A Short History Of The New Talent Nights At Carolines On Broadway

My name is Andy Engel and in 1993 Joe Falzarano Carolines’ talent booker approached me to do one or two New Talent shows a month at Carolines. I had no idea how big these shows would become or that they would be imitated by every other club in the city. I told him I would do two shows a month, he said fine and then they just took off. I don’t remember everyone who did that first show. I believe that John Kowie was my host. I believe also that I booked Chris Gannon and a female comic named Jackie who worked at the China Grill. Jackie told me she wanted Pete Klusman to tape the shows, I said OK. Pete’s videotapes were phenomenal and the show quickly got a reputation where young comics could make a professional tape that could launch a career. I didn’t anticipate the pent-up demand so many young comics had to make a tape. Soon I started doing the shows once a week, and I still couldn’t accommodate the demand. Another sign of the tapes importance were the managers and agents who started to call me to get tapes for there clients. Barry Katz (manager of Dane Cook and Jay Mohr) with his unmistakable distinctive voice would call “Andy, this is Barry I’ve got to get a tape for…(fill in hot comic of the month), can you put him or/her on. Peter Rosegarten (Ray Romano’s Manager) also started to call me, as did the entire comedy department at the William Morris Agency. It kept getting bigger and bigger and I was just along for the ride. Jim Gaffigan, Mike O’Malley (Yes Dear), Cory Kahaney (Last Comic Standing), John Fugelsang (VH-1), Jessica Kirson (The Tonight Show), Tom Shillue (Comedy Central) all did my show as New Talent comics. Comics were using their tapes to get agents, managers, comedy festivals and countless bookings and jobs. But something even bigger was happening; some comics got six figure development deals from their tapes. Greg Geraldo, John Diresta, John Bush and others (I lost track), all got development deals from their tapes. The shows were creating a buzz that I didn’t anticipate. I was finding everyone from either tapes they submitted or word of mouth, I didn’t advertise. Monday Nights got a reputation in the industry as a hot night that always had a crowd so big names started to drop-in. Jon Stewart came in for two shows in a row to work out some new material. Denis Leary also came in for about 5 shows in a row working out new stuff. Lewis Black would often stop in if he were in town doing the Daily Show. Then everyone discovered it: Chris Rock, Dave Attel, Dave Chappelle, Robert Klein, Joy Behar, Brett Butler, Caroline Rhea, Damon Wayans, Mark Curry. In the last six months Darrell Hammond from SNL has been stopping by often to try out new stuff. Eddie Brill started out as my regular host. Several years ago he became a segment producer for Late Show With David Letterman, translation: he books the comics for David Letterman. Now he hosts about two shows a month for me. Eddie actually discovered comedian Andy Vastola on my New Talent show and booked him to appear on Letterman. Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) has also hosted several shows. If Eddie is not hosting my show he is often stopping by to watch and critique someone he has booked for Letterman. Paula Davis and Frank Smiley the comedy bookers from Late Night With Conan O’Brien also stop by regularly to watch and critique someone who they have booked on Conan.

On other nights I have also produced countless sketch and Improv groups, which I still do.

Some of the more famous ones include The Bert Fershners and the Whitest Kids you know who actually got a deal from their performance at Carolines. I have produced theme shows as well, such as Gay, African American, Latino, Asian and others. Presently I produce about 12 to 15 New Talent shows a month.

All the shows I described above I produced alone.

Over the last three years I have co-produced a show twice a year with a very funny comedian named David Moore, called Funny Business. These were very unique shows in that they combined famous titans of industry and business performing stand-up comedy for the first time with Carolines’ regulars. Prominent CEO’s who have performed include: Carl Icahn, Jon Tisch, Donny Deutsch, Stew Leonard, Barbara Corcoran, Mitchel Modell, Jason Flom, Jamie Nivens and many others.