Stand-up comedian Eitan Levine chatted about his latest endeavors.
He will be throwing 50 first pitches this year, in an effort to break a Guinness World Record.
Inspirations for his comedy routine
On his inspirations for his comedic routine, he said, “I started doing stand-up when I was 15 years old, and for a very long time, the material was what I would call ‘safe.’ It was a lot of jokes about dogs, moms and homework.”
“I went to an all-boys Jewish high school, so I couldn’t even really joke about dating because that would involve going on dates—or at the very least, knowing a girl,” he said.
“I did stand-up through college and slowly built up a very ‘safe’ Jewish routine that got me hired to do JCCs and Hillel houses,” he noted.
Levine continued, “I paused doing it for a few years when I started picking up writing jobs after college (fun fact: I spent two years writing four to five articles about the Kardashians every day for Elite Daily).”
“Eventually, I missed Stand Up enough that I decided to head back into it and started doing open mics, but I made a promise to myself that I would try getting into harder subjects,” he noted.
“Cancer, my orthodox Jewish family’s journey out of the holocaust and frustrations with religion in general became dominant factors in my material. It taught me how to be comfortable talking about tough subjects and how to let audiences know that it is ok to laugh at dark stuff sometimes,” he elaborated.
“Every time I try a new cancer joke it usually results in the audiences staring back horrified the few weeks, but eventually I find a nice formula to get them to laugh at it. (That, or the joke is bad and I bury it forever),” he added.
The digital age
On being a stand-up comedian in the digital age, he said, “What is crazy about comedy now is how frequently the entire landscape changes.”
“It used to be that every few years something new would pop up and the industry would get fascinated with it for a while and then move on to the next thing. (Remember SNL exclusively casting from long form improv comedy teams at UCB? Every sitcom becoming Talking head “Office-Style”),” he elaborated.
“A big factor that led to this that doesn’t get talked about enough, is how video technology has gotten 50 times better since the pandemic because everyone needed to film video outside of studios,” he said.
“This led to a comedy world where individual creators hold an astonishing amount of power. People who would have never been considered by ‘the industry’ are now becoming,” he noted.
“Like every industry though, we are now weirdly in an era where there is some retraction. For instance—every club in the country was booking TikTok stars but now they are more hesitant because it’s easier to do 45 seconds of stand up on your phone in your room than an entire hour of stand up in front of a room of people,” he said.
Levine on his quest to break a world record for the most first pitches at a baseball game
On his quest to break a Guinness World Record, he said, “It has been absolutely surreal. I am a massive minor-league baseball fan, and this project has felt like summer camp. I’m currently writing this from a BNB in Austin to throw a pitch out at the Round Rock Express.”
“I am nine pitches in and it’s been awesome to see these stadiums. They all have little quirks, like a cage of live goats at Dunkin’ Park where the Hartford Yard Goats play, or a repurposed synagogue that was turned into the team store for the South Bend Cubs,” he said.
“We have 47 teams booked with 10 of those being MLB teams. We may even be going over to throw some games internationally,” he exclaimed.
Career-defining moments
On his career-defining moments, he said, “Three major events I look back on: My Make-A-Wish was to do stand up in New York and it was incredible. I got to open for Daryl Hammond at Caroline’s on Broadway when I was 15. I watched that video a billion times. It was life changing to perform in front of a crowd that of that size, at that young an age and actually do well.”
“I used to intern on Monday nights at UCB in New York,” he said. “For those who don’t know, UCB was a game-changing theater in New York that became a hub for indie comedy.”
“Monday nights they’d have their ‘house’ sketch teams called Maude Teams (a breeding ground for future SNL stars) and Whiplash (a free stand-up show where every week people like Kevin Hart, John Mullaney and Sarah Silverman would frequently drop by).”
“This was the best night of comedy in the city. Getting to watch six hours of the best comedy in the world every Monday night for a year was transformational,” he noted.
“When the pandemic happened, it shut the comedy scene down,” he observed. “I had one of the first shows back in New York after the re-open. It was a drive-in comedy show in the back of a diner where we would perform over a mic to an audience listening to the audio in their cars over FM radio.”
Future plans
On his future plans, he shared, “In the immediate future, it’s continuing to throw pitches! I’ve got a year to throw 50! If you have a team that wants me to throw, let me know!”
“We’re filming a documentary on this 50 first pitch journey and so the next few months are focusing on making sure we get good footage and raise a bunch of money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation,” he elaborated.
Advice for young and aspiring comedians
For young and aspiring comics, he jokingly laughed, “Run! Go back to law school.”
“Now more than ever, someone’s success is in their own hands,” he said. “The gatekeepers are still there… and I love them (shout out gate keepers! Cast me!) but really—you can do your own stuff now and find your own audience in a way that was never really possible until social media.”
“Find a corner of the Internet you authentically fit into, experiment with different comedic formats and get good at creating stuff you like that your audience finds funny. Comedy is a marathon and the only way to stay in it for the long run is by doing stuff that you don’t hate watching,” he said.
“Also, if your entire world is just comedy then you will suck at comedy,” he admitted. “There is nothing more unrelatable to an audience than a comic who doesn’t have a hobby.”
“Lastly, get good at editing video. Out of nowhere comedy became half about doing comedy and half about learning how to chop up comedy videos into one-minute TikTok clips,” he added.
Success
On his definition of success, he said, “Being able to do comedy full-time while making enough money to feed my wife and seven sons…”
“Seriously though, I’ve had a billion weird jobs in entertainment and the 50 First Pitches project feels like a culmination of them all in a really cool way. If I could continue doing these fun comedy travel projects forever, that would be success,” he said.
“Even just getting to continue touring the country doing comedy would be a win. I have a nice amount of credits under my belt but it has been a chaotic journey that has involved a lot of sharp career pivots so success to me would also weirdly involve a bunch more job stability,” he elaborated.
Message for his fans and followers
For his fans and followers, he said, “Please keep following me, and you might as well tell everyone you have ever met about me!”
“The support has always been fascinating to me,” he admitted. “So much of comedy is doing stuff that I think is funny and then hoping that other people agree. I read every comment, I see every message and I appreciate it all.”
“If you like me please consider giving money to Make-A-Wish at 50firstpitches.com. My Make-A-Wish was to do comedy in New York and that show was one of my favorite all-time comedy experiences. They took me and my friends to the city in a limo, I got to open for Daryl Hammond and absolutely crushed at Caroline’s,” he said.
“In a lot of ways, that night pushed me in the career direction that led me to this project. The work Make-A-Wish does is incredible, and it’s been a blast trying to raise some money for them in the process of this project,” he concluded.
To learn more about stand-up comedian Eitan Levine, follow him on Instagram.
