Mary Houlihan Rough Crowd comedy show NYC: Where…
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Comedy Central actually had a lasting affect on youngsters in the early 2000s.
Case in level, look at comic Mary Houlihan.
20 years before she turned a touring act, daring comedy journalist and fashionable podcaster, she spent her center faculty afternoons watching “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.”
“He would have macho, blue collar comedians debating through jokes with lefty anti-war comedians and I watched it as a comfort show,” Houlihan told The Post in an exclusive interview.
And, now, she’s reimagining Quinn’s roundtable for the 2020s.
Houlihan’s “Rough Crowd” — which she jokingly calls a shameless rip-off of “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn” — brings together comics from both sides of the aisle to hash issues out in today’s fraught political climate.
“In the current state of politics, I think, ‘oh my God, we need something like this’‘ because comedians are getting so separate from one another. If someone has different politics than me but can be funny and kind in expressing their point of view, that’s great and a recipe for comedy. If you liked the comedians on ‘Opie and Anthony’ in the early 2000s, you’re going to like what we’re doing.”
Next up, Houlihan is bringing her recent collection to NYC’s Caveat on Sunday, Aug. 30 with some of the City’s funniest comedians and bringing a membership crowd sensibility to an different space.
“Dina Hashem is great, Houlihan noted. “She’s from New Jersey, she’s Muslim, does jokes about both political parties, says harsh truths and isn’t afraid of people being like ‘how can you say that about the Democrats?’ I think that’s cool.”
“Sean Donnelly, he’s an Irish-American bloke from the New York metro area. Much like myself, so I love people like that,” Houlihan smiled. “And he just looks like a regular white guy. He looks like he could work for Long Island Railroad and I think a conservative person would probably go up to him and say ‘Hey, buddy, you and I agree on this. What do you think about blah, blah?’”
“Kunal Arora is Indian-American. He’s from Queens. He makes enjoyable of issues like Palantir and shady authorities corruption stuff and isn’t afraid of people being like ‘oh, you can’t say that.’“
“Finally, Jeremy Kaplowitz is a Brooklyn-based Jewish comedian who has a hilarious X/Twitter and podcast called Quorators, where he and his co-hosts comb Quora to answer questions from the most unhinged people on the planet.”
All of that because Houlihan watched a show that aired on a community that also put out “South Park” and “Crank Yankers” at the same time.
For more about “Rough Crowd,” Houlihan’s profession and her notorious interview with Martin Shkreli, keep studying.
We’ve bought the inside track below.
What are you planning on discussing in your Aug. thirtieth show at Caveat?
In the last show, I said “in topical news, here’s a thing that happened a month ago, let’s talk about it.” So, this time, I used to be pondering of bringing up Hunter Biden interviewing Nick Fuentes and posing the query to the panelists “do you think we should never platform people like Nick Fuentes or do you think the conversation is productive?” and then people can argue and disagree with each other.
Where do you see “Rough Crowd” in 5 years?
Touring and YouTube. Because the show is about topical topics, I gained’t be doing it every single week, but I might love to do it once a month in different cities and spotlight local comedians, people who are the best in this scene but haven’t damaged through yet, that kind of factor.
Who are you dream visitors?
I might love to get Colin Quinn. I emailed him. We’ll see!
Jim Norton could be good.
It’s robust because the funniest people from the show died. Greg Giraldo and Patrice O’Neal.
D.L. Hughley was on “Tough Crowd” a quantity of instances. I might love to have him on the show. Plus, Laurie Kilmartin and Maria Bamford have been on the show a bunch. I don’t know if people bear in mind.
Settle the rating. What’s the distinction between the L.A. and New York City comedy scene?
Oh, my God.
They’re mainly related. In New York, there are more touring stand-ups who use the City as their home base because you will get so many units in throughout the week and construct out your hour rapidly. In LA, stuff is unfold out and you may have to drive so it’s tougher to write comedy as fast and check it…but the golf equipment are enjoyable.
When I lived in New York, I used to be largely in the Littlefield and Union Hall “back room of a bar” kind venues and it felt very segregated, like macho stand-ups versus everybody else.
These days that’s altering because people like Daniel Simonsen and Aaron Chen are crushing in the membership and audiences have gotten more open to stuff that’s a little bit off-kilter.
What’s the story behind your Martin Shkreli interview?
In the 2010s, I might do these random speaking to people on the road in a news voice factor when I labored at Seriously TV, which was a comedy web site related with Complex.
And Shkreli put his telephone quantity and e-mail on Twitter. So, I reached out.
I emailed him and said:
“Hey, I’m such a fan you’re so humorous on Twitter. I’m working at Complex and I need to interview super-fans of Hip-Hop who actually know about Hip-Hop historical past.
I do know you’re from New York and you’re a big Hip-Hop head, so we’d love for you to come in and and some questions.”
So, for just like the first half-hour, I used to be just taking part in that and asking questions like “what are your top five albums and favorite rappers?”
Then, once we had him heat, I began asking these very imply but humorous questions about “why the hell are you price gouging, AIDS medicine, you f—ing lunatic.”
It was great because he was warmed up and confused and questioning “what’s happening? I thought she was joking with me!” and we hit him in the pinnacle with a microphone.
Tell me all about “The Mary Houlihan Show.”
The “Mary Houlihan Show” is a speak show podcast I’ve been doing.
It’s on YouTube. Someone told me it was so sensible to call it “The Mary Houlihan Show” because a girls’s podcasts never say the their names when naming the show. That positively wasn’t intentional but I used to be like “yes, that was smart of me.”
I interview comedians, journalists and people who run for workplace that don’t take company donations.
The thought is to speak about sensible stuff but make it humorous and not annoying so that people will really digest it.
What does your stand-up appear like these days?
I’m still doing deadpan dense jokes but my materials is more political now.
Before I used to have more of a ’70s Steve Martin-like sensibility and do wry one-liners that have been foolish and random or fictional.
Now I’m making a lot more of an effort to speak about my personal life, my childhood, politics. I’m attempting to be more trustworthy.
What other thrilling tasks are in the pipeline for you?
I’ve been doing comedy journalism stuff.
I feel of my items as “Daily Show” discipline segments but about topics that curiosity me. It makes me really feel useful when the world feels dangerous sometimes.
What was it like going to Cuba for one of your comedy journalism tasks?
Oh, my God. It was great.
That was another factor where I used to be attempting to show there may be a enjoyable means to speak about a robust state of affairs. People don’t always listen to tragedies even though they need to care that people are ravenous.
To be trustworthy, I had a boatload of enjoyable. I might go up to people and be like “hey, when something that locals like?” and they’d be like “oh, you should come to this place.”
Plus, they’ve means more nuanced opinions than Americans are told to suppose.
Where do you see comedy in 5 years?
Audiences are overwhelmingly saying “I hate the stuff I see on TV. It’s not humorous, besides for like a few exhibits. So, they watch YouTube, they watch TikTook, they watch Reels. So, the great factor about that is people who are legitimately humorous can break through that means.
I also suppose people have more of an urge for food to see stand-up comedy that’s confirmed humorous to them before they go see the individual instead of being like “oh, I saw this person on a podcast” or “I saw a picture of them and they look cool, let me go and see their comedy” and then they end up going and being like “that was mediocre.” So, that’s good.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Huge comedians on tour in 2026
Hoping to catch a few of Mary’s favourite working comedians?
Here are just 5 Houlihan-approved acts that are on the street these next few months.
• Gianmarco Soresi
• Jay Jurden
• Geoffrey Asmus
• Atsuko Okatsuka
• Gary Gulman
Who else is out and about? Take a look at this checklist of all the largest comedians on tour in 2026 to discover the show that makes the most sense for you.
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live occasions reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour bulletins from your favourite musical artists and comedians, as nicely as Broadway openings, sporting occasions and more live exhibits – and finds great ticket costs online. Since he began his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen live performance and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to identify a few. Please word that offers can expire, and all costs are subject to change.
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