The Comedians

By: Philip Dawkins

Narrated by: Alejandro Antonio Ruiz, Ana Isabel Dow, Drew Droege, Elizabeth Ledo, Gabe Gonzalez, Joy Dolo, Rudy Galvan, Stanley Bahorek

Length: 1 hr and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

“Two comics walk into a relationship....”

Stop me if you’re heard this one: Veteran comic Chauncy and social-media star José are the very definition of “opposites attract”. But sparks, and jokes, fly after the two of them embark upon a beautiful romance for the ages...two vastly different ages. Starring Drew Droege and Gabe Gonzalez, The Comedians is a modern queer love story, told through individual stand-up acts. We hear the ups and downs of their journey—from falling hard to failing harder than a botched punchline—in this hilariously relatable play about love, loss, and, above all, "The Laugh".

Playwright Philip Dawkins was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible-commissioned playwright, he received funding and creative support to develop The Comedians.

Directed by Nick Borenstein

Note: The Comedians contains adult language. Discretion is advised.

©2022 Philip Dawkins (P)2022 AO Media LLC

Unexpectedly lovely. Fantastic performers

I was skeptical about the format, but it really worked well. The stand up parts were often funny and always engaging, and the characters and their relationship were so compelling. Absolutely lovely.

Where's the ending?

I listened to this on a whim and was hoping for a cute and funny romance. It was cute and funny at times, but also a very real portrayal of struggle. Spoiler alert: I cried at the ending and was left asking, that's it? I wanted a happy ending and when Chaucey walked in to Jose's dressing room I could feel the want. Or so I thought. Jose had to go and say he was seeing someone and then Chaucey just leaves. Music started playing and I was waiting for an epilogue of then doing a joint act together but nope. All I got was end credits and left wanting to know where they were. The performance was great. But the story left me sad.

Tough, Sad, Mean and Honest…after his addiction—-

After his a addiction but no excuse for the audience that attach him and then he looses it… a bit much— More about tragedy than comedy-
Sometimes the line between the two can not be seen.. just time will help us laugh.

Great concept, brilliant execution

Like much of Dawkins’s work, The Comedians is skillfully interwoven. The character development is on point, and the audio play was beautifully acted. I listened in one sitting, and then listened again, appreciating it even more the second time around. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Love it!

Never listened to anything like! It starts off as a rom com then touches you deeply with the realistic realities of life and addiction.

Interestingly Sad

To be fair, I was not in the mood for sad. With that said, I enjoyed the performance. It seemed to get sadder and sadder as book progressed.

Clever idea but hard to understand at times and I didn’t like the end

Equal parts funny and cringey. Sometimes I would rewind 3-4 times and still have no idea what was said. Don’t listen with kids in the car.

Sad

This is definitely not funny or entertaining. Storyline of 2 hurt/broken people making fun of their lives. Sad.

Well, sadness is an emotion too.

I liked it. Made me feel something and think about it, not just laugh. Good work. That's all.

Tragedy + Time

Poignant story, performed very well. Don't come here looking for a laugh riot; this is more in the vein of laughing because if you weren't laughing you'd be crying. At first in Chauncy's set I kept thinking "that would've worked better with just a slightly different phrase or word order" and then I realized his sets were *supposed* to be good-but-not-great, and my reaction proves they were written perfectly to evoke that. It felt very real - the codependency, those little snapshots of life with/as an alcoholic and in recovery - IYKYK. I was surprised by the depth for a short audio play, and I think the genre of modern stand-up was a good medium to take us so deep so fast, but there was a lot of subtlety too; like after it finished I started thinking that Jose's relationship with Chauncy mirrors Chauncy's relationship with the audience throughout the story.