“How are you going to stay here?”

“Maybe I’ll marry you…” 

That line from Critically Ashamed’s season 2 premiere episode got a laugh from the audience, but it hit me a little closer to home. It’s the exact half-serious joke I’ve been making for two years. 

Critically Ashamed follows an immigrant comedian, Delia, as she tries to navigate the New York City comedy scene, making jokes and taking side jobs to try to make ends meet. The German expat’s stand-up routine relies, to some extent, on the differences between her culture and the American life into which she tries to assimilate. More →

Almost immediately, The Poet and the Professor is a very obvious change from the short films most people are used to. It is, as director and star Ariel Kavoussi calls it, a feminist film.

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“My mom says that when I was young, I used to walk around the house saying I was going to be a communist.” Greg Stone says. “Then she saw me watching Gallagher and realized I meant comedian, which I think hurt more.”

Greg Stone has a way of making his impressive career sound mediocre. Aside from his laundry list of appearances on Comedy Central and the like, he has written for The Break With Michelle Wolf and the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner. You’d think that would merit some self-credit, but Stone won’t even answer a question about where he’s from without taking a carefully timed shot at himself. “I’m kind of from New York City–my dad lived in the Bronx and my mom lived in Bloomfield [New Jersey]. I officially moved to New York City when comedian Mike Vecchione told me I had to if I wanted to be good. So I did. I’m still not good, so Mike is a liar.”

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A behind-the-scenes shot by Curtis Endicott.

Through countless interviews with oft-overlooked residents of Tucson, Arizona, Brian Jabas Smith and Maggie Smith have crafted beautiful tales of sadness. This weekend, they’ll bring their book and accompanying documentary, both titled Tucson Salvage, to Manhattan and Brooklyn.

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(Photo via City Reliquary/Facebook)

Grumpy, miserable, fast-moving, money-driven: Everyone has their idea about New Yorkers. But, a new study is busting every one of those stereotypes faster than you can say kindness.

According to the study, conducted by WalletHub, New York City is the second most caring city in America, behind Madison, Wisconsin. Using statistics from federal government agencies and various other sources, the finance website ranked the largest 100 cities in the world according to 38 factors indicating a “compassionate spirit.”

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(Photos: Erica Commisso)

Before New York was the concrete jungle it is today, it had a lot more natural resources. Central Park wasn’t an anomaly of green space, and there was once an underground water preserve called Collect Pond under what’s now Tribeca.

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(Photos courtesy of The Collective NY)

The closest thing I can think of to telling a story in 10 minutes is a Saturday Night Live skit, I tell Ross DeGraw and Sayra Player. They’re the artistic directors for The Collective NY, a theater company co-founded by Amy Schumer, and they’ve been working tirelessly to produce C:10, a series of 14 brand new, 10-minute plays.

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