This was a big week for comedy and press for me. Last week, I was walking and a shirtless weirdo complimented me and I said thank you but that wasn’t enough—he decided to follow me for a block and then was even emboldened to put his arm around me, not leaving me alone until I told him I am married.
I was livid but kept my composure. I was on Periscope (I broadcast from @jessicadelfino most days around noon and also other times) doing a live stream broadcast, and I didn’t want the viewers to see my nervousness. I calmed down quickly but quipped with viewers about the experience. One suggested it wouldn’t have happened to me if I was “ugly”. I disagreed, saying that I bet a woman could wear a garbage bag around the city and would still get harassed. Another viewer, a friend and fellow Periscoper @GeoffGolberg, suggested I Periscope that, so I did, with a little video help from my pal Bill Scurry.
Once it was all said and done, I wrote about the experience on Mashable and they also posted the video that Bill shot and edited, which was picked up by Someecards.com, Refinery29.com, MetroUK and more.
The video now has almost 30k+ views on YouTube, and mixed reviews. Someone called me narcissistic, which I don’t think I am, but if you disagree, but so? Does that mean I deserve to get harassed on the street? Another commenter said I had nice legs, which for some reason didn’t irritate me as much in typed form as it would have if it were sneered into my face as I was trying to go about my busy day.
The other exciting thing that happened was, I had an idea to take an indepth and exaggerated look at being a comedian in NYC by performing as many comedy sets as I could in one night. Bill, my trusty video man and I set out late in the afternoon on Thursday September 10th in the rain. I was aiming for 16 comedy sets, and I believe I hit it, but I lost count. Luckily, we got it all on film and will sort through it later. I definitely performed more than 13 sets, which was comedians Steve Byrne’s record set in 2003, which he documented in a great little short called “13 or Bust” (which you can watch for free online) and as far as we know, was the record for most comedy sets performed in one night.
Aaron Berg and I, around 13 sets into my night, at Greenwich Village Comedy Club, NYC.
Photo credit: Nicky Sunshine
As I was getting ready for my big night, comedy blogger Sean McCarthy told me that another comedian, Aaron Berg had also been planning to go for the record, and would be attempting it just 2 days after me, on Saturday night. I was gobsmacked. Sean wrote a piece about it on his all things comedy based website, The Comic’s Comic.
Aaron set out to set his set record this past Saturday, and as far as I know, he hit his goal of 20 something sets. Which, never to be outdone, just means I might have to try again in the near future. Congrats Aaron, enjoy it! I may be coming back to reclaim the title at a later date.
In the meantime, I’m the women with the most comedy sets performed in one night in NYC and the person with the most comedy music sets performed in one night in NYC.
Plugs! Plugs! Plugs!
I’ll be performing live this coming weekend Sept 18-21 at Symbiosis Fest (along with the Yes Men and more) in Oakdale, CA [schedule]
Other upcoming show dates are here.
