Caroline Hirsch, Comedy World Legend, Reflects on an Always Evolving Industry, and Life on the East End

For decades, Caroline Hirsch has been a legend in the comedy world.

Over the course of more than 40 years in the business, Hirsch has either discovered, shepherded or guided some of the biggest household names long before they were household names — from Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal and Sandra Bernhard to Judd Apatow, Denis Leary, Chris Rock and more — in her role as a producer, taking their careers to new heights with her eye for talent and deep knowledge of the industry.

The skill that has served her best over the years, however, is one that can’t be taught, that’s more a matter of intuition.

She knows when it’s the right time to make the next move.

She’s done it at all stages of her career, but perhaps most importantly when she founded the New York Comedy Festival 20 years ago.

Hirsch has, for many years, split her time between Manhattan and her home in Water Mill, although like many people who have homes both in the city and on the East End, she has spent more of her time out east in recent years. Hirsch created the New York Comedy Festival just a few years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The festival — which will run from November 8 through 17 this year in New York City — brings together the country’s top comedians at hundreds of venues across the city, from Madison Square Garden to the Beacon Theatre, Carnegie Hall and more. This year’s festival will feature more than 100 shows, across all five boroughs of the city. Headliners and acts include: Judd Apatow, Jeff Arcuri, Dave Attell, Zarna Garg, “How Did This Get Made?,” Gabriel Iglesias, I’ve Had It, Joe List, Bill Maher, Matt McCusker, Tracy Morgan, Nurse John, Ms. Pat, Adam Ray, The Rest Is History, Justin Silva, JB Smoove, Dan Soder, Sommore, Stand Up for Heroes, Jimmy O. Yang, Jaboukie Young-White and more.

Hirsch spoke with The Express Magazine in September, about two months before the festival was set to celebrate its 20th anniversary, talking about what inspired her to create the big event in the first place.

“I felt that New York needed more laughs at that time,” Hirsch said. Putting together the festival was a way to try and lift the melancholy that still hung in the air after the bombing on the Twin Towers and the loss of so many lives, and the pervasive loss of the previously taken for granted feelings of safety and security.

Hirsch said the festival was a hit and has continued to be a success for several reasons.

“It got people going out again,” she said. “And it added to the economic development of the area. People would go get dinner before, take a taxi. It helped people to get out of their homes and got people to laugh when we needed it the most. It just grew and grew and grew, and now we’re the largest privately owned comedy festival in the U.S.”

Hirsch called on the friends and connections she had made over the years running Caroline’s, the famous comedy club bearing her name that initially opened in Chelsea before operating in South Street Seaport and in Times Square, all the while showcasing comedians who would go on to become mega famous.

Hirsch was forced to close the club during the pandemic, and she chose not to reopen it once restrictions were lifted. She retained the brand and the apparatus behind it, however, which has allowed her to continue producing and putting together big comedy events, both in live venues and with on-screen projects. The medium or location might change as years go by and different trends and other forces and unforeseen circumstances come and go, but the core philosophy behind everything Hirsch and her team do remains the same.

“We love working with comedians,” she said. “We love finding new talent, presenting great talent. We’re keeping the Caroline’s brand alive.”

While much of her work is rooted in New York City, Hirsch has a longstanding relationship with the East End and a love for the area.

Hirsch, who is now 72, first came out to the East End when she was a teenager.

“I came out here because my girlfriend’s sister had a group home, and we were allowed to stay,” she reminisced. “We did what kids do today; we’d go bar hopping, enjoy the nightlife.”

By the early 1980s, Hirsch had bought a home in the area, and spent as much time out east as she could.

“I love it,” she said. “I hate to sound like the old-timer, but I remember all the farms out here, all the open spaces, and the early development of building homes. I’ve been out here a long time.

“I always love the light,” she added. “Now I know why the famous painters came out here in the 1950s. The light is so beautiful.”

Water Mill has been her official home base since the pandemic, and she’s invested some of her work life out here as well, with more of that focus possibly to come. Hirsch has produced comedy shows at Guild Hall in East Hampton with big names like Jeff Ross and Lewis Black.

She said people are always asking her to bring more comedy shows out east.

“That makes me feel good,” she said. “We’ve been asked to do some stuff and are mulling over our next moves. As the East End gets more and more populated, we’re taking our brand outside the four walls and making it bigger. It’s the next new way to present comedy.”

Having her finger on the pulse of what’s next and new, and often being a trailblazer in that regard, is one of Hirsch’s superpowers.

Hirsch didn’t always intend to have a career in comedy. She worked in retail right out of college, for several different department stores, including Gimbels, as a marketing representative. She was out of work for a period of time when Gimbels went out of business, and two friends, Bob Stickney and Carl Christian, who owned a gay nightclub in the city, asked her to partner with them and create a cabaret club. They informed her they wanted to name the club “Caroline’s,” and she let them. It wasn’t working out as well as they wanted it to at first, and then Hirsch suggested they focus on comedy.

“David Letterman had just gone on at 12:30 at night, and he was a big sensation with people of my generation,” she said. “We book Garry Shandling, Seinfeld; Pee-wee Herman was just coming to be known.”

Those early days of Hirsch’s career involved a lot of trial and error, and on-the-job training.

“A lot of it was by the seat of my pants,” she said. “I didn’t really have any marketing or PR experience at that time. I reached out to a lot of writers. I just learned the business; I forced it down people’s throats, I told them, ‘This is gonna be great.’”

Hirsch always had an affection for comedy. She described herself as a big Johnny Carson fan. She loved Letterman too, and remembered watching a short-lived 10 a.m. morning show he had in1980 that “nobody watched.”

“When David started [‘The Late Show’] in New York, he was friendly to everybody in the comedy business,” she said. “He had great parties; it was a lot of fun. It was the beginning of the comedy boom that was going to happen, which was then followed by the Comedy Channel and the Ha! channel, which merged and became Comedy Central.”

Hirsch’s club, Caroline’s, became instrumental in introducing a lot of young, new talent to that exploding comedy scene at the time, making her a big player in the industry.

Household names like Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld were just becoming popular for their brand of observational humor.

“It was a new way to present comedy about our common communications and things we all understand about daily life,” Hirsch said, reflecting on the success of that style.

The advent of HBO comedy specials and cable channels like Comedy Central took the industry in a new direction, and then the streaming boom came along, representing another big chapter in the evolution of comedy and stand-up.

Hirsch explained that with all the options for comedians to gain a following now, from YouTube and the internet to specials on streaming, the industry has evolved even further.

“When they get known and it propels them, their value goes up because then they can tour and make money,” she said. “You used to have comedians who wanted a sitcom, like Seinfeld and Larry David. Now it’s even more lucrative for them to just go out on tour and do specials on TV.”

Hirsch not only used her comedy club and the festival to discover and propel new comedians, but she also, for a time, had a show on the cable network A&E, that also served as a way to introduce viewers to a new slew of comedians. Apatow was on that show in his early days and went on to become a household name as a producer and director.

Several of the comedians participating in this year’s festival got their start by gaining a following on YouTube and are now ascending to new heights.

“You can get exposure that way if you’re nifty enough and good enough,” she said. She cited comedian Sarah Cooper, who shot to viral fame online during the pandemic for her videos where she lip synced Donald Trump talking about taking hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent COVID infection. “But let’s remember, you have to be good,” she added. “There are some one-trick wonders out there.”

Of course Hirsch herself has proved to be anything but. In addition to everything she has done in the comedy industry over the years, adapting to all the changes and trends, and in many instances setting the pace, she has also become a leader in the charity world as well.

The 18th annual Stand Up for Heroes event will take place on November 11 in New York at Lincoln Center, a joint effort between the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

The evening will feature performances by comedians and musicians including Jim Gaffigan, Norah Jones, Mark Normand, DJ Questlove, Patti Scialfa, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart and more. The event will also highlight inspiring moments and the stories of resilience and service of the men and women who have served in the nation’s military. Stand Up for Heroes raises awareness and funds for the Bob Woodruff Foundation, whose mission is to ensure that veterans, service members, and their families have stable and successful futures.

In addition to putting on the comedy festival and the Stand Up for Heroes event, Hirsch and her team — including, most notably, her partner, Andrew Fox, and talent director, Louis Faranda, who have been with her for more than 30 years — also have their hands in producing and putting on several other comedy events and competitions around the country. They go through thousands of video submissions, and pinpoint who they think has the goods to be the next big thing or see success in the industry, and they put a spotlight on them to help launch their careers.

As for Hirsch and her own career, she said she doesn’t have any plans to retire anytime soon.

“I enjoy what I do,” she said, adding that her longtime connection with her partner and talent director is key. “We built the brand up, the brand is strong, and we have great taste in talent and want to keep pursuing it.”

For more information on the New York Comedy Festival, visit nycomedyfestival.com

For more information on Stand Up For Heroes visit StandUpForHeroes.com.