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Shortly before the heated midterm elections on Tuesday, Comedian and “Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper told The Post he hoped nobody would riot — and not just because he wants to maintain the American Experiment.
“The New York Comedy Festival has so many shows and I want to go see them and I want to be able to sit back and laugh,” the 47-year-old told The Post. “So come on, America. Let’s all be together so New York can enjoy this week.”
Klepper has his own project, the current events sendup “Sh&t Show,” at Town Hall on Nov. 14. It’s part of the 20th Anniversary season of the New York Comedy Festival (NYCF), which has become a local institution for Gotham pros, hopeful amateurs and stand-up fans alike.
This year, the NYCF runs from Nov. 6 — three days after Election Day — through the 15th. There will be more than 200 comedians in over a hundred shows, with venues ranging from tiny clubs in Brooklyn to massive sets in Madison Square Garden, where Dave Chappelle will open the festival.
Other headliners include Marc Maron, Jordan Jensen and Daniel Sloss at the Beacon on the Upper West Side and Saturday Night Live’s Sarah Sherman with Patti Harrison at Town Hall in Times Square.
“Comedy has just exploded and is bigger than ever,” said Caroline Hirsch, the Manhattan comedy doyenne who founded the festival. (Its original home base was her club, Carolines on Broadway, which closed in 2022.)
Louis Faranda, who curates the festival booking, added, “If anybody told me 20 years ago that the comedy would be as big as it is today, I would say ‘You’re out of your mind.’ Every time I think I’m on top of which comedians are breaking out, 50 more appear. It’s unbelievable. I have never seen such an influx.”
Hirsch and Faranda say the NYCF is a foil to the newer, flashier Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles, which boasts more high-profile headliners.
“That’s about them making content while our festival is about the nitty-gritty of comedy, of discovering new people and new ways to present comedy,” Hirsch said. “It makes planning a festival harder but it’s also more exciting.”
She noted that her festival was one of the first to present live podcasts. Now NYCF boasts sketch comedy, improv, clowns, musical acts, game shows and even a performance with video games.
“Younger kids these days laugh at all different kinds of funny—it’s not just punch lines or jokes,” Faranda said, adding, “I get up at four in the morning to look on the internet for new acts.”
Ultimately, however, Hirsch remains partial to stand-up. “It’s the best art form, and getting an hour of great material is the hardest thing to do in the world.”
The battle to rope in the biggest names has gotten tougher, Faranda said, as he competes with not just Netflix but Live Nation and other touring companies.
But comedy, Faranda says, is a loyal business, and as a top booker, he is able to draw on a lifetime of friendships with comics— for instance, he met Chappelle over 30 years ago, when he first let him take the stage as an unknown teen.
This year, the festival will show off comics like Jay Jurden (“The Problem With Jon Stewart”), Olivia Carter (“The Tonight Show”) and Matthew Broussard (“The League”).
Giving young stand-ups their big break is “the most exciting part of the festival,” Hirsch said.
The event also delivers on the promise that laughter is, indeed, the best medicine, thanks to its Stand Up for Heroes partnership.
It began 20 years ago, after ABC reporter Bob Woodruff was critically injured while embedded with U.S. military troops in Iraq.
As he recovered from a traumatic brain injury, Woodruff and his wife, Lee, started the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which supports veterans with physical, mental and emotional support after returning home.
In 2007, the Woodruffs teamed up with Hirsch and her partner, Andrew Fox, to create the Stand Up for Heroes benefit, a comedy fundraiser that has brought in nearly $120 million for American troops and their families.
Over the years, Stand Up for Heroes has featured the late Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, John Oliver and Conan O’Brien.
Jon Stewart frequently hosts, and Bruce Springsteen often makes an appearance, telling mildly dirty dad jokes and singing acoustic versions of hits like “Dancing in the Dark” and “Born in the USA.”
Stand Up for Heroes is sold out, but other shows — including places to discover the next Chappelle — are currently available for the comedy-curious.
Faranda recommends two trusted showcases for top up-and-coming talent: New York’s Funniest and Variety’s Comics to Watch, which often draw the new generation of New York standups, and helped launch the careers of Michael Che, Ricky Velez and Nate Bargatze.
Faranda said each show will feature plenty of influential casting directors looking for fresh faces — and that each lineup has been ruthlessly vetted by his team for maximum future star power.
But even if you end up at a random, tiny show in a Williamsburg basement, you never know who you might discover.
“The festival is such a great celebration of comedy and New York,” said Klepper.
And even if there is rioting and political unrest, he wants you to be there for it.
“Just leave early,” he joked, “and have a clear travel plan.”
