The Comedians Audiobook By Philip Dawkins cover art

The Comedians

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

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
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $7.95

Buy for $7.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

“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
Literature & Fiction Celebrity Comedy Funny Witty Jokes Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Watch the trailer for The Comedians

0:00

About the Creator

A Chicago playwright and educator whose plays include Failure: A Love Story; Le Switch; The Homosexuals; The Burn; Dr.Seuss’s The Sneetches, the Musical (with composer David Mallamud); Spamtown, USA; The Gentleman Caller; Charm; Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living and The Happiest Place on Earth. Philip has won some awards and not won some others. He’s taught playwriting at his alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, Victory Gardens Theater and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Many of Philip’s plays, including his scripts for young performers, are available through Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing. He is currently working on an American English translaptation of Michel Tremblay’s Messe Solennelle Pour Une Pleine Lune D'été.

About the Director

Nick Borenstein is a New York-based director, writer and performer. Nick directed, wrote and starred in Sweater, 99, and Pete Can't Play Basketball, films that screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, Outfest, Newfest, Just For Laughs, InsideOut, Frameline, Cannes Short Film Festival and many others. He also directed, wrote, and starred in the digital series Trip, a selection of IFP / Gotham's Screen Forward Lab, and The Buddy System, a digital series for Elite Daily. Additionally, Nick directed and choreographed 5INCO, a live dance performance during his 2019 Artist Residency at Casa Lü in Mexico City. Nick has also served as a creative executive and producer at Topic, Participant Media and Hudsun Media.

About the Performer

Drew Droege has written and performed several solo shows, including Off-Broadway's Bright Colors And Bold Patterns (Outstanding Performance of the Year, Outfest 2018) and Happy Birthday Doug, both currently streaming on BroadwayHD. He's an alum of The Groundlings Theatre, Upright Citizens Brigade, and is best known for his online parody videos of Chloe Sevigny, featured in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, OUT, Wigstock, and a Marc Jacobs campaign. His most recent TV credits include HouseBroken, The Goldbergs, Bob's Burgers, The Great North, Search Party, Drunk History, Heathers, Q-Force, Bless The Harts, Teachers, and Nobodies. He can be seen in upcoming films Me Time, Cora Bora, The Extinction of Fireflies, and El Tonto, and appears frequently on stage in LA with Celebration Theatre, where he played the title role in Die Mommie Die! (also at Kirk Douglas Theatre) and Casita del Campo, where he has done a drag Golden Girls show for several years, featured recently in LA Times.

About the Performer

Gabe González is a Puerto Rican comedian, writer and actor living in Brooklyn, NY. He was born and raised in Central Florida. Gabe can be seen in the HBO documentary Habla y Vota, Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer and The Last OG on TBS. He was featured in Brooklyn Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in 2017, Time Out New York’s Comedians of Color You Should Know in 2018 and his pilot Los Blancos was a winner at the Yes And Laughter Lab in 2019. You can find him doing stand-up across NYC, including his monthly queer comedy show The Lavender Scare.

What listeners say about The Comedians

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    102
  • 4 Stars
    46
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    35
  • 1 Stars
    25
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    127
  • 4 Stars
    42
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    16
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    89
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    43
  • 2 Stars
    36
  • 1 Stars
    27

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Sad

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Depth of humanistic humor.

I loved the raw truth mixed with many comedic interweaves. I do have Confusion about who the comedians really are. I found this randomly on audible from their advertising.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!