Best comedy events in NYC: Critics’ picks

Once a week, after closing time, 10 people convene at the city’s oldest magic shop, Tannen’s, for a cozy evening of prestidigitation by the young and engaging Noah Levine. The shelves are crammed with quirky devices; there's a file cabinet behind the counter, a mock elephant in the corner and bins of individual trick instructions in plastic covers, like comic books or sheet music. The charm of Levine's show is in how well it fits the environment of this magic-geek chamber of secrets. As he maneuvers cards, eggs, cups and balls with aplomb, he talks shop, larding his patter with tributes to routines like the Stencel Aces and the Vernon Boat Trick—heirlooms of his trade that he gently polishes and displays for our amazement.

Claustrophobes, beware: It gets crowded down here, especially on weekends, thanks to the immense popularity of this Village standby. Big names from Amy Schumer to Aziz Ansari will drop by for a set and on any given night, you can expect to see other local greats whose acts are more X-rated than at other clubs (and who will distract you from your bachelorette-partying neighbors).

Chris Mazzilli’s vision for his club involves elegant surroundings, professional behavior and mutual respect. That’s why the talents he fosters, such as Jim Gaffigan, Tom Papa and Ted Alexandro, keep coming back here long after they’ve found national fame. 

The new location of The Stand achieves a pretty impressive feat: It’s a comedy club with food that’s no joke. Executive chef Harold Villarosa (Rayuela, NOMA) has created an expansive New American menu with plenty of crowd-pleasers like brick oven pizzas, rotisserie lamb leg, mushroom lumpia and smoked mussel tartine. The food is good enough that it’s worth a visit to the plush and inviting first floor restaurant even if you’re not catching a show on the basement stage below (which offers a smaller version of the upstairs menu.) On the downstairs stage, you can catch talent like Janeane Garofalo, SNL's Chris Redd, Nikki Glaser, Ari Shaffir and more on a nightly basis.

Catch live bands and comedy at this beloved Astoria watering hole.

When it comes to hustling, nobody does it like Joel Kim Booster. You can often see the sharp and shady stand-up—who just released a Comedy Central special and the album Model Minority—at multiple venues every night, making merciless observations on race, politics and the secrets of his sex life. We asked the very funny New Yorker to share the gritty details of life from gig to gig—including his favorite fast food restaurants between sets and what it’s like meeting fans on the road. Workload If I'm in New York I average out at about two shows per night. This is including nights where I'll only have one and nights when I try to cram in three to four. Those nights are usually a mess and end with nearly everyone being mad at me for screwing with the timing of the show. There are some moments in my career when I'm not working on a ton of material and let myself relax a little bit. With the album and the special dropping back to back like they did, I'm currently panic-writing new material, so I'm grabbing at all the stage time I can get. Transportation It all depends on how much time I have to get to my next show, and where the show is at. This city is complicated, because taking a cab is not always the quickest option. Especially if I'm schlepping from Brooklyn to Manhattan, which happens frequently. Not to be a bitch, but I'm lucky to be at a place in my career where I can afford to take a Lyft if I have the time and I don't want to deal with the train. Sometimes I just like...

Left Unmediated, some celebrity feuds can go on forever. Thankfully, very funny New Yorkers Christi Chiello and Matteo Lane have arrived to settle scores. At their brilliant and bonkers monthly show Battle of the Divas, they invite local comics to debate over the clothes, talents and histrionics of supreme queens like Cher, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, all with shady commentary from Lane and Chiello. Before the Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry edition at New York Comedy Festival on November 7, the duo face off on boy bands, pop icons and the greatest rivalry of all: NYC pizza vs NYC bagels.  

Well you can’t say they didn’t warn you. A railroad-thin, brick-fitted barroom barely fits half a dozen stools (standing room, see?), where a crush of bargoers vie for front-row seats to a shaker-cup show put on by mustachioed barkeeps Shige Kabashima (Angel’s Share) and Joji Watanabe (Experimental Cocktail Club). But a few steps past the counter, two retractable doors reveal an intimate lounge decked with high-top tables and a black-box stage, from which a cast of comedians (curated by the team behind Gramercy laugh factory the Stand) elicit laughs from a boozed-up crowd. ORDER THIS: The drinks, too, have a sense of humor and are ushered out in whimsical vessels like egg shells and mossy nests. A fiery Cucumber ($12) jazzes up cukes with house-spiced tequila, chipotle and lime inside an orange bell pepper, while the spirits-forward Smoke ($12) unleashes billowing clouds of vapor over a brassy mix of bourbon and herbaceous Cynar. The prettiest pour is, naturally, the Flower ($12), which brightens gin with lavender, elderflower and cranberry juice and which you slurp through a metal straw in a glass lightbulb nestled on crushed ice. GOOD FOR: Locals looking for a Manhattan-worthy date night, but with outer-borough ease. For all Queens’ bona fide ethnic eats, art museums and outdoor markets, there are only a handful of true comedy clubs (and sleek cocktail bars) this side of the river. Like the duo of East Side–trained barmen, the decor—an elegant black counter, textured...