Carolines Comedy Comes to the Beach
If there is anything that funny TV shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show” have proven, it is that there is a huge market for comedy. And if there’s anything that Caroline Hirsch has proven, it’s that it is possible to develop a comedy business with longevity.
Ms. Hirsch is the owner of the well-known comedy nightclub Carolines on Broadway, which she began in 1982 as a small cabaret in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Her career in retail, with Gimbels department store, had ended, and she and two partners launched the cabaret, with Ms. Hirsch in charge of booking comedians. Since then, Carolines grew steadily and moved twice, eventually to its present-day, 300-seat theater in Times Square.
Comedy greats including Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Jay Leno, Tracy Morgan, and Kathy Griffin have headlined at her club over the years, and on Friday, Aug. 5, Ms. Hirsch will once again produce a show at Guild Hall in East Hampton, titled “Carolines at the Beach.”
Ms. Hirsch, who lives in New York City and Water Mill, said comedy is not an easy business to be in, and that was especially true more than 30 years ago when she was first starting out.
“I think comedy in the beginning was too hip for itself,” she said. “I don’t think a lot of people even understood what was going on at the time. With the clarity of the cable channels and the stand-ups becoming so famous, it’s been defined to the audiences that it’s here to stay, that it’s a big deal, and that it’s a really hard art form to get under your belt.”
She is not a comedian herself, nor did she ever aspire to be one, but she sure loves funny people, going all the way back to Charlie Callas, whom she saw on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” when she was 10.
For her efforts to amplify comedy as an art form, Ms. Hirsch has been called a pioneer in the industry, especially for her treatment of female comedians as no different from the male comedians who dominate the business.
“I love that she is a very powerful woman on the business side of comedy, which is not par for the course. She’s good to female comics,” said Karen Bergreen, one of the comedians who will perform at Guild Hall on Aug. 5.
Ms. Bergreen, who styles herself as the harried mom, is looking forward to the show. She has performed a few times at the Southampton Cultural Center. “In some ways the audiences [in the Hamptons] are so grateful,” she said. “There are not as many venues to go to for comedy as there are in the city, so I think people are really happy to have a funny night out.”
Vince Judge will host the event, but that the majority of the Guild Hall show features female talent — Ms. Bergreen will be joined by Alex Guarnaschelli, the Food Network star, and Yamaneika Saunders — is simply a coincidence. Ms. Hirsch said she chooses comedians for her shows based on their talent and what she feels would be complementary styles. She has exacting standards: Comics must be original and highly practiced in their delivery with a continuous supply of new material.
“They have to work it and they have to continue to write. There are a lot of comedians around today, but a lot of them never really get to develop,” Ms. Hirsch said. “We like certain people, but sometimes they get to the two-year mark and they’re not writing new material. They’re not going to grow. . . . Today they’re just taking these young stand-ups and putting them on TV shows and wondering why the TV show isn’t doing well.”
Ms. Hirsch is also known for her philanthropy. She is a longtime board member of the Ms. Foundation and has offered her club up as a venue for many fund-raisers over the years, including for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.
At her waterfront house in Water Mill, which was designed by Francis Fleetwood, the late architect who was credited with reviving the Shingle Style on the South Fork, Ms. Hirsch enjoys collecting 20th and 21st-century art. When she is there, she relaxes as much as she can, although sometimes her business necessitates working from home — particularly when it comes to planning the annual New York Comedy Festival in November, which will draw comedians to venues all over New York City, including Madison Square Garden, the Apollo Theater, and Carnegie Hall. The New York Comedy Festival, in fact, is where Ms. Hirsch sees opportunity in her future. “It gave us a great chance to work with the people who kind of graduated from Carolines. I can work with people I can’t book at the club anymore, like Kevin Hart,” she said. “With the festival, there is probably expansion here with the idea of possibly going to other towns or cities.”
Ms. Hirsch makes sure Carolines stays on top of trends in the industry, which, lately, includes political comedy. A show there dubbed “Anyone Can Be President, Even Us” debuted on Monday.
“Comedy is a big part of people’s lives,” she said. “If you ever hear from somebody that they don’t like comedy, run. That’s a bad thing. Who doesn’t like to laugh? It’s been proven that it’s really, really good for you.”