What It's Like To Do Comedy In Prison

Namely The Infamous Rikers Island

Another gig I have forgotten how I landed, but at least I have a good excuse for not sharing details if someone asks, “How’d you get that?” The truth is, I forgot!

I do remember that I got the gig from another comedian, which is one great reason to meet and befriend as many comedians as you can. I’ve gotten 90% of my gigs from other comedians. But alas, I can’t remember his name. (I’m sorry old comedy friend!) I do remember it was a “he” though (of course it was).

I also don’t believe the gig paid. And it was a big rigamarole of a gig, too. But it was honestly one of the best gigs I ever, ever did.

We had to get to the jail at 6am. We met a van that drove us there. Then, we had to give a guard our IDs and sit in the van for hours and hours. I honestly think we sat in the van until around 12 or 1pm. Then, we had to go through security; getting scanned, and searched via pat down. Next, there was a protocol we had to hear and abide by, including rules like:

[Note: Did you know that you can get a free subscription to this newsletter — that’s about 260 comedy posts featuring lessons, stories, anecdotes, takeaways, gossip and more — if you purchase one of my comedy classes for $70. Yes! For $70, you get a comedy class + access to every newsletter post for a full year. Or, look at it like this—pay for a year subscription at $70 and get the comedy class for free.]