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Adrian Sexton Draws The Death Card

Adrian Sexton Draws The Death Card

By Alice Teeple

Photos by Alice Teeple

Death is not a subject one wishes to consider during the Yule season, but Adrian Sexton stares it down with her new one-woman show, DEATH! A Macabre Cabaret, premiering this weekend at Solocom.

The Titian-haired Sexton is a delightfully unique figure in the NYC comedy scene. Her passion for history, classic cinema, and music has been incorporated into her eclectic stage incarnations: Merchant Ivory films, tarot readers, a long-running improv tribute to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? …and even all four Beatles. Her character-driven comedy channels that of Tracey Ullmann, French & Saunders, and Amy Sedaris, but with a generous twist of Blackadder. She uproariously transcends time and space. 

In this performance, Adrian Sexton reimagines Death as having been cursed by a wizard and forced to live out a human life (Sexton herself), enduring the experience of watching a loved one pass away. Through storytelling, humor and song, she explores the complexities of dying from her personal standpoint. 

Adrian Sexton

“Death is a character that has existed since the dawn of time, so it’s seen some shit!” says Sexton.  “What DOES Death think? What makes Death sad? But Death’s still a heightened version of me…so I’ll throw some Duran Duran in there.”

Sexton notes that dying is still quite taboo, despite it being a universal experience for everyone. Last year, Sexton’s beloved father passed away after a long illness. She hopes to strip the mysteries and fears surrounding mortality, and wants people to cherish those moments of happiness, love and empathy that still exist in the darkest of times. 

“Death is fluid and neutral. It takes king and peasant alike, so there is no empathy in death. And yet, we, the living, can show stunning compassion when someone experiences a loss. Even if you want to be alone and sad, you’re suddenly confronted with others’ feelings and hangups…which in retrospect I found quite humorous. Go away! No…stay! Also, the show takes place over Christmas, which is a ridiculous juxtaposition of joy and grief. I incorporate Christmas songs with lyrics that reflect what I was experiencing. You need to keep laughing.”

Inspiration for this show struck her at a hip-hop class at Freestyle Love Supreme Academy.

“Freestyling my truth was a revolutionary moment. I can be funny AND sad and speak honestly? At the same time? Whoa! That was the seed I needed to have the guts to write something this vulnerable.”

Sexton also credits tarot as a source of inspiration…after repeatedly pulling the Death card when applying to Solocom. She toyed around with various ideas, but all led back to the recent experience of losing her father. Director Zak Sommerfield suggested Sexton simply tell her story for the show. 

‘The Death card doesn’t mean literal death. It’s about endings and new beginnings, so pulling it made me think about what my work will reflect going forward. Imagine if I pulled another card? You’d never hear from me again if I pulled the Hermit!”

Death! A Macabre Cabaret debuts Saturday, 23 November at 7:30 PM at the PIT Underground. Future performances to be determined. 

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Culture Entertainment Featured

“Tinder Tales” Podcaster David Piccolomini Talks Online Dating

David Piccolomini
Photo courtesy of David Piccolomini
Photo Courtesy of David Piccolomini

If anyone could be considered an online dating expert, it might be NYC Comedian David Piccolomini. His podcast, Tinder Tales, explores the often-bizarre world of online dating and has released more than 180 episodes over the last three and a half years. Each week, Piccolomini and a guest swap stories and examine dating habits, leading to strange revelations and good laughs. 

He also understands why online dating can be so confusing. Many of his listeners found his podcast while googling for Tinder advice. “People get on tinder and they’re freaked out,” he says, “There are so many options and so many people. Either nobody’s swiping on them, or too many people are swiping on them. It’s a lot. And then they’re like, ‘Well, there’s gotta be a podcast about this.’ And there is!”

Online dating might seem like a recent phenomenon, but Piccolomini has been at it for more than 15 years. As a young teen in Wilmington, DE, he spent a lot of time in AOL chatrooms talking to women he’d never meet. “It was kind of like I was prepping myself for the world of dating at large, or for this world that we’re in now, and I didn’t even know it. I was just like, ‘Oh, hey, this is the one way I connect.’”  

A decade later, he moved to Philadelphia to pursue stand-up comedy and picked up online dating again, this time actually landing dates. It became a hobby–one which he continued when he moved to NYC. 

It didn’t take long for Piccolomini to realize that he had something that others wanted. “I saw friends’ profiles and was like, ‘Oh, you look like a serial killer. That’s why no one’s matching with you.” He started to give advice, helping his friends find dates and partners. The more advice he gave, the more stories he heard. The podcast seemed like a logical next step.

The first episodes of Tinder Tales were recorded in the living room of his Brooklyn apartment. His first guests were other comedians who, he says, often make the best guests because they’re natural storytellers and not afraid of being honest. It’s a big part of what he values in a good episode of Tinder Tales: great stories, vulnerability, and humor. 

David Piccolomini
Photo courtesy of David Piccolomini.

“Part of what I like about doing tinder tales is the number of people I’ve talked to where they’re like, ‘Oh, I thought I was the only one who had this story,” or they listen to one of the episodes and are like, ‘I thought my story was crazy!” Some comedians will listen to each others’ episodes before they go out on a first date, just so that they’ll be prepared.

The stigma of online dating isn’t as bad as it was when Piccolomini started his podcast, but there are still a lot of misconceptions about it. “People look down on it sometimes, but I think it makes dating a more interesting experience. When I meet people through online dating, I know at the start that we have things in common. I don’t have to guess.”

Learning to find those people with similar interests is a common subject on Tinder Tales. The advice: find a way to work it into your profile. Piccolomini, a self-described “board game dork,” finds other fans with a dating profile which, among other things, asks a potential date to “settle the catan of my heart.” 

After three and a half years of Tinder Tales, Piccolomini has become more thoughtful about dating. One of his biggest takeaways, he says, is that–for the most part–nobody does dating “wrong.” It’s just a matter of preference. What is ghosting? When should things get sexual? It changes from person to person. “What I’ve learned,” he says, “is that the more you communicate, the better your overall experience will be.” Whatever your expectations are, make sure you let the other person know. 

That being said, he does have some general dating advice, no matter who you are or what you’re looking for in a date.

1. Ask Questions, preferably something personal–anything that makes it easier for them to respond. Stand out by actually saying something of interest, and whatever you do, don’t open the conversation with ‘Hey.”

2. Have Opinions, even if you disagree on those opinions. Chances are that any big differences were going to come up on date three anyways. 

3. Listen. If you’re not listening, you’re not responding or engaging. That sounds like a very boring date for the other person.

For more advice, and for some of the wildest true dating stories you’ll ever hear, you’ll have to listen to his podcast, Tinder Tales, available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, tindertalespod.com, as well as most other podcasting apps.

If you’re looking for a good place to start listening, try one of these episodes:

Tinder Tales Podcast
Photo Courtesy of David Piccolomini

Emily Winter: “Timbs”

Stan Talouis: “This Is Who You Are”

Amamah Sardar: “Brosexual”

Hannah Harkness: “I Went Viral on Fetlife” or “Life Hack: Fuck ‘em Both”

Neel Nanda: “Everybody Gotta Get Touched”

Jess Reed: “Please Don’t Show Up Drunk”

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Culture Entertainment Featured

Former Facebook VP Paul Ollinger Makes His Stand Up Headlining Debut at Caroline’s on Broadway

A lot of comedians have uncommon career paths (think Dr. Ken Jeong), but unlike Paul Ollinger, not many of them cannot say that they have an Ivy League MBA or worked at Yahoo! and Facebook. We chatted with the Atlanta-based comedian about his career transition, what his family thinks, and his brand new podcast, Crazy Money. New Yorkers can see Paul’s headlining debut at the legendary Caroline’s on Broadway this Wednesday at 7:30.

Downtown: Were you always a funny person?

Paul Ollinger: As one of six kids in my family, I only got 17% of my parents attention (rounding up). I had to fight for air time at our dinner table, so I hammed it up or said outrageous things to get a disproportionate number of eyes and ears pointed in my direction. 

Downtown: What was the decision like leaving your corporate job to try stand up?

PO: I’ve done it twice. I left Yahoo! in 2005 (when I was single) and hosted every weekend at The Improv’s Orange County clubs in California. After two years, I got engaged, and decided I should probably go back to the corporate world (my future father-in-law agreed). In 2007, I joined a 250 person company called “Facebook,” which eventually empowered me to do whatever I wanted to with my career. Comedy was still my dream, but I feared failure and didn’t know how to get back into it. I dragged my feet, but in 2014, I started back at the open mics where I could bomb in anonymity until I earned my way onto the bigger stages.

Downtown: Who are some of your comedy inspirations?

PO: Dennis Miller (yes, Dennis Miller), Norm Macdonald, Chris Rock, Gary Gulman, Jim Jefferies, Sarah Silverman, Dana Gould, Todd Barry. 

Downtown: What’s your joke writing process like?

PO: Write. Say it on stage. Prune. Re-write. Add tags. Say it on stage. Repeat 100x. 

Downtown: How did being in the corporate world help you in the comedy world?

PO: My corporate career earned me the financial flexibility to follow my dream without sacrificing any of my family’s needs. There is no substitute for putting in the reps, but I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t acknowledge how much of an advantage having a nest egg is. I can afford to work as an out-of-town club’s feature act (the middle person on the show) that pays $300, or -$600, net of travel. There are plenty of other ways my corporate experience helps, but I don’t think I’d be doing this if I didn’t know how I was going to pay for my kids’ college education. 

Downtown: What did your family say when you decided to go into comedy?

PO: I met my wife in the showroom at Caroline’s on Broadway. On our first date, I told her that I was going to quit my job at Yahoo! and pursue comedy. So it’s been there from the beginning, and – at the very least – I gave her an easy-out! In all seriousness, she has been nothing but supportive. She is okay with me telling jokes about our relationship onstage and is the first one to say “go for it,” when a new opportunity arises. 

Downtown: Does she think you’re funny?

PO: Does any wife think her husband of a decade plus is funny? 

Downtown: How did you decide to launch a podcast?

PO: I launched the Crazy Money podcast to explore how our relationship with money leads us towards or away from contentment in our careers, relationships and life in general. Having longed for wealth my whole life, its arrival was very different than I expected it to be. Awesome, but different, and I made a lot of mistakes. The show is a lighthearted approach to an important topic. I’ve already recorded episodes with Dr. Drew Pinsky (Loveline, Celebrity Rehab), three New York Times best-selling authors, and Ed Roland, the lead singer of Collective Soul. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Downtown: What have you learned about yourself through your comedy journey?

PO: Chasing your dream is a huge privilege, but it’s freakin’ hard. To get good at a new craft, you have to suck at it for a long time first. Sucking isn’t fun, especially when you’re in middle age and were pretty good at whatever you were doing before. But there’s no avoiding the suck. You have to steer into it, and blast through it.  

Downtown: What’s next?

PO: 1. Continue to improve as a dad, husband, comedian, and podcaster. 2. Be grateful for every day. 

Follow Paul on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and be sure to pick up tickets to see him at Caroline’s on March 13th!

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Keenen Ivory Wayans Daughter, signs modeling contract

DT Model Management is known for fostering the careers of many of Hollywood’s daughters including Ireland Basinger Baldwin, Dylan Penn, Lydia Hearst, Destry Allyn Spielberg and Paris Hilton. 
Recently signing this young beauty,
Nala Wayans,  the 21-year-old daughter of actor, comedian and director Keenen Ivory Wayans, and niece of Marlon and Damon Wayans, has officially signed a modeling contract with DT Model Management.  She will make her NYFW debut on Sept 12th, walking the runway for designer Sherri Hill. 
 
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming,” admits Nala’s mother, actress Daphne Wayans. “Nala and I have been at it (battling) over the importance of her looks since she was two-years-old. This is most definitely a proud-mama moment for me to see my Nala strut her stuff.”
 Congratulations Nala, we look forward to following your career!