Some people may think that a lifetime of laughter is a requirement to be a comedian and that if you can’t crack a joke at the age of 5, you’ll never do stand up. Not for comedian Nick Labrise. The Seaford native is one of seven kids and it was a close-knit family life and love of humor that finally got him up on stage.
“I’m a literal red-headed stepchild; there are two of us in the family,” said Labrise, who didn’t even know what the term meant until he heard it while working at a retail store. “So I use that in a lot of my routines.”
The 25-year-old is a handyman during the day and also coaches at Crossfit Invasion in Bellmore, but a healthy dose of comedy when he was young helped prepare him for stand up.
“Since my parents are separated, my dad had us on weekends and we would watch comedy or standup,” said Labrise. “On long car rides to vacations, we would listen to George Carlin or Sam Kinison, so from a young age I was exposed to a sense of humor and very different type of thinking.”
About a year and a half ago, Labrise started listening to podcasts during his down time, specifically Jim Gaffigan who encouraged aspiring comedians to go to a stan
dup comedy club and just try it. Labrise did just that when he went to an open mic night at the Climate Lounge in the East Village in Manhattan.
“I tried it and fell in love with it,” he said. “Now, I’ve been to Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan, The Stand, Broadway Bar and lately I’ve been doing a lot of Long Island stuff. It’s easier to stay on the island so I perform at Governor’s Comedy Club in Levittown and the Brokerage in Bellmore.”
Each set is about seven minutes long and to date, Labrise’s longest routine is 15 minutes. One of his favorite sets is, of course, the ginger stuff.
“I like doing stuff that gets people thinking about their daily lives, which is weird because I tell a lot of silly jokes, but I am a ginger so I use that,” he said. “We also just adopted a pit bull named Bentley, so I use him a lot.”
Labrise, who majored in psychology and sociology in college, said that the background in those courses helped him write a lot of jokes.
“About 150 percent of my stuff is taken from my everyday life and I’m constantly writing new jokes. I have a notepad with me at all times and on my phone,” he said. “Yesterday, I saw someone with a bumper buddy and I thought to myself, ‘you don’t have any confidence in driving this machine, but you’ll put a bumper buddy on the back just in case.’”
The young comic tries not to model himself after any one, but he does have a few favorites that inspire him, including Louis CK, Bill Burr and Brian Regan, all who coincidentally happen to be gingers like himself. Labrise has won several comedy contests and was recently a finalist in The Great Long Island Laugh Off, which was sponsored by Governor’s. Although he didn’t win, the event was sold out to a packed house.
“The show was awesome and my fellow competitors and I had a great time. We all did well,” he said.
As for a gig in the comical arts, Labrise receives plenty of support from his friends and family, especially from his dad, who always asks how his shows went.
“My family is very supportive. I think they’re starting to get annoyed with me because they’ve come to so many shows,” he said.
Follow Nick Labrise on his Facebook page and Instagram with the hashtag, #nicklabrise. Check him out at upcoming comedy nights at The Brokerage, Governor’s Comedy Club and other local Long Island spots.
