Alan Streisfeld

Today I am interviewing Alan Streisfeld, a comedian born in Brooklyn, NY who has been doing comedy for a little over five years. To find out more about Alan, please visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I always had a sense of humor, but I was always shy so it never came out of me unless I was with family or close friends. In 1992 while working in Manhattan I saw an ad for The Stand-up Comedy Experience, a 6 week class given by Steve Rosenfeld, so I decided to give it a shot. It was a pretty large class so it was hard to focus on your own material, but we were able to have a couple of private sessions with Steve which helped. Our graduation show was held at the original Improv on W.44th St and I couldn't believe that I was standing on the same stage and holding the same mic as did some of the all time greats like Lenny Bruce, Pryor, Dangerfield, etc. After that show I did a lot of open mics in the city, but I eventually moved to Long Island and did open mics at East Side Comedy, Chuckles, Konkoma Comedy, all long gone now. I stopped doing comedy when my daughter was born because I didn't have the time.

Then in 2004 I started to get the bug again so I started taking improv classes at the Brokerage with Al Isaacs and found it very helpful. Then I started to do a couple of open mics again ,but I really couldn't devote enough time plus I came to realize that I really wasn't that good at it. So, I did the next best thing. Realizing that there were very few open mics on Long Island, I decided to start one myself so that all of the comics I have met over the years that do comedy on a full time basis can have a place to rehearse and try out new material. I host these open mics so now it gives me a chance to see if I can improve myself. As an added feature to my open mics, I videotape all the shows and put highlight clips on my website www.comedyatfins.com. Now I run 2 open mics, Fins Pub in Oakdale every Monday night and every other Tuesday at Oysterman's Restaurant in Sayville. Both of these mics have been very popular.

How do you write a joke?

I really have no set way to write a joke, I just take things that have happened to me in my life and maybe stretch it a little bit so it still sounds real. One thing I did learn is that if you go on stage and pretend to be someone you're not, the audience will somehow know and you will not get any laughs.

What is the worst job you ever had and did it have any effect on your comedy?

I really never had a job in stand-up except for open mics, but I remember one show I did I was the last comic (out of 15) to perform and the MC forgot about me and ended the show, then when he remembered about me, he had to call the audience back - but most of them left anyway. It was very embarrassing, especially when some of my family was in the audience.