Comedy From Scratch, at The Idea Kitchen “Best of Westchester Comedy Show” with Ben Asher, Natan Badalov, Ginny Hogan

Comedy From Scratch is where you go in Westchester County to hear top comics from TV and NYC’s major clubs performing long sets on an intimate stage. Past performers include comedians from HBO, Netlfix, Colbert, SNL, the Daily Show, Letterman, the Tonight Show, Comedy Central, and more. Every month, Ben Asher’s presents comedy that reaches up into your brain with the force of a fist through the nose. Named “Best Comedy Show in Westchester” by Westchester Magazine.

Every month you can hear some of the most talented comics perform long sets, that other shows don’t give them the time to perform. Comedy From Scratch is your chance to get to really watch comedians flex their muscles and hit their stride on stage, at The Idea Kitchen.

Locally-grown comedian Ben Asher presents a tasting of what the area’s best stand-up comics are cooking up, at ‘Comedy From Scratch’ at the Idea Kitchen every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month – that’s right, you demanded more comedy, so we now give Westchester Comedy Twice a Month!

Tickets available at https://ComedyFromScratch.eventbrite.com

Show at 8:00 PM. Seating at 7:00 PM (bring your food and drink/wine with you and sit down at our tables to eat before the show and pick out your seats!!)

Admission is $25 in advance, and $30 if purchased the day of the show. (Unlike Comedy Clubs, There is NO 2-Drink Minimum at this show)(and there is Free Parking.) BYOB and your own food/snacks/pizza (Half-Time and Sal’s Pizza in Mamaroneck, or Nicky’s Pizza in Larchmont is recommended!)

Updates to line-ups may be posted the week of the show here or you can follow @the_ben_asher on Instagram (line-ups are subject to change, but rarely, and will always be amazing!)

The March 28th lineup features:
NATAN BADALOV – (Adult Swim; The Chosen Comedivaly Fest) – https://www.natanbadalov.com

Natan Badalov iemigrated from Uzbekistan to the United States in the early 90’s. Since then, his work has been featured on Adult Swim and at prominent festivals including the New York Comedy Festival, Y’all Comedy Festival, Chosen Comedy Festival, and many others.

Natan created and wrote Park West, an animated web series based on his experiences in yeshiva, and co-starred in and wrote Heartbreakers, a web series following two roommates navigating breakups and love. His projects have screened at festivals such as Channel 101 NY, the American Jewish Film Festival, Alternative Film Festival, Flickfair Film Festival, the Polish International Film Festival, Animator (a Polish Animated Film Competition), Smiles Film Festival, and Animae Digital Film Festival.

He has opened for Nimesh Patel and Punkie Johnson. His first stand-up solo show Connect The Dots was part of the New York Comedy Festival, Rochester Fringe Festival, was a Y’all Laughter Lab Finalist and it was released as a special on his Youtube channel. Currently, Natan is touring his new show, Chosen Fam, which explores empathy, identity, and the Middle East.

GINNY HOGAN – (Amazon Prime Comedy Special; The New Yorker) – https://www.instagram.com/ginnyhogan_

Ginny Hogan isNY-based writer and stand up comic. She’s a contributor for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, The Observer, McSweeney’s, and Vulture. Forbes recently profiled her as a rising satire star, and she was on Paste’s list of top humorists of 2019. Currently, Ginny is writing YES WE MUSTARD, a scripted Audible Original series about a corrupt condiment company. She’s also working on I’M MORE DATEABLE THAN A PLATE OF REFRIED BEANS, a book of humorous essays, to be published by Chronicle Books in Spring 2022. In 2019, Ginny published a book of humorous essays, ​Toxic Femininity in the Workplace, with Morrow Gift, an imprint of HarperCollins, which was included on Vulture’s list of top 10 comedy books of 2019. It’s loosely based on men she worked with in the tech industry who were, by and large, annoying.

Ginny performs stand up comedy all over the place. She’s been seen at The Westside Showdown, The Boston Women In Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, the Chicago Women’s Funny Festival, the Finger Lakes Festival, and the Park Slope Comedy Festival. She wrote jokes for the 2018 Friar’s Club roast of Gloria Allred. She’s also had sketches featured on Comedy Central’s digital platform.

Produced/Hosted by BEN ASHER (New York Comedy Festival; StandUp NBC; Iceland Comedy Festival headliner; Caroline’s; Catch A Rising Star; DoublePlusGood Comedy) – http://www.benasher.net

Ben Asher, a writer and comedian from New York, is known for his “brave,” confrontational material, and his skills as a “brilliant joke writer” among fellow comedians. He performs regularly at comedy venues and colleges throughout the metropolitan area, East Coast, and Europe. Audiences are always quick to share their appreciation of Ben’s style of sardonic irreverence and absurd, satiric wit in which he doesn’t just dissect language and taboos – he explodes them. “What Ben Asher says makes me laugh, even though I feel like I shouldn’t.”

In 2022 Ben recorded a half-hour special “An Intimate Evening of Provocative and Deranged Humor” at The Nest rock club, in Brooklyn, NY. In 2024, Ben recently opened for Greg Fitzsimmons and Nick Griffin. Also, in 2023 and 2022, Ben’s show Arthur Avenue Comedy was featured in the NY Comedy Festival as one of only two comedy shows in Bronx. In 2014, Ben traveled to Iceland to headline in the Iceland Comedy Festival. He has appeared in the Chosen Comedy Festival, Borscht Belt Comedy Festival and Ben was also the finalist in the 2014 Funniest Jewish Comedian Competition. In 2013 Ben was first in the New York Comedy Festival. Ben has been a guest on Sherrod Small’s ‘Races Wars’ podcast.

Ben currently produces and hosts the weekly Arthur Avenue Comedy show in NYC’s Bronx borough, the monthly Comedy From Scratch at The Idea Kitchen, which was named “Best Comedy Show” by Westchester Magazine, and Slide-In at Slate-Nightclub in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, and has produced and hosts a monthly comedy show in Park Slope, Brooklyn and New York’s East Village, DoublePlusGood Comedy, (formerly Nasal Vice! Stand-Up,) where, since 2013, rising comics perform long, 20+ minutes sets, every month. He also co-produces/hosts The Homebrewed Mic, giving New Yorkers a sample of homebrewed beers and comedy.

From TimeOut NY: For comedy connoisseurs tired of seeing their favorite comics squeeze their sets into five minutes, Ben Asher’s showcase provides full-length sets and a chill atmosphere for diverse acts to thrive in.

Press: In addition to being a TimeOut New York ‘Critics Pick’, TimeOut NY has frequently called Ben’s show the “best cheap things to do,” of the week and one of the “most amazing things to do” of the month, and the New York Times has listed it show as an editor’s choice multiple times.

Presented by The Stand-up Westchester Comedy Club – https://StandupWestchester.com

QUESTIONS:
Is This Venue Handicapped Accessible?
YES. And please let us know how we can help you if you need any assistance.

What Age is Appropriate For This Comedy Show? Should I Bring My Children?
The material comedians discuss may be what you consider ‘Adult’ material. Anyone under 16 years of age should be accopanied by a parent or guardian. We would discourage you from bringing any child under 11 years old. If you child is age 11-15, and loves dark stand-up comedy (think George Carlin or Sarah Silverman) and you do, too, then we don’t have any problem with them coming. However, if you child’s only exposure to comedy is watching Seinfeld, Friends, or any situation comedy from TV, please do not assume you will be comfortable with material being discussed. Comedians on the show may discuss ANY aspect of human existence, or non-existence, in the darkest, most absurd way possible

More show info available at:

https://www.instagram.com/the_ben_asher

o r

https://www.facebook.com/BenAsherComedy

or

http://www.benasher.net

You can always purchase tickets for your local Westchester comedy club, Comedy From Scratch – “Best of Westchester” winner – for top Westchester Stand-Up Comedy by going to The Standup Westchester Comedy Club at StandUpWestchester.com – WestchesterComedy.club – or Westchester-Comedy.com or WestchesterComedy.net

What can you seriously expect? Just look which comics are frequently on my shows. This show is no BS.

Past performers on Ben Asher’s shows include comedians and writers from Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Daily Show, HBO, Netflix.