New York Comedian Misses the Mark in Trying to Be Bad

Jews have often done groundbreaking things in comedy. Mel Brooks famously lampooned Hitler in The Producers, which was more controversial at the time than it is now. Andy Kaufman would do performance art and use alter egos, so that we didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. To some extent, Nathan Fielder did this with his Nathan For You show.

So I was excited to go to SoHo Playhouse to see a Jewish comedian, named Zach Zucker. Zucker has talked in interviews about attending Jewish summer camps and how he first became addicted to getting laughs by dropping rocks on his feet. In this show, he has a fake persona named Jack Tucker (close enough to his real name), and I had high hopes.

Judging a comedian who is trying to be good, is different than judging a comedian who is trying to be bad. And that’s what Zucker was trying to do. I got the joke, and I laughed once — when he fell down. It was also somewhat amusing to see a guy do odd dancing on roller skates, for what I guess was the opening act. Despite having a quasi New York-Jewish accent and charisma, most of Zucker’s act was not funny or entertaining.

Having plastic guns, sounds of gunshots, and random noises served no purpose. I love the song “American Woman,” but having two seconds of it blasted every five minutes has little to do with good or bad comedy.

I’ve attended hundreds of comedy shows, and it’s true that there are horrible comedians who do nothing other than make sexual jokes; I can appreciate Zucker’s point that many bad comedians get deemed “good” somehow.

But it was not enjoyable to watch the show, and two people walked out. There was absolutely nothing to take from it, but even more importantly, it is clear Zucker has charm, talent, and could be funny if he wanted to be.

I give him credit that he stood outside (it was a bit cold) and shook every single person’s hand, and spoke to people who asked questions. He told the crowd that he’d tried and was unable to get booked with his normal comedy act. And that’s very sad. I would have liked to see that act. I’m pretty sure he would be funny, because you can see the talent he has. It’s quite perplexing.

If you get a thrill from bad comedy trying to be bad, this show is for you.

I have no doubt we will hear more from Zucker, a young man with guts and great talent. He doesn’t show it in this show, but I would bet he will in his next show. I hope he uses his real name and shows his real game. I think he could genuinely have a Netflix special within three years, showing his real talent.

The author is a writer based in New York.