The Most Stacked Comedy Show Ever Happened Last Night In An NYC Cellar

When it comes to stand-up comedy, it’s not just the performers that have to rely on timing. Audiences ride their fate on it just as much. This is particularly true to those souls who brave the regular weekday comedy rooms that dot themselves across various cities.
Outside of dedicated theatre shows, or late night TV appearances, or large sprawling comedy festivals, it’s these ordinary, knockabout rooms that serve as the true frontline of comedy; where comedians plying their trade take to the stage with scattered notes in a poured-over notebook and sweaty palms as they work through new material and half-baked ideas in search of those solid gags that’ll eventually end up in a proper set.
And while these rooms book and advertise lineups usually consisting of mid-tier performers and up-and-comers, on any given night successful, big name comics – ones chasing an honest audience outside of their usual rabid fanbase – can drop in to grab some stage time.
In Melbourne, for example, it’s a reasonably common occurrence. Hannibal Burress dropped in to a room at the Catfish in Fitzroy on a Tuesday night in early December. Arj Barker regularly makes unannounced appearances on Thursday nights at the European Bier Cafe, or on Mondays at Spleen whenever he’s in town. Wednesday nights at the infamous and glorious Crab Lab are a veritable magnet for special guests from home and abroad, particularly during festival time.
Those are all bloody great. But not one comedy lineup anywhere in the world can even begin to hold a candle to what went down yesterday in a cruddy New York City cellar.
Anyone who’s either a) into stand-up, or b) has ever watched an episode of ‘Louie‘ will likely recognise NYC’s Comedy Cellar. The underground Manhattan bar is a cornerstone of the New York comedy scene, and easily one of the most recognisable comedy clubs on the planet.
On any given night, at any given show, heavyweights in the comedy biz can rock up and jump on stage to work through some material. But somehow, on Wednesday night, all of them showed up at once.
The humble, otherwise unremarkable 9:30pm Wednesday show turned into a cavalcade of stars when Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, and Aziz Ansari all took the stage *one after another*.
The host of the show, fellow comic Jon Laster, documented the ridiculousness in an Instagram post:

Tonight I was humbled and blessed to have been a part of the greatest show EVER in the history of the Comedy Cellar and maybe comedy period! We were sitting on the steps when Dave Chappelle told the manager that he didn’t wanna go on he just wanted to watch Jerry Seinfeld go on and then he was leaving. He quickly changed his mind and decided to go up. He and Chris Rock then went back and forth about who would be next. Amy Schumer overheard them and asked if she could do five minutes also to be a part of this ‘history.’ I forgot that Aziz was somewhere outside and needed to go on as well. Felt kinda surreal working with my idols. The Birds, Jordans, LeBrons all in this little hallway but I honestly didn’t feel intimidated I felt like I belonged atleast like my work did. I started to excuse myself from this picture and Amy pulled me back into it and said ‘fuck that get in the picture you were a part of this!’ Thank you soooooo much Estee!! The Lineup: Host: Me Ryan Hamilton Dave Attell Jerry Seinfeld Amy Schumer Chris Rock Aziz Ansari Dave Chappelle Every once in a while we get a glimpse into our growth. My law of attraction is working, my sobriety is working, the people that push me (Tracey Moore), it’s working! I am so happy. I am so grateful. I am so humbled. Thank you for any kind words in advance! #comedy #beautiful #lawofattraction #funnyordie #comedycellar #tbt #drinks #food #girls #fitness #yoga #snl #ihashtaglikea17yearoldwhitegirl

A photo posted by Jon Laster (@hewasfunny) on

“Tonight I was humbled and blessed to have been a part of the greatest show EVER in the history of the Comedy Cellar, and maybe comedy period!

We were sitting on the steps when Dave Chappelle told the manager that he didn’t wanna go on, he just wanted to watch Jerry Seinfeld go on and then he was leaving. He quickly changed his mind and decided to go up. He and Chris Rock then went back and forth about who would be next. Amy Schumer overheard them and asked if she could do five minutes also to be a part of this “history.” I forgot that Aziz was somewhere outside and needed to go on as well.

Felt kinda surreal working with my idols. The Birds, Jordans, LeBrons all in this little hallway, but I honestly didn’t feel intimidated. I felt like I belonged, [or] at least like my work did.

I started to excuse myself from this picture and Amy pulled me back into it and said “Fuck that, get in the picture! You were a part of this!” Thank you soooooo much Estee!!

The Lineup:
Host: Me
Ryan Hamilton
Dave Attell
Jerry Seinfeld
Amy Schumer
Chris Rock
Aziz Ansari
Dave Chappelle”

A lucky fool in the audience also gave a much more detailed account of the night’s proceedings, which at one point apparently featured Dave Chappelle on-stage whittling away time by asking Chris Rock questions.

Chris Rock himself even documented the mind-boggling lineup with a group photo posted to his Twitter feed.

The line of the night, so the story goes, belonged to Schumer, who jokingly quipped at the end of the show “you guys saw a billion dollars worth of comedians tonight.”

That’s no exaggeration either.
And to think, the lucky sumbitches who did only paid the modest US$14 entry fee.
Now that’s value for money, right there.

Source: Mashable.
Photo: Chris Rock/Twitter.

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