The comedy scene in New York loses people to LA...

The comedy scene in New York loses people to LA all the time, and the number of people heading west seems to be going up by the month. Richard Morgan talked to a slew of comedy people on both coasts about making the move, the pros and cons of heading to Los Angeles, and the effect of the high turnover rate on the NYC comedy scene. Click here for the roundtable.

Interviewees include: Matt Besser, Donald Glover, Lennon Parham, Ben Schwartz, Anthony King, Jason Mantzoukas, Nick Kroll, Eugene Mirman, Anthony Atamanuik, Streeter Seidell, Eliza Skinner, Joe Mande, Gil Ozeri, DC Pierson, and Chris Gethard.

A taste:

MATT BESSER, a founding member of The Upright Citizens Brigade: I was the first of the UCB Four to move out here, in like 2000 or 2001. It was miserable. MIS-ER-A-BLE.

JASON MANTZOUKAS, of The League, Children’s Hospital and upcoming Sacha Baron Cohen project The Dictator: I’d be in LA and people used to say ‘Oh, UCB? Like the University of California at Berkeley?’

BESSER: In a lot of ways it was like starting over. Beyond being frustrating it was humiliating. I remember walking into some tiny coffee shop on a Monday night for an open mic and I said, ‘Hi, I just moved to town and I’m a comedian.’ And this woman who ran it said ‘Yeah, I know you. I recognize you from your show.’ And I said I’d like to perform at the open mic and she said, ‘Sure, just send me a tape and I’ll look it over and let you know.’ I should’ve thrown coffee on her right there. So, no, I didn’t perform there that night. Fuck no. But I performed in lots of places like that, just as bad or worse.

MANTZOUKAS: It’s Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours. We came in and put up shows constantly. I remember I played Ricky Martin for a year — for a year! — in a show every Saturday night. It was a horrible show. I look back and, really, it’s embarrassing. But we were doing it.