At the end of another raucous set of comedy on a recent Wednesday, Sound Fix’s John Knefel takes the stage, shouting to an appreciative and well-lubricated audience, “And avoid comedy clubs!”
The saying has become a tagline for Sound Fix (110 Bedford Avenue), the Williamsburg bar attached to a record store that features live music, DJed dance parties and comedy events. Every Wednesday night, a new crop of comedians, some veteran stand-ups, others burgeoning sketch comedy troupes, entertain the crowd. Comedy Free Williamsburg is indeed free and the bar features drink specials an hour before the show.
“That’s why it was so packed,” said Henry Zebrowski, a member of Murderfist, Sound Fix’s house comedy troupe. “Everyone’s been drinking and talking to us. Sometimes they drag us into the street.”
Murderfist, an 11-person sketch comedy group, hosts Comedy Free Williamsburg every other Wednesdays. (The group became the event’s bi-monthly host after the entire troupe cornered Knefel in his bar and politely suggested that they wanted the gig.) Its members formed four years ago while they met each other in college at Florida State and have been performing at a number of venues throughout the city over the past two years.
“We’re there because we’re the loudest group around and we capture people’s attention,” Zebrowski said. “It’s really exciting to be there in front of this audience. It’s almost Roman.”
At a Sound Fix comedy show last month, a crowd of 70 people huddled on tables and bar stools to giggle at Dan St. Germain’s antics and Rick Overton’s frank sex talks and paranoid political narratives.
“One thing to look forward to about getting older is never losing your horniness,” Overton said, as the twenty-something crowd responded with a mixture of applause and squirminess.
Unlike a number of comedy clubs in the city, Sound Fix has been drawing a large number of walk-in customers and retaining its audience. It has also become a place where Brooklyn comics congregate to try out more aggressive material where the feedback is always immediate.
“There are certain types of sketches that revolve around the lights going down and total silence in the audience, almost like being in a theater space,” said Murderfist member Holden McNeely. “We rely more on a high volume and action for our shows.”
For Murderfist and other groups, doing shows in Williamsburg or Bushwick where many of the comedians live has helped make Sound Fix into a community atmosphere. Knefel and his co-organizer, Ed Murray, have been booking a number their friends and Brooklyn-based comics like Michael Dobins and Sean Patton they review for Comedy Free Williamsburg.
Performing at Sound Fix has also helped comedians refine their routines before performing in front of larger crowds or in places in, yes, Manhattan, with more media scrutiny. After organizing comedy shows in venues in Bushwick and Williamsburg over the past six months, Murderfist will be performing at the Fringe Festival this year at the at the New School Theater.
“It’s psychedelic,” Zebrowski said. “It’s going to be insane, dark and messy. It’s a space comedy, a fairy tale with daddy-son issues. We’re getting political.”
“Plus lots of snakes,” McNeeely said. “Could be real snakes. We don’t know. Mental snakes? Which is more dangerous, the rattlesnake that bites you on the ankle or the snake in your mind, telling you to do things?”
For now, Brooklyn-based troupes like Murderfist enjoy performing in front of friends at Sound Fix while building up a fan base.
“What’s good about Sound Fix is that we get a lot of repeat viewers,” said Zebrowski. “We’ll have people come up to us who said, ‘We saw you two weeks ago and we wanted to come back.”
Comedy Free Williamsburg occurs every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at Sound Fix (110 Bedford Avenue). Murderfist will be performing at the New School for Drama Theater August 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. For more information on the Fringe Festival, visit www.fringenyc.org. For more on Sound Fix, call 718-388-8090 or go to www.soundfixrecords.com.
