Eitan Levine (YC ‘12), got into comedy at the age of fifteen, and hasn’t looked back since. In the past few months, his comedy career has had a few major boosts, including being promoted to a mainstage house improv team at the People’s Improv Theater (the PIT) on West 24th. The PIT, a major comedy venue that has been voted as one of the top New York venues by publications such as the Village Voice, and features improv, sketch, and standup comedy. After an audition process, people are placed on teams that are divided into underground and mainstage. Since being promoted to a mainstage house team, Levine has been performing weekly as part of the “Super Free Wednesday” system and now with a musical improv team. This year, he is also the official social media correspondent for the New York Comedy Festival. We sat down with this YU alumnus to chat about his beginnings, his creative process, and his integration of Judaism and comedy.
Tell us a bit about your background in comedy. How and when did you get involved?
I started doing stand-up comedy when I was fifteen. I did my first open mic at the Stress Factory in New Brunswick and then mostly performed New Talent showcases at Rascal’s comedy club. By the time I was out of high school I was getting regular shows around NJ and a few things in NYC.
I went to Israel for the year and while I was there I won Israel’s Last Comic Standing. I came back to NYC, started college, continued doing stand-up and then started doing improv comedy. I took improv classes at UCB, switched over to the PIT (they offered me an internship), and then after about a year of classes and practice I got onto a weekly house team at the PIT. The whole improv experience has been amazing and the PIT has been an awesome place to hone my comedic voice and collaborate with like-minded and motivated comedians. Right now I am focusing on stand-up comedy, becoming more invested in the sketch comedy world, and continuing to improve my skills as an improv comic.
What kind of work goes into creating a comedy routine?
Improv is made up on the spot, so no real preparation goes into those shows aside from weekly rehearsals with my ensemble.Stand-up takes more work. I come up with most of my jokes just by having an inner monologue with myself. On the subway I’ll be thinking something like “cell phone stores are funny…” and then put it through a comedic method to see if I can squeeze some kind of joke out of it. If there is a joke there then I’ll work it out, write a rough draft and then try it out at an open mic. If it works, it works. If not, I’ll either re-work it or scrap it completely. Comedy is very fickle in that I’ll be OBSESSED with a joke I come up with until it bombs repeatedly and then I’ll tell myself, “Yeah, well, I never liked that joke in the first place!”
How does your Judaism inform your comedy, and vice versa?
Not really at all. I think that a lot of religious Jews who do comedy tend to focus primarily on the Jewish part of their personalities and tend to use it as a crutch when it comes to joke construction. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched religious comics go up at shows and do twenty minutes of “Kugel… Oy VEY… chanukah… My Rabbi told my bubby…” kind of material. Don’t get me wrong, that stuff can work and there are ways to make it funny but most of the time it ends up just being lazy and uninspired. Kind of like Jewish Carlos Mencia. The way to be a religious Jew and do comedy is kind of like how Eddie Izzard does comedy. Eddie Izzard is a world famous comedian (who is also a cross-dresser) but if you ever watch his shows, the vast majority of his material is not about him being a cross-dresser. You’ll usually get a few jokes up top about his appearance but the rest of his set is usually just regular jokes. So to answer your question, yes, I do have some Jewish jokes and I am proud of my Jewish heritage, but when it comes to comedy, I am not a Jewish comic, I am a comic who also happens to be Jewish.
Tell us a bit more about the PIT, where you perform, and how you got onto a house team there.
The People’s Improv Theater is a comedy theater on 24th and Park that specializes in long-form improv comedy and sketch comedy. After you take classes you are allowed to audition for house teams that perform weekly at the theater.
What are your short-term and long-term goals in terms of comedy?
Short-term, I plan on getting more invested in stand-up and sketch comedy. I am working on a few written shows that are happening in November and hopefully going out on tour over the next few months (hitting colleges and comedy festivals).
And finally, where can people see you perform now?
Every Wednesday night at 7pm on the PIT mainstage with my house team, “Classic Anne,” every other Thursday with my musical improv house team, “Moose,” and semi-randomly with my sketch comedy group, Sandwich. You can also catch me on November 23rd with the sketch comedy show I produce called “2 Weeks Notice.”
Visit the PIT, located conveniently within walking distance of Stern College, to see Eitan Levine perform. And keep up with Eitan Levine on Twitter, @Eitanthegoalie.