It’s a show you should know!
Journalists and comedians working in Brooklyn have more in common with each other than just riding the G train, it was learned this week on Brooklyn Paper Radio, when hosts and journalists Vince DiMiceli and Anthony Rotunno sat down with “Comedians You Should Know” producers David Drake and Mike Lebovitz.
“Writing a funny, catchy headline is just like writing a great joke,” Drake, who has been featured on Sirius XM’s Raw Dog Comedy, said. “You always looking for that little twist.”
And when done correctly, there’s a name for it.
“We call it ‘Short bursts of genius,’ ” DiMiceli said.
But it isn’t just the innate ability to turn a phrase that connects the two jobs. All four claimed they are trying to bring quality back to professions that have for years suffered from low expectation and limited reward, thanks mostly to management having a penchant for giving the product away.
“We charge $5 or $10 to get into a show for a few reasons,” said Lebovitz, a veteran of “Last Comic Standing” on NBC. “And part of it is when people pay for something, they are literally invested in it. And it changes they way they experience it — for the better.”
Lebovitz pointed out that customers who take a trip to one of their shows staged every Wednesday night at the Gutter in Greenpoint get the white-glove treatment, being welcomed and seated before the party starts — which other venues don’t do.
DiMiceli said he felt the same way about the award-winning newspapers he puts out as compared to other local products that seem to be phoning it in.
“It’s like they’re putting out Budweiser, and we’re are a finely crafted brew,” DiMiceli said.
“Well, it’s more like they are Bud Light Lime, or something like that,” Lebovitz cracked.
“Comedians You Should Know” at the Spare Room inside the Gutter (200 N. 14th St. between Wythe and Berry streets in Greenpoint, www.cyskn
Brooklyn Paper Radio is recorded and podcast live every Tuesday afternoon — for your convenience — from our studio in America’s Downtown and can be found, as always, right here on Brook
