The Comedy Cellar Turns 45. Meet the Booker Who Keeps It on Top.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now.

I'm Jean-Apierre.

New York City has long been at the center of stand-up comedy, and there's one club that

has helped generations of comedians hone their craft from the small stage to some of the

biggest.

That's the comedy seller.

The Greenwich Village Club turns 45 this year.

On today's episode, we sit down with the comedy seller's booker, who's been around for

four decades, but first, here's what's happening in New York City.

Mayor Zoram Lombani is creating an office of community safety.

The mayor says the department will include programs to combat violence through civilian

community groups that divert more emergency calls to social workers and other non-line

enforcement responders.

OCS will guide investment in Beher to provide more support to more neighborhoods so that

the city can deliver the sort of civilian response best suited to meet moments of crisis.

Beher is a group that responds to 911 mental health emergencies.

The office will be directed by Renetta Francois, who once served in Mayor de Blasio's Office

of Criminal Justice.

She says in her eyes, reform isn't that complicated.

Our vision for safety is simple.

Every New Yorker from high bridge to Stapleton to Bushwick deserves to feel safe and be safe.

Mayor Mombani created the department by an executive order, meaning it will technically

be an office within city hall, rather than a standalone department.

New York State Attorney General Latisha James says a federal judge is blocking a Trump

administration effort to restrict gender-referring care for transgender youth.

A U.S. District Court judge in Oregon ruled the federal government cannot enforce a policy

that threatened to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to providers offering that care.

Federal officials have argued the treatments are unsafe.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the administration is trying to protect young

people from what he says are irreversible decisions.

James led a multi-state lawsuit challenging the policy.

This officially spring, and New York City is welcoming the new season with some warmer

temps through the weekend.

Forecasters say temperatures will climb up to the 60s on Saturday and Sunday.

Meteorologist James Connelly says some wet weather will accompany the warmer air.

There's a final system coming through, and that's mainly overnight Friday night, maybe

early Saturday like the forced sunrise, and we're expecting up to a quarter at your

rate.

Day time Saturday will be dry.

So more chances of rain are expected on Sunday.

Monday is expected to be mostly dry, but cooler with chimps back into the 40s.

The average for this time of year is around 50 degrees.

Most of your favorite comedians have likely come through the comedy-seller and Greenwich

Village.

After the break, we discuss the magic of booking the right comedian and what it takes to be

a successful comedy club in New York City.

Stick around for the conversation.

From WQXR and Carnegie Hall comes Classical Music Happy Out, a new podcast hosted by

me, Maniacs.

Each episode will speak with a special guest about their lives, listen to musical gems,

answer your classical queries, and take part in playful musical games.

So grab a drink and press play on the new podcast celebrating our love for all things

Classical.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to NYC now.

Late night television used to be the finish line for stand-up comedians.

A five-minute set on Conan, Letterman, or Leno, Kalantra career overnight.

Late night bookers would sit in the back of comedy clubs scouting for the next big star.

Well, comedy looks a lot different nowadays.

But even in the age of TikToks and Instagram Reels, stand-up still has a proving ground for

up-and-coming comedians.

And in New York City, one club has been at the center of that world for more than four

decades.

The comedy-seller.

The Greenwich Village Club has launched generations of comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock,

and Ray Romano.

And for most of the club's history, the person deciding who gets on that stage has been

one woman, S.D.

I don't know.

The comedy-seller turns 45 this year, and S.D. has been there for most of them.

As a booker, about 40 years, what I've been working here for 44.

The comics she chooses to put on that stage can go on to build national careers.

For aspiring comedians in New York, getting just a few minutes there can feel like the

break they've been chasing.

I would say the comedy-seller is the reason I moved to New York.

Like Jake Jones, who does between 14 and 17 open mics a week across New York City, and

is still trying to get there.

I go up, I do like five minutes, I'll watch a couple more comics, I'll watch as many

as I can before I believe to the next open mic, and then I'll get to that open mic, I'll

do five minutes, and then I'll go hit an open mic at like 10 o'clock, and then just

to repeat the process tomorrow.

So how do you make it in the New York City comedy scene?

To find out, I walked over to the club to talk with S.D. herself.

So this is going to be on the NYC now, partets?

Now?

Yes.

Sounds good.

Yeah.

And then your comedy-seller's turning 45, yeah, and I am here 44 years.

Yes.

Awesome.

Welcome.

Holding onto a job.

What do you remember about those early shows in the 80s?

Well, most people that are famous now, were around them.

Like who?

Rey Romano, Chris Rack, all those guys, Dave Chappelle, I met Dave Chappelle, he was 18, out

of D.C., somebody recommended Chappelle to me.

It was on weekend, it was close to 3 a.m., he was eating upstairs, and another comic pointed

him out and says, I know this guy from D.C., you've got to take a look at him.

He's really funny.

So I went over, I introduced myself, said, can you do a few minutes for me?

3 a.m., there was like people have a sleep on the tables, and he got on and let me tell

you, I called my boss at 3 a.m., and I said, I just saw somebody really special.

And he was 18.

That's one thing that I think it's special.

People that started here and became super famous, they still come back.

Why do you think so?

Love, family, this is warmth.

It's always been.

It's always been like that.

And so, whatever they're in New York, they come in all the time.

You're Ray Romano, I list him on the line up, fake name, because otherwise, we'll be

Trump would here.

But Friday Saturday Sunday is every night, comes in, that's at least two shows.

And I see his poster over there, everybody loves Raymond.

Yes.

With the whole cast, the whole cast came here.

I have pictured them all of them on stage.

And then Aziz Asari started here, he was 19.

And now I have a picture of Chappelle Aziz, Chris Rock, to look at the pictures, there's

like five of them at the same time on this little stage.

Wow.

No space for anything else.

Mind blown.

Yeah.

And so that magic happens here all the time.

And we're grateful for that.

And we have a reputation that it does happen.

If it doesn't, people disappointed, oh, no celebrity came in, you know what?

What was the comedy scene like in New York City back in the 80s?

It wasn't as good as for us as it's now, you know.

The comedy scene started slowly, picked up some momentum.

And in the 80s, it went a little bit down.

My theory is that it went down because of really, really bad TV shows, that the evening

can improv and all of those shows.

It's an evening at the improv.

Do you remember on the cable?

I wasn't around.

Wow.

Baby.

There was a show that came on and it was good.

So everybody copied it.

And it became really watered down.

It wasn't good.

And most people thought that that's what comedy clubs are.

And so yeah, it was a deep, then it picked up again.

And like what we're doing really well now.

So you talked about all of the magic that happens here.

And you've been a booker here for four decades.

What does a booker do?

Like what are your responsibilities?

You answer the question.

I think you know exactly.

But it's like there has to be some type of magic to your job, right?

There's got to be an understanding of how to produce a show.

And if you have four shows, each show individually.

I guess my question is, how does one become successful at being such a great person?

I am trying to answer that without praising myself too much.

Praise yourself.

Praise yourself.

No.

Somebody, I'm not going to name drop said that I'm successful because I have good taste.

And I pride myself on that.

I understand good comedy pretty well.

There's room to any kind of style of comedy.

If it's props, if it's musical, if it's highly intellectual, if it's goofy, there's all

kind of things.

And they're all very valid.

So when you put a show together, you've got to get a balance.

And so I get right now, because we are so popular, about three, four hundred emails a week

out availability, a lot.

And I have to choose five the best for each of the shows.

So there's got to be some kind of a balance where I give spots to as many people as I think

I need to.

And yet, use mostly the funniest one, but to put it together and, uh, prepare it, prepare

it.

Yeah.

I love that.

Yeah.

I love that.

At what point did you realize that the comedy seller was becoming part of New York City

culture?

I never think in those terms, you know, it's every day, it's like walking.

One step, one foot forward, one step at a time.

And before, you know, 44 years later, here we go.

Yeah.

We're doing something right.

People still come and we sell out a couple of weeks in advance before even the line that's

not up.

You said that you guys outlast it most.

Well, no, there's some, some clubs that are just as long as us or whatever.

But yeah, where's the here?

When I think about the evolution of comedy clubs and the comedy scene, everyone I talked

to, they all come back to the comedy seller, you know?

So they're not saying any of these other names.

Why do you think that so?

It depends who you talk to.

Who do you talk to?

My friends.

My friends.

My friends.

I don't know.

I mean, you know how a parent thinks that their kids are the best and the smartest and the

best looking and whatever.

That's how I think about the comedy seller.

The way we care from the owners to the GM, to me, to everybody that's involved in that.

Customer makes reservation after the show they get the email.

How was the show?

How was the service?

How was the food?

How were the comics?

And we literally, literally read every single one of them.

So that kind of care cultivates trust, cultivates success.

You know, I'm hearing you talk about this place and coming into this, I had so many questions

about like the evolution of the comedy seller and it seems like this place is just being

true to itself and true to the art.

Yes.

True to the art, that's big sentence, true to the comics, true to the comics.

We treat the comics with most respect, most love and most generosity.

And that was the previous owner who passed and no one, the owner, that's their philosophy

about conducting business.

That's just good business.

The restaurant's got to have the best food serve in the best way.

If not, it's ironic.

You know, I mean, there is a demand for excellence and just TLC, tend to love and care.

Absolutely.

A hundred percent.

Yeah.

And listen, when we started, we were slow.

We had no business.

All the clubs they were popular then were uptown, you had the comic strip, you have catch,

which doesn't exist anymore, but catch was the it club.

You had to stand up in New York.

All those clubs do it all uptown.

We were the only one downtown.

And the industry didn't want to come downtown.

You have no idea.

The summer's all that we did to get the business down here, to get them down here.

I would drive with my own car from hotel to hotel, one of the guys at work here.

And we made, you know, a pamphlet and gave to all the concierge to invite them.

I made the show for the concierge so they can see, you know, I mean, still it was like

blood from a stone.

It wasn't busy, so we had the waitress sitting at the table to make it look busy.

I mean, we worked really, really hard to get it going.

Yeah.

But once we hit this try, it's a different story now.

Times have certainly changed.

They did.

You know, fast forward to 2026.

And now we have social media.

That's a different animal.

Let's talk about this animal because certainly it has played a role in the comedy seller's

success, continued success or has it now?

I have very mixed feelings about social media.

Okay.

Tell me.

Very mixed feeling.

Some people can hit million followers and not be what I would look in the comedian.

They pushed little clips.

And those clips go viral and the biggest mistake you can do.

You want those guys here too because you want the business on one hand.

On the other hand, are they going to keep the quality where I want it to be?

What do you look for in a comedian?

Oh, I want to be funny.

I don't like bathroom jokes.

I don't like Hitler jokes.

You've got to be super, super, super crafty to do a good Hitler joke for me to say,

Oh, that's funny.

Cheap sex jokes.

I mean, cheap is cheap.

We're all kind of recognized cheap.

Yeah.

We're all kind of recognized cheap.

And so when I audition them, I give them only five minutes.

You better bring your best five minutes.

And I see I look at their presence on stage, control of the crowd, the material.

And if we get crickets, nothing, or the audition, I say, well, let's try again maybe in six

months or next year or something.

But if I do get a good response, I said, I'm going to give you spots and let's see how

it goes.

And if it goes great, welcome to the comedy seller.

If it doesn't, I beat it out.

That's fair to them and fair to us.

Can you talk about comedy in 1981 versus today?

What's the fundamental difference there when we talk about the success of a comedian?

The fundamental comedy is the same.

Comedy is always popular.

If you look at the old movies from the 30s and Charlie Chaplin.

So comedy was always a corner of society that was needed and it was cherished.

Now, sometimes they use it as a tool to voice an opinion, a political opinion.

But if you walk to a room during the show and just look at people's faces, they're there

to laugh, to be entertained, and to be happier.

And if somebody is offended by something, I can't help it.

I can't help it.

I would love for a hundred percent success of people living happy.

But sometimes it doesn't happen, you know?

And I think not everybody in the 30s loves Chaplin.

Not everybody loves Richard Pryor.

Not everybody loves Chaplin now.

Yeah.

Is there something when you're booking and auditioning folks?

Is there something different from back then that you would have said yes to then now

you'd say no to other other way around or the other way around?

Because we're a little bit more open now.

We're not as uptight.

That's not true either.

Because if I'm thinking about politically correct, don't talk politics, don't talk race,

don't talk this.

No sexuality, I have some transcocks, you know, Chaplin came out on his show and he was

against that and I had the transcombing that works here.

She was hosting and he got on her show and they had an exchange about it and ended up

you're shaking your hand and whatever.

And he said to her, are you nervous talking to me?

She goes, no, not at all.

So I don't know that then this would fly.

That's why I said it may be more open.

But they're the same talking, people are very critical.

They're very sensitive, they're very, I didn't come to comedy to think about politics

and I didn't come to comedy to listen about the injustice of this death of the other.

I came for jokes.

Well, you'll get a comedian that talks about it sometimes.

Sometimes you do.

Is there anything you miss about the comedy seller back in the 80s?

No.

No, that was quick.

I don't know, it was good then.

It's better now.

You have to move in with the times, you know what I mean?

No.

I'm happy, I was happy then.

I work very hard because we have now 15, 18 shows a night.

I had two or three then.

There's a lot of booking going on.

You're busy.

I'm busy.

Yeah.

When do you rest?

I don't.

I don't.

It's the game.

Yeah, it's the game.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Miss SD, thanks so much.

My pleasure.

You are lovely.

Thank you.

So good.

You see me on that Sunday brunch list soon.

You.

Absolutely.

Come.

And you'll have a good, a good time.

We'll have a really good show on the brunch.

Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC.

Who's the best comedian you've seen live in New York City?

Send a voice note or an email to NYCNow at wnyc.org.

You might hear your comment on a future episode.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

I'm Genevieve Ayer, see you next time.

Since WNYC's first broadcast in 1924, we've been dedicated to creating the kind of content

we know the world needs.

Since then, New York Public Radio's rigorous journalism has gone on to win a Peabody

Award and a Dupont Columbia Award among others.

In addition to this award-winning reporting, your sponsorship also supports inspiring storytelling

and extraordinary music that is free and accessible to all.

To get in touch and find out more, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.