So something of a comedy institution in New York may lose its lease. I’m talking about a bar called Rififi where some of the greats of the so-called “alternative” comedy scene have done countless shows and shot into the ionosphere of stand up and sketch greatness. Greats like Zach Galafanakis, Demetri Martin, Jessi Klein, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Aziz Anzari — Shall I go on? Can I go on? Yes! But I won’t.

My evening began at a show called Sweet at a cabaret called The Slipper Room on the Lower East Side where comedy maven Seth Herzog was holding court at his weekly show. For each of Seth’s shows he always has a sidekick who adds color commentary from the Slipper Room’s DJ booth. When the banter is crackling, as it was last night, it makes for great laughs. Seth’s wingman last night was none other than Michael Showalter, creator of MTV’s “The State” and cult comedy classic, “Wet Hot American Summer.”

Seth is a pal and I’ve done the show before. He always has a great lineup of acts and he always packs them in. I couldn’t stay though. My friend told me that Galafanakis was playing at Rififi a couple of blocks up on 10th st, so my friend Dan Ahdoot and I made a sly exit and hoofed it up to tenth (but not before stopping off for some tasty Venezuelan food and some candy-covered almonds from Veniero’s).

When we get to Rififi, it’s as packed as a college kegger– standing room only, spilling out into the bar. I missed Zac’s set but got to see one of my comedy idol’s Andy Kindler (Everyone Loves Raymond) do his thing. The crowd wasn’t feeling him so much, probably because Andy is over 40. I happen to love the guy, though and got my picture taken with him. After Andy did his set Yo La Tenga crashed the party and rocked everyone’s face off! Not their biggest fan but the surprise arrival of such a phenomenal group was pretty pretty pretty cool. It’s always nice going out to other people’s shows, to talk to other people in the comedy community and enjoy their company without the pressure of having to perform. Who am I kidding? I would love to have done a set. Got some new jokes that would have crushed!!!

Source: www.tokoni.com