I just got home a little while ago from "Fresh Meat" -- a monthly comedy variety show produced and hosted by my friend Catie Lazarus at Comix on 14th Street. I've known Catie off and on for a couple years, but I'd never gone to her show nor seen her perform. A couple weeks ago, Catie and I had lunch while I was still seemingly dying from a cold, and the next week I heard from her that she was sick. My fault? Maybe -- a friend at work had renicknamed me "germy" because of how much I was constantly coughing. So when poor Catie called and said, "You got me sick! Are you coming to my show on the 23rd?" Well the implied Jewish guilt from here combined with my own don't-bother-mentioning-it-as-I-can-create-my-own-guilt-regardless-of-any-actual-fault-thank-you-very-much obviously meant that my answer would be yes.
Of course, I was seriously encouraged when I saw her lineup of guests which included the hysterical Jessi Klein (who I interviewed just about two years ago for Gothamist); the side-splitting, asthma-inducing storytelling of author Jonathan Ames; and the equally funny readings/performances of Elizabeth Spiers, David Rakoff and Annabelle Gurwitch.
The last time I laughed this hard at might have been at Borat. Rarely have I seen live comedy where virtually top-to-bottom, the program was this strong, and that's even more remarkable considering the fact that only Jessi and Catie are actual stand-up comics.
Catie is performing all over the place in the coming weeks, and "Fresh Meat" will be back at Comix on Feb. 13. As difficult as it is for me to find time to do anything social these days (and it will likely only get worse), I will most definitely be checking out Catie and her show again, and you should consider doing so too.