All right, welcome back to Good News York. I
am joined by comedian, friend, promoter, Kenneth
McLaurin. Do you prefer Kenneth or Kenny? Let's
go with Kenneth. Kenneth. I know, it sounds way
more professional. Kenneth McLaurin. We're here
with Kenneth McLaurin. He is the Ithaca, New
York comedy scene as far as I'm concerned. I
live in Ithaca, and as a comedian, I appreciate
everything you're doing. The irony is that...
When I just found out about all the great things
you were doing, I've been working in Syracuse
here, so I haven't been able to hit the open
mics like I'd like to, but that is coming. Kenneth,
welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you.
As I said, I love what you're doing for the Ithaca
comedy scene and in general. I met you through
Mike Peters, Homebrewed Comedy Circuit. We were
on a bill together. You're hilarious, obviously.
Tell me, tell me how this all started, the idea
of Comedy on the Commons and... really cultivating
this amazing scene that you have in Ithaca. It
just started with, I moved to Ithaca from Raleigh
probably like 10, 11 years ago. And I just started
doing standup comedy there. And when I came to
Ithaca, it was really no comedy scene. I think
if I wanted, I used to drive to Syracuse every
day, once a week for standup comedy open mic
that they had. at the club that used to be down
on South Selena Street. And it was just bustrating.
And then I would go to open mics here in Ithaca,
like the singer songwriter open mics, and there'd
be no opportunity to really perform or have shows.
So I was like, hey, instead of driving to Syracuse
and looking for other people who were doing comedy
and trying to... get on shows with them. I was
like, hey, you know what? I'm here. I might as
well just start producing shows myself. So in
some way, it started as me looking for a way
to just do comedy. That's awesome, man. Yeah,
that's, from my point of view, that's how it
happened for me. I was... I got back into comedy
and I thought, you know, I got to start hitting
open mics, book shows. And Mike Peters was, uh,
someone hooked me up with him and he, at the
time, he was really the only one in the area
doing things close to Ithaca. And then all of
a sudden, you know, I start hearing about this
comedy on the commons and hearing your name.
And then like I said, we did a show together
and I thought, finally, this guy's creating a
scene because Ithaca has always been known for
its culture and its live music scene. But you're
right, there was never really a true comedy scene,
so it's fantastic what you're doing. Now, Comedy
on the Commons, I mean, that is a festival, but
that's also your website, right? That's the name
of your, of the whole deal, right? Yes, that
is. So when I started, we have the Commons on
Ithaca, and most of the shows that I were doing
were downtown and different venues. We do pop
-up shows. And so I was like, you know what,
we're gonna bring comedy on the Commons. But
ironically Mike, we are rebranding that now this
year. Commuacommons has been great. It has grown
comedy in Ithaca in so many ways. I think one
of the challenges with Ithaca in comedy is that
Ithaca is such a transient city and community.
And we have a vibrant, popping comedy scene.
Our comedians from Ithaca. are going to other
places and doing very well, just in upstate New
York, Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse. But we don't
have many comedians here in Ithaca that have
been doing comedy for longer than four years.
We have people come in and sometimes they're
affiliated with the college or sometimes they're
married to somebody who's affiliated with the
college. And so people come, they do stand up
comedy here for as long as they're here. They're
part of the scene, but eventually it moves and
flips. So that's always been, that's always been
a challenge, but like we're, we have a lot of
momentum. And with that, we decided that we wanted
to rebrand our comedy scene and what we're doing
with comedy. So it could be a little broader
and go and travel a little more. With that, with
that, what we're doing now is Comedy HOF, Stand
Up Comedy Hall of Fame, where you can discover
the new icons of stand -up comedy. I love it.
Comedy HOF is the new name? Yep. Comedy HOF is
what we're starting to brand. We're branding
out. So you can still find things under Comedy
on the Commons, but Comedy HOF is out there now.
and you're seeing more things with that branding
and we're in a little bit more places doing shows.
That's awesome. Are you still gonna do that festival
of Comedy on the Commons? Is that still gonna
be a thing? Oh yeah, that's still gonna be a
thing. We've actually been taking registrations
and I think we're almost at our submission limit
for Ithaca Labs. It happens May 29th to 31st
every year. And now we're calling it the Ithaca
Labs Festival. Yes. Ithaca Labs 2025. Well, that
is something you and I will have to talk off
the air. Living in Ithaca and being a comedian,
it's absolutely ridiculous that I haven't been,
on my end, it's ridiculous that I haven't been
involved with all the amazing stuff you're doing.
It's just been a matter of I'm not in Ithaca
as much as I was. So that's fantastic. May 29th
through May 31st every year. In downtown Ithaca,
it is Ithaca Laughs Festival. We do the festival
at the same time that they're having the Ithaca
Festival. So it's a great time to be in Ithaca.
It's a lot of things going on. You have the craft,
the art festival and the things that you've been
doing in the daytime. And then hang out with
us in the evening for some great stand -up comedy.
That's very smart, Kenneth. Kenneth McLaurin,
comedy HOF, comedy on the commons or formerly
comedy on the commons. That's a brilliant move,
right? Because for those of you that don't know,
Ithaca Festival every year is a very big deal,
especially if you own a Volvo. They have a parade
where they parade Volvos around. But there's
a huge, wild parade that looks like a nightmare,
and I love it. And you've got food, you've got
art, you've got music, and now, obviously, Kenneth
bringing comedy at night. So smart because you're
talking about a ton of foot traffic throughout
the day and night. So we can look forward to
that now. I do know you also have a bunch of
open mics at college town bagels among other
places. If you want to talk about that a little
bit. Oh yeah. We've actually, we, we, our comedy
community has grown so we can sustain multiple
open mics. We have our core open mic that everybody
loves on the first and third Tuesday at the downstairs.
It's a great place to come out. We like it, man,
because it's a real welcoming open mic. It's
got a nice crowd. of like post carpet open bikes.
We've got a nice crowd, a welcoming crowd. And
then we're doing on the first, I'm sorry, on
the second and fourth Mondays, we have the open
mic at College Town Vehicles in College Town.
We thought it's a great opportunity, especially
during the school year, for us to get up there,
get a new crowd, and then allow some of the students
who are interested in comedy, give them a space
to come down. and try it out or do some work.
And then we're at Deep Dive every other Wednesdays
where that is one of the Ithaca's old school
or OG hangouts. And we're, we're excited about
having the opportunity to bring some comedy down
there too. Yeah, man. I worked at, I hung out
when it was Castaways and I worked there when
it was the dock. I was the assistant manager
and that place is, it's such an amazing spot.
And it just keeps. turning over and turning over,
but it is a fantastic location. Deep dive right
on Tecannic Boulevard in Ithaca. I was telling
a story yesterday on the air. I remember when
I was managing the dock, the owner at the time
wanted to do a comedy show. And I went, okay,
and he said, yeah, I wanna do it during happy
hour. We'll throw a mic up there. And I was like,
whoa. I was like, kid, that doesn't work, right?
You can't do comedy secondary, right? People
are there to drink. You can't, even if the comedian's
hilarious, you can't get up there and just start
telling jokes and expect it to land. And people
don't get that. There's a certain mentality,
right? Like when you're going to see a comedian
or going to a comedy show, whether you know it
or not, you're already setting yourself up to
be more open to laugh because you're going there
to laugh. And people don't realize that time,
place and setting is such a big part of that,
which again is why I think it's such a brilliant
move for you to do. Uh, the comedy on the commons
thing, uh, May 29th through the 31st, the Ithaca
Laughs Festival, excuse me. Uh, because it's
right during Ithaca Festival and people are out
to go have fun and go see music and see comedy.
So that's all part of it. Oh, most, most definitely.
No, I, I get it. We used, we, we used, when it
was the doc, we had an open mic there as well.
Actually, I still have some free drink tickets.
Go cash them in, see if it works. I'm like, show
up there and be like, hey, are these still valid?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that's so true about comedy
being something where when you can create an
environment that makes it much easier for the
comedians to be successful and for the audience
to have a really good time. The surprise comedy
shows are always the toughest ones, like at the
bars where people are there to drink and do other
things and talk to their friends. And then all
of a sudden you're like, hey, listen to me. And
they're like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah,
dude. It's, you've had, it's a mindset and it's,
if you were to have a dude with an acoustic guitar
pop up during a happy hour, that might work because
all you got to do is play a song or two that
they like and they're singing along and you're
fine. But when you're telling jokes, what are
you going to do? You can't, there's no hits that
you can pull out and it's tough, but it's something
you got to learn to navigate. Now you've been
doing, obviously, the Ithaca Laughs Festival
we talked about. You have a bunch of open mics.
Are you doing any shows on your own that you
want to plug? Anything coming up? Oh man, we
got, yes. So on the 22nd, March 22nd at NRE Space,
we have Upstate Stand Up coming to Ithaca. So
we have some of the best comedy comedians from
Upstate New York who are going to be here for
a show. That's one of the things that we've been
doing now, like once a month. Trying to bring
in some of the best comedians from different
regions in New York. We had some great guys from
New York City come up in February. We got these
guys coming from Buffalo March 22nd. So it's
going to be a great show. I'm excited about doing
that. Just trying to showcase the type of great
humor that we had in upstate New York. I do.
Tell people that. There's a lot to laugh about
up here. Really funny people. Unfortunately,
when you talk about local comedy to a lot of
people, the first things folks want to think
about is their drunk uncle at the picnic. And
we're like, no, this is - That ain't it. Yeah,
this is not it. It's folks who've been doing
comedy for a whole bunch of years, really like
high quality, talented people who, for whatever
reason, have decided that they're good with making
folks laugh in an upstate New York and different
areas. And then sometimes we're lucky enough
to get some really like nationally known comedians
come through and perform here. That's awesome.
You said you started in Raleigh. Is it Raleigh
or Raleigh? I know Raleigh, right? Raleigh, yeah.
Charlie, good nights. What's up? Shout out. So
you started in Raleigh. I wanted to talk about
that, how you started out and what was it like
for you from your point of view? Telling jokes
in Raleigh to telling jokes in Upstate if there
was a huge difference there. You know, for me,
I don't think it was a huge difference. It was
people in Raleigh I could tell jokes to. It was
people in Ithaca I could tell jokes to. As long
as it's people there, I feel like I could tell
some jokes to them. Like the scene in Raleigh
was way bigger than the scene in Ithaca. Right.
Not as big as in New York, but still it was opportunities
for me to go up and perform. and open mics in
different places every night. Even if they weren't
stand up comedy, open mic, like I was the person
who would show up to a poetry open mic, a singer
or a writer open mic. I'll even show up to a
prayer circle if they have a microphone. And
tell some jokes. And honestly, it was one of,
when I started off, I would only go to a comedy
open mic. There was an older, older comedian
or somebody that would do a comedian a little
bit more. I like to say a mentor who was like,
oh no, let me show you what to do. And he took
me to all these different open mic. And one of
the cool things about it was that you were performing
or in front of different crowds, different types
of people, different audience in different situations.
So it really helped me be comfortable with people
and really try to connect with people in the
moment. Ithaca, as far as comedy, Ithaca is a
unique place because it is a small country village.
It is a small country village in upstate New
York that has an international college attached
to it, a huge international college attached
to it. And another fairly huge. liberal arts
college attached to it as well. So you have that
sort of like upstate New York, rural, village
town feel. And then you also have a large international
and national type feel where you have people
coming from all over the world here in Ithaca.
And that gives it just a really interesting vibe.
I can say at our open mic. We routinely have
people from different countries. That's awesome.
Their performance, because they're here for different
reasons for universities and whatnot. So it's
really, it's a cool place to do comedy in some
ways, but it's also a cool place to see comedy
because it's such a different, such a diverse
like voices and comedy that you have in this
little, this little. That's so well said. I always
try to explain Ithaca to people. It's such an
amazing place and I throw things out like it's
like the Austin, Texas of the Northeast, or I'll
say it's this amazing culturally, cultural and
artsy city. But if you go five minutes in any
direction, you're like on a farm somewhere. And
it's like, you could go out at night and you'll
meet people you'll never see again, like in a
big city, but you'll see. all the same people
that you see all the time. It's just, it's very,
I like the way you put it, that it's, yeah, it's
a little bit of everything. And it's a really
special place. And I love that you've created
and you're farming this amazing scene there.
And I appreciate that, obviously, as a resident,
but also as a comedian myself. That's fantastic.
And so before we wrap it up, I gotta ask, do
you have, I love Ask a Comedian. Do you have
a favorite bombing story where you bomb? Just,
you'll never forget. Yes, yes, I have one that
sticks out in my mind more than, more than any.
And it's, this was a while ago. And it was right
after the Tiger Woods had his first incident
where the chick beat him with the golf clubs.
He was hiding in the closet, like calling for
help on his phone. Yeah. And it happened, and
I was in Raleigh. And I had a bid, and I worked
the bid out in Raleigh for a week. I was going
to the open mics in the clubs, and it was just
hitting. And then I did it at the big comedy
club there, Charlie Goodnights, and it just was
hitting. It was hitting. It was killing. Then
I went to... I went to a club in Durham. I want
to say, was it Time Out? It might've been, the
bar might've been Time Out. And it was a black
club, a black bar that had a comedy night. And
I'd been there a couple of times before and I'd
done really well. And I was like, oh man, I've
just taken this thing. I'm gonna kill it. I got
there, I jumped into my jokes, man. I was feeling
good. Like, I was like, yeah, this is great.
It's clever. It has alliteration in it. You know
what I'm saying? I'm like, this is just going
to knock them out. Nothing. Just like crickets.
You know what I'm saying? Got crickets. And the
host was a lady. And after I got off, I remember
she got up and the first thing she did was apologize
to the crowd. She was like, oh folks, I'm sorry.
I ain't know Kitty was going to do that. He was
up here before and he was, he did good. And then
she said, kitty, you know what you can do? When
you get back to Raleigh, I want you to climb
to the top of the highest building and then jump
off. Oh my God. And then she said, as you're
falling down, I want you to pull out your pistol
and shoot yourself in the head. So nobody else
has to ever go through that again or so. You'll
never do that again or whatnot. I remember thinking,
man, her use of pistol made that just a little
bit more funny. Yeah. Pistol. I was like, man,
that was a great word choice. It was a perfect
word choice. It was a perfect word choice as
she just roasted me. for having a bad set. Oh
my God, man. Yeah, so that was probably the other
times that I bombed or you just leave with the
bombing. I know. You want to quit the whole way
home. Why am I doing this? And what could I have
done? But no, this time I like just the message
that she gave me about... See... The reason I
asked that story for people that don't do stand
-up they might be like, why the fuck would you
ask this guy about the time he bombed? I do it
because It's almost like therapy, right? I we've
all gone through it at least once if not multiple
times and there's always Not one bombing story
is ever the same as the other bombing story.
That's why I love them because it's not like
I'm singling you out Oh you bombed because we
all bomb but There's something unique in every
bombing story, and in your case, she told you
to kill yourself with a pistol. Yeah, yeah. Double
kill. She said commit suicide. Yeah. She wanted
you to shoot yourself in the middle of killing
yourself. That's wild shit. It is, man. But yeah,
I think bombing is a rite of passage. It's one
of those things where everybody has a bad day
at work. Absolutely. One of the things I realized
is though, ironically, crowds, like people think
it's funny whenever people are doing their job
poorly. That's right. So even when you're bombing
on stage, it's a way that you can lean into it.
That's a beautiful... The crowd would be like,
you know what, we all can see and understand
that this just ain't going as well as both of
us, as everybody wants it to right now. And work
through it. That's as a rite of passage, it's
always something. Sometimes I tell people comedy
is like the scientific method. We're at home
and we hypothesize something's going to be funny.
We get out and test it. Yeah. And then either
they laugh and prove us right, our hypothesis
right, or they don't and be like, go back and
work on that. Dude, that's so well said. We talked
about that yesterday too, where It's unique like
in music right you got a band You rehearse your
ass off right and you know before the show you're
like yo We're gonna kill with this like that.
We're tight You know the only way people aren't
gonna is if they're not into this style of music
But they won't come to the show if that's the
case the only way to do comedy and to practice
comedy Is to do it in front of a crowd like you
don't have the liberty of You know telling your
stuffed animals the jokes or your family member
you have to test it out And that's, it just leaves
you so much more vulnerable as a performer, more
than any other performance. It's the only, I
tell people all the time, it's the only art form
that you have to practice in front of a crowd.
Exactly. It's the only art, not just performance
art form, because actors and whatnot, they practice
in private, three or four times in private, then
they're like, all right, this is the one, but
this is the only art form. that you have to practice
in public. Absolutely. Absolutely. And let me
tell you something, man. When people come to
see Kenneth McLaurin, they are not going to see
him bomb. I can tell you that. He's hilarious.
And I love you, man. Thank you, homie. Yeah,
so let me get some plugs in before we go. I want
to make sure I hit it. The Ithaca Laughs Festival
every year in Ithaca, New York, May 29th through
the 31st during Ithaca Festival. It's that night.
Ithaca Laughs Festival, it's called, the Ithaca
Laughs Festival. Every second and fourth, is
it Monday? You have the open mic at College Town
Bagels? That's it, second and fourth Monday.
And then Deep Dive, another venue in Ithaca.
Every other Wednesday, there's an open mic as
well. And you can catch Kenny on March 22nd.
You're doing a show, is that what you said? It
was March 22nd? Yeah, man, like, March 22nd,
I will be hosting a show at NRE for Comedy HOF.
And then actually it's going to be a busy month,
but I think then we also are doing a show March
29th at Six Mile Creek Winery. Yes. We have some
hotel comedy shows up here as well. So that's
going to be a DTC show. Then on March 30th, man,
I'm going to be performing at the Hanger Theater
with Tom Green. So that should be a good... I'm
going to that show. You're opening? Yep. I'm
opening. Oh my God. Tom Green, obviously. Many
of Tom Green from the Tom Green Show on MTV,
and he's a huge celebrity. He's coming to the
Hanger Theater in Ithaca at the end of the month,
and I bought tickets, because I love that man,
and I love you, and I had no idea you were opening.
That's fantastic, dude. Wait, where did you get
your ticket from, Mike? Oh. Was it Eventbrite,
or was it... You know what? I can look right
now. Hold on, let me look right here. Hold on,
hold on. It's in my Apple wallet, but let me...
Here we go. Oh, it's Tixar, T -I -X -R. Okay.
Yep. I'm asking because we were talking about
it and somebody else was like, oh man, I think
it'll come out. And they were going to buy tickets
and the tickets were like 120, 130, $140. And
I was like, what? No. That's got to be way too
much. That's got to be way too much. And then,
so we went to the Hanger website and on the Hanger
website, they were like, $40, $32, $40, something
like that. And I was like, oh snap. That's how
the hustle really is real. Like they're placed
on some website where they're like $120 for the
Tom Green show. And I was just like, yo, that
seems a lot. No way. Yeah. No, your instincts
were correct. That was, I don't remember what
I paid, but it certainly was not. Fuckin' $130,
I wanna see Elton John or some shit if I'm paying
that. For $130, I wanna see Bob Marley. There
you go, yes! And he can just lay there and I'll
pay that. Yeah, this one, it's not telling me
how much I paid, but I guess it doesn't matter.
Tickets are not $130, we'll tell you that. Kenny
Buf - Before I let you go, I forgot, you reminded
me, I forgot to hit, do you want to talk about
the secret comedy shows? I think that's really
cool. One of the things that's cool in some ways
talks about how the comedy scene, or indicates
how the comedy scene in Ithaca is growing, is
that we do some don't tell shows, DTC, don't
tell comedy, and what they do is secret shows
at different locations. What it is is you don't
know the lineup. You don't know who's on the
show. You don't know where the show is until
24 hours before the show starts. And I think
it's great. It's a great way to see some other
comedians who are coming up from upstate New
York, around upstate New York. And like I said,
it's really a fun time. Most of the shows are
BYOB. Nice. Oh yeah, most of the DTC shows or
don't tell shows are BYOB. And then with us,
we're a lot of the Comedy on the Commons, comedy
HOF shows, they're pop -up locations, but they're
also a lot of BYOB shows. So we want to make
it really an intimate sort of fun thing. Come
out, bring your friends, have a good time. And
that's what I mean when I say you're doing so
much for the comedy scene there. You've created
a scene. You're not just doing open mics and
you're not just doing... a show here and there.
You're doing the Comedy HOF Ithaca Laughs Festival.
You're doing open mics. You're doing these don't
tell comedy shows. I just, it means so much to
me as an Ithaca resident and as a comedian and
I look forward to being part of it. Where can
we go to find out all this stuff? I want to make
sure I hit the right website or social media
handles. So right now, I tell everybody on social
media, check us out at Comedy HOF. You can find
all the stuff up there. Even got a link for Comedy
HOF. Subscribe. We like to send out emails and
whatnot. And then if you're on the website, our
website still, you can still find us at Comedy
on the comments, at least for the next couple
of months. But we're gonna keep that going because
it's been so good to us. But Comedy HOF is where
everything's gonna be in the future. Kenny, my
man, thank you for your time. I know this is
early. Thanks for being a part of Good News York,
and I'll be in touch with you. Kenny McLaurin
of Ithaca, New York, Comedy HOF, again, Ithaca
Laughs Festival, May 29th through the 31st. He's
got some shows coming up in March, including
opening for Tom Green at the Hangar Theater in
Ithaca. You can catch his open mics at College
Town Bagels every second and fourth Monday as
well. as an open mic at Deep Dive on Tecanic
Boulevard every other Wednesday. Kenny McLaurin,
thank you for your time, buddy. We appreciate
you. All right, man, thank you. I just want to
let everybody know that remember, life's a joke,
but I'm just funny. And as we're out here, let's
not hate people for who they are on the outside,
race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or
anything like that. Take the time to get to know
people for who they are on the inside, and then
hate them for that. Ah, yes! That is it. There's
nothing left to say. Thank you, buddy. You have
a great day. We'll see you soon.