Laughing all the Way to the Ballot Box: Humor in the 2025 NYC Mayoral Election
New York’s 2025 Mayoral Election is the most contentious and divisive in a generation. In America’s most diverse city, the campaign is starkly magnifying hotly contested religious, ethnic, and geopolitical tensions. World affairs have become localized. The idealogical extreme has suddenly become mainstream.
At this event, we ask how comedians — those tasked with taking a critical look at, and making light of, society — are navigating the tense atmosphere surrounding this election. Do comedians have an obligation to take these sensitivities into account when generating material and delivering laugh lines? Does stand-up comedy have a role to play in civic and civil discourse
Join comedians Raanan Hershberg, Ami Kozak, and Dan Naturman in conversation with FOLCS Creative Director, Thane Rosenbaum, at the Comedy Cellar’s Village Underground (130 West 3rd St) on Monday, October 20th at 6pm Eastern Time.
This program is produced in partnership with the Comedy Cellar.
Ami Kozak
Ami Kozak is a comedian, musician, impressionist and podcaster. Ami’s online videos have taken social media by storm, amassing millions of views on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. He has been featured on Fox News, Sky News, The Daily Wire, Adam Carolla, as well as numerous other high-profile news segments and podcasts. He has become a staunch advocate for Israel and the Jewish Community and hosts his own podcast, “Ami’sHouse”.
His lives how combines stand-up, hilarious impressions, songs and live looping.
In addition to comedy, Ami is a versatile musician, serving as the Bass Player and Vocalist for the Indie/Folk/Pop band, Distant Cousins. Their impressive discography includes multiple albums, and they’ve contributed their musical talents to various films, commercials, and TV shows.
Today, you can catch Ami entertaining around the world, performing at clubs, theaters, festivals, and special events.
Follow Ami on line at: Instagram – @amikozak_official, TikTok – @aj_comedy, YouTube – @amikozak_official, Twitter – @amikozak, Website – www.amikozak.com.
Raanan Hershberg
Raanan has performed his high-energy, joke-packed comedy on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late, Late Show with James Corden, and Comedy Central. His last special ‘Jokes from the Underground’ was included in the New York Times ‘Best Comedy of 2022’, where critic Jason Zinoman called it the funniest YouTube Special of the year, and said ‘his punchy and deliriously funny club comedy made me laugh after second and third viewings.’ He recently released his third special, ‘Brave’ which was filmed at The Comedy Cellar and his fourth special, ‘It Could Have Been Better” is now available on Amazon.
Dan Naturman
Dan Naturman began performing stand-up comedy several years ago in law school. After graduation he decided to devote himself to stand-up full time. Dan’s charming self-deprecation and unique way of viewing the world has had audiences laughing from coast to coast and has earned him appearances on numerous television shows including “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “America’s Got Talent”. He also had a recurring role on the HBO series “Crashing”. He is a regular performer at the world famous Comedy Cellar in New York.