Ode to Skinny Boy

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• December 29, 2023

My debut comedy album, “Weird Enough” is streaming on Sirius XM with special thanks to my funny friend, Lenny Marcus, and his record label, Skinny Boy Records. Lenny is the coolest giant nerd that I know. And, what even he may not remember, is how much Lenny was a fast friend and ally when I was an almost literal baby in comedy.

The first time I did stand up, I was a college student. Though twenty years old, I was four inches shorter than I am now, scarcely 100 pounds and had years of puberty ahead of me (doctors have been scratching their heads about my impossible growth chart for my whole life). I didn’t meet Lenny that first night. I would end up falling into doing Bob DiBuono bringer shows at Stand Up NY (bringer shows, for those who don’t know, are new talent shows where you bring x amount of audience members and get to do x amount of minutes). Luck was on my side in those early years in the sense that A LOT of bringer shows are awful and scams, but Bob’s Stand Up NY shows were good, and among the green newbies like myself were pros, making them quality shows.

I was doing comedy less than six months when Lenny Marcus and Dan Naturman were on a show with me. Lenny and Dan are both hilarious professionals, and I remember laughing hard at their sets and wondering if it would even ever be possible for me to be as clever and funny as they were on stage.

After the show, I spoke with both outside. Lenny and Dan are the best, so they were super nice to me and I was fresh off the high of having a good set (a new feeling for me). Truly, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going with any of this or my life. At this time, I had switched my major from journalism to TV writing, with pipe dreams of being a sitcom writer. I knew I was a talented writer, and wrote with a humorous edge, but my start in stand-up was more experimental as I was (am) an introvert. And then once it gave me a rush, unlike surfing, an intellectual one, I was chasing fun. In retrospect, a horrible career move, but I was always in it for the fun and artistic fulfillment.

Anyway, I was chatting up Lenny and Dan, somewhat in awe these guys were even giving me, this skinny no one, the time of day. Dan, and I feel comfortable saying this because he is a friend, was much more cynical about comedy and the world of comedy. To me, they were living the dream. Sure, they might not be famous but they were working New York comedians. They were like super heroes. Minus saving anyone. But doing something so difficult and niche, and making it look easy. They got to do comedy every night! And kill!

Dan was like Sweeney Todd warning a starry eyed Anthony to me, “you are young. You will learn.” Lenny kind of politely and subtly swayed Dan away from his precautions, even as I inquired further about Dan’s more dour disposition. Sure, I was young, but I wasn’t naive. I knew show business was a dark place. I knew comedians were sad clowns, prone to depression (and even suicide). Though that darkness didn’t scare me. In fact, it gave me a sense I could belong in that world, having already been through a depression where I would have self destructive dreams.

So Lenny had a sense of optimism about comedy. I figured out fast he would be a good person to know, and maybe eventually befriend. Besides being a comic, Lenny was (is?) a statistician for the NY Giants. Being Giants fans was something else we had in common, and when I moved to Queens a few years after college, he would invite me to football parties with other comics where I sat quietly but was happy to be included and also hang out with my eventual writing partner, Nick Griffin. The football parties would eventually cease when he had his daughter, who is a sweetie and I would babysit.

The years go by, I get very serious about comedy, full blown obsessed. I wasn’t sure (I’m not sure) I had a future in it, but starting young and given my work ethic and some natural talent, I figured I had just about as good a shot as anyone who’s family wasn’t connected to someone in show business.

But, of course, my demons were never far off. Truthfully, mentally, I was/am more like Dan in that regard. I’ve been writing this blog weekly for fifteen years now, longer than I’ve been doing comedy. I made a promise to myself I’d always put out a blog a week. It was more an exercise to keep sharp and improve my skills, and play with style and story telling. But it has also been therapy. And if you’re a frequent reader or long time follower, you know I’ve rarely held back on sometimes distressing subjects of darkness.

Lenny sometimes read my blogs (I have always been flattered when comics I respect read my stuff). And sometimes he would call me or invite me to lunch to give me little pep talks. Lenny, for as long as I’ve known him, has always been in my corner. And not just me. He is a really good person. Respected by everyone I know. Actually, Lenny is so beloved that former SNL star, Leslie Jones, hires him to write for her!

When it came down to recording an album, after talking to other labels, I decided it would probably be best I self produce my album. The trouble is, in order to get on Sirius XM, you need to be on a record label. Lenny had started Skinny Boy Records for this reason. He knows, as much as any comic, how often comedians/artists get bad deals, losing half their money or even rights to their material. Because he’s savvier than most of us, he created his own label both for himself and to give back to the comedy community. When I told him I was recording an album, he gave me valuable information and offered to be my label so I could get on Sirius if I wanted. He also said, “it’s about time you record an album.”

On some podcasts, Lenny can be heard not just being funny but wise. He says he never really was trying to be famous in comedy. He wanted to be happy. I do think he is happier than most, even when he is being overly exasperated on stage. And why shouldn’t he be? Sure, I think Lenny should be more of a household name, but he is a working comic and writer, married to a great woman with an adorable child, and does what he loves. I think what makes him the most unhappy is the NY Giants, but we can’t have it all, all the time.

Skinny Boy Records also recently released a new Lenny Marcus album, “Death.” If you want to listen to a great album by an equally great comic and person, check it out here.