Quick update on New York City in May 2026: the subway is still a fever dream, a dollar slice now costs four dollars, and the city somehow keeps producing and importing more world-class comedians than anywhere else on earth. Some constants are worth protecting.
While Times Square arts programming is doing its thing for summer and every other cultural institution scrambles to keep up, NYC’s comedy calendar is already locked and loaded. Here are the shows to add to your calendar before they sell out. And they will sell out. Because you waited too long last time too.
Michelle Buteau: The Surviving and Thriving Tour
May 16 | Beacon Theatre, Upper West Side
The Beacon Theatre is a 2,800-seat room that sorts performers into two categories: people who can handle it and people who cannot. Michelle Buteau very much can. Her Surviving and Thriving Tour arrives in New York on May 16, and if you have watched her Welcome to Cheer hosting or her Netflix specials and kept thinking you should see her live, stop thinking and buy the ticket. She is funny in a way that somehow makes you feel like you have your life together, at least for the two hours you are in the room.
Get tickets for Michelle Buteau at the Beacon Theatre →
Chelcie Lynn LIVE at Gramercy Theatre
May 29 | Gramercy Theatre, Midtown South
If you have spent any real time online in the past three years, you already know Trailer Trash Tammy. Chelcie Lynn’s character work is absurdist and precise in equal measure, and the live version of this show is a different animal than the videos. She has been selling out rooms across the country, and the Gramercy is the right size for it: intimate enough to stay electric, big enough to feel like you went somewhere.
Naomi Watanabe LIVE at Town Hall
June 6 | Town Hall, Midtown
Japan’s most famous comedian is coming to one of New York’s oldest rooms. Naomi Watanabe is a fashion icon, a TikTok phenomenon, and a performer whose live show genuinely resists description. Grab tickets purely on the basis of: I have no idea what this will look like in person and that is precisely why I am going.
See Naomi Watanabe at Town Hall →
Jimmy Pardo LIVE at The Bell House
June 20 | The Bell House, Brooklyn
The Bell House in Gowanus is the kind of Brooklyn room where the show feels like a hang and somebody always ends up talking to the comedian afterward. Jimmy Pardo, who has been hosting Never Not Funny since before podcasting was a career and is one of the sharpest improvisers working today, fits this room like a glove. From current pricing. Come on.
Jo Firestone: Sex On Murder Island
June 30 | The Bell House, Brooklyn
Jo Firestone is the kind of comedian that comedy people talk about like a secret they want to keep but also cannot stop telling everyone. The show is called Sex On Murder Island, which tells you everything and nothing at the same time. That is intentional. Go.
Jo Firestone at The Bell House →
Shane Todd LIVE at Gramercy Theatre
June 24 | Gramercy Theatre
Canadian, globally toured, and reliably very good. Shane Todd has built a loyal following the old-fashioned way: by being excellent at the job, show after show, for years, without needing a viral moment to explain why the room is full. Catch him at the Gramercy.
Shane Todd at Gramercy Theatre →
Ify Nwadiwe LIVE at The Bell House
July 11 | The Bell House, Brooklyn
Ify Nwadiwe has been one of the most talked-about voices in comedy for the past few years. Sharp, specific, and funny in a way that doesn’t appear to be trying too hard, even though the craft underneath it clearly is. Brooklyn will appreciate him properly.
Ify Nwadiwe at The Bell House →
Ben Schwartz & Friends LIVE at Beacon Theatre
September 19 | Beacon Theatre, Upper West Side
Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio, Sonic the Hedgehog, the guy who makes every room immediately more chaotic) brings his variety-style live show back to the Beacon in September. The “& Friends” component is not marketing copy. You genuinely will not know who is walking out, and that is a feature, not a bug.
Ben Schwartz & Friends at the Beacon →
Therapy Gecko LIVE at The Bell House
August 29 | The Bell House, Brooklyn
Yes, the gecko. Lyle Drescher’s alter ego, a life-sized gecko who takes live calls and gives surprisingly earnest therapy sessions, has gone from TikTok to a legitimate touring act. Five years ago, if you told someone a guy in a gecko suit would sell out Brooklyn, they would have called that the most New York thing they ever heard. And they would have been right.
Therapy Gecko at The Bell House. see it to believe it →
Beth Stelling: Let Me Get Loose
September 26 | The Bell House, Brooklyn
Beth Stelling is one of the most consistently good stand-ups working right now. Her 2020 Netflix special was genuinely excellent, her live shows have the rare quality of feeling both polished and completely in the moment, and Let Me Get Loose sounds like a tour name that will deliver on what it is advertising.
Beth Stelling at The Bell House →
The Move
New York’s comedy calendar does not really have an off season. But the stretch from late May through September is when the city is most alive and most willing to show up on a Tuesday for a show in a room above a bar in Gowanus. The Bell House, the Beacon, Town Hall, and the Gramercy are four entirely different experiences, and all four have great things happening right now.
Browse all New York City shows and lock in your dates at ComedyCalendar.com.
