Alex Edelman Unpacks What to Expect from JUST FOR US

hi I'm Richie Ridge are you yeah yeah and where are we we're at Russ and Daughters Cafe if you can't tell from the black and white cookies and what is this this is the Hot Smoke cold smoke which is very good it is Kipper baked uh and Scottish smok salmon spread and everything bagel chips they're very good indeed and we're doing an interview for what we're doing an interview for Broadway world aren't we yeah we are we're doing an interview for Broadway World for Alex Elman for Alex for my show just for us we're just coming to the Hudson theater June 22nd to some to August 19th I was going to make a joke but let's just you make a j no no I was going to say n weeks nine weeks nine weeks only at nine weeks only at the Hudson theater from June 22nd to August 19th get a ticket come see if this one please it's the best that's really nice first of all I am thrilled to be sitting with you here this is cool yeah at Russ and Daughters you come here a lot right I come to all the appetizing counters and uh but yeah I come here I have a bunch of favorites here gery bnie green ass you know uh laser wolf Kar those are my uh Cafe Pana which is an ice cream place but still as the feel for some reason to me of like an appe I like any place where there's like silverware clinking in the background yeah totally that is my vibe that's my ASMR my this is my ASMR just like just things clinking against other things and like the crunch of like bagel chips and stuff like that like yeah I'm very it's a comfortable feeling the most I associate it so you said it's not a deli what do you call this it's called an appetizing counter a deli very delies do meat yeah Del contestants do meat appetizing counters do like fish and like it's a different it's a totally different vibe like like bring green grass is not a deli it's an appetizing place so like I'm very distinct I'm very distinct about this and if you say to like Nikki Russ vetman the woman who owns this place like hey I love your Deli she'll be like it's not a deli it's an appetizing counter I'm only going to those from now on that's I'm going yes I mean yes it's very advertising so my friend you're about to make your Broadway debut excited yeah I mean it's pretty crazy look I wanted the roll of milky white and into the woods but they wouldn't let me so um you wrote your own show I run my own sh I mean look it is people were like is it a dream come true I'm like it's not even a dream like it's so big it's so beyond whatever could have it's like if you were jogging down the street and eventually someone's like do you want to jog on the moon you'd be like you can jog on the moon they're like yeah you know the moon and I'm like yeah no it's the thing I've been looking at my whole life and they're like well we know someone who will send you there and like it really is it really is so crazy I have so much respect and uh it's so gross to say but I have so much respect and admiration for for so many of these like uh I've seen so many of these shows in so many of these people who are part of this community like I met Danny burin the other night and I saw him in The Drowsy chaperon I saw mulam Rouge and like you know Alex timers is the creative consultant on the show and he's he's worked on he worked on Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which was one of my first favorite shows and like people from spam a lot are around and people from the producers are like Matthew bradrick and sis Parker have come downtown and like it's just being a part of this community that I've always loved and always wanted to be a part of but never thought of it as possible it's like a fantasy camp for me and ALS and the other thing is I'm really proud of the show like a lot of these great works would be incredible to go into a show and I'm sure that's something I'd love to do at some point in my life but to bring anything that you are proud of to a Bradway house a thing that audiences have appreciated and and you know now being now I'm given the chance to let even more people appreciate it's a really it's a really like it's a really special thing and I'm being Gess right now but like it really is I I just I just can't believe it it's a lot to take in is a lot cuz you went to the theater today right went to the theater today they're loading out doll's house they're loading Us in and it's just like and you drove your you rode your bike right in yeah I'm a city bike boy and so I love a city bike and it's like uh I just I couldn't believe I truly I truly cannot believe this is happening to me and uh and yeah I'm I'm I'm I'm dead I'm dead pleased by the by the by the whole thing and we walked sorry we went to the theater and like it's just gorgeous the seats are really wide and the color pallet stunning there's Tiffany glass everywhere it's like the seats are for humanized butts it's like a really it's an amazing it's an amazing place it's like the nicest theater I've ever been in so the fact that the chance that you know to be on that stage doing this for an audience is going to be like so special okay now I know doll's house just loaded out today did Jessica Chastain and Arian moyed show you through the theater they did they showed me around Aran showed me around it was crazy although Aran was teasing me he was like you know it would really be good to get into your show and I'm like what he's like an Oscar winner I'm like oh that's chill thank you thank you so much Aran it would be incredible we squeeze an Oscar winner to my solo show that'd be freaking amazing and I'm leaving he's like Daniel de Lewis think about it and I'm like yeah but he was uh he was he's one of the greatest one of the nicest he was giving me a little he ning me that a little bit he was like you know ibson wrote Art Play It's directed by the great Amy you know the great Amy Herzog and AD by great Amy Herzog and like it's her you know it stars Jessica Chastain who wrote your piece and I'm like I wrote my piece he's like wow okay he's like so it's going from a ESS classic to like a comedian solo show that's really you know that seems really uh cool and a but my show is um my show is funnier then doll's house I believe I think it's okay to say that yes my friend Chelsea's behind the camera and be like Oh No but yeah I think the show is a little funny I think my show is a little funnier than doll house but it does not have Jessica chesting exactly so I'm willing to seed that the willing to seed one of those two things but it it was really cool and um I went to their closing night party the other night and I hugged Aran and Jessica and I was like congratulations what a wonderful run get the hell out of here you know please leave but you could do that with friends they're really they genuinely they they um I went to go see doll's house and they brought me on stage afterwards and they were showing me how to play to like play the room and there's something that not to get too technical I love the craft this like I love people think a solo show you just throw it up and off you go but no it takes a lot of like thought thought and preparation you know where you're standing you know how you're delivering you're playing to everybody and in the theater you're making a huge making a huge space feel very intimate and fun and rolicking to give it the sort of energy of a to give it the energy of a comedy show in this really salubrious venue is a really um it takes a lot of intention and so they were like walking me through cuz their show takes a lot of intention also and so like being sort of getting my first taste of that Community yeah and my first taste of BR fans like I went to like I went to the Tony the other night and a couple people outside were like where we got tickets your show like that is really cool I met Lyn man Miranda the other day like this is the for me this is like the best you know I hope it never ends it will end august 19 you will be back I hope so but for now like this is this is so cool okay talking about the size of that that room you started this in a UK Pub right yeah a pub behind a shoe store wait where was that it was in um ksh town which is like above near the tube station ksh town and it was this really um this really gorgeous gorgeous tiny little like uh bar and there were 12 people there and I was like you know I've done this thing and but you know comedy is very humble beginnings you need to workshop at you need a road test in front of people I did it at a vegan restaurant called olok in La storytelling night called on Cabaret I would mix it up there a little bit in the Soho theater on Dean Street which is a really beloved comedy institution and uh and yeah I Road tested it in Melbourne and Edinburgh and it did well at festivals but the theatrical version of it didn't really Elevate until Mike biglia who's got his own many who's done a few shows on bra himself you know he got a hold of it he's like you should think about this and think about this and those elevations really sort of pushed us to the next level and and that's when we went up in New York so okay let's talk about Mike he's one of my favorite comedic story tellers I mean is no one better than him he's Spalding he's Spalding Gray but without the um being dead part he's like really really he's so so so so funny yeah and I was watching I went to the Lincoln Center archives the other day to to look at some of the old theaters and and what Mike and and Spalding have in common they have this they have this beautiful they bring a sense of dynamism to their performances even when they're standing completely still and Mike is uh Mike's truly like a mastercraftsman you've seen his shows yeah oh they're so good so he's one of your dearest friends let's talk about what he offered advice and like honing this for Broadway cuz I know he works a long time on his shows oh I work I mean yeah you do too this Show's taken like four and a half years this Show's been this Show's crazy this show is so just show the longest relationship I've ever had you know like it's a it's been in except with my parents that I've been with them about 10 years and so we'll see how that go but uh but yeah the show's the longest longest relationship I've I've had and so uh Mike Mike uh Mike really works on his shows and he works it out at the commi Celler which is where where thanks to him and and Noom and Esty who run it it's where I work out now too and so and so it's where I sort of shave the edges off my shows and like you know trim the bottom a little bit and and and figure out how how things work but Mike gives notes that only probably 10 or 15 people on the planet would know to give and so having that you know Mike saw the show with the Lord he put it up for one night at the LEL to sort of see what um what it might look like on a stage and I invited everyone I'd ever met I think I've told anyone this anyone I've ever met and then they came because of a HomeTown show my friends were like and I got off stage and Mike was like uh be to be minus I was like be Min the best I've ever done and mik was like it could be better if you like tried this this and this and so we had some shows coming up in England in like rural England and I pulled the show apart with my director and then we sort of we did the hard work of like trimming it down and trying to rebuild not from the bottom up but from sort of like 50 to 60% up and uh and it was really painful but we really got there and it's because of biglia biglia is only given like 15 to 20 notes on the show but every note has been big and very holistic and really like smart it's what you'd expect from like and also like you said he's he's one of the great comedians like it's like one of the heads on Mount Rushmore being like you know what you should do like that's that's what it is so it's been critic cool no he's like I said I he makes it all seem so effortless and it's not no it's so hard but that's that's the that's the skill but even but even any astute Observer looking at that be like that looks effortless that's probably really hard it's like any novel right any or any great novel you look at it and you're like oh gosh this is very dense there a lot of ideas there's like it all seems cohesive but like there's a lot of different fun things being pulled in and it's fun like my show is more than anything else it's a funny show and like that's the number one thing you have to look after the funny and Mike understands that so well and so like having that having someone who understands plays and solo shows and writing but also understands funny yeah so they can give you notes without ever wanting you to compromise what is funny but also the show's had lots of input from a lot of people like every comedy legend that comes I ask them for a note do you know this yeah now you've had some great people come to see your show just give some names drop some names sein came and Martin came and S Justa Parker came and Ben Stiller came and Billy Crystal came and wow I mean I'm leaving out some some big ones but um Manny aisenberg came I know that's oh my god the guy produced and he was like you know what like he's an idol of mine oh my God he millions of other people yeah he's like Neil Simon he's like Neil would have really liked us you know like I was I was levitating but it's really cool and like and everyone who comes I go what do you think about even like when Co bear came yeah one gives really great notes really specific notes thoughtful notes very respectful very helpful see Mar offered a line and I was like I don't know about that and then I tried it the next night got a huge laugh and I was like Well turns out Steve Martin knows what he's talking about when he talks to Comedy do you know they're in the house did you do you know that Steve was I'm sure you Wasing no but when they come to your show yeah because what happens is you go backstage and everyone's weird and you're like who is it today who's a going to be today and they're like they're like uh the the prime minister of France is here okay guess we'll do the show for the Prime Minister he hasn't mollin has not come but he he's coming he'll come Broadway you never know bro it is really it is really cool and really uh and really special and also you know but the non the non Mega icons who have come have been really incredible I wait outside after every show I talk to anyone who wants to to speak to me you're really generous with your fans I think that's really great I mean they're not they're they're you have they bought a ticket and it's a conversation and so I get to talk for the first hour and a half but also like very eager yeah to although face to face like like I'm I really like the face-to-face conversation where we can talk in real time there's a generosity of spirit that people show you in a face tace conversation and and from the show has been formed by first my director Adam brace and then talk about let's talk about Adam okay working with him yeah what's it like being in a room with him when there's no audience there like do you well we sit across table like this okay this one table in SoHo in London and uh Adam drinks a cider and I drink a and I drink a white beer and we just I throw things at him and he asks provocations and laughs and goes you know that's a bit like this thing and then we sort of pull the show together and then that's how we've done every show we've done every show that way all all three of my solo shows have have happened to that one table at the Soho hotel in London and Adam uh was the was the associate uh director of the Soho theater where I work out all my shows and and and was just the most uh beautiful brilliant comedy mind a really and Theatrical mind a drama he would call himself a director so he would or direct tur dram tur I mean like he was a director and a dram tur so it was a really beautiful relationship and my one of my closest friends for yeah yeah I love these new phrases I'm learning from you today M besides what this place is called and how you're putting a director in the drama church together I love these yeah he's he's a really is a really special mind so now without giving too much away how do you describe the show um I went to this meeting of white nationalists and queens and I sat there for like an hour and eventually someone's like I'm sorry but this guy's a Jew and I'm like yeah I'm a Jew and so like that's the whole show frankly I mean b although they kill me at the end now a lot of people know no I was kidding I'm joking um yeah I went to this it's a com I say it's a comedy show about you know identity and uh assimilation and like but it's a comedy show it truly I always tell people it's a comedy show with um we've had no complaints genuinely like people this is a show that people seem to generally really enjoy because it's it it I think people right now want funny so much yeah they want funny first they want something that's propulsive but it also for people who don't love standup comedy it's got a theatrical heft for people who find theater sometimes a bit Hefty it's got It's got the light touch of Comedy so like it's a real comedy theater blend which I think is got just enough for people from both camps which I really like I like work that is I like work that can have veilance to everyone like the show is Jews have really found um have really enjoyed the show because it's an expiration of a world that they find not often to be talked about and not really like the show because it's like it's funny because it's funny and people can empathize with a really or people can enjoy a story that with the help of many people is well told so like we've had that and it's been a really uh delightful easy you know accessible proog you know project for Jews and non-jews I'm like so so happy with this with this the Mass Appeal this P of work what are you looking forward to the most all kiding aside I gotta be honest yeah I love all theaters that I've been looking enough to perform the show in to perform the show in a theater where the seats are comfortable and people are really like I'm going to be a professional comedian it's going to be like a professional audience like the conditions are right in a Broadway house like it's like most theaters are really be are beautiful but they're like they're like mid-range luxury cars like the person who has the car like they're doing well they have a nice professional job and like it's very you know middle class and it's one of their two cars they have two cars in a garage to put it in that's most theaters but like the by the way the PB of a shoe store is like an edil like it's the dis it's like a disgusting thing that doesn't move and it's where your show starts but this theater is like the Rolls-Royce like I'm going to get like a microphone with the best sound I'm going to get like an audience that is like air conditioned correctly and sat correctly and quiet correctly and like it's going to be a really fun comfortable environment to do the show and also just doing the show on Broadway as as soon as I get on stage and have had the chance to do my probably's like it's it's where they do Chicago that that's my that's my like top thing but like Broadway there's so many and so many great comedians have gone on Broadway like Rob Williams is's a part of the show who I talk about in the show a lot he did his shows on Broadway and Whoopi did her shows on Broadway and like I I ran into Whoopi for the first time a couple of weeks ago and or two week or maybe even less than a week ago and she's very encouraging she's like I heard about this show she's like that's what happened to me 1982 her show went to Broadway it started in these small venues and so just getting to be I'm very conscious of tradition and very conscious of and so to be part of this tradition of Broadway I'm really going to like you know I'm not I'm not very jaded I really get a chance to like um to to sort of like take it in it really will be enough to do we will be there Broadway World will be there opening nights oh my God please please come just so you know have the best n weeks so much