February—May 2021
Virtual • New York City
The unforgiving streets of New York City are hard enough before the careless landlords, scam artists, stolen property, and empty bank account.
Comedian and storyteller Kevin James Doyle weaves together many hilarious trials and tribulations of one actor’s great struggle to conquer New York City. This hilarious and emotional solo show takes the audience through 100% true BUT unbelievable stories that include…
Being threatened and chased through Times Square by a Tin Man impersonator.
Confronting a fake talent agent named Brad West who tried to take advantage of another innocent actor’s dreams.
His battle between landlord and tenant over a broken door that goes all the way to the Brooklyn County Courthouse.
Discovering standup and producing a weekly show in the biker gang Hell’s Angel’s local bar.
Finally writing and performing in an off broadway show!… that ends up getting a D+ rating in its first review.
Screenings will begin in Spring 2025.
Highlights (and Lowlights) from the Zoom Shows
Zoom Is Awkward
In early 2021, it was too cold to perform outdoors and all the venues in New York City were still closed. A lot of people were doing Zoom shows and it is NOT the ideal place to do comedy. More than a big audience on a Zoom show, I wanted to perform something a bunch of times to see what I could come up with.
So I charged $25/ticket that went to a charity called NOMI Network and I did 30 shows in March–April 2021. Each show would have two attendees: me and an audience member. It was one-on-one comedy show that I entitled “An Untitled Comedic Story Told Intimately To You.”
After a few performances I realized this show was about stories in New York City. Most likely because the city was shut down due to Covid and I missed the bars, the theaters, the comedy shows, the restaurants, and the people in the city.
In Person Is Fun
Once theaters reopened in May 2021, I booked The Kraine to perform the show in its new form and name, “Kevin James Doyle V. The City of New York.” To be quite honest, that first show at the Kraine was the worst show I have ever performed. I had not been on a stage in well over a year and I was too loose, too nervous, too long-winded.
Turns out the intimacy of the former Zoom show did not translate to a theater of 20-30 people. All the excitement to be back in an in-person venue was nearly sucked away. But then I got up the next night and it was better and then each night it was better again. I did the show for three final performances in February 2022 at Under St. Marks Theater.
Filming Is Awkward, Hard, and Fun
The show came full circle when I realized that when you are doing a show on Zoom you are just looking into a camera.
And so I talked to my cinematographer friend Jeremy Stanley who was the director of photography and editor of my comedy special “The 30 Year Old Virgin” and asked if he would want to make this show into a kind of film. We would film all the stories with me talking directly into the camera in the locations the stories took place. I told him we could do it in 3 or 4 days. And he said it would take at least 15 days.
Filming took 17 days in 25 locations from February—June 2022. We are editing the show together now, it is a beast of a project but when it’s done it will include the most important character to of the show, the city itself.
