NYC comedian phones his overprotective, unfiltered…
This NYC comedian is absolutely phoning it in.
Comedian Eric Neumann has carved out a area of interest for himself in the standup world by phoning his overprotective and unfiltered mom while on stage — and utilizing their off-the-cuff conversations as materials.
The Queens native, 39, who now lives in Hudson Yards, said the bit got here about organically after his mother Paula occurred to call him when he was performing at New York Comedy Club.
Comedian Eric Neumann is thought for calling his mom, Paula, on speakerphone during his reveals. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
“I was like, ‘Hello?’ She was like, ‘Eric, I’m mad at your brother,’ and the crowd started laughing,” Neumann told The Post.
“I was like, ‘Mom, I’m on stage, I can’t do this right now.’ She was like, ‘I’m sorry. Call me later.’”
Neumann then started calling his mom on stage at his reveals — placing her on speakerphone during the last 10 minutes of his set — and sometimes that could be the only half of his total act audiences would comment on.
“They’d be like, ‘Oh my God, That mom phone call!’ And I’d be like, ‘Well, what about me as a solo artist for 45 minutes before that?’” he said.
Before long, she turned an integral half of his comedy.
“My mom gets very, very nervous when I fly, when I travel. So I’d be like, ‘My mom’s probably worried about me. Let me call her,’” explained Neumann, whose comedy special-documentary, “Call Your Mom,” premieres on The Roku Channel on Monday.
Neumann, who began in comedy while he was a scholar at Hunter College, said his mother is a good sport. “She’s very secure, totally fine being the butt of the joke and so am I, that’s where I got that from,” he said. Courtesy of Eric Neumann
“And admittedly I’d probably come to the point of the set where I go, ‘Ah, man, what should I do next?’ So I’d call my mom and put her on speaker and she would be, ‘Where are you?’ or ‘How’s the hotel?’”
The mother of two, 77, who was born in the Bronx and grew up on Long Island, insists it’s not an act for her — she wants to hear from her oldest son, particularly when he’s on the street.
“It’s true, I have been a little bit of an overprotective mother all these years, and follow him around, not physically, but phone wise. Thank God for the cell phone,” she said.
“I don’t remember him being funny … I don’t remember any of this comedy growing up at all,” Paula told The Post. Courtesy of Eric Neumann
During their tag-team act, she offers her perspective on every part from household to relationship.
“I’m just naturally a smart ass. So like I try to put her in social situations over the phone that she has to kind of crawl out of,” said Neumann, a common at the Comedy Cellar.
“I’d be like, ‘Mom, there’s a couple in the audience whose been together 10 years, but they’re not married.’ And her old-school brain cannot comprehend any of that. So she’d be like, ‘Oh my God, get a move on it, guys!’”
Paula is hoping to discover Eric a spouse, presumably in the viewers of one of his reveals. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Since Neumann is still single, his mother has also tried to help him discover a spouse — in the viewers.
“Well, you know, it’s a known thing, he’s 39, I want him to get married already, settle down. It’s enough running around,” said Paula, who lives in Brooklyn Heights.
“And he dates young girls, too young for him.”
The pair hopes their reveals inspire others to attain out to their moms.
“If we can get people to watch and go, ‘I have to call my mom,’ and then you catch up with your mom for an hour over the phone, that I consider a huge win,” Neumann said.
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