The Comedy Hole: English Standup in Europe

The Comedy Hole

The Comedy Hole is a podcast about Standup Comedy in English in Europe, hosted by Warsaw-based comedians Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski), and Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray). We talk about the craft of standup, how to get started as a new comedian, hosting shows, touring in Europe, and building a thriving community around standup comedy. We also have interviews with popular European comedians and Comedy Hole community members. Follow us on Instagram (@thecomedyhole) for info on upcoming shows! Reach out to us with questions or topic suggestions.

  1. 09/08/2023

    Why is Stand-up Comedy So Difficult?

    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

    1h 1m
  2. 08/13/2023

    Mental Health in Stand-up with Andrzej Sosnowski

    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

    1h 11m
  3. 07/07/2023

    Maneesh Sethi: CEO of Pavlok

    This week, Ariel (@arielbialski) and Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) are joined by Pavlok CEO, viral hacker, and budding standup comedian Maneesh Sethi (@maneesh) to talk about open mics, Maneesh's Shark Tank appearance, Jordan's worst comedy song ("I Can't Stop Watching YouTube"), and the nuances of joke theft. Yes, Jordan and Ariel fight again in this one! Maneesh Sethi is an American entrepreneur and CEO of Pavlok, a wearable device that shocks the user to achieve desirable behavioral changes. Pavlok was featured in the 2022 Neil Brennan Netflix standup special "Blocks." Maneesh has been in the public eye numerous times, including that time he hired a woman to follow him around and slap him in the face whenever he stopped writing, that time he became a famous DJ in under 90 days using viral growth hacks, and also that time in 2022 when he turned down a $500k investment deal on the American TV show Shark Tank. 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

    51 min

About

The Comedy Hole is a podcast about Standup Comedy in English in Europe, hosted by Warsaw-based comedians Beatrice Rossano (@beatricerossano), Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski), and Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray). We talk about the craft of standup, how to get started as a new comedian, hosting shows, touring in Europe, and building a thriving community around standup comedy. We also have interviews with popular European comedians and Comedy Hole community members. Follow us on Instagram (@thecomedyhole) for info on upcoming shows! Reach out to us with questions or topic suggestions.