Photo: William Devito
If you think a laundromat, a barber shop and a bridal store cannot be venues for a pop-up comedy show, lifelong best friends David Levine and Ethan Mansoor are here to prove you wrong.
The 24-year-old New York natives are the founders of “Underground Overground Comedy,” a business famous for bringing “one-night-only” comedy shows to unconventional locations.
While their venture is rising in popularity, it started as an opportunity for the pair to bring family and friends together at the end of the pandemic.
William Devito
Levine explains that the shutting down of comedy clubs due to the pandemic meant these comedians were looking to perform anywhere. “They needed us just as much as we needed them,” he says.
Finding venues forced the duo to be creative. “My physical therapist actually opened up a gym in February of 2020, but the gym shut down a month later. He had no equipment in there. So I said, ‘Hey, as a grand opening for your gym, can we do a show there?’,” Levine tells PEOPLE.
Mansoor adds, “So we were getting scrappy from the start and we kind of kept that attitude going forward and that’s kind of what landed us a lot of the venues.”
Eighty shows and 25 venues later, the duo has over 10,000 people on their waitlist and are currently preparing for their most iconic show yet. “We can’t believe this is happening. We didn’t think Katz’s would happen for three years,” Levine says about the upcoming show at the Delicatessen.
When asked how they were able to convince New York City’sKatz’s Delicatessento let them host a show, Mansoor tells PEOPLE, “I don’t think anyone asked before. I think in 134 years, I mean I’m sure people have asked them ridiculous stuff, but again, how much follow-through did they have?” He continues, “I think when people have rented out Katz’s in the past, it’s an expensive endeavor. And so it’s more of a party for their people and we just see it as another venue in a way to open it up to the public.”
The event, which will take place on Nov. 16, includes the restaurant’s famous pastrami sandwiches, deli carts full of fries and more exciting tributes to the iconic location.
Just like their other shows, Levine and Mansoor do not advertise beyond Instagram. “Everything else in life is overly commercialized, shoved in your face. There’s marketing everywhere,” Mansoor says. “And just especially since we started through our friends, we never wanted to be super salesy and in people’s faces. So we’ve kind of just tried to be very minimalistic about it and it’s almost worked to our favor because when people do discover the page, they feel like they really found something and that excites them.”
Keeping their word of not being “super salesy,” the duo also does not release which comedian is performing prior to the event. “We’re not relying on their name to sell tickets,” Levine says. Mansoor adds, “People are coming based on the reputation alone. And so we don’t have to rely on the name of big comedians to sell out a show.”
“Under promise, over deliver, that’s our motto,” Levine jokes.
To find the right venues and comedians, Levine and Mansoor are going to comedy shows multiple times a week, frequently appearing at venues of interest to vouch for themselves and staying persistent. The spontaneity of pop-up comedy shows means a lot of venue and comedian cancellations, but that doesn’t stop the pair. “Every time we lose a good venue or comedian, it kind of lights the fire under our ass and we find two more,” Mansoor says.
What comes next for the comedy duo? They are not sure, but they have some ideas: “I like the idea of continuing work with these iconic venues, the annual Katz’s Deli comedy show,” Levine says.
Mansoor adds, “Finding iconic places around the country to do these shows… really just continuing to do the pop-up shows and never being tied to a place because honestly half the fun for us is venue hunting and finding a new spot where we’re like, holy s—, this could be a show.”
Tickets for Katz’s Delicatessen are available Friday, October 28 at 12 PM EST.
source: people.com
