Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People: Nicole Silverberg
Nicole Silverberg
Headlines like ‘I Changed My Boyfriend and Now He’s Perfect’ and ‘I Want a Good Sex’ (plus stock photo of a leering woman in a shitty suit) are Nicole Silverberg’s bread and butter on Reductress, where she’s associate editor of content that will “help you become the woman you never wanted to be.”
Silverberg is also a regular contributor at GQ, where she writes about things like how noveau bro Justin Trudeau needs to be stopped, and how she achieved maximum joy with the KonMari method—at least, how her bowels did. Bowels are trending in Silverberg’s work.
UCB is lucky enough to have Silverberg as a house performer in Lloyd team The Nightmare and as a writer for Maude team Pretty Boys. On top of all this, she somehow finds time to keep a running list of things that make her cry, which she posted on twitter recently. The list includes “woke up too early,” “had a good day which reminded me of how other days aren’t good,” and “nothing happened.” She also has a text thread with herself listing all the best public bathrooms in Manhattan. Unfortunately, that list has yet to be shared publically.
When was the first time you remember making someone laugh? What happened?
I don’t have a specific memory, but I do remember a lot of Barbie humor involving mistaken identities and stolen boyfriends. I was a child master of the Barbie farce genre.
What is the toughest part about being on the comedy scene in Brooklyn today? What is the best?
The Brooklyn comedy scene is terrific. There’s a show every night worth seeing and a surplus of great venues for every type of show you’re looking to create. Last fall, I put up a show that was half comedy and half me straight-up fronting a Meat Loaf cover band. That’s what Brooklyn comedy really means to me– a place to put up your weirdo stuff in a really fantastic and supportive community.
Who do you find funny?
A lot of comedians, and also my parents. My dad once said his favorite Clint Eastwood movie was Millionaire Baby, and that inspires me.
What was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
A couple weeks ago, I was recording an episode of Reductress‘ podcast Mouth Time. Our guest was Rachel Bloom and we created a game for her to play called King, Barn, Schmarf that’s like Marry, Fuck, Kill, except way dumber. For the final round, we gave Rachel three nonsense words– crink, pormp, and dink–so she was genuinely attempting to decide whether she would King, Barn, or Schmarf the crink, pormp, and dink. The minute she said she’d “I’d schmarf the pormp” I was in tears.
What are your goals for your comedy career?
The dream is to write for a television show that I also star in, but also it’s critically reviled? I don’t know, dreams are weird.
And finally: What is your favorite knock-knock (or otherwise goofy) joke?
I’m not much of a knock-knock joker, but when I was a kid, I would visit my dad and my grandpa at work and my grandpa would teach me jokes to tell customers. I had no idea what they meant. The big mid-90’s hit was: Knock Knock / Who’s there? / OJ / OJ who? / That’s good, you can be on the jury! In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been allowed to tell that joke. I was four years old and a woman died.
To see 49 of Brooklyn’s other funniest people, click here.
Photo by Nicolas Maloof.
