Gurney's Inn hosts summer comedy shows

Imitations, vulgarities and sarcastic narratives were plentiful at the kickoff of the 5th season of comedy shows at Gurney’s Inn in Montauk.

This summer there will be nine shows featuring three different New York City comics every Wednesday throughout July and August; tickets are $20.

The comedians put on their show on an almost bare stage with a trademark “Comedy Central” brick background, a lone microphone and a stool. Billy Garin, Jane Stroll and Geno Bisconte were all featured for the first show and each brought a different type of humor to the table.

Mr. Bisconte started the night out with some edgy jokes, not meant for children’s ears, and consistently involved the audience from start to finish. His topics ranged from tipping and text messaging to being politically correct and the upcoming presidential election.

At one point during his set, Mr. Bisconte said it was “not for the faint of heart,” and, for once, he wasn’t joking.

The crowd seemed offended and booed when Mr. Bisconte brought up Hillary Clinton, but seemed to weather the rest of his material well.

Following Mr. Bisconte was Ms. Stroll from Manhattan, who started out saying, “I don’t care enough to pick on everyone,” like Mr. Bisconte did. Then, Ms. Stroll let the audience know that everything in her act was completely true and proceeded to tell her life stories, describing them with ironic humor. She talked about her jobs as a social worker, escapades with drugs, being Jewish, how “men get away with everything” and much more. Her sarcasm and attitude about life made the audience reflect on their own experiences, nodding their heads “yes” as she brought up funny and sometimes embarrassing times.

The headlining act, Mr. Garin, is a fast talking comedian originally from New Jersey. He has been on Showtime and HBO and has performed in many clubs in Las Vegas. The audience laughed almost non-stop throughout Mr. Garin’s set, eventually building up to a roar. By the end of the show, some were laughing so hard they were crying.

Mr. Garin used props and different accents to perform impressions that included the wizard of “The Wizard of Oz,” Captain Kirk, Sean Connery as James Bond and Dudley Moore as Arthur. He also performed unusual impressions including “Casablanca” with a round cardboard cutout that turned so he could sport different faces of characters in the movie, “Rocky I” and shows on the Discovery Channel.

After the show ended, there was one last huge round of applause and the audience filed out smiling.

“On the first act of the season, the crowd usually doesn’t know how to act, but this was a great crowd. They were really into it,” Mr. Bisconte said.

Shows featured in July include Don Jamieson, Edward Tyll and Kendra Cunningham on July 23 and Andy Pitz, Kerri Louise and Mark Giordano on July 30.

Larry Defelice, Steve Lazarus and Andrea Kolb start the series of August shows on August 6; then Rodney Laney, Al Caz and Dave Konig will appear on August 13; Joe Divito, Ellen Karis and Eric Tataglione on August 20; and Billy Tyrrell, Dave Siegel and Bill McCartney on August 27.