Comedy Cellar
117 MacDougal Street | Greenwich Village | built 1864
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1981
Bill Grundfest founds the Comedy Cellar at 117 MacDougal Street
Stand-up comedian Bill Grundfest, later a television writer and producer, started the Comedy Cellar in 1981 in a basement at 117 MacDougal Street, near Minetta Lane and West Third Street. Noam Dworman inherited the club from his father, Manny, in 2003. A restaurant, the Olive Tree Cafe, sits upstairs and shares the kitchen and staff.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Jon Stewart auditions at the Comedy Cellar in front of eight drunk Norwegian sailors
In a 2016 oral history, Grundfest recalled that Jon Stewart first came to the Cellar in 1982, on one of the rare audition nights he held. The only audience was eight drunk sailors from Norway, and Stewart did not get a laugh. Grundfest said that what Stewart was attempting was so impressive that he knew he had to do something with the kid.
Source: vanityfair.com
- 1998
Nick Di Paolo gets Manny Dworman to reserve a table for comedians only
In the late 1990s, the comedian Nick Di Paolo lobbied club owner Manny Dworman to give the regulars a space of their own. The next night a sign appeared on a back table at the Olive Tree reading that it was reserved for Comedy Cellar comedians only. Robert Kelly later recalled sliding the sign in front of any outsider who sat down, and the table became a combative hangout for comics.
Source: The New Yorker
- 1998
Dave Attell turns an empty 2:30 a.m. room into material at the Cellar
Comedian Patton Oswalt recalled one of the best sets he ever saw at the Cellar: Dave Attell, around 1998 or 1999, performing at 2:30 in the morning for roughly seven people. Attell built the set around how empty and dead the room was. When a homeless man crossed in front of the stage to use the restroom and left without a glance, Attell asked the audience if they had seen him too.
Source: vanityfair.com
- 1998
Two comics plan to pick apart Robin Williams and end up impressed
Comedian Jim Norton recalls that Robin Williams came in around 1998 and did a topical set downstairs. Norton and Colin Quinn went down meaning to be cynical critics. Instead they stood in the doorway and enjoyed the show like everyone else. When Williams finished, Quinn said the man really did have a streak of genius, and the two went back upstairs dejected.
Source: vanityfair.com
- 2002
Jerry Seinfeld's documentary Comedian is largely filmed at the Comedy Cellar
Much of Jerry Seinfeld's 2002 documentary Comedian was shot at the club. The room has since become a screen fixture: the opening sequence of Louis C.K.'s series Louie shows him walking into the Cellar, and the club also appears in Chris Rock's 2014 film Top Five and in HBO's Crashing.
“Much of Jerry Seinfeld's 2002 documentary film Comedian was filmed at the club…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2003
Manny Dworman dies and his son Noam takes over the Cellar
Manny Dworman, who installed the comedians' table in the Olive Tree and hosted fierce debates there, died of cancer in 2003. He had even started a book group, and at one meeting he gave the members Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel to read. His son Noam took over the club and its restaurant. The New Yorker later wrote that the next generation at the table brought less hazing and more cell phones but wanted the same kind of sanctuary.
Source: The New Yorker
- 2013
Dave Chappelle drops in unannounced and pulls Rock, Hart and Wayans onstage
On Wednesday, February 27, 2013, Dave Chappelle turned up at the Comedy Cellar for a surprise set. Word spread by phone, and Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Marlon Wayans, Bill Bellamy and Questlove all rushed in, with Questlove taking the piano bench on the tiny stage. Chappelle called them up one at a time and they swapped stories about one another. Rock later said that everything felt like a letdown for a minute afterward.
Source: gq.com
- 2015
Jon Stewart drops in and does 20 minutes the week he leaves The Daily Show
Comedian Mark Normand recalled a night in summer 2015 when Louis C.K. was at the comedians' table and Jon Stewart walked in, in the week he was quitting The Daily Show. Stewart wondered aloud whether he should go on stage, then did about 20 minutes for the crowd. Normand described it as a New York moment.
Source: vanityfair.com
- 2015
The club launches a public-policy debate series with the Iran nuclear deal
In September 2015 the Comedy Cellar began a series of public-policy debates. The first took up the Iran nuclear deal, with lawyer and professor Alan Dershowitz and journalist Fred Kaplan among the participants. The series added serious argument to a club otherwise known for stand-up.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2016
Chris Rock objects when a renovation moves the comedians' table
A kitchen extension at the Olive Tree forced the comedians' table to move about 33 inches closer to the bar. Chris Rock told owner Noam Dworman it was not the table where Robin Williams, Ray Romano or Jon Stewart had sat, and other comics grumbled publicly. Dworman paid another $20,000 to re-renovate, and Rock sat down at the restored table and approved.
Source: The New Yorker
- 2021
Aziz Ansari films his Netflix special Nightclub Comedian at the Cellar
Aziz Ansari, who began his comedy career at the Comedy Cellar and still performs there from time to time, shot his Netflix special Nightclub Comedian in the club in 2021. It was one of several Netflix tapings there, after Dave Attell and Jeff Ross recorded Bumping Mics in 2018 and Ray Romano filmed Right Around the Corner in 2019.
“Aziz Ansari shot his special Nightclub Comedian at the Comedy Cellar in 2021.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2023
A Jocelyn Chia crowd-work clip about Malaysia and Singapore goes viral
In June 2023 a video from the Comedy Cellar spread across social networks. In it, comedian Jocelyn Chia, in an exchange with the audience during her stand-up set, remarked on Malaysia's expulsion of Singapore and on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The clip made a routine Greenwich Village set an online talking point.
“…a video clip from the location showed Jocelyn Chia making remarks about the retrospective effects of Malaysia's expulsion of Singapore…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
Bradley Cooper reshoots the comedians' table scene because it looked too much like a movie
For the film Is This Thing On?, Bradley Cooper cast working Cellar comics such as Chloe Radcliffe and Jordan Jensen. They shot a scene at the comics' table in the Olive Tree Cafe on the first day, and Cooper reshot it roughly a week or ten days later because the footage looked like a movie. Will Arnett also tested his character's set at real shows beforehand, bombing on purpose in the early ones.
Source: latimes.com
Further reading
- Comedy CellarWikipedia
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