Eric Jaffe Aces “C-” at Theatre Row!
AFO’s Artistic Director, Michael Wolk, talks to Eric Jaffe about his comedic solo piece, C-. Show opens at Theatre Row TONIGHT! There are still tickets available for Thursday and Saturday, Dec. 7th and 9th!
Michael Wolk: I applaud “C-“ for daring to present the underbelly – and beer belly – of Americans’ aspiration for higher education.
Eric Jaffe: Like a lot of things in this country, the conversation (about college) is really conducted by upper-class wealthier people. The working-class viewpoint is not really represented strongly in almost any area in the media. We’re paying a price now, in terms of who our President is. There’s a way in which the whole conversation about higher education has been held only among people who had a very positive experience. If you didn’t have that experience, you’re not part of the conversation…you’re not influencing academic policy. And it’s been a learning experience for me, seeing how the ideas that I express in it land with the audiences.
MW: What has it been like self-producing this short run off-Broadway in midtown?
EJ: It’s crazy, what I’ve had to go through to get a 55-seat space that is a place that is presentable for my show is just ridiculous. What can I say? It’s insane… If you’re willing to invest a lot of money up front then you can get the word out, but if you don’t get good word-of- mouth like wildfire, then you’re gonna lose money. But I’m looking forward to doing this show—I really enjoy performing it now—and I understand that if I want to continue with this, this is just one step in that process. And I’m learning a lot. Down the road, I’d like to do the show once a month – and then I can promote it appropriately.
MW: Not to blow your day job cover, but you are kind of a techie. How did you get into solo performance?
EJ: I grew up as a big fan of stand-up comedy. My friends and I would go to comedy all the time. That was our default thing. We weren’t huge drinkers—our slogan was “Always a good time at a comedy club.” And I sort of always wanted to be a comedian…I started to pursue it around 1999 or so. And I had a little bit of success in terms of getting laughs—as opposed to say earning money—but what I found was that the format was kind of restrictive. I saw Jails, Hospitals, and Hip-Hop by Danny Hoch, and I thought, “Oh, that’s what I want to do,” because you can be comedic, but you have this space to talk about something that’s more serious. And I’ve never looked back.