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Photo by Paula Morvay
“My grandma bought me the DVD of the first season of Friday Night Lights because she thought it was a show about Shabbat.”
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At the mic, 26-year-old Larchmont native Jonathan Morvay quips about Facebook relationships and the gap between his Generation Y and his grandmother’s “greatest generation.”
At Indiana University, he thought a more stable career made more sense. He put his sports journalism degree to use, writing copy for the New York Islanders, but his sarcastic tone and one-liners often had him skating on thin ice with the hockey team’s brass. Morvay quit to take his shot at standup.
From his first open-mic night, he has felt at home on stage.
“I know a lot of comedians who have to drink before they go up,” Morvay says. “I never get nervous doing it. I’m confident in my jokes.”
Morvay’s work ethic is no gag. He says he works seven days a week, sweating it out Monday through Friday at New York’s open-mic nights and watching other acts. On the weekends, he occasionally travels as a feature act (the comedian who goes on before the headliner), playing comedy clubs throughout the country and doing college gigs. On a good night he’ll take home $250.
“It’s an extremely, extremely, extremely difficult process. It means performing, studying, and doing the open mics every night of the week,” Morvay says.
