The Brooklyn comedy club and restaurant EastVille has been producing indoor comedy shows for over a month, despite New York health restrictions prohibiting live comedy and other forms of ticketed entertainment during the pandemic.
When New York City restaurants reopened for indoor dining at the end of September, EastVille celebrated by reopening its stage as well. A series of “Grand Reopening” shows on October 1st through 5th featured NYC club regulars like Rachel Feinstein, Sean Patton, Dina Hashem, Ariel Elias, Keith Robinson, Jared Freid, and Ian Fidance. Since then, Eastville has been producing indoor shows almost every day, with as many as four shows a night.
The Atlantic Avenue club’s calendar currently lists 68 performances in November alone, including open mics. Admission runs from a $25 “Standard Donation” to $100 for “Platinum Donation Front Row Seats.”
Guidelines set by the State Liquor Authority explicitly forbid live comedy, even in reopened restaurants. In emails to Gothamist, the SLA confirmed that these guidelines are still in place, and a spokesperson for the New York City Health Department wrote that while comedy clubs are permitted to be open in a restaurant capacity, “no performances are allowed.”
EastVille owner Marko Elgart told Gothamist that he believes what they are doing is technically legal. "We're legally a restaurant, an eating and drinking establishment," he said. "We're not doing ticketed events, we're doing donation-based, and it's how we do contact tracing. When we enter a donation to come see the show, it's also how we contact trace them. Other than that we're following all the restaurant guidelines down to a T—we're doing nothing a restaurant can't do."
The SLA specifically states "incidental music is the only form of live entertainment which is permissible in a bar/restaurant setting currently" and that "exotic dancing, comedy shows, karaoke" are not allowed. But Elgart argues that they're not doing normal comedy shows—they're doing something he calls "comedy trivia."
On their website and in their newsletters, there is no language to indicate that EastVille is advertising the shows featuring performers such as Janeane Garofalo and Jeff Lawrence as "comedy trivia."
"If you look at the guidelines, trivia is allowed because, 'this activity is done while seated at the patron’s table,' and that's what comedy is, so we're doing comedy trivia," he said. "There's a slight grey area, but what we're doing doesn't compromise the safety by any means, it's even safer than restaurants. Most restaurants seat way more people even at 25% capacity than we do right now. We're open much shorter hours as well now, we're not open all day for lunch and dinner rush."
Asked about whether the performers are getting paid, Elgart noted that the donations go toward paying both the performers and the club. "We're doing this for the community, for us, for New York," he added. "We need laughter right now."
Experts agree that COVID-19 spreads more easily indoors than outdoors, with restaurants in particular linked to infections across the country. Indoor comedy clubs may pose an even greater threat.
“Indoor risk for COVID-19 transmission increases as more air is exhaled,” Dr. Lisa M. Lee, an epidemiologist and public health expert at Virginia Tech, told Gothamist in an email. “When people are laughing, yelling, or speaking loudly they exhale more strongly, forcing droplets and aerosolized particles farther from their noses and mouths. If a person is infected with this coronavirus, the viral particles will also travel farther, and expose people greater than 6-feet away. People tend to laugh and talk more loudly when alcohol is involved; they also tend to take more risks when they drink, so together, this definitely increases transmission risk.”
In accordance with state guidelines for indoor dining, EastVille has reduced admission to 25% of capacity, kept tables six feet apart, and required masking when patrons enter but not when they’re seated. The club’s website states both that “All Social distancing safety measures are employed,” and that due to limited seating, “singles ticket holders may need to sit at a table with others.” (Sustained close contact with people outside one’s social bubble increases the risk of exposure to COVID-19.)
Social media posts show inconsistent or non-existent masking among EastVille’s comics and audiences:
According to Lee, comedy audiences may risk exposure even if their tables are distanced. “If restaurant tables are far enough apart that exhaled droplets fall to the floor before they reach other unmasked patrons, this is safer, but we now have sufficient evidence that smaller particles called aerosols, which are much lighter than droplets, can float in the air for several hours,” she explained. “If there is virus in these lighter particles and a person is without a mask, there is a chance that they will inhale the virus and become infected. The important thing to remember is that there is no single thing that will make your risk zero. It is important to layer your prevention with several behaviors.”
Another layer of risk lurks in the comics themselves. Many of the names on EastVille’s calendar have been touring throughout the pandemic, performing in states with looser guidelines or at venues with lax enforcement, often flouting social distancing guidelines to take pictures with fans and friends. That includes comedian Ryan Long, who has expressed disdain for basic safety protocols — in an October episode of his podcast, “Boyscast,” he said men don’t like to wear masks because, “They’re crappy, crappy to wear." He told his listeners, “You aren't that likely to be impacted by the coronavirus. That is a factual statement.” In a September interview with Roseanne Barr, he said “people are sick” of health restrictions, and criticized New Yorkers and Californians for being overcautious.
“While young adults are less likely to experience severe symptoms and less likely to die from COVID-19, there are thousands of people in their 20s and 30s who have died from COVID-19,” Lee told Gothamist. “And, although as many 40-45% infected young adults have no symptoms at all, they are still quite contagious. This is exactly what makes them a greater risk to everyone else around them—they feel fine, go out and about, and serve as the source of infection of a loved one, a neighbor, an at-risk person in line at the grocery, and one or more of those people could get very sick or die.”
Studies have found that people aged 44 and younger account for most cases across the world, and while they are less likely to die from it than older people, it can still lead to a flurry of ongoing and serious health challenges. As The Atlantic reported, many COVID-19 patients experience prolonged and protracted illnesses, and those long-haulers are typically young and previously healthy.
New York’s entertainment venues have suffered immensely during the pandemic. While comedians can make ends meet by performing outdoors and on digital platforms (and in less restrictive states), clubs are left dependent on drastically reduced restaurant revenue, their creditors’ goodwill, and their audiences’ charity.
In September, EastVille joined a coalition of comedy venues lobbying authorities to let them reopen. They argued that the state’s live entertainment ban is not only financially devastating for the clubs, but also a public health risk. “New Yorkers are already seeking out spaces to skirt the rules and create their own private events outside the purview of government,” the venues wrote. “This endangers public health in the precise ways the SLA and Department of Health (DOH) are attempting to eradicate.”
Back then, Elgart spoke emotionally about the toll of the pandemic at a press conference in favor of reopening comedy clubs in the city. He told Gothamist that the state's stance on reopening has not changed in the months since. Small businesses such as his are suffering and struggling mightily without any other funding. "It's been really, really rough," he said. "We would never do anything just for ourselves to jeopardize people's safety."
Elgart added that he believes Governor Andrew Cuomo's reluctance to reopen comedy clubs is an oversight. "Cuomo said that comedy shows and big arena events like that are dangerous," he recounted. "He's clearly misinformed, he's speaking about the Beacon Theater and whatnot. Comedy falls along those same guidelines as trivia, not large arena events. Of course, Cuomo has bigger fish to fry. At the same time, we're all dying while we're waiting."
Additional reporting by Ben Yakas
