Need a Laugh? A Humor Triangle in NYC

If the news is getting you down, or if you’d like a big belly laugh, the kind that hurts, New York City is a place you should consider.

It’s one of the biggies in an article on the funniest cities in the U.S. One reason is because of the number of sitcoms that have been situated there–30 Rock being one of the latest. And, of course, there’s the never ending Saturday Night Live. In a way, there’s a comic triangle in New York with NBC being the first stop. Here you can go to tapings of Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’ Brian and Last Call with Carson Daly. Here’s the NBC Web site link to show you how to get tickets. There are two options. One is a lottery of sorts and the other is showing up the day of taping. If you don’t get to see the actual shows, you can always see where they are filmed by taking an NBC Studio Tour. I took this tour years ago.

Close to NBC studios is Carolines on Broadway. A couple years ago, I went to a fundraiser comedy show here and still think about how sharp and witty the performers were. Caroline’s pulls in top comic entertainment like Darrell Hammond who is on the bill this summer. Plus, the New Talent nights are considered a rites of passage of sorts for new comics on the verge of being discovered. Often, that happens on Carolines on Broadway’s stage.

For another comedy fix, you can also go to a taping of the David Letterman Show at CBS studios. I did get called last summer after putting my name in for tickets, but we weren’t able to go. A friend of mine went this past year by heading to the studio the day of the taping. I did wander into Rupert Jee’s Hello Deli which is often featured on the show. Rupert wasn’t there but I bought my husband a mug and a box of Explod-O-Pop popcorn.