JERSEY DEVIL COMEDY: Local Laughs at the Jersey Shore

Ed Goodavage is a singer-songwriter from the Cape May area who plays in a thrash metal band, and now finds himself in the center of a growing comedy community at the Jersey shore.

He said he first tried his hand at comedy at the Nauti Spirits distillery in North Cape May one night when they were having a stand-up event and he opened for some comics who came down from New York.

The timing of that show couldn’t have been more perfect. Kismet even. 

He had just told his wife that he wanted to find something more to do with his life now that he had recently turned 40.

When she asked what he’d want to do, he was quick with an answer.

“I said, ‘ I want to be a rock star comedian,’” he said.

She was skeptical, to put it mildly.

“She’s like, ‘ yeah, you’re 40 years old. Get real buddy,’” Goodavage said of his wife’s response to him pouring out his heart to her about his unfulfilled dreams.

But, he said, she eventually relented and asked what that might realistically look like.

“I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe I’ll join an improv group or find people that are doing it,’” he said.

It wasn’t long after that conversation that he found out about the comedy show at Nauti Spirits, and he worked up the nerve to give it a try.

As fate would have it, in the crowd that night at Nauti was Dom Benigno, who had recently started forming what would become the Jersey Devil Comedy troupe. Goodavage said the two got talking about their shared comedic interests, and they’ve been leading the group’s efforts together ever since.

Benigno said Jersey Devil’s origin story starts at the End of the Road theater in North Cape May, a performance space and movie theater that has since closed.

“We were just a bunch of ragtag musicians and aspiring comics –  just creative people looking for a cool space,” Benigno said. “We found it at that theater, we gravitated towards it, and Jen (Swain), who was running the theater, really had given us her calendar and was like, ‘hey, here’s all my dates I can’t use. You guys come up with some shows.’”

Benigno said that in that space the group put together shows including different combinations of stand-up, music, roast battles and improv, but said now their main focus has been on creating traditional stand-up shows.  

He said one faction of the group, led by Jeff Sharkey,  has continued doing improv shows, and they have a performance coming up at Studio Space in Somers Point on April 11.

Goodavage said that whatever the type of entertainment, their mission has always been about building a platform to showcase their work and the work of other up-and-coming acts in the area. He said they now have a group of about 15 to 20 comics they can call on at any time, along with  a similar number of both improv actors and musicians.

“Now we’re at the point we’re getting a little steam behind us,” he said. “People are finding us and saying, ‘hey, would you do that here?’”

Jersey Devil’s shows are mainly in Cape May County and in the Atlantic City area, but they’ve also ventured a bit further, with a recent  improv show at Kevin Smith’s Smod Castle Cinemas up in Atlantic Highlands. 

Benigno and Goodavage also do a weekly Jersey Devil Radio show online at www.blowupradio.com.

Recent shows for the group have taken place at the Showboat in Atlantic City, Erma Moose Lodge, Surf Dog Bar and Grill in Woodbine, and Behr Brewing, in Lower Township, where they have an open mic event planned for March 25.

Benigno said the group recently locked in a full calendar of dates for the summer at Bees Knees Kitchen & Speakeasy Bar inside the Marquis de Lafayette hotel in Cape May, with shows starting there in May.

For more on Jersey Devil Comedy and their upcoming events, follow them on Facebook.