Re: Lucien Hold, 57, Comedy Impressario (Great)
Hyfler/Rosner
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
>
> At the New York Society for Ethical Culture yesterday,
> Hold was memorialized by what must count as one of the
> most emotionally charged stand-up comedy crowds ever.
>
Great stuff, Steve. Glad you went.
Hyfler/Rosner
BY Staff Reporter of the Sun (That would be Steve Miller)
December 3, 2004
Lucien Hold, who died November 23 at age 57, was the
oracular part-owner, builder, manager, and general factotum
of the Comic Strip, one of New York's most venerable comedy
nightclubs. Many of New York's finest comedians have spent
time at the club, including Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Paul
Reiser, and Jerry Seinfeld, who worked there in the 1970s as
the emcee.
A native of Mahopac, N.Y., Hold moved to New York with
aspirations of becoming a professional dancer and found
himself working as a bartender and carpenter. Brought in to
help build the Comic Strip in 1975, Hold stayed on and soon
became manager. He remained at the job, which included
apportioning treasured spots in each evening's lineup, until
last year, when his deteriorating health forced him into
retirement.
At the New York Society for Ethical Culture yesterday, Hold
was memorialized by what must count as one of the most
emotionally charged stand-up comedy crowds ever.
Many of the speakers were themselves comics, and had gone
through the wrenching experience of auditioning for Hold and
then actually being booked. Barry Weintraub, a Comic Strip
regular, recounted an oft-told tale of an obese comedy
neophyte who auditioned her self-mocking routine for Hold,
then asked him how she'd done. "Madam," Hold said, "just
because you're fat doesn't mean you're funny." The video
clips of the walrus-mustached Hold that were interspersed
with the speakers made it clear that Hold was the sort of
fellow who would actually address a woman as "madam."
This being a comedy forum, impressions of Hold's stentorian
speaking style were popular. The comic Scott Blakeman said,
"Every time I think of him I'll hear his voice - in a
nonpsychotic way."
Scott Carter, a producer for HBO's "Real Time with Bill
Maher," garnered guffaws with three slowly delivered lines:
"Like Jesus Christ [laughter] Lucien was a carpenter [more
laughs] who judged others [wild applause]."
Various speakers gave examples of Hold's quirky and catholic
range of interests, about which he liked to hold forth with
minimal interruption. In more than one case, he continued to
speak on some subject - the history of popcorn, say, or
whether mollusks would survive nuclear war - only to find
that his interlocutor had fallen asleep or had suffered a
bro ken connection with his cell phone.
"He made me f------ nuts, and I speak for all three wives,"
said his third wife, Vanessa Hollingshead, also a comedian.
The two had separated, but remained close.
Chris Rock said that he was rejected early in his career
several times by Hold with the line, "Not funny, son,"
before finally making it into the Comic Strip's lineup when
Eddie Murphy during a visit asked whether the club had any
black comics. Mr. Rock's career trajectory was more or less
vertical from there. "He was one of the gems of the business
and he made all the misfits feel like big guys," Mr. Rock
said of Hold. He then launched into an exceptionally
tasteless joke that made the hall rock in a way that seemed
almost unethical.
Lucien A. Hold
Born May 3, 1947, at Mahopac, N.Y.; died November 23 at his
home in Manhattan of scleroderma; survived by his wife,
Vanessa Hollingshead, his brother, Peter Hold, and his
sister, Phyllis Leggett.
Steve Miller - A Famous Rock Star!
is not online or on Nexis as yet.
--
Steve Miller
Editor and Chief Copyboy
Goodbye! The Journal of Contemporary Obituaries - http://www.goodbyemag.com
If in NYC, buy the Sun and read the obits!