Comedy on a Cold Night
Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor has kept South Fork residents both warm and entertained through the winter of 2015 with an active calendar of musical events that will continue through the coldest and quietest months. On Saturday at 8 p.m., the venue will vary the entertainment being offered with the fifth All Star Comedy Show, hosted by Joseph Vecsey.
Returning to Bay Street is a homecoming of sorts for the New York-based comedian and writer. He has been a lifelong visitor and resident of Shelter Island and attended both the Hampton Day School and the Bridgehampton School before graduating from Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens.
He promises a night of laughter delivered by Jeffrey Joseph, Nathan Macintosh, and Dino Vigo, along with the host. He is also host of “The Call Back,” a podcast about the art and business of comedy, with many episodes featuring interviews with other comedians and writers.
Mr. Joseph is “the veteran of the group,” who has appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and Comedy Central, Mr. Vecsey said, and in films including “Scrooged,” “Roxanne,” and “Made in America.” Mr. Joseph is “one of funniest and most relaxed comedians,” Mr. Vecsey said. “One of the most intelligent, too.”
Mr. Macintosh, who is from Canada, has performed at comedy festivals in Montreal, Boston, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, and appeared on “Gotham Comedy LIVE” and numerous other television programs. Mr. Vigo, who has previously performed at Bay Street, has appeared on the BET network and is “one of the funniest guys I’ve met,” Mr. Vecsey said.
Mr. Vecsey has performed throughout the Northeast and as far from home as Bermuda. He was writing comedy scripts while a student in the film department at Brooklyn College when he agreed to write material for a friend, Kenny Garcia, who was considering performing at an open mike at the New York Comedy Club. “When the night came, he said I should go up, too,” Mr. Vecsey remembered. “We both went up, and it went fairly well. We got juiced by it, and we kept doing it.”
The comedian and actor Chris Rock was a big influence on his work, Mr. Vecsey said, along with performers on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” and those who both act and write, including Adam Sandler and the Wayans brothers, Marlon and Shawn. “My comedy is more about personal experience,” he said, including past and present relationships. “Some observational stuff, but more my experiences, growing up, being a bit of a germophobe. I definitely talk about whomever I’m dating a lot. The scripts I write and sketches I shoot are a little more exaggerated, a little more over the top, and usually a little raunchier than stand-up.”
Performing solo before an expectant audience can be unnerving; candid discussion of personal experience can be downright hazardous. Talking about an ex-girlfriend on “The Call Back,” Mr. Vecsey said, resulted in her roommate threatening to set him on fire. “Some people get annoyed here and there,” he observed.
Mr. Vecsey is nothing if not self-assured. “I can’t imagine people wouldn’t want to come to an affordable show with four really good comedians. Everyone is well established, everyone is super-funny. People should come out and support the show.” He paused. “How arrogant is that? ‘I can’t imagine anyone having anything else to do.’ ”
Tickets to the All Star Comedy Show cost $20 and are available at baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater box office.