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Janae Pierre: From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre. New York City has long been at the center of stand up comedy, and there's one club that has helped generations of comedians hone their craft from the small stage to some of the biggest. That's the Comedy Cellar. The Greenwich Village Club turns 45 this year. On today's episode, we sit down with the Comedy Cellar's booker, who's been around for four decades. First, here's what's happening in New York City.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is creating an Office of Community Safety. The mayor says the department will include programs to combat violence through civilian community groups that divert more emergency calls to social workers and other non law enforcement responders.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: OCS will guide investment in B-HEARD to provide more support to more neighborhoods so that the city can deliver the sort of civilian response best suited to meet moments of crisis.

Janae Pierre: B-HEARD is a group that responds to 911 mental health emergencies. The office will be directed by Renita Francois, who once served in Mayor de Blasio's Office of Criminal Justice. She says in her eyes, reform isn't that complicated.

Renita Francois: Our vision for safety is simple. Every New Yorker from High Bridge to Stapleton to Bushwick deserves to feel safe and be safe.

Janae Pierre: Mayor Mamdani created the department by an executive order, meaning it will technically be in office within City Hall rather than a standalone department. New York State Attorney General Letitia James says a federal judge is blocking a Trump administration effort to restrict gender affirming care for transgender youth.

A US district court judge in Oregon ruled the federal government cannot enforce a policy that threatened to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to providers offering that care. Federal officials have argued the treatments are unsafe. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the administration is trying to protect young people from what he says are irreversible decisions. James led a multi-state lawsuit challenging the policy.

It's officially spring and New York City is welcoming the new season with some warmer temps through the weekend. Forecasters say temperatures will climb up to the 60s on Saturday and Sunday. Meteorologist James Connolly says some wet weather will accompany the warmer air.

Meteorologist James Connolly: There's a frontal system coming through, and that's mainly overnight, Friday night, maybe early Saturday like before sunrise, and we're expecting up to a quarter inch of rain.

Janae Pierre: Daytime Saturday will be dry, though more chances of rain are expected on Sunday. Monday is expected to be mostly dry but cooler with temps back into the 40s. The average for this time of year is around 50 degrees. Most of your favorite comedians have likely come through The Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village. After the break, we discuss the magic of booking the right comedian and what it takes to be a successful comedy club in New York City. Stick around for the conversation.

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Janae Pierre: Welcome back to NYC Now. Late night television used to be the finish line for stand up comedians. A five minute set on Conan, Letterman or Leno could launch a career overnight. Late night bookers would sit in the back of comedy clubs, scouting for the next big star. Comedy looks a lot different nowadays, but even in the age of TikToks and Instagram Reels, stand up still has a proving ground for up and coming comedians.

In New York City, one club has been at the center of that world for more than four decades, the Comedy Cellar. The Greenwich Village club has launched generations of comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Ray Romano. For most of the club's history, the person deciding who gets on that stage has been one woman, Estee Adoram. The Comedy Cellar turns 45 this year, and Estee has been there for most them.

Estee Adoram: As a booker about 40 years, but I've been working here for 44.

Janae Pierre: The comics she chooses to put on that stage can go on to build national careers. For aspiring comedians in New York, getting just a few minutes there can feel like the break they've been chasing.

Speaker 5: I would say the Comedy Cellar is the reason I moved to New York.

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Janae Pierre: Like Jake Jones, who does between 14 and 17 open mics a week across New York City and is still trying to get there.

Jake Jones: : I go up, I do like five minutes. I'll watch a couple more comics, I'll watch as many as I can before I have to leave to the next open mic, and then I'll get to that open mic, I'll do five minutes, and then I'll go hit an open mic at ten o' clock, and then just repeat the process tomorrow.

Janae Pierre: How do you make it in the New York City comedy scene? To find out, I walked over to the club to talk with Estee herself.

Estee Adoram: This is going to be on the NYC-

Janae Pierre: NYC Now podcast.

Estee Adoram: Now?

Janae Pierre: Yes.

Estee Adoram: Sounds good.

Janae Pierre: Then your Comedy Cellar is turning 45.

Estee Adoram: Yes. I am here 44 years. [laughs]

Janae Pierre: That's awesome. Wow.

Estee Adoram: Holding onto a job.

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Janae Pierre: What do you remember about those early shows in the '80s?

Estee Adoram: Most people that are famous now were around then.

Janae Pierre: Like who?

Estee Adoram: Ray Romano, Chris Rock, all those guys. Dave Chappelle. I met Dave Chappelle. He was 18-

Janae Pierre: Wow.

Estee Adoram: -out of DC. Somebody recommended Chappelle to me. It was on weekend. It was close to 3:00 AM. He was eating upstairs. Another comic pointed him out and says, "I know this guy from DC. You've got to take a look at him. He's really funny." I went over, I introduced myself, said, "Can you do a few minutes for me?" 3:00 AM. There was people half asleep on the tables. He got on, and let me tell you, I called my boss at 3:00 AM and I said, "I just saw somebody really special." He was 18. That's one thing that I think is special. People that started here and became super famous, they still come back.

Janae Pierre: Why do you think so?

Estee Adoram: Love, family. This is warmth. It's always been. It's always been like that. Whenever they're in New York, they come in all the time here. Ray Romano, I list him on the lineup with a fake name because otherwise we'll be trampled here. Friday, Saturday, Sundays, every night, comes in, does at least two shows.

Janae Pierre: Wow. I see his poster over there, Everybody Loves Raymond.

Estee Adoram: Yes, with the whole cast. The whole cast came here. I have pictures of all of them on stage. Then Aziz Ansari started here. He was 19. Now I have a picture of Chappelle, Aziz, Chris Rock. Have to look at the pictures. There's five of them at the same time on this little stage.

Janae Pierre: Wow. [chuckles] No space for anything else.

Estee Adoram: Mind blown. That magic happens here all the time, and we're grateful for that. We have a reputation that it does happen. If it doesn't, people disappointed. "Oh, no celebrity came in." You know what I mean?

Janae Pierre: What was the comedy scene like in New York City back in the '80s?

Estee Adoram: It wasn't as good for us as it's now. The comedy scene started slowly, picked up some momentum, and in the '80s, it went a little bit down. My theory is that it went down because of really, really bad TV shows, the Evening at the Improv and all of those shows.

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Speaker 6: It's An Evening at the Improv.

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Estee Adoram: Do you remember on the Cable.

Janae Pierre: I wasn't around.

Estee Adoram: Baby. [laughter] There was a show that came on and it was good, so everybody copied it and it became really watered down. It wasn't good. Most people thought that that's what comedy clubs are. There was a deep. Then it picked up again. Knockwood, we're doing really well now.

Janae Pierre: You talked about all of the magic that happens here. You've been a booker here for four decades. What does a booker do? What are your responsibilities?

Estee Adoram: You answer the question.

?Janae Pierre: I think [unintelligible 00:09:15]

Estee Adoram: You'll know. Exactly. That's what I do.

Janae Pierre: It's like there has to be some type of magic to your job, right?

Estee Adoram: There's got to be an understanding how to build a show, how to produce a show, and if you have four shows, each show individually.

Janae Pierre: I guess my question is, how does one become successful at being such a great booker?

Estee Adoram: I am trying to answer that without praising myself too much. [laughs]

Janae Pierre: Praise yourself. Praise yourself.

Estee Adoram: No. Somebody, I'm not going to name drop, said that I'm successful because I have good taste, and I pride myself on that. I understand good comedy pretty well. There's room to any kind of style of comedy. If it's props, if it's musical, if it's in highly intellectual, is it goofy? There's all kind of things, and they're all very valid. When you put a show together, you've got to get a balance. I get right now, because we are so popular, about 3,400 emails a week.

Janae Pierre: Wow.

Estee Adoram: Availability a lot. I have to choose five the best for each of the shows. There's got to be some kind of a balance where I give spots to as many people as I think I need to and yet use mostly the funniest one, but to put it together and-

Janae Pierre: Prepare.

Estee Adoram: -master it, prepare it.

Janae Pierre: I love that. I love that. At what point did you realize that the Comedy Cellar was becoming part of New York City culture?

Estee Adoram: I never think in those terms. It's like walking, one step, one foot forward, one step at a time. Before you know, 44 years later, here we go. We're doing something right. People still come and we sell out couple weeks in advance before even the liners are out.

Janae Pierre: You said that you guys outlasted most.

Estee Adoram: Well, no. There's some clubs that are just as long as us or whatever, but we're still here.

Janae Pierre: When I think about the evolution of comedy clubs and the comedy scene, everyone I talk to, they all come back to the Comedy Cellar. They're not saying any of these other names. Why do you think that's so?

Estee Adoram: Depends who you talk to. Who do you talk to? [chuckles]

Janae Pierre: Just talk to my friends. [laughs]

Estee Adoram: I don't know. You know how a parent thinks that their kids are the best and the smartest and the best looking and whatever? That's how I think about the Comedy Cellar. The way we care, from the owners to the GM to me to everybody that's involved in that. Customer makes reservation. After the show, they get the email. "How was the show? How was the service? How was the food? How are the comics?" We literally, literally read every single one of them. That kind of care cultivates trust, cultivates success.

Janae Pierre: I'm hearing you talk about this place. Coming into this, I had so many questions about the evolution of the Comedy Cellar. It seems like this place is just being true to itself and true to the art.

Estee Adoram: Yes, true to the art. That's big sentence. True to the comics. True to the comics. We treat the comics with most respect, most love, and most generosity. That was the previous owner who passed, and Noam, the owner now. That's their philosophy about conducting business. That's just good business. The restaurants got to have the best food served in the best way, if not heterotic. You know what I mean? There is a demand for excellence and just TLC.

Janae Pierre: Tender, love, and care.

Estee Adoram: Absolutely. 100%. Listen, when we started, we were slow. We had no business. All the clubs that were popular then were uptown. You had the Comic Strip. You have Catch, which doesn't exist anymore, but Catch was the it-club. You had Stand Up New York. All those clubs, they were all uptown. We were the only one downtown. The industry didn't want to come downtown.

You have no idea the somersault that we did to get the business down here and to get them down here. I would drive with my own car from hotel to hotel. I take one of the guys that work here, and we made a pamphlet and gave to all the concierge to invite them. I made a show for the concierge so they can see. You know what I mean? Still, it was like blood from a stone. Wasn't busy, so we had the waitress sitting at the table to make it look busy. [laughter] We worked really, really hard to get it going. Once we hit the strike, it's a different story now.

Janae Pierre: Times have certainly changed.

Estee Adoram: They did.

Janae Pierre: Fast forward to 2026, and now we have social media.

Estee Adoram: That's a different animal.

Janae Pierre: Let's talk about this animal, because certainly it has played a role in the Comedy Cellar's continued success, or has it? Has it not?

Estee Adoram: I have very mixed feeling about social media.

Janae Pierre: Tell me.

Estee Adoram: Very mixed feeling. Some people can hit million followers and not be what I would look in a comedian. They post little clips. Those clips go viral. You want those guys here too because you want the business on one hand. On the other hand, are they going to keep the quality where I want it to be?

Janae Pierre: What do you look for in a comedian?

Estee Adoram: Oh, have to be funny. I don't like bathroom jokes. I don't like Hitler jokes. You've got to be super, super, super crafty to do a good Hitler job for me to say, "Hah, that's funny." Cheap sex jokes. Cheap is cheap. We all can recognize cheap. We all can recognize cheap. When I audition them, I give them only five minutes. You better bring your best five minutes.

I see, I look at their presence on stage, control of the crowd, the material. If we get crickets, nothing on the audition, I said, "Let's try again maybe in six months or next year or something," but if I do get a good response, I said, "I'm going to give you spots and let's see how it goes." If it goes great, "Welcome to the Comedy Cellar." If it doesn't, I peter out. That's fair to them and fair to us.

Janae Pierre: When you talk about comedy in 1981 versus today, what's the fundamental difference there when we talk about the success of a comedian?

Estee Adoram: The fundamental ha-ha comedy is the same. Comedy was always popular. If you look at the old movies from the '30s and Charlie Chaplin. Comedy was always a corner of society that was needed and was cherished. Now, sometimes they use it as a tool to voice an opinion, a political opinion.

If you walk to a room during the show and just look at people's faces, they're there to laugh, to be entertained, and to be happier. If somebody is offended by something, I can't help it. I can't help it. I would love for 100% success of people living happy, but sometimes it doesn't happen. I think not everybody in the '30s loved Chaplin. Not everybody loved Richard Pryor. Not everybody loves Chappelle now.

Janae Pierre: When you're booking and auditioning folks, is there something different from back then that you would have said yes to than now you'd say no to?

Estee Adoram: The other way around?

Janae Pierre: Or the other way around?

Estee Adoram: We are a little bit more open now. We're not as uptight. That's not true either. Now I'm thinking about politically correct. Oh, don't talk politics, don't talk race, don't talk this, no sexuality. I have some trans comics. Chappelle came out on his show and he was against that. I had the trans comic that works here. She was hosting and he got on her show and they had an exchange about it and end up shaking hand and whatever. He said to her, "Are you nervous talking to me?" She goes, "No, not at all." [laughs] I don't know that then this would fly. That's why I said it may be more open.

In the same token, people are very critical. They're very sensitive. They're very, "I didn't come to comedy to think about politics," or, "I didn't come to comedy to listen about the injustice of this, that, or the other. I came for jokes." You'll get a comedian that talks about it sometimes. Sometimes you do.

Janae Pierre: Is there anything you miss about the Comedy Cellar back in the '80s?

Estee Adoram: No.

[laughter]

Janae Pierre: That was quick.

Estee Adoram: I don't know. It was good then. It's better now. You have to move in with the times. You know what I mean? No. I'm happy. I was happy then. I work very hard because we have now 15, 18 shows a night.

Janae Pierre: Wow.

Estee Adoram: I had two or three then. There's a lot of booking going on. [laughs]

Janae Pierre: You're busy.

Estee Adoram: I'm busy, yes.

Janae Pierre: When do you rest?

Estee Adoram: I don't. I don't. [unintelligible 00:20:03]

Janae Pierre: It's the gig. It's the gig.

Estee Adoram: Yes.

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Janae Pierre: Ms. Estee, thanks so much. This is so good.

Estee Adoram: My pleasure. You are lovely. Thank you.

Janae Pierre: So good. You'll see me on that Sunday brunch list soon? [laughs]

Estee Adoram: Absolutely. Come and you'll have a good time. We'll have really good shows on the brunch.

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Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. Who's the best comedian you've seen live in New York City? Send a voice note or an email to NYC Now at wnyc.org. You might hear your comment on a future episode. Hope you have a lovely weekend. I'm Janae Pierre. See you next time.

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