Rock club TV Eye hosts a Queer Gaze comedy night series in a secret back room

By Brett Wachtel

Seated in booths and chairs, an audience of twenty- and thirtysomethings is locked onto a comedian just a few feet in front of them.

“One thing I like about being bisexual is that everything traditionally masculine about me is for a very gay reason. Like, I’m really good with power tools but it’s only because I built so many theater sets,” says Joe Palana. Cue laughter from the audience at TV Eye.

TV Eye is a rock club located off the Halsey L stop on the border of Bushwick and Ridgewood. Its founder and New York nightlife staple, Jonathan Toubin, says something that distinguishes TV Eye from other venues is that “TV Eye set out to be more than a venue.” There are three main rooms in the club with a “semi-secret” fourth room called Room 237 where the Queer Gaze comedy show takes place. The room was created by TV Eye co-founder Caleb Braaten whose design for the room was inspired by the bathroom in Room 237 of ‘The Shining.”

Cunha does a little crowdwork (Brett Wachtel)

Intimate by design, Room 237 itself only holds 25 people at capacity, with a bar conveniently located inside so no one would need to leave to get a drink. The Queer Gaze comedy show is hosted by the art collective No Pop No Style, which is run by TV Eye chef Ross Noyes. As Noyes puts it, No Pop No Style is the no-guideline “fugitive community” of artists who are people “just making stuff.”

“You never know the depth and amazingness of the people around you unless you give room to explore,” he says.

One of those people is Chloé Cunha, the host at a recent evening there, a Bostonian turned New Yorker, a stand-up comedian and producer who also contributes to The Onion and Reductress. Whenever a late-comer wanders in — no matter how late — Cunha greets them the line, “come on in, you’re right on time!”

First up on this night is Jonathan Thomas who opens his set explaining how he appreciates his straight allies who… “sometimes take things a little too far.” He asks the crowd, “Do you guys remember Aaron Hernandez?” Hernandez was a former NFL player convicted of murder who, after his suicide in prison, was revealed as possibly gay. Thomas continues, “on the day Aaron Hernandez committed suicide, a friend texted me with all sincerity: ‘hey checking in, heard about Aaron Hernandez … made me think of you.’”

Talking to Cunha after the show, she describes the dilemma many queer comedians face in finding the “balance” of how much of their queerness they want to incorporate into their comedy. Queer comedians, she says, often face a double standard when they talk about dating and that straight comedians aren’t faced with people saying, “I like that comic but they only talk about straight stuff!” As the show’s producer, she doesn’t want the comedians to feel like they “only need to talk about queerness.” She just wants them to make people laugh.

As the show continues, people do laugh. Carmen Lagala gets a lot of them. She talks about everything from discovering her pansexuality to sending nudes and says, “I’ve been trying to send nudes … I feel like I take 400 and every single one I’m like, ‘I am my father’s daughter!’”

If you love comedy and don’t want to have to pay an expensive cover and a two-drink minimum, keep an eye out for the No Pop No Style shows at TV Eye. Coming up, there will be more comedy shows on February 16, 23 and 26, with Cunha hosting on the 16th, a showcase for local comedian Ash Diggs on the 23rd, and Dan Wickes hosting on February 26. There are still future dates being added with comedians always changing so be on the lookout for what you might like and follow the collective No Pop No Style to find out more about through their “TV Guide” zine and backroom shows.