The Comedy Hole: English Standup in Europe

Syrian comedian Badr Laffar (@badr.comedy) joins Ariel (@ariel.bialski) and Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) to discuss truth in standup. How much of a standup story has to be true, if any? Can you lie about surviving 9/11 if it gets laughs? Does it matter that Bo Burnham was living with his girlfriend and dog while filming Inside? Does Ariel have diarrhea? The gang tackles these questions and many others in this titillating new episode.  The Comedy Hole (@thecomedyhole) is run by Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray), and Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) - three standup comedians and comedy show hosts based in Warsaw, Poland. The Comedy Hole hosts standup open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Warsaw, and we also produce standup shows in English all over Europe. In addition to standup, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) DJs every week in Warsaw. Follow his instagram to find out about the next show. Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Upcoming shows include Warsaw, Ghent, Amsterdam, Krakow, Gdańsk, Lublin, Odense, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Dublin, Białystok, Łódź, Toruń, Zielona Góra, Szczecin, Wrocław, and more. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray

Ciao! This week Beatrice (@beatricerossano) joins Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) and Ariel (@arielbialski) to complain about standup being so very hard.  Everyone thinks their job is the hardest job in the world and almost no one is right about that. But why is stand-up comedy in particular considered to be one of the most notoriously difficult pursuits to engage in? Is standup harder than basketball? Can you master standup comedy just by doing open mics? Why don't top-level standup comedians teach standup? Is writing harder than performing? Could Louis CK beat Chris Rock in a fist fight? Do you have to be delusional to be a standup comedian? How does the Dunning-Kruger psychological phenomenon relate to standup? We meander around these questions and many more! The Comedy Hole (@thecomedyhole) is run by Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray), and Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) - three standup comedians and comedy show hosts based in Warsaw, Poland. The Comedy Hole hosts standup open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Warsaw, and we also produce standup shows in English all over Europe. In addition to standup, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) DJs every week in Warsaw. Follow his instagram to find out about the next show. Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Upcoming shows include Warsaw, Ghent, Amsterdam, Krakow, Gdańsk, Lublin, Odense, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Dublin, Białystok, Łódź, Toruń, Zielona Góra, Szczecin, Wrocław, and more. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray

Ariel (@arielbialski) and Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) get together to discuss Jordan's recent confidence crisis after doing standup in New York and the overall role of confidence in standup. How do you gain confidence? What's the danger of being overconfident? Does confidence even matter? Ariel and Jordan also discuss the open mic scene in New York, the risk of doing solo shows only 2 years into standup, and the importance of believing in your material. This episode is sponsored by PeePee Pillow (@peepeepillow) - PeePee Pillow: Get Soft! https://peepeepillow.com/jordan The Comedy Hole (@thecomedyhole) is run by Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray), and Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) - three standup comedians and comedy show hosts based in Warsaw, Poland. The Comedy Hole hosts standup open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Warsaw, and we also produce standup shows in English all over Europe. In addition to standup, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) DJs every week in Warsaw. Follow his instagram to find out about the next show. Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Upcoming shows include Warsaw, Ghent, Amsterdam, Krakow, Gdańsk, Lublin, Odense, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Dublin, Białystok, Łódź, Toruń, Zielona Góra, Szczecin, Wrocław, and more. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray

On this especially strange, meandering episode of The Comedy Hole Podcast, Andrzej Sosnowski (@comedyandy) joins Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) and Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray) to have a wide-ranging conversation about the delicate issue of mental health in standup comedy. We are not mental health professionals - we are comedians - so please ignore this entire episode if you are looking for advice on mental health.  Nothing feels better to a comic than a fantastic set, and nothing feels worse than an epic bomb. When writing new material, comedians typically have to endure a lot of bombing to work out even a small amount of reliable, polished material. This push and pull cycle of on-stage success and failure has a way of exacerbating underlying (or overt) mental health conditions, and it's unfortunately a common occurrence for comedians to have a psychological break, especially in the open mic circuit. The gang makes several attempts to talk about this problem, but mostly they get distracted and talk about other stuff.   The Comedy Hole (@thecomedyhole) is run by Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray), and Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) - three standup comedians and comedy show hosts based in Warsaw, Poland. The Comedy Hole hosts standup open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Warsaw, and we also produce standup shows in English all over Europe. In addition to standup, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) DJs every week in Warsaw. Follow his instagram to find out about the next show.Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Upcoming shows include Warsaw, Ghent, Amsterdam, Krakow, Gdańsk, Lublin, Odense, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Dublin, Białystok, Łódź, Toruń, Zielona Góra, Szczecin, and Wrocław. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray

One of Poland’s most popular standup comedians, Cezary Jurkiewicz (@cezary.jurkiewicz), joins Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) and Ariel (@arielbialski) to talk about performing at open mics in New York City, seeing Jim Norton and Louis C.K. at the Comedy Cellar, performing with Todd Barry at a basement in Warsaw, the art of crafting an hour-long standup special, and learning English from episodes of South Park.  Cezary’s Polish standup specials on YouTube have a combined total of over 6 million views. He performs in Polish all over Poland and also pops into English open mics in Warsaw on a regular basis.  The Comedy Hole (@thecomedyhole) is run by Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray), and Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) - three standup comedians and comedy show hosts based in Warsaw, Poland. The Comedy Hole hosts standup open mics on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Warsaw, and we also produce standup shows in English all over Europe. In addition to standup, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) DJs every week in Warsaw. Follow his instagram to find out about the next show. Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray