Questions for...Myq Kaplan, winner of the 2009 NY's Funniest Stand Up Competition

[Michael Grinspan]

Myq Kaplan recently won the 2009 NY's Funniest Stand Up Competition, taking home both the title and a cool $2,500. In winning the title, Myq beat the over 200 comics who tried out. Myq beat them with a brick wrapped in a gym sock. Ironically, Myq also "beat" the other stand ups by receiving more votes from the judges as well. Check out this clip of Myq.

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Question #1

Congratulation on winning the title of NY’s Funniest Stand Up! Have you always felt like the funniest guy in New York?

Thank you. I just moved here last year, so I definitely didn't feel that way before that, because that would have been a weird thing to feel while living in Boston.

Question #2

What do you think defines “New York style” stand up?

The thin crust. New York stand-up is delicious. I hear it's because of the water used to make the crust. Mmm, stand-up.

Question #3

While there is a lot of great stand up in New York, there is much, much more bad stand up. Why do you think stand up attracts crazies and no talents?

Sometimes crazy people like to yell, and maybe they've figured out that if they use a microphone, they can save their voice. Not so crazy now, huh? I will tell you though that the worst, craziest performer I ever saw was me in the mirror when I started. (Took me years to learn to write a great self-deprecating like that. If only I could see me now back then. But that would take a different, more magical type of time-travel mirror.)

Question #4

What joke do you think won the contest for you?

Probably that magic time-travel mirror joke. I didn't tell it in the contest because I just wrote it now, but that's how good that mirror is.

Question #5

What is your favorite joke that just bombs with audiences?

Probably that magic time-travel mirror joke if I ever told it. (Now my favorite joke is that I keep bringing up that joke.)

Question #6

Where does your inspiration come from? Who are your biggest comedic influences?

I don't really know the answer to these questions. Sometimes things come out of nowhere. Sometimes out of somewhere. Sometimes out of even less vague places. And I love a lot of comedians, but don't necessarily have a list of influences. Everyone and everything in life influences all of us, so my biggest influences are probably nature and nurture. Or at least one of them.

Question #7

What’s your advice for all those aspiring Myq Kaplan’s out there?

Write and get on stage as much as possible, be more vegan, and stop trying to steal my identity.

Myq Kaplan. Funny guy. Congrats on the win, Myq!