Purchase tickets here. Livestream tickets also available.
The Accessible Comedy Show features established and up-and-coming NYC comedians, and it’s the only recurring show that’s entirely in English and ASL.
“We try to bridge the gap between the Deaf and Hearing worlds, making English standup accessible to the Deaf, and exposing Deaf standup to Hearing people. We welcome all audience members from both communities.”
Here’s how it works:
If the comedian is Deaf, there’s a Hearing interpreter voicing the set for the audience. If the comedian is Hearing, there’s an ASL interpreter signing the set. There are also comics who are CODAs who sometimes sign their sets and sometimes voice them. At the next show, the CODAs will start with their voice on and then turn it off and sign only.
A personal note: the show was created by my 26-year-old daughter Grace Delsohn, who’s been studying ASL since high school and is now an assistant teacher at P.S. 347, The American Sign Language & English Lower School. She’s also a stand-up. I asked Grace for the show’s origin story and she wrote:
“I’ve always enjoyed seeing comedy in New York and I started realizing there weren’t ASL interpreters at these shows. I also work at a Deaf school, and one day my co–workers found out I was a comedian. I said, ‘Oh yeah, you should come to a show.‘ One of them told me, ‘If there is an interpreter, I will be there.‘ So I got the idea and pitched it all over New York and UCB wanted it. We started in their black box and now we’re on the main stage.”