Friars Frolics starring Stewie Stone, Tom Cotter and Brad Zimmerman

Established in 1904 as an exclusive gentleman’s club for celebrities, the New York Friars Club has long been the funniest place in America. Stewie Stone is Chairman of the Activities and Entertainment Committee; the Friars count on him to be a standup guy and get the Frolics on their feet. Standup guy! Get it? Stewie grew up in Brooklyn. “I was a terrible introvert, and real small for my age,” he recalls. “I found if I could make the rest of the kids laugh, they wouldn’t beat me up.” Stewie ditched college early to embark on a career as a rock ‘n’ roll drummer; for years he pounded the skins in pickup bands up and down the Eastern Seaboard. His “big break” came in the form of an offer from a resort in the Catskill Mountains — if you could call it an offer. The Concord Hotel needed someone to entertain. But only on weekdays. And only if it rained. “I kept praying for rain,” he says, ‘cause I only got the job if it rained. I tell people I did all the morning shows there.” Eventually, he bade farewell to his weekend-drummer gig and went to work full-time as the Concord’s social director. One day a stranger walked up to him, said, “You’re funny. Can you talk on stage?” and proceeded to hire him to entertain at the Playboy Club chain. For the next three years, Stewie spent between 30 to 40 weeks annually working next to Bunnies across the country and in London. For four years afterwards, he toured the country as the opening act for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and subsequently enjoyed a lengthy string of successes on the Las Vegas stage.