onto the stages of Greenwich Village. At the same time, any new attempts to extend one’s territory carries risk. It would certainly be easier to refrain. My hesitation is stymied by that Walt Whitman poem spoken by stand up legend Robin Williams in that movie about poets, “You are here! The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse!”

Wesley Williams was a Featured Performer at the New York Underground Comedy Festival and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He is a comedian based in Chelsea.