Josh Gondelman, a clever and accomplished comedy writer, makes his Spokane debut
Pre-school teacher turned stand-up Josh Gondelman’s résumé places him at the head of the comedy class. The soft-spoken humorist has written for HBO’s award-winning “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and was the supervising producer-writer for the Showtime comedy series “Desus and Mero.”
Gondelman, 38, recently finished a gig as a stand-up consultant for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for its fifth and final season, which recently launched on Amazon Prime.
“I’ve never worked on a narrative show until ‘Maisel,’ which was a great experience,” Gondelman said by phone from his Brooklyn apartment. “I was at the table read for the series finale and I’ll never forget it. It was really funny and sweet. It was such a privilege to be part of a show that lasted five seasons and witness its culmination.”
The Boston native came of age watching such classic sitcoms as “Seinfeld” and “Arrested Development.” Gondelman enjoyed the former so much that he created the hilarious Twitter account, “Modern Seinfeld,” Gondelman summarizing contemporary Seinfeld episodes in 140 characters or less in 2013 to 2015.
“George goes to war with an evil barista who writes embarrassing things on George’s cup instead of his name” is one example of Gondelman’s work.
Seinfeld co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David were asked about the Twitter account.
“Someone ambushed Larry David and read one of the tweets to him and he said something like, ‘I don’t think that would have gone on the show,’ ” Gondelman said. “To inconvenience Larry David for one minute because of the ‘Seinfeld’ Twitter account is pretty cool.”
Jason Alexander, who played George on “Seinfeld,” tweeting out positive feedback, is even cooler. Alexander has been a recurring character on “Maisel,” but Gondelman and the sitcom icon never met.
“That would have been great but that wasn’t in the cards,” Gondelman said.
There are so many entertainment reboots but the odds of a contemporary “Seinfeld” are bleak. However, if there was such a show, Gondelman would jump at an opportunity to be part of it.
“It would be a dream job, but I’ve had a number of dream jobs,” Gondelman said.
Oliver’s unpredictable and amusing show was one great gig for Gondelman. “That was my first full-time job as a television writer and I learned so much,” Gondelman said. “It was a great training ground. After working on that show I was able to write a joke about any topic.”
It was a totally different experience for Gondelman on “Desus and Mero.” “It was so loose and fun,” Gondelman said. “They’re so funny, unique and unpredictable. I had the best time.”
Gondelman, who will perform Wednesday at the Spokane Comedy Club, will riff about pop culture and his life. “I talk about where I’m at,” Gondelman said. “I’m married with no kids and I talk about how the world is so overwhelming and confusing. I talk about my reality and about the choices we make. Remember when it was all about buying an NFT a year ago? Well, that proves that not all change is progress.”
Gondelman is amused by how easy it is to buy marijuana in the state of Washington compared to New York. Weed is legal in Gotham but the dispensaries aren’t commonplace and the underground market is still booming, according to Gondleman. “It’s a lot cooler to buy it on the streets here but I’ll happily take a hit on coolness by buying (marijuana) in a convenience store when I get to Washington. It’s OK because I’ve never been cool.”
Perhaps, but Gondelman has always been funny enough to score some amazing comedy jobs.