Is this Live on?
The coronavirus has killed concerts and open mikes for the time being, but comedy has proved to be essential during the pandemic. Funnyman A-listers such as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Adam Sandler have stepped up to the virtual mike to raise money for relief, while Jerry Seinfeld returned to the little screen for his Netflix special “23 Hours to Kill.” Even “SNL” has been Zoom-ified.
But lesser-known comics — some new and some simply sharpening their offerings — broke through as the real stars of the pandemic comedy circuit.
Ever since clubs went dark in March, scrappy stand-ups have taken to Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and well-produced videos to reach their laugh-starved audiences. Here are seven emerging comedians to watch.
Sydnee Washington
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAikwpZn77Z/
Who is she?
Lifelong Brooklynite Sydnee Washington offered high-energy antics for the long weeks in lockdown. “I am the best friend that says everything you’re too afraid to say,” the 30-something Washington tells The Post.
“I’m relatable, but not physically,” she says. “I have great bone structure, amazing skin. But in the end I’m a hot-ass mess.” Quarantine forced Washington off the stage and in front of the camera, which she says is a blessing in disguise. “It’s OK to experiment. I was used to doing the same thing over and over again in my career, because I’m a what? A psycho,” she says.
Pandemic hit
“Syd Can Cook” is Washington’s Instagram Live show that happens every Sunday at 7 p.m. and features her comic friends giving her culinary advice and reviews of her technique. In the kitchen, Washington is both confident (her mushroom risotto with Parmesan was “so bomb,” she says) and clumsy (she lit a napkin on fire in one episode.)
Good news: The comedian says the “low-budget, low-stakes, high-quality, humbling cooking show” will continue after quarantine.
Where to find her
Washington is on Instagram (@justsydbw), and her podcast, “The Unofficial Expert,” with Marie Faustin drops every Friday.
Tim Dillon
Who is he?
A former mortgage salesman, Dillon, 35, started doing comedy after the 2008 economic crisis and was already having a breakout moment this year with fearless stand-up and biting parody videos, portraying everyone from Ghislaine Maxwell to Meghan McCain. But turmoil is to Dillon as steroids were to Barry Bonds: It’s made him a powerhouse.
“I’m comfortable with dark comedy,” Dillon tells The Post. “I don’t shy away from the realities of what is going on. I was saying this a while ago. Society is held together by duct tape and a lot of these fragile mechanisms are starting to break down. I have found a way to make that funny.” The loud-talking Long Island native has been prolific on every platform, dishing out commentary on cancel culture, racial unrest, spoiled celebrities and calling out absurdity on both sides with impunity. “I’m calling the game as I see it.”
Pandemic hit
In one hilarious video, Dillon goes full COVID method acting. He dresses as a coronavirus spiky ball who is sad about his daddy issues and the bad publicity he gets because he’s a “dumb germ” whose cousin is SARS. He adds that no one asks him to be in their TikTok videos. The video ends with him proclaiming, “I wish I was AIDS.”
Where to find him
Dillon has a weekly podcast, “The Tim Dillon Show,” as well as a YouTube channel, and Instagram and Twitter accounts (@timjdillon), where he’s gotten tens of thousands of new followers since quarantine.
Andrew Schulz
Who is he?
In January, the New York comedian had the savvy and good fortune of opening a Brooklyn studio to produce slick commentary videos and his podcast “Flagrant 2.” The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. While late-night network TV shows were scrambling to learn Zoom, he and his team of writers were already on the goal line. “I’ve been on the digital side for so long, this is a home game for me,” Schulz, 36, tells The Post. “So now everyone has to play on my field.”
During quarantine, he created a new franchise of incisive “rant videos” tackling mind-spinning topics such as Biden being more Trump than Trump. The monologues have been averaging about a million views each, while his podcast audience has doubled since the quarantine, he says.
Also starring in
Bizarrely, Schulz made a cameo in the “Call Her Daddy” turmoil, when it emerged that he matched with Sofia Franklyn on Raya, but canceled their date. That very night was when she met Peter Nelson, a k a “Suitman.” “Basically I caused it,” he says in a hilarious video recap.
Where to find him
Schulz’s videos and work can be found on Instagram (@andrewschulz), while “Flagrant 2” has its own YouTube channel. Despite his Internet domination, he’s eager to get back to stand-up. “I miss it 100 percent,” he says.
Meg Stalter
Who is she?
Alt-comedy’s Twitter darling Meg Stalter, 29, was built to thrive in lockdown. She started getting noticed “about a year ago,” but took off on Instagram when the pandemic hit. “People were all watching stuff online and my sense of humor really works for online,” says Stalter, who’s been raking in views on her Instagram Live comedy show with fellow comic Cat Cohen, as well as on her solo videos.
“There’s nothing to lose right now,” says Stalter, who pokes fun at influencers, fumbling moms who make internet faux pas, and tone-deaf celebs. Her over-the-top eyeliner and hot-mess costuming is the icing on top.
The Bed-Stuy comedian says of her viral characters: “They’re delusional, having a breakdown, but they’re trying to pretend that they’re not.”
Pandemic hit
Stalter’s two-part “Mom Night,” shot from her family home in Ohio for Instagram is a must-watch, as is the rest of her home-for-the-pandemic content. “I did an Earth Day video holding my mom’s plants that I loved,” says Stalter, who’s taking advantage of suburban luxuries like a hot tub and her mom’s veranda for her clips.
Where to find her
Catch Stalter on her podcast, “Confronting Demons,” and on Twitter (@megstalter) and Instagram (@megsstalter).
Fahim Anwar
Who is he?
LA comic Fahim Anwar, 36, is using amateur Photoshop skills and his arsenal of characters to poke fun at everything quarantine-related — from Zoom work calls to virtual dance classes.
“It’s very rare that the nation is focused on one thing,” says Anwar, who figured the pandemic was the perfect time to pump out videos. “Quarantine provided a captive audience.”
Anwar’s shtick is DIY sketches — they’re absurd, silly and occasionally political — with lo-fi production, which he counts as a positive. “It’s not ‘Dunkirk,’ and I think there’s a charm to that,” he says.
Pandemic hit
Anwar’s “Genesis of Corona” is spot on. He goes from “It’s not so bad . . . I picked up the piano!” to “What are we supposed to do about money?” to “I think it was made in a lab . . . I’ve said too much” in one quick-cut clip. He posts jokes from sets past on his feed, too.
Where to find him
Check out Anwar on Instagram and Twitter (@fahimanwar). His stand-up special, “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” from March is on YouTube.
Jordan Firstman
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAI5ZP-hxml/
Who is he?
Jordan Firstman, 28, is the color commentator of COVID, with sharp impressions like “a famous actress helping America through the pandemic,” in which he quips cringey advice like, “If you go to a wing of your house you don’t often use, you can stay there and act like it’s a vacation.”
The LA filmmaker and writer — he’s written for Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” among other shows — says he has no interest in starting stand-up since his videos have gone viral, but admits, “the ideas were just flowing and the audience was giving me a lot of energy.” Read: a ton of new followers including Ariana Grande, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Pandemic hit
Firstman says he’s posted 80 impressions in the past couple of months. The most famous is surely his character “banana bread’s publicist.” In an over-the-top convo with the pandemic baking mascot he announces, “We did it. We got everyone home, we got them a bunch of f - - king rotten bananas, and they went off.”
Where to find him
Find Firstman on his Instagram page, @jtfirstman. He claims he was kicked off TikTok for his Dr. Bronner’s impression, and he stays off Twitter, “because it’s hell.”
Ahri Findling
Who is he?
At the beginning of the pandemic, new dad Ahri Findling, who’d been holed up in Jersey City with his wife and baby, didn’t want to create comedy. “It all shifted when daycare shut down,” Findling, 33, tells The Post. “I had to entertain my baby and kill time, so I started incorporating her in the bits. It makes me sound like a horrible father, but she liked it.”
He says his goofy sketches, which often feature his daughter, or fellow comedian brother, Noah, are “vulnerable” and represent a back-to-basics for him. “Because I have no audience, I’ve relied on what I think is funny and what I want to do,” he says.
Pandemic hit
The “Quarantine with kids vs. without kids” clip featuring the Findling Bros., or the one revealing the differences in East vs. West Coast pandemic lifestyles, are both must-see videos.
Findling’s inspo for the latter? “I was Facetiming with my brother, showing him my baby, and he was poolside complaining about how miserable quarantine is,” says Findling. “I’m in a one-and-a-half bedroom apartment ready to put a bullet in my head.”
Where to find him
You can find Findling’s jokes and bits on his Instagram (@theycallmeahri) or his YouTube channel, where you’ll find his special, “Ahri Findling Live from Stand Up NY.”
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