Comedian Eric Neumann has carved out a niche for himself in the standup world by phoning his overprotective and unfiltered mother while on stage and using their off-the-cuff conversations as materi…
Comedian Eric Neumann has carved out a niche for himself in the standup world by phoning his overprotective and unfiltered mother while on stage — and using their off-the-cuff conversations as material.
The Queens native, 39, who now lives in Hudson Yards, said the bit came about organically after his mom Paula happened to call him when he was performing at New York Comedy Club.
“I was like, ‘Hello? ’ She was like, ‘Eric, I’m mad at your brother,’ and the crowd started laughing,” Neumann told The Post.
“I was like, ‘Mom, I’m on stage, I can’t do this right now. ’ She was like, ‘I’m sorry. Call me later.
'” Neumann then began calling his mother on stage at his shows — putting her on speakerphone during the last 10 minutes of his set — and sometimes that would be the only part of his entire act audiences would remark on. “They’d be like, ‘Oh my God, That mom phone call! ’ And I’d be like, ‘Well, what about me as a solo artist for 45 minutes before that?
'” he said. “My mom gets very, very nervous when I fly, when I travel. So I’d be like, ‘My mom’s probably worried about me. Let me call her,'” explained Neumann, whose comedy special-documentary, “Neumann, who started in comedy while he was a student at Hunter College, said his mom is a good sport.
“She’s very secure, totally fine being the butt of the joke and so am I, that’s where I got that from,” he said. “And admittedly I’d probably come to the point of the set where I go, ‘Ah, man, what should I do next? ’ So I’d call my mom and put her on speaker and she would be, ‘Where are you? ’ or ‘How’s the hotel?
'”and grew up on Long Island, insists it’s not an act for her — she needs to hear from her oldest son, especially when he’s on the road. “It’s true, I have been a little bit of an overprotective mother all these years, and follow him around, not physically, but phone wise. Thank God for the cell phone,” she said.
“I don’t remember him being funny … I don’t remember any of this comedy growing up at all,” Paula told The Post. During their tag-team act, she gives her perspective on everything from family to dating.
“I’m just naturally a smart ass. So like I try to put her in social situations over the phone that she has to kind of crawl out of,” said Neumann, a regular at the Comedy Cellar.
“I’d be like, ‘Mom, there’s a couple in the audience whose been together 10 years, but they’re not married. ’ And her old-school brain cannot comprehend any of that. So she’d be like, ‘Oh my God, get a move on it, guys!
'”“Well, you know, it’s a known thing, he’s 39, I want him to get married already, settle down. It’s enough running around,” said Paula, who lives in Brooklyn Heights.
“If we can get people to watch and go, ‘I have to call my mom,’ and then you catch up with your mom for an hour over the phone, that I consider a huge win,” Neumann said. Neumann, who started in comedy while he was a student at Hunter College, said his mom is a good sport.
"She's very secure, totally fine being the butt of the joke and so am I, that's where I got that from," he said. "I don't remember him being funny ... I don't remember any of this comedy growing up at all," Paula told The Post.
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