For those of you who already know - and for those of you who don't - the nickname of New York City is the Big Apple. Whether or not this nickname led to the emergence of Nick Fisharman's comedic career may never be known. What is known, however, is that Fisharman is New York's premiere apple comedian.
Fisharman, a native of Virginia, moved moved to New York in the early 2000's hoping to start a band. That dream is still in tact; but Fisharman "dreamed up" a new dream during his time in New York: he wanted to also become a comedian.
"Not just a comedian," Fisharman said during his Starbucks lunch break, "But an apple comedian."
You might be wondering what exactly an apple comedian is. If that's the case, then let's break it down. Essentially, an apple comedian is any comic whose material consists of apple-related topics or apple punchlines. Fisharman, a self-proclaimed "Apple Freak", might be the first apple comedian.
"Sure, I've thought that I might be the first," said Fisharman while he finished up his homemade Caesar salad, "But that doesn't really affect my approach."
Fisharman doesn't hesitate to poke fun at all types of apples.
"[Royal] Gala, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith - you name it. Fuji, Jonagold. You know? Macintosh, obviously."
Fisharman has seen minimal success so far in the New York stand up comedy scene. He's performed at a few reputable clubs such as Comic Strip Live and Comix, but all of the shows have been "bringers" - shows that require Fisharman to bring a minimum number of audience members in order to perform. He's never been able to bring enough audience members. He has, however, performed at a few open mics in the city including one at the Village Lantern. He even has the set recorded on his Flip camera.
"There's this one joke in that show where I am talking about what it'd be like to eat apples in space. And at the end of the joke, the astronaut says to the command center, 'Houston, we've got a Macintosh,'" said Fisharman.
When asked if coming up with material for apple jokes is hard, Fisharman admitted that it was.
"It is tough, you know? Because apples are sort of one-dimensional. They don't talk, or move, or anything like that. And there's actually - surprisingly - not a big apple comedy market out there. I've received a few emails from some local health food stores who think that I am an apple vendor, but aside from that, there's been really no one reaching out to me."
Fisharman turns 37 this summer and is thinking of sticking entirely to his music dream. His band, Jed & The Cosmonauts, is set to record their 13th home-studio-recorded album this year and hopes to play at some local bars around New York City by next spring.
"The band is doing alright. It just stinks because, like, I've gotten so much credit card debt in the past year buying things like the HD Flip cam and buying guitar cords and used DVDs from Amazon and stuff. So, I've just got to work on a budget or something. But I think I may only do a few more comedy shows before calling it quits."
If this is the case, then you've only got a limited amount of time to check out Fisharman perform his unique comedic act. If you hope to catch him, try Under St. Mark's Theater on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. And remember, an apple [joke] a day keeps the doldrums away!
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