Alex Michael
The Creek and the Cave in Long Island City, Queens, has New York Comedy Festival shows.
The ninth annual New York Comedy Festival concludes this weekend, with several big-name comics headlining a few brand-name clubs at accordingly high, though not necessarily unjustifiable, ticket prices.
For those who’d rather maximize their laughs per dollar, the Miser has dug up one of the festival’s most thrifty options. The Creek and the Cave, a new restaurant, lounge and comedy club in Long Island City, Queens, just one stop from Midtown Manhattan on the No. 7 train, is hosting several lower-key shows in the festival.
On Friday night at 10, “Say Anything” will feature a half-dozen comics strictly observing the ground rule, or lack thereof, implied by the show’s title. It should be an evening not for the faint of heart, or stomach. On Saturday night at 8, “We’re All Friends Here” will feature a hybrid stand-up show and discussion, with short sets followed by a freewheeling interview with each comic.
On Sunday night at 7:30, the comedy team and club regulars “Froduce” will perform sketch improv. And at 10, you can join “Conspiracy Theory Live With Jesse Ventura,” which the Miser is pretty positive does not, in fact, star that former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler, for a special “investigation.” Into what, we can only guess.
Admission to each show is $10 (not including a small service charge). The club will be announcing lineup additions and special guest appearances via its Twitter feed, and interspersed among the “official” New York Comedy Festival shows are still more sets, including open mikes, many of them free. With dinner from the club’s affordable, Mexican-leaning menu, you can easily make a night, or weekend, of it.
(Friday through Sunday, 10-93 Jackson Avenue, between 11th Street and 49th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens; (718) 706-8783, creeklic.com.)
A TASTE OF SAUSAGE
Some East Village institutions, like the original Second Avenue Deli and Kiev Restaurant, have moved or closed. But a handful of hardy souls like Julian Baczynsky, the 89-year-old proprietor of the East Village Meat Market, have managed to weather that neighborhood’s transformation from its Jewish and Eastern European immigrant roots to a decidedly more cosmopolitan hipster hot spot.
It could be those same hipsters’ seemingly insatiable hunger for ever more authentic and traditional cuisines that’s kept the few lingering Old World institutions in business. On Saturday, as part of the closing weekend of Meat Week NYC, a free tasting of Mr. Baczynsky’s Polish and Ukrainian kielbasa, veal loaf and supposedly to-die-for country ham will be offered. And for the few extra dollars you’ll save, it’s probably wise to pick up some staples like blintzes and borscht while you’re there.
(Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 139 Second Avenue, between St. Marks Place and Ninth Street, East Village; (212) 228-5590, meatweeknyc.com.)
