Playing the straight man

If you think the business of comedy is easy, it’s not. Just ask Joe D’Allegro, producer of several popular comedy shows in Jersey City, including the monthly Shut Up & Laugh comedy show at the Lamp Post.
From the perspective of the audience, the shows are a seamless stream of funnymen and women cracking jokes and telling witty stories about exes and bad dates.
But behind the club curtains, pulling this off is hard work.

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‘Jersey City residents who come to the shows are pretty well educated.’ – Joe D’Allegro.
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“Keeping each show interesting and different is a constant challenge,” said D’Allegro. “There are a lot of people out there who want to do standup, but very few can do it well. There are people who are good conversationalists and they tell funny stories, like at a party. And there are people who are able to write with humor. But to do stand up requires a different set of skills. You have to have delivery, timing, stage presence. So, once you weed out the people who lack those skills, you’re left with a handful of great acts. Sometimes its difficult building a comedy scene around those limited acts.”
The Lamp Post Show, Shut Up & Laugh, launched in June 2010 after D’Allegro, a transplant from New York, “decided to do something for Jersey City,” he said. “Downtown Jersey City is a fairly tight knit community and I thought producing a comedy show would be a nice way to give back. I’ve never had the gumption to do standup myself.”
Still, observant downtown residents have likely seen D’Allegro’s humor on display. He regularly pens the humorous and quirky chalkboard ads outside Synergy Fitness on Newark Avenue as a creative outlet for his own funnybone.
“It’s just something I like doing,” he said. “The signs seem to get noticed and give people a little laugh. It’s just something fun to do.”
In addition to Shut Up & Laugh, D’Allegro also produced the Banana Bird Comedy Tent, a feature added to last fall’s 4th Streets Arts Festival, held in conjunction with the Jersey City Artists’ Studio Tour. Banana Bird featured some of the same acts who have appeared at the Lamp Post.
For those who haven’t been treated to the Shut Up & Laugh shows, D’Allegro said audiences shouldn’t expect potty mouth humor or amateur hour.
“Most of the comics I book have been doing stand-up for years. Jersey City residents who come to the shows are pretty well educated, so they’re looking for subtle, sophisticated humor,” said D’Allegro. “They want nuance, irony. They’re looking for what’s funny in an everyday situation or in a well-told story…That’s what we try to give them.”
Shut Up & Laugh is held the second Tuesday of every month at 9:15 p.m. The next show will be held on February 14 and will feature Jersey City comics Phil Revo and Ryan Rummel. The Lamp Post Bar & Grill is located at 382 Second St. in downtown Jersey City.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.