The Comedy Hole: English Standup in Europe

The Comedy Hole
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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. 09/25/2023

    Do Standup Stories Have to Be True?

    Syrian comedian Badr Laffar (@badr.comedy) joins Ariel (@ariel.bialski) and Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) to discuss truth in standup. How much of a standup story has to be true, if any? Can you lie about surviving 9/11 if it gets laughs? Does it matter that Bo Burnham was living with his girlfriend and dog while filming Inside? Does Ariel have diarrhea? The gang tackles these questions and many others in this titillating new episode.  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

    52 min

  2. 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

  3. 09/01/2023

    Confidence Crisis: The Role of Confidence in Standup

    Ariel (@arielbialski) and Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) get together to discuss Jordan's recent confidence crisis after doing standup in New York and the overall role of confidence in standup. How do you gain confidence? What's the danger of being overconfident? Does confidence even matter? Ariel and Jordan also discuss the open mic scene in New York, the risk of doing solo shows only 2 years into standup, and the importance of believing in your material. This episode is sponsored by PeePee Pillow (@peepeepillow) - PeePee Pillow: Get Soft! https://peepeepillow.com/jordan 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

    56 min

  4. 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

  5. 07/24/2023

    Cezary Jurkiewicz: Becoming a Professional Standup Comedian

    One of Poland’s most popular standup comedians, Cezary Jurkiewicz (@cezary.jurkiewicz), joins Jordan (@jordanthomasgray) and Ariel (@arielbialski) to talk about performing at open mics in New York City, seeing Jim Norton and Louis C.K. at the Comedy Cellar, performing with Todd Barry at a basement in Warsaw, the art of crafting an hour-long standup special, and learning English from episodes of South Park.  Cezary’s Polish standup specials on YouTube have a combined total of over 6 million views. He performs in Polish all over Poland and also pops into English open mics in Warsaw on a regular basis.  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

    1h 11m

  6. 07/14/2023

    Kamil Gerard: The Songbird of Warsaw

    This week on The Comedy Hole podcast, Ariel Bialski (@arielbialski) and Jordan Thomas Gray (@jordanthomasgray) talk with talented standup comedian and international singing sensation Kamil Gerard (@kamil.gerard) about building a standup set from 5 minutes to 20 minutes, bombing in Poznań, getting too drunk on stage in Bydgoszcz, and encountering the single drunkest heckler Jordan has ever seen at a show. Kamil Gerard was born in Germany, raised in Luxembourg and the USA, and speaks 6 languages. You can catch him at standup shows in Warsaw every week or on tour with Jordan Thomas Gray in many cities around Poland this Fall. 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

    41 min

  7. 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

  8. 06/29/2023

    Raul Kohli: LIVE from Brighton Fringe

    Ariel (@arielbialski), Jordan (@jordanthomasgray), and Bea (@beatricerossano) interview Newcastle-based standup comedian Raul Kohli (@raulkohlicomic) in front of a live audience at the Brighton Fringe festival. Raul has been called "One of The Best Comedians in England" by BBC Radio 4 and was previously host of the BBC Sounds podcast "Comic Sanskrit." Catch Raul's solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August! The Comedy Hole hosts open mics in English in Warsaw on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We also produce English language comedy shows all over Europe. 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. Jordan is touring all over Poland and Europe forever. Get tickets here: https://linktr.ee/jordanthomasgray

    30 min
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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.

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