Some of the top comedians in the game gathered at Caroline’s for an epic comedy event.
The #NYTough Comedy Showcase was sponsored by Bounty, Crest, Dawn, Febreze, Head & Shoulders, Secret, and Tide, which came together to celebrate the everyday struggles that every single New Yorker has to face in the city that never sleeps. These everyday products such as Bounty and Tide help New Yorkers combat the terrible and tragic experiences New Yorkers face like the trains running a little slower than usual and the barista at Starbucks not putting enough sugar in your Iced Caramel Macchiato. The #NYtough kicked off on Sept. 23, 2014 at the famous Caroline’s on Broadway, featuring comedy icon Marlon Wayans, who hosted the event, and the lineup included the hilarious Sherri Shepherd, the flawlessly sarcastic Michelle Buteau, and comedy maverick Michael Che. The showcase was requested to be PG, meaning family friendly and wanted the target audience to range from ages 5-95.
Although this challenge may have seemed impossible, these comedians knew how to keep it classy while being hilarious. As Sherri Shepherd summarized it, ‘This is the longest I have seen Marlon without cussing. I’m sure even his kids would be surprised that he went this long!” With Marlon Wayans opening the event, he got the crowd going with talking about growing up in the projects, reppin’ your neighborhood, how winter is the worst because to him, all the pretty girls get ugly and bundle up, and being #NYTough.
Sherri Shepherd followed him and kept the fun going by talking about how she used Bounty Paper Towels to steal as many things as she possibly could when she left “The View,” being a single mom, and hustling her whole life to get to where she is today. Following her was Michelle Buteau whose subtle sarcastic comments kept the crowd laughing to a point where it became an ab workout just by laughing so hard. With her “shameless” product placement, she told the audience to take out their phones and record her best joke of the night. “I like my Secret Deodorant like I like my men, strong, white, and long lasting…ALRIGHT NYTOUGH!!”
And lastly, there was Michael Che, who was a correspondent on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and who is the latest Co-Anchor on “The Weekend Update” at SNL. What he did different was completely ignore the rule about being family friendly, which in turn made the audience explode with laughter. He talked about many things, such as how he is suspicious of white people jogging and somehow related it to his belief in UFOs. He also debuted a series of man-on-the-street video interviews that will be featured next month, which captured the #NYTough stories that New Yorkers said right out of their mouths.
The entire lineup was hilarious and like all these great household products, it was clean (except for Michael Che of course) and very, very strong. #NYTough brands are also inviting New Yorkers to share their honest and hilarious stories about the struggles of living their lives in NYC by using the #NYTough hashtag.
-Vinesh Vora
