don charles

SHOWNOTES: NYC Still Rising 9/10 @ MSG

I went to the MSG charity show NYC Still Rising on 09/10/26. They locked up our phones... so I took notes in my notebook. The following is purely for record-keeping and my own nerding out. For context, I’m a stand-up comedian, so my notes are through that lens.

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ALL CAPS are for PERSONS, BITS, and ENTRANCES/EXITS.

Stage setup: A proscenium theater-style stage, with two big screens on the sides. No jumbotron. Twenty-thousand people. My seat was in Section 1, near the mixer, near the floor, but elevated, an unobstructed view with nobody sitting in front of me.

PRE-SHOW

SHOW STARTS

JON STEWART

FIRST-RESPONDER 9/11 FIREFIGHTERS (4ish folks). Throughout the show, in-between comics, there are first-responder families, NYPD, FDNY, and other folks introducing the comedians. In each interim, they thanked Jon Stewart for helping them get the assistance they needed from Congress. The OG 9/11 firefighters come out and intro the first lineup comedian:

JOSH JOHNSON

FIRST-RESPONDER NYPD OFFICERS. They give shout-outs to the NYPD and Jon Stewart for the help. Intros:

RONNIE CHIENG

NYPD OFFICERS intro:

AZIZ ANSARI

FDNY FOLKS intro:

NIKKI GLASER

PRE-TAPE VIDEO: JALEN BRUNSON shout-outs to 9/11 heros, then:

FDNY FOLKS talk about Pete Davidson’s Dad, reminisce, and remember meeting Pete as a kid. They intro:

PETE DAVIDSON

FIRST-RESPONDER FAMILY MEMBERS intro:

NATE BARGATZE

EMTS intro:

SHANE GILLIS

FAMILY OF 9/11 HEROES intro:

BILL BURR

FDNY enter. After thanking Jon and Pete for throwing the show, they do a moment of silence. FDNY guy says, “Now, please welcome: Dave Chappelle.” Crowd stands and claps.

KEVIN HART

DAVE CHAPPELLE

Jon Stewart comes out on stage and says, “Thank you so much, everybody. Let’s get all the comedians out.” Pete comes out on stage. All the comedians come out on stage: Shane, Nikki, Chappelle, Kevin, Ronnie, Bill, Nate, everyone.

As Pete looks at all the comedians, then looks out onto the thousands of people, he goes, “This was a crappy day. But this really made it. I really appreciate you all being here. Give it up for all the comedians. Let’s take a picture.”

They take a picture on stage. The comedians all say variations of: “Thank you so much. Thank you all. Thank you all for coming out. Really appreciate it. Have a nice night. Bye.”

It was very poignant. Looking back, it was a Jon Stewart and Pete Davidson co-production. I think, based on what comics said on stage and who knows who, Jon Stewart booked Josh Johnson and Ronnie Chieng, and Pete Davidson booked Nikki Glaser, Aziz, Shane, Chappelle, and everyone else. Kevin Hart was a last-minute drop-in as he was in town shooting a movie. Pete was instrumental in all the booking and lineup, and Jon Stewart was key in organizing with the 9/11 charity families.

A few reasons why the comedians came out guns blazing:

  1. It's a charity show. Comics joked that they "made no money". Financial incentive is a factor, but was likely not a primary reason.
  2. They did 15min sets in front of 20K people, so they HAD to come out swinging, e.g. every comic immediately opened on a crazy premise line or wild opening riff.
  3. It wasn't THEIR fans, so they HAD to bring the heat to comedy fans who probably never seen them.

All these variables likely made the comedians take the show in a specific direction where they HAD to murder. I also have a feeling that either Jon Stewart or Pete communicated to the comedians: “Hey, don’t make 9/11 jokes.”

The show was essentially a standard club showcase on a grander scale: a produced show, at a venue, with two creative producers, and comics doing standard 15-20min sets, where the comedians admitted on stage how they were booked: “We got a text from Pete about two months ago.” Every comedian came out with material they’ve been working on for a while, as the crowd were comedy fans likely familiar with some of the lineup’s material from their specials.

Another interesting aspect: in this showcase-style format, you really got to see these comedians as their lineup archetypes. In every traditional NYC showcase show, it feels like bookers put together a lineup based on diversity, background, and style. You have the dry jokes white guy, the storyteller, the token girl on the lineup, the cool black dude, and so on. For this show, it was interesting to see that on a bigger scale: Kevin Hart is the black dude from your barbershop. Shane Gillis is the white guy from your small-town bar. Nate is the dry southerner. Nikki is the blonde party girl. Aziz is the silly Indian dude. Ronnie is the smart Asian guy. They all have their own unique voices and style, but in the format of a showcase, one could see them fit these traditional showcase archetypes. The only comic whom you couldn’t place as a showcase archetype was Chappelle -- in my opinion, he stood out as a true original.

Probably one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while.