Photog immortalizes preview of The New 30

Among the notables at last night's special preview of Eric Cohen's new play, The New 30 at The Laugh Factory was television producer and photographer Jim Sheehan, who's sent us this exclusive gallery of Alan Bursky's performance.

Exclusive! Explosion at The New 30 rehearsal

Comedian Alan Bursky loses his concentration and explodes at our cameraman during the final rehearsal from last night's uproarious performance of The New 30.

The veteran comic later apologized and explained that his temper was frayed because something else was explosive-- as this shot of his anti-diarrheal medication will attest!


In the end, it was a royal flush! See more photos of last night's smash show here and at The New 30 website!

The New 30: "I was prostate with laughter!"

Eric Cohen's play The New 30 had its final try-out run at The Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip last night, and this third run-through of the comedy about the Baby Boomers' search for the Fountain of Youth was its most successful yet. Veteran comic Alan Bursky wore the material like a second skin, and had the select crowd in stitches throughout. This is a role this roly-poly Everyman has waited a career to inhabit, and it's no surprise his solo performance stint has led to a career resurgence comparable only to Jackie Mason in The Eighties.


But we've been repeating the same raves ever since the producers-- our pals at Frozen Pictures-- gave us a sneak look at rehearsals. So we got a comp ticket for our contributor and sometime PR man Sam Peters, who came down from the Alto-Nido Apartments in Hollywood to give us a review like used to do when he worked for Winchell and Rona. Take it, Sam:

"The New 30 had me prostate with laughter! Prostate? Get it? Because prostates and turkey necks, breast implants and tiny blue pills are the core of Eric Cohen's side-splitting satire about the fight against getting old! ... Alan Bursky should be renamed Alan Killsky! Because he kills with the material! ... This gregarious gagster had me gagging with glee with his knowing knocks on sagging breasts and saggy bottoms!... His Keith Richards rap had me roaring! ...The Phil Spector wig-out was a wonder! ...Never mind the ring toss joke!... Who is this guy? Why isn't he on the wall of fame like London Lee or Stanley Myron Handleman? ... And Eric Cohen should take bow! ... I remember him as a stand-up at the Playboy Club in the Seventies! His Mort Sahl-Morty Gunty mix has matured into a master's comedy thesis on a the new Geritol Generation!... Edgy yet never blue! ...Fun for all ages! ...No knock on The great Killsky, but I see this as a play that could be performed around the world on stages, in clubs, on cruise ships-- of which some I rep and will be in contact with... and Vegas! ...Move over, Menopause The Musical! The New 30 is in Town!"

Thanks to Sam Peters. Stay tuned here for an update on what's next for The New 30. We hear it may have soon a residency in a place that folks from all over the world will be able to drop in and laugh.

Photographer Jim Sheehan snapped away from the balcony.

Playwright Eric Cohen watches from the back of the house.

Last chance to catch preview of The New 30!

Click the poster above, print it out and get in half price tomorrow night, Thursday, to see the third and final preview of Eric Cohen's uproarious one-man show, The New 30, at the world-famous Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip.

Produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures, and starring Alan Bursky, The New 30 looks at the wild lengths people go to stay-- or at least appear-- young.

One critic called it: "A nonstop laughfest about the losing fight against growing old! A hilarious and knowing report from the front lines of the war on aging! Old school laugh-out-loud one-liners mixed with new insight into the modern-day obsession with youth and looking good, no matter the cost!"

Actually, we called it that. But anyway--

that's

Thursday, November 6
8 pm
The Laugh Factory
8001 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood

Free admission with proof of Botox treatment!

The New 30 hits stride in new Hollywood preview

No one was bold enough to show proof of Botox treatment to get free admission into the latest preview of The New 30 at the Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip last night, but that had to be the only disappointment, as another star-studded crowd of Hollywood notables and celebs laughed, cheered and begged for mercy as veteran comic Alan Bursky ripped through Eric Cohen's solo performance piece.

In what was only the second outing for the hilarious play about Baby Boomers and their attempts to cheat Father Time and beat the reaper, Bursky, who'd been honing his chops in at Harrah's Improv in Vegas this month, demonstrated an ease with and control of the material that reminded the audience they were in the presence of a pro as he sold the each and every line throughout.


Bursky's revival and career resurgence with this tailor-made role is a delight to the Hollywood comedy crowd and the stuff of Hollywood lore-- and even greater in light of the Hollywood lore Bursky has already contributed to in his fifty-something-- make that 30 something-- years (watch this space for our exclusive interview about his wild ride).

Cohen's play itself is tailor-made for a wide audience, as it tackles subjects that touch and unite us all (Hollywood narcissism, middle-aged vanity and America's obsession with youth are united in an overriding fear of death) with refreshing laughs that make the uncomfortable truths go down easily.

And with our pals at Frozen Pictures doing triple duty as technical crew, stage hands and gladhanding show business players, the show went off with nary a hitch-- and any hitches in this latest, fleshed-out version of The New 30 only drew more laughs and applause from an appreciative audience that included boldface names like comedy superstar Drew Carey, TV legend Chris Bearde, Laugh Factory owner and comedy guru Jamie Masada, actor Antonio D. Charity, producer Yasmin Brennan and Hollywood blogger Luis Calvo.


The group is still polishing this gem, so it's obvious there are even more new laughs to come . The show's got one more Laugh Factory preview on Thursday, November 6th. The Botox offer still applies.

Alan Bursky & Eric Cohen shortly before the show

Exclusive! The playwright watches his work:

Special offer! See The New 30 at half-price!

Double-click the poster, print it out and bring it in for half-price admission for the new hit solo performance comedy show, The New 30, tomorrow, Tuesday, October 28th, and/or Thursday, November 6th.

(Free admission with proof of Botox!)

Bursky kills in Vegas on road to 'The New 30'

Legendary comedian Alan Bursky, star of the new solo performance show, The New 30 has wrapped a smash stand at The Improv at Harrah's in Las Vegas, and is headed from the Vegas Strip to the Sunset Strip in Hollywood for Tuesday's big preview of The New 30 at the Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip.


Acclaimed Vegas photographer Erik Kabik snapped the shots that were featured on Robin Leach's Vegas star blog. Expect more at the October 28th preview of a show that's already been hailed (by us!) as "a nonstop laughfest... hilarious and knowing... laugh-out-loud!"

Bursky is rising as the comedy comeback story of the year as this veteran stand-up is finding a new audience in Eric Cohen's laff riot of a play about baby boomers, Botox, Viagra and beyond (that's produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures).

Half price tix with the flyer below.

Watch this space for more on Bursky.

Bursky boffo in first preview of The New 30!

Veteran comedian Alan Bursky made a rousing comeback and the theatre world saw a new contender emerge last night as the solo show The New 30 had its first preview on the Sunset Strip.

Eric Cohen's comic play about a generation's obsession with looking and acting younger than our ages played to a select crowd at The Laugh Factory, and while there are obvious technical kinks to work out in the multi-media stage production, the content, pacing and delivery of the show point to a winner.


The celeb-studded crowd that included comics Elayne Boosler and Dom Irrera and former HBO chief Chris Albrecht were howling at the observations on everything from Botox to erectile dysfunction to Keith Richards.

The fast-paced, laugh-filled play, which is produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures along with Cohen's Murray Hemingway Productions, is obviously a prime candidate for franchising in theatres and comedy clubs across the country.

But it was Bursky's performance that had the crowd on its feet. A veteran of thirty years of the comedy wars (he first hit it big as a teenager), Bursky's comfort onstage, interjections of physical comedy and ability to relate to the audience erased all boundaries between author and actor and made it seem as if he'd lived every ache, embarrassment, disappointment and prostate problem that Cohen writes about so hilariously.


The show returns for two more showcase previews at The Laugh Factory on October 28th and November 6th. Meanwhile, Bursky will be appearing at Harrah's Improv on the Las Vegas Strip with John Caponera (who appears in Frozen Pictures' influential sports comedy Cloud 9) from October 14th through 19th. If you're lucky enough to be in Vegas, catch Alan Bursky before he explodes again.

The New 30 is the next great solo comedy show

First it was movie musicals, now our pals at Frozen Pictures are into thea-tuh! Ha! The team that brought us Burt Reynolds in Cloud 9 and the hilarious new meditation on celebrity culture, The Seventh Python, is now producing a solo comedy performance that's having the first of three previews tomorrow night at the Laugh Factory on The Sunset Strip.

The New 30 (as in "fifty is the new thirty...") is a nonstop laughfest about the losing fight against growing old, written by one of the premier television comedy writers of the past 30 years. Eric Cohen was Johnny Carson's head monologue writer. He was a creator of Welcome Back, Kotter. He's written and produced for every major sitcom from Mr. T and Tina (a lost classic) to the Golden Girls to Raymond.

And to top it off, he produced a series starring The Olsen Twins, but we'll have to wait for him to write a book on that one.

Now Eric Cohen doesn't perform the show. He's the playwright. And he's directing Alan Bursky, a veteran everyman funnyman and another veteran of the last golden age of standup (the era from Richard Lewis to Drew Carey) who's got historic Tonight Show cred as the youngest comedian to appear on show.

He was 18, Johnny was in his heyday. Now Bursky's the new 30 (as in "fifty's..."). Bursky's lived the standup life as few others, from the top on network TV and Vegas to the lows and even a place in Comedy Babylon as Freddie Prinze's best friend and roommate when Freddie shot himself (Mike Binder played Bursky in the TV movie).


We caught a rehearsal. This isn't one of those "plays" where the playwright is recreating his birth or past trauma. This is a hilarious and knowing report from the front lines of the war on aging, with old school laugh-out-loud one-liners mixed with new insight into the modern-day obsession with youth and looking good, no matter the cost. There are lots of laughs and we can see this branching out and playing clubs and theaters in every town that has a pharmacy that stocks Viagra or Botox.

The first preview is 8 pm Tuesday at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood.

Check out The New 30 website here.

Cut out the attached flyer for a half-price ticket.


And hey guys, here's your first review:

"A nonstop laughfest about the losing fight against growing old! A hilarious and knowing report from the front lines of the war on aging! Old school laugh-out-loud one-liners mixed with new insight into the modern-day obsession with youth and looking good, no matter the cost!"

--TabloidBaby.com