Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People: Christine Friar
Christine Friar
Christine Friar has been writing humorously about humor and other, more serious topics for several years now. Formerly a social producer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Friar is now a freelancer who tackles topics of any shape and size with an impeccable mix of empathy, wisdom and lightness. Few comedians possess the ability to be both earnest and funny as hell–Friar is both, and then some.
When was the first time you remember making someone laugh? What happened?
When I was a kid, my dad and uncle had this wrestling bit they’d do with me: I’d be walking around the house, minding my own business, when one of them would shout, “And that’s how it started!”
One or the other would very dramatically tackle me to the floor and flail around helplessly while I worked to pin them under my tiny arms, and after I got a good hold on my challenger, whoever wasn’t wrestling would eventually smack the ground three times like a Wrestlemania referee to declare the victory. Then they’d hold my hand up so I could drink in my applause. I don’t know if it ever made anyone but us laugh, but I do remember distinctly feeling, “More of whatever this weird shit is, please.”
What is the toughest part about being on the comedy scene in Brooklyn today? What is the best?
I love and hate all my daughters equally.
Who do you find funny?
Jessica Williams, Jenny Slate, Kate Berlant, Casey Jane Ellison, Julio Torres, John Early, Freckle, Bianca del Rio, Katya Zamolodchikova, so many people on Twitter.com
What was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
I don’t know if this is the most recent, but I was at dinner with a party of 12 in Las Vegas recently and shed involuntary tears of joy while eating garlic bread. Garlic bread fucked me up.
What are your goals for your comedy career?
Same as everyone else on this list, I bet: book, movie, TV show, work with my buddies, pay my bills, have some laffs.
And finally: What is your favorite knock-knock (or otherwise goofy) joke?
Greg Giraldo used to do a bit about the Puerto Rican Day Parade where he’d describe a woman so big she wasn’t wearing one thong, she had “like three thongs knotted together.” Not a joke, but I love that image. She’s so powerful.
To see 49 more of Brooklyn’s funniest people, click here.
Photo by Nicolas Maloof.
