Free Comedy at BAM Saturday Night, Upcoming Tearing The Veil of Maya Lineups

The first ever comedy night at the hallowed halls of the Brooklyn Academy of Music will take place on Saturday, May 2 at the BAMcafé. Check out the details below:

Comedy Night at BAMcafé
Sat, May 2 at 9:30 PM
Bar opens at 8pm
FREE

Curated by Ben Weber and Meg Griffiths of Brooklyn-based Deli Proof Collective, this first-ever comedy event at BAMcafé Live features some of New York’s most talented and unique comedic performers, including viral video sensation John Roberts, stand-up comedian Kumail Nanjiani, YouTube phenom Derrick Comedy, and Daily Show alum Wyatt Cenac, hosted by affable entertainer Dave Hill.

In other Brooklyn comedy news, Tearing The Veil of Maya, the weekly comedy show at Union Hall, just announced the lineups for some upcoming shows (you may notice some familiar names):

May 03 2009 Aziz Ansari, Wyatt Cenac, Joe Mande, and Jon Benjamin (Host)
May 10 2009 Pete Holmes, Hannibal Buress, Marc Maron, and Dave Hill (Host)

The Apiary recently conducted a nice interview with Ben Weber and Meg Griffiths about BAM’s first Comedy Night; I’ve posted an excerpt from that after the jump.

How long did it take to get BAM on board w/ the idea of hosting a comedy event?
Meg Griffiths: It’s taken about 16 months of planning, pitching, researching, scheduling and rescheduling, meetings, phone calls, emails, and prayers, but here we are — three weeks away. Last winter, Ben and I were both BAM employees when Ben asked me, “Why isn’t there comedy at BAM?” neither of us had any idea that Associate Producer of BAMcafé Live, Darrell McNeill, would actually give us one of his prized weekends of BAMcafé Live for our little comedy show.

Darrell has been a real advocate for us throughout this whole process. Ben and I decided early on we’d work gratis on this show so we could give each performer the most money our modest budget would allow. We’re both comedic performers and understand you work hard for the money. So, for us, this really is a labor of love.

How long is the show run going to be? Or is it indefinite?
Meg Griffiths: Right now, Comedy Night is scheduled for one night only, but our fingers are crossed that the BAMgods will look kindly on us and ask us back for another show. One of the very best ways we can convince the powers that be that comedy deserves a place alongside ballet, opera, and Shakespeare, is to sell out, get some great press, and hope that our audience drinks a lot. Everyone from Michail Baryshnikov to Pina Bausch to Patrick Stewart know it’s all about how much you make at the door (or bar in our case) that keeps you on stage the next night. [TheApiary.org]

Comedy Night at BAM