January 28, 2025 marked the 20th anniversary of my stand-up comedy debut at the Arellano Theater (in Levering Hall, under the Glass Pavilion) on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.
Yesterday I posted my thrilling recollection of that fateful night, pared with meditations on the long and winding road my career has taken since.
Today I’m posting a companion podcast episode featuring conversations with two key figures who are responsible for putting me on that road, forever altering the direction of my life. I still haven’t forgiven them.
Jk jk I couldn’t be more grateful to each of them for their early guidance and the opportunities they provided me — and continue to provide for others — with their comedy classes and live show productions.
Adam Ruben was a molecular biology grad student in 2005 when he finagled our word-class research university known for its top-ranked hospital and championship lacrosse program to offer an actual accredited course called “The Stand-Up Comic in Society.” I signed up, and the rest is history.
Adam has had featured roles in Outrageous Acts of Science on the Science Channel and Food Detectives on Food Network and has written for Elinor Wonders Why on PBS Kids. He is also the author of Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School (Random House, 2010), a satirical guide to the low points and, well, lower points of post-baccalaureate education, and Pinball Wizards: Jackpots, Drains, and the Cult of the Silver Ball (Chicago Review Press, 2017), a narrative nonfiction book about the past, present, and future of pinball. Adam still performs stand-up around the country and is already preparing for next January’s edition of “The Stand-Up Comic in Society.”
Josh “Flips” Filipowski was an ambitious independent comedy producer running open mics and booked shows in NYC and its northern suburbs under his Like2Laugh banner when we linked up in the summer of 2005 upon my return to from college. I’ll never forget the night he picked me up in front of my house in his blue Mini Cooper and shuttled me into the West Village for my first New York City open mic. Flips is also the man who offered me my first paid hosting gig in August 2005, produced my first NYC club show (headlined by John Mulaney!) in June 2006, and handed me the reins to my very own weekly open mic at Otto’s Shrunken Head, which was crucial to helping me hone my craft and immersing me into the scene.
Josh continues to be an ambitious independent comedy producer, currently based in Boston, where you can find him performing and hosting his innovative formats like March Comedy Madness and leading comedy workshops.
If you’re in the NYC area this Friday night, please come to my first local stand-up show since the one rooftop gig I did during the Summer of COVID nearly five years ago. I’m welcoming dear friends Anna Roisman, J-L Cauvin, Tom McCaffrey, and Marc Philippe Eskenazi to mark my 20 year stand-up-versary and raise money for the LA Regional Food Bank. Venue is MJ Smith’s at 9 East 45th St (btwn 5th and Madison). Pay what you want at the door (all proceeds will be donated).
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