5 QUESTIONS
A Schenectady native, Frigolette is a stand up comedian and actor who has been seen on Bob and Tom Show, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Show Me A Hero, Younger, Sexy Beasts, ElimiDate, The Following, Wendy Williams Show, and the Artie Lange Show. He is the executive producer of The Apartmentship with Andrew Schulz, Stonehenge Oh Yeah with James Manzello, The Hoboken Comedy Festival, NJFunnyfest, Make Me Laugh Comedy Contest, Comedy’s Best Kept Secret Tour and Porn Stars Are People Podcast. Frigolette got his start in Syracuse in a now-debunked club in the basement of the Hotel Syracuse called Viva Debris. Now a New York City circuit regular, Frigolette finds joy in traveling the country to small towns, to entertain folks. His stage prose is energetic and high paced, with a wit that stops hecklers in their tracks. His first comedy album Naked and Amused: Comedy At A Nudist Colony, came out in late 2017. He’s recently been featured in South Africa on SABC3’s Trending SA, WTF Tumi and The Stuart Taylor Show.
Even though he’s now a New Jersey resident, Frigolette can be seen playing shows throughout the Capital District this month on Dec. 22 at Proctors for the Comedy Christmas Spectacular, on Dec. 27, 30and 31at the Albany Funny Bone and on an All Ages Comedy Magic and Stunt Show on Dec 29 at Proctors Addy Theatre.
1Your first comedy album was recorded at a live show at a nudist colony, how did you find that experience?
You may have heard that if you’re ever nervous in front a group of people you should “picture them naked” to calm your nerves, and I’m here to tell you I was in a room full of naked strangers, and that is HORRIBLE ADVICE, I couldn’t have been more uncomfortable.
2How can people hear the album?
It’s actually on Itunes, Google Play, Pandora, and I’ll be selling it after each of my shows on a USB drive. Or you can call me and I’ll play it over the phone to you like I had to do for my grandmother and grandfather.
3You’re from Schenectady but you never lived there? How does that work.
Well technically I lived there for the few days I was in the hospital, but my family moved me to Syracuse and seven more times before I was 10years old. But I’m “OG Schenectady” in that all my family is from there. In fact, even my dog was born in an attic in Schenectady, just like my parents.
4You spent a good part of 2018travelling and doing comedy in South Africa. What was the allure and why did you spend so much time there?
I spent almost three months there over two separate trips. Comedy is booming in S. A. like nowhere I’ve seen. It’s almost safe to say that
comedy is on a down swing in the U.S., and a massive upswing in South Africa specifically. Partly to do with Trevor Noah in fact, having someone “make it” on a massive scale then sends a shock wave of hard work through whatever artistic community supporting the new star.
Oddly enough my jokes worked just as well in South Africa and that afforded me the opportunity to return a few months after I left. I’ll be there most of February and March of 2019as well.
5It’s December! What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
I love that it’s the time of year that you can pretend whatever dysfunctional thing your family does is just “tradition.” Like, I love the “tradition” of the whole family ganging up on my sister until she cries after Christmas dinner, or the “tradition” of tossing out the crummy Christmas gifts we got when no one is looking.