Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol mess Error and
Speaker 1: Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. Come laugh, make com laugh.
Speaker 1: Don't you know everyone wants to laugh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody. Let's make them laugh and laugh a bit more.
Speaker 2: I mean, I gotta say, it's not always easy, considering
Speaker 2: the news flow and the stresses that are out there right. Economic,
Speaker 2: personal are otherwise kind of love that from singing in
Speaker 2: the rain.
Speaker 1: You know what, though, it's actually good to laugh.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: Okay, So where is good for us? We are nerds,
Speaker 2: But speak for yourself. The Mayo Clinic points out that
Speaker 2: when it comes to relieving stress, more giggles and gaffaws
Speaker 2: are just what the doctor ordered, noting that a good
Speaker 2: laugh has great short term effects. When you start to laugh,
Speaker 2: it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces
Speaker 2: physical changes in your body, including stimulating your organs, soothing tension,
Speaker 2: improving your immune system. So everybody in the control room,
Speaker 2: you better be laughing no more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I better go to the Comedy Festival. The seventeenth
Speaker 1: annual New York Comedy Festival Yes about to.
Speaker 2: Get underway in early November. A legend in the world
Speaker 2: of comedy is with us today in our studio, Caroline Hirsch,
Speaker 2: founder of Caroline's on Broadway. Of course you know that
Speaker 2: she's here in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. Welcome, Welcome,
Speaker 2: welcome back. How are you good?
Speaker 3: I'm good. So we have quite the medicine for you.
Speaker 3: The Comedy Festival.
Speaker 1: My voice doesn't usually sound like this.
Speaker 3: Festival number third, the twelfth we've extended this year. We're
Speaker 3: ten days straight, probably about one hundred and fifty shows
Speaker 3: still counting. We're still adding, we're still putting people together,
Speaker 3: so still announcing new shows coming up, twenty two theater shows.
Speaker 3: So we're very very happy, Carolyn.
Speaker 2: I just had family in from Texas, and you know
Speaker 2: what they did. They did a bunch of things around
Speaker 2: New York. It was a short weekend. They went to
Speaker 2: a comedy show. People want to experience things. How did
Speaker 2: you guys think about that? Are you seeing increased demand
Speaker 2: or a lot of demand coming out of the pandemic
Speaker 2: of people just wanting to go to things like comedy shows.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the general people want to go to
Speaker 3: live events, and I think live events are like the
Speaker 3: big thing right now. So look when we put tickets
Speaker 3: on sale. We got a really really robust kind of
Speaker 3: reaction to it. So ticket sales are really really good.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 3: It's good. It's good for New York.
Speaker 1: Okay at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 3: Ok. Shane Gillis at Carnegie Hall, Mateo Lange and a
Speaker 3: car Anthony just like all at Carnegie Hall. And you
Speaker 3: know what happens that you know, people go to Carnegie
Speaker 3: Hall and then they'll go to the restaurant across the street. Right.
Speaker 3: So what we do is bring this stimulus to New
Speaker 3: York City, which we're always happy to do, and we
Speaker 3: have a lot of fun with doing it. And then
Speaker 3: we have you know, we we have Britt Goldstein. Do
Speaker 3: you know him from Ted Lasso? So he's doing three
Speaker 3: a lot of him at the beach.
Speaker 2: Wait can we all say what he says? Oh no,
Speaker 2: we can't say.
Speaker 3: That on air?
Speaker 1: Can we You can? You can't, you can't show.
Speaker 2: We do say it a lot of the but go ahead.
Speaker 2: He's so great.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then we have you know, we we have
Speaker 3: a big event which is Stand Up for Heroes kind
Speaker 3: of opens up the festival this year on November sixth,
Speaker 3: So we have Jimmy Carr there, Tracy Morgan, Rita Wilson
Speaker 3: will be singing, Shane Gillis, Ronnie Chang, John Stewart who's
Speaker 3: a constant there, and also Josh Grobin and John Mellencamp.
Speaker 3: So that is quite a show.
Speaker 1: Are they doing comedy? Are they singing?
Speaker 3: Yeah? This thing?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: This that's oko.
Speaker 2: How do you think about when you put it together?
Speaker 2: Seventeen years and running? Talk to us about like how
Speaker 2: it's evolved.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's nineteen years. Oh forgive me years and seventeen
Speaker 3: years for the standard for heroes, but it's nineteen years.
Speaker 3: Next year we're having a big, big blowout the twentieth
Speaker 3: year in New York City. Wow. You know we start
Speaker 3: the day after we finish year. We start for next year. Actually,
Speaker 3: we're trying to secure venues ready for next year, you know,
Speaker 3: our big shows at Madison Square Garden. So we do
Speaker 3: that constantly.
Speaker 1: You know, it's we don't often because we have a
Speaker 1: global audience here on the program. Really yeah we do.
Speaker 2: I had no idea that's some comedy for you wedding.
Speaker 1: Looking into the control room, you see if you can
Speaker 1: see they're not laughing in there.
Speaker 2: I know to day job.
Speaker 1: But we do, and we you know, we have a
Speaker 1: national audience as well. So why are we talking about
Speaker 1: something here in New York. Well, because a lot of
Speaker 1: people from all over the world and all over the
Speaker 1: country come to this. Talk a little bit about who
Speaker 1: this attracts and and sort of where New York is
Speaker 1: right now in the comedy scene, because you know, there
Speaker 1: are people who are saying, you know, okay, l A is,
Speaker 1: you know, a classic place for comedy. You've got Joe
Speaker 1: Rogan and Austin doing his thing, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: make Austin comedy happen. Where do you stand on all this?
Speaker 3: You know, you can never negate New York.
Speaker 2: You can't.
Speaker 3: You can't take the New York a good New Yorker. No,
Speaker 3: it's here, It's here, It's Here's where it starts. This
Speaker 3: is where you get the creative juices. This is where
Speaker 3: you get the ideas. They you know, the whole thing
Speaker 3: with La was that, you know, which is not so
Speaker 3: quite in fashion right now, is to go out there
Speaker 3: to get your sitcom. That's that's not really happening anymore. Now.
Speaker 1: It's happening the last five months without the writer's strike.
Speaker 3: I can tell you that I guess they're about That's
Speaker 3: a really.
Speaker 2: Good point because you did see a lot of comics
Speaker 2: for a long time, right, get a series and then
Speaker 2: just move to television.
Speaker 3: It's kind of not happening now, the touring that goes
Speaker 3: on when you have a great special that's on TV,
Speaker 3: you take that and you go on the road, and
Speaker 3: that's your millions of dollars that these people, you know,
Speaker 3: comedians are making on the road. When you're selling out
Speaker 3: Beacon Theater's, Carnegie Hall, when you're selling out the Garden,
Speaker 3: this is this is like this is big bucks, you know.
Speaker 3: So it's it's a big, big business for a lot
Speaker 3: of people that have really, you know, made it and
Speaker 3: are able to tour around the country.
Speaker 2: Can we talk about the business of comedy? And I
Speaker 2: think about you know, last December, your iconic club, right,
Speaker 2: you did not renew your lease it's spot in Times Square.
Speaker 2: How hard was that?
Speaker 3: You know? I wanted to stay, and then there was
Speaker 3: a part of me which did not want to stay
Speaker 3: because of the way. And I don't want to put
Speaker 3: down Time Square because I went there thirty years ago
Speaker 3: to build it up and I was part of that,
Speaker 3: the renovation of Times here and the renewal of Times Square,
Speaker 3: So I'm not going to put it down. But things
Speaker 3: were changing there. The city was changing there. I felt
Speaker 3: that after COVID, the whole seascape there was changing. And
Speaker 3: I said, let me step back. I own the brand.
Speaker 3: I want to take the brand. I'm extending it through
Speaker 3: the festival, and then we have other ideas where we're
Speaker 3: going with that.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, give us some of those other ideas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, we're taking the Carolines brand and
Speaker 3: you know, kind of producing content and putting it out
Speaker 3: there and specials and everything else that we do with
Speaker 3: comedy on a grander scale.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really was the end of an era
Speaker 1: for you not to renew your leaves there.
Speaker 3: Well. Yeah, I was lived thirty years in Times.
Speaker 1: Square, so I mean Time Square changed a lot in
Speaker 1: thirty years, and it changed a lot just in a
Speaker 1: few years because of the pandemic. Talk to us a
Speaker 1: little bit about the you know, what happened and the
Speaker 1: decision making process, and the external factor is there too.
Speaker 3: Okay, So obviously I went to my landlord, I go, listen,
Speaker 3: we need some relief here. You know, things have changed
Speaker 3: a lot, so can you He goes, no, Actually, we
Speaker 3: really want to raise the rent. So I said, oh,
Speaker 3: but you know, there are so many repairs that have
Speaker 3: to be done. I'm here for thirty years, you know,
Speaker 3: air conditioning, electrical work, just things needed to be upgraded.
Speaker 3: And he said, well, that's just what the deal is.
Speaker 3: And I tried very hard to stay there, and then
Speaker 3: I just said, well, I'm out of here now this
Speaker 3: I'm done.
Speaker 1: Did you have other things to do you? Did you
Speaker 1: look for other physical spaces?
Speaker 3: No? But I have to tell you that we had
Speaker 3: so much press when we closed that so many real
Speaker 3: estate developers called me and said I have spaces for
Speaker 3: you and I will help you build it out.
Speaker 2: So why didn't you do it?
Speaker 3: Well, we're in the I'm in the process of taking
Speaker 3: it all in and deciding what the next big move in.
Speaker 3: It's not it'll be four walls, but it'd be something
Speaker 3: very different.
Speaker 2: What a great field.
Speaker 1: That is pretty cool?
Speaker 2: Right? So this is like it to be continued. You'll
Speaker 2: come back in like two months, three months, four weeks.
Speaker 3: A hotel owner.
Speaker 2: No, but that's a really good thing, you know, because
Speaker 2: it's funny. We we look even around our environment and
Speaker 2: the retailers that aren't here anymore, and I remember one
Speaker 2: retailer leaving and he was a pottery barn or Williamson Noman.
Speaker 2: I said, why are you guys leaving? This is a
Speaker 2: great location. They're like, no, it's really expensive for us
Speaker 2: to be here and we just can't afford it. And
Speaker 2: I just think about, you know, whether it's businesses or
Speaker 2: companies that have really been so much a part of
Speaker 2: the NYC fabric and then all of a sudden they
Speaker 2: just can't afford it.
Speaker 3: Well, it's things crazy changed. Things have changed. You know,
Speaker 3: we heard about Target closing, you know, so it's it's
Speaker 3: it's it's it's bad. It's bad. But then again everything's
Speaker 3: kind of shifted online. Things have changed, you know, thank
Speaker 3: god we still have bergdofs here.
Speaker 2: Well, we changed cose new opportunities and like you say,
Speaker 2: there's probably things obviously you can't talk about. But you
Speaker 2: know when things when they talk to you know, when
Speaker 2: you get lemons and make lemonade, like you find new opportunities.
Speaker 2: Caroline is on the show right now. Can I ask
Speaker 2: you what are you you find funny today? Are oh
Speaker 2: my god, oh my god, we need laughter. What do
Speaker 2: you find funny today? You know what it is?
Speaker 3: You know, what I find funny is that it's almost
Speaker 3: the point when a joke is it reaches the point
Speaker 3: where it it is such a great joke that it
Speaker 3: hits the point that it's almost politically not correct.
Speaker 1: And those kind of shows want to talk about those.
Speaker 3: Kind of jokes are brilliant to get to that line.
Speaker 3: Make your point, but not go there.
Speaker 2: Remember where we could say it's a joke people, So
Speaker 2: you can still say that, No you can't.
Speaker 3: It's tough.
Speaker 1: Ye, it doesn't matter if you know Netflix staff walk
Speaker 1: out over, you know your your special, You're still selling
Speaker 1: out arenas across the country. I'm talking about Dave Chappelle here.
Speaker 3: That's truth. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Is it tough for comics today though.
Speaker 3: I don't think so. I just think I just think
Speaker 3: that they need to stay on a steady straight path,
Speaker 3: and I think that they do realize that that things
Speaker 3: could be offensive. And I think that Look, I've seen
Speaker 3: a lot of male comics change a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3: What they used to say, they wouldn't dare say that.
Speaker 3: I mean, they get strangled by every woman in the audience.
Speaker 3: But things have changed like that, and I think people are,
Speaker 3: you know, mindful of other people like that like we
Speaker 3: were just talking before I walked in here talking about
Speaker 3: Don Rickles today. We said, oh my god, he couldn't
Speaker 3: insult people like that today.
Speaker 1: That's a good point.
Speaker 3: It was a joke.
Speaker 2: Don Rickles, d mart and all those guys like you.
Speaker 1: Think self censorship is real.
Speaker 3: I think it. I think it is. I think it is.
Speaker 3: But but to a good self censorship not not anything
Speaker 3: like I think it's good, but but it's that brilliant
Speaker 3: joke that may cross the line but doesn't. And those
Speaker 3: are the greatest.
Speaker 2: Those are the still get away with stuff who can
Speaker 2: really push it. Are there certainly?
Speaker 3: Well, Dave, Dave Schelle can, ali Wan Can. That's a
Speaker 3: woman that can can hit that mark of not crossing
Speaker 3: the line but cross on the line.
Speaker 2: Going my turn, where you're going?
Speaker 1: Okay, go. I want to know your opinion, Caroline, about
Speaker 1: the role of comedy clubs today. Given that there's YouTube,
Speaker 1: there's TikTok. They are all these places where comedians, up
Speaker 1: and coming comedians can post their content and build a
Speaker 1: following there.
Speaker 3: That's a good thing. That's a good thing for clubs
Speaker 3: because when they build the following, then they get booked
Speaker 3: into the club and they make really nice money and
Speaker 3: everybody's happy because they sell out. So it's also still
Speaker 3: that live experience. People still want it. They want to
Speaker 3: go in that room with you and me and all
Speaker 3: laugh together. That's what they want. That's the thing about
Speaker 3: what makes a joke, It's that the community is sitting
Speaker 3: there saying, oh God, that happened to me too, and
Speaker 3: you laugh. So it's all part of that live experience.
Speaker 3: And I'm seeing that with the festival as everything is.
Speaker 3: You know, these everybody in the festival has a terrific
Speaker 3: online following. I mean they millions of people.
Speaker 1: It's a huge thing.
Speaker 3: But they want to go out and see them. The
Speaker 3: same thing that happened when years ago and you had
Speaker 3: that great HBO special that built you up so that
Speaker 3: when you toured around you would sell out, right, So
Speaker 3: that's all money in the bank for the performers.
Speaker 2: The nineteenth annually. How many festival this November. I'm giving
Speaker 2: you a shameless plug. Hey, listen, take us back, because
Speaker 2: you've been doing this a long time. Back in the
Speaker 2: early eighties you began, i mean, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld,
Speaker 2: Pee Herman, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Sandra Bernard, I know, Chris, right,
Speaker 2: I know it breaks our heart right, Like these are
Speaker 2: people that were funny like no other and changed I
Speaker 2: think the way we see comedy, enjoy comedy. But in
Speaker 2: the early day, is everyone funny out of the gate?
Speaker 3: Well you see, you know we were just talking about
Speaker 3: Bill Maher So you know Bill started at my little
Speaker 3: club on eighth Avenue. But of course you grow over
Speaker 3: the years, Jerry Seinfeld, you grow over the years. Jay
Speaker 3: Leno grow over the years. But Jay has always still
Speaker 3: been this menshi guy.
Speaker 1: What j tours like Ford is a week now probably.
Speaker 3: Every weekend yea of doing something, you know, And so
Speaker 3: Jerry's eifel you miss every weekend, He's probably somewhere doing
Speaker 3: two or three shows back home again during the week
Speaker 3: and that's really his life because he loves what he's doing.
Speaker 2: What do you remember from these guys in the early days,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: We were all so new to it. It was like,
Speaker 3: you know, when I opened Carolines, it was like the
Speaker 3: first headliner club in New York City. It was like
Speaker 3: a yuppie that word yuppie. We're going back to the
Speaker 3: eighties yuppie nightclub that opened up. And it was the
Speaker 3: day It was when David Letterman was at twelve thirty
Speaker 3: at night. Jay Leno would be at my club and
Speaker 3: he'd say like, oh, I'm appearing at Carolines. It gave
Speaker 3: us this national play around the country, and that kind
Speaker 3: of set up the club. And I remember, you know,
Speaker 3: Paul Rubins Peewee Harmon bringing him to New York. I
Speaker 3: have such fond memories of him. And you know, I
Speaker 3: didn't up until he was texting me on my birthday,
Speaker 3: sending me birthday videos up until the end saying listen,
Speaker 3: we need to FaceTime soon. Are you coming to LA.
Speaker 3: I'm not coming to New York. Didn't tell me he
Speaker 3: wasn't feeling well, because I would. We would always, like
Speaker 3: you know, text each other back and forth. And I
Speaker 3: had no idea he was sick. But he brought a
Speaker 3: show to New York. In New York Can they conceived
Speaker 3: Pee Wee's Big Adventure. He was going to ride his
Speaker 3: bike from LA to New York City with this unknown
Speaker 3: director at that time, Tim Burton khunw But you know,
Speaker 3: that's that's what Paul had. He had that creative part
Speaker 3: of him. Those comedians that I worked with from the
Speaker 3: beginning all went on. Look at Jerry and Larry David
Speaker 3: show Seinfeld, Oh my god, earth shattering. You know we
Speaker 3: still say we're just talking about it last night. I
Speaker 3: still turn it on and see an episode I haven't seen.
Speaker 2: Right, so I as make references to Seinfeld.
Speaker 1: I've seen them all. I gotta tell you. Okay, so
Speaker 1: we only have a minute left, Caroline, But comedians who
Speaker 1: have made it love to say that in order for
Speaker 1: comedian to make it, you've got a bomb. Give us
Speaker 1: some stories of some prominent bombs that you've witnessed in
Speaker 1: your pain.
Speaker 3: How about Larry David and he would say, oh, it's
Speaker 3: the audience, they're just terrible. And he didn't do that
Speaker 3: well to twy that.
Speaker 1: All over see, I can see the they're terrible.
Speaker 3: They're terrible.
Speaker 2: I gotta say. And what you've done for women comedians
Speaker 2: right when they were just so far and few, and
Speaker 2: just to see everyone out there today, it's incredible. You
Speaker 2: are incredible. Come back anytime. Let us know the news.
Speaker 2: If you land somewhere, okay, you can share it with us,
Speaker 2: and good luck again. Remind us when the festival.
Speaker 3: Is November third to the twelfth. Go to New York
Speaker 3: Comedy festival dot com and you would be amazed to
Speaker 3: see how many shows are listed there to go see
Speaker 3: and have a great time.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Good luck, be well, Caroline Hursh,
Speaker 2: founder of Carolines of Course on Broadway. Here in our
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio, Carol Masser, Tim Stanevek. We're not funny,
Speaker 2: but she is and her lineup. This is Bloemberg