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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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"Bringer' shows, according to Vince Martin, "began in New York and Los Angeles, but have spread across the country. "Bringer" shows require comedians to bring a certain number of paying customers in order to perform. (The most common number is five, though I once did a show in New York that required comics to bring fifteen customers at fifteen dollars a head.)"
Martin continues: "Working comics despise bringer shows, although for clubs, they are a quick way to put customers in the seats on days or at times when the club would normally be slow or even closed."
The Yiddish words for comedy night are "komedye nakht." A comic/jester is a "komiker."
The "komiker" who is going to win a bringer show will be the "komiker" who brings the most people. It will not usually be determined by "talant" (talent).
Comedian Mylo Smith, for example, in July 2010, slayed the "oylem" (audience) at the HaHa Cafe in Los Angeles at a bringer show comedy competition. His PAR Score was 46 (an average of 27.6 seconds of "gelekhter" (laughter) per performing minute. But he came in "driter" (3rd) place because two other contestants brought more people--way more people. Since bringer show comedy competitions usually determine the winner by APPLAUSE at the end of the show, it is not based on their ability to generate laughs.
The "shlekht" (bad) part about a bringer show is that in order to get stage time, a new comedian must get their "khaverim" (friends) and "mishpokhe' (family) to come and be subjected to what is usually (but "nisht" always) a terrible comedy.
The late Sam Levenson, "folk humorist," wrote the book, "In One Era & Out the Other," Copyright 1973. He reminisces about his first nightclub engagement at the Latin Quarter in "Noo Yawk."
"Opening night was SRO--Sam's Relatives
Only. Neither my relatives nor I had ever
been in a nightclub before. They made it a
smash for me, but almost ruined the owner.
They didn't drink; they ate rolls. (Note: The Yiddish words for a roll are "zeml" and "bulke.") Between rolls and seltzer they polished off. the minimum. The busboys had to bring in rolls from the Copacabana and the Martinique. My relatives were the talk of the trade for weeks afterward. 'Airlift Rolls' even made the Broadway columns."
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe suggests that if
you are invited to a "bringer," be "a gute
neshome"--a good soul. Go....and clap
loudly!
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