This is the week the long-running and the loose-cannon split the calendar down the middle. UCB’s flagship improv show is running back-to-back on the Mainstage. A sketch reunion takes over Sunday. And the showcases that pay nothing-but-stage-time to comedians you’ll be paying $40 to see in two years are running every single night. Here’s where to laugh between Thursday and Sunday — and where not to bother.
Don’t Miss: ASSSSCAT, Twice — Friday and Saturday at UCB
You HAVE to check this out. ASSSSCAT — UCB’s long-form improv flagship, the show that launched Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Matt Besser into the comedy stratosphere — runs Friday May 15 at 8:30 PM and Saturday May 16 at 8:30 PM at the UCB Theatre New York — 14th St. Mainstage. The format hasn’t changed since the original Asylum Theatre days: a monologist tells a true story, a cast of veterans builds an entire improv hour from the details. It is the closest thing American comedy has to jazz — every show is one-time-only, and if it’s bad, the next ten minutes will be great, and if it’s great, you’ll be telling people about it for a decade. UCB Mainstage is at 242 East 14th Street; L train to Third Avenue.
Sunday: UCB Reunion Tour Sketch Showcase
If you can only do one UCB show this week, the case for Sunday is real. Sunday May 17 at 7:00 PM, UCB’s sketch team Reunion Tour presents their best material — meaning the sketches that survived ten rewrites, the ones the team trusts in front of a paying audience. Sketch is the discipline most people overlook in the live-comedy diet because it’s the hardest to do badly without bombing visibly. A well-rehearsed Reunion Tour set lands more jokes per minute than three open mics stacked end to end.
The Showcase Move: New York Comedy Club
The New York Comedy Club rotates a stacked May lineup across its East Village and Midtown rooms, and the showcase format — five to seven working comedians, 12-minute sets, low-cost tickets — is the single best way to discover who’s about to break. This month’s recurring faces include Judah Friedlander, Laurie Kilmartin, Marion Grodin, Chuck Nice, Ginny Hogan, and Luis J. Gomez. Friedlander is the closest thing to a guarantee NYC has — twenty years deep, world-champion bit still working, never doesn’t have something new to try out. Tickets generally run $25–$35 plus a two-item minimum. East Village location is at 85 East 4th Street; Midtown is at 241 East 24th Street.
Looking ahead from this week: Chris Distefano headlines NYCC Midtown on Thursday May 21 at 6 PM (the second-show calendar will confirm a late set closer to date), with a return run scheduled Thursday May 28. Distefano sells out fast every time — if you’ve been meaning to see him in a club room before the next arena lap, this is the window.
The Open Mic Move: Wednesday Wasn’t the Only Game
Open mics are how the city actually runs. They’re where the joke you’ll see on Colbert in three years is currently dying for the eighth night in a row. Two reliable picks this week:
- St. Marks Comedy Club (East Village) runs a stacked Wednesday rotation — afternoon open mic plus 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM showcase sets the same night. Walk-in friendly, $5–$10 cover most nights, and the lineup is genuinely working-comedian heavy
- Laughing Buddha Comedy runs industry showcases throughout May where comedians compete for residency slots in front of bookers and managers. The Friday afternoon open mic at 4:30 PM and the "After Work, After Class Laughs" 6:30 PM set are the under-the-radar finds — younger crowd, sharper material, no two-drink trap
Brooklyn Sidebar: The Greenpoint Question
Greenpoint Comedy Club is still the most interesting recent opening in the borough — the room is small, the booking is hungry, and the cover is forgiving. Brooklyn’s comedy infrastructure had been a Bushwick-and-Williamsburg game for years; having a real club north of the BQE is changing how comedians plan a Friday lap. Worth keeping in the rotation alongside The Tiny Cupboard’s longer-running showcases.
The Strategy
If you’re picking one night: Friday at UCB for ASSSSCAT, no contest. If you want range: showcase Thursday at NYCC East Village, ASSSSCAT Friday, sketch Sunday, and an open mic Wednesday next week to round it out. The two-item minimums add up — clubs almost always make their money on drinks, not tickets, so order something good and tip the server. The room is more fun when the crew is happy.
Showtimes and lineups verified via UCB Theatre (ucbcomedy.com), New York Comedy Club (newyorkcomedyclub.com), Laughing Buddha Comedy, and St. Marks Comedy Club calendars at publish time. Confirm directly with the venue before heading out — bookings shift, especially for showcase formats.
