Across the street from Chancellor Kent Syverud’s house, down Comstock Avenue, is a Tudor-style cottage where eight Syracuse students live. Quaint and unassuming on the busy off-campus street, 311 Comstock hides a secret. On Wednesday nights at 8, two strangers come in to transform a dingy old basement into “The Playground,” Syracuse University’s premier underground comedy club.
At 9:09 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23 Zach Nemirovsky, one of The Playground’s co-heads, took the small stage to close out the night’s show with his own stand-up set. Wearing his casual Kermit the Frog Ked sneakers, Nemirovsky performed a set that as of 6:08 the night before, had yet to be written.
“I normally don’t do that,” said Nemirovsky, referring to preparing his set for last Wednesday night’s show day of. “The three shows in three weeks definitely took it out of me.”
At last Wednesday’s show, Nemirovsky and his co-head Liz Crandall each finished their third stand-up performance over the course of three straight weeks. The duo are both comics in addition to managing the venue, which was started in 2022 by another Syracuse student, James Cunningham, to allow students an opportunity to both perform and experiment with comedy in an off-campus setting.
In previous years, The Playground has been run by what Nemirovsky jokes was not a “motley crew” like him and Crandall, but instead was a “well-oiled machine.” Several people used to share the responsibility of The Playground, breaking down roles from talent acquisition, to management, to merch design and even bartending.
“It’s still a well-oiled machine,” Crandall responds to Zemirovskys comment, the two breaking into contagious laughter. A machine that once had several cogs, and now only has two to keep it running.
Crandall, who has been a part of OTN’s “Live From Studio B” since her second semester freshman year at SU (having been self-admittedly rejected in her first), handles all recruiting and talent management. She often finds new comedians through the sketch comedy show, which is how she got the opportunity to first take The Playground stage, as one of The Playground’s former heads, Julia DiCesare, was the show’s head writer at the time.
“My first set was garbage. Like genuinely terrible. I regret it every day of my life,” Crandall shared. “But that first time you go up there, and you’re just with the audience in that moment, it’s like, I have to keep doing this, I have to be there.”
Staying true to The Playground’s founding goal of letting students explore their interest in comedy, Crandall and Zemirovsky make it a priority to have 1-2 new comics on their show lineup every single week.
This past week, Jack Barsh, an SU sophomore, performed his first-ever stand-up set, dressed to the nines in a full-body banana suit, which Barsh comically claimed was not “a costume.”
Barsh, another member of “Live From Studio B,” was encouraged to try stand-up by The Playground’s positive reputation.
“A lot of people have experiences here and talk about how amazing it is,” Barsh said. “I’m inspired by my sister who also does stand-up comedy.”
Barsh’s set came towards the end of the show. Concluding in resounding laughter and applause, his sarcastic and purposefully nervous set was one of the most memorable of the night.
Following Playground tradition, after the show ended Barsh got to sign his name on the iconic doors beyond the stage, an honor only held by comics that have performed in front of them.
Coming into the 2024-25 school year, Crandall and Nemirovsky felt the weight of upholding The Playground brand not only for the sake of young performers but for the campus as a whole.
“As much as we love it, the student body loves it, so we want to keep it going for the enjoyment of everybody here,” Nemirovsky said.
Last Wednesday’s show, dragged down by rainy weather and enduring midterms, drew an audience of about 30: the lowest turnout The Playground has ever seen. Typically, they fit an audience of 65 into the small basement, with some returning fans needing to stand or sit up front on throw blankets due to lack of space.
But despite late nights staying up to write jokes, and stressful weeks when set lineups fall through, to Crandall and Nemirovsky, all the hard work is worth it to keep The Playground alive.
“There has been a couple weeks where it feels like a job, and I remind myself this is a privilege, and this is a treat to do,” Nemirovsky said. “I have a guaranteed venue to do my stand-up.”