Hey Guys! Comedy Tour makes its way to NC

Three comedians from New York City will be the featured acts when the Hey Guys! Tour makes its way to North Carolina this week, but Triangle-area comedy fans may recognize some familiar faces at the shows as well.

Posted 4:44 p.m. Sep 18, 2018 — Updated 4:44 p.m. Sep 18, 2018

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Three comedians from New York City will be the featured acts when the Hey Guys! Tour makes its way to North Carolina this week, but Triangle-area comedy fans may recognize some familiar faces at the shows as well.

Will Abeles, who created the monthly Hey Guys! show in New York City a little more than two years ago, originally planned on doing one show in NC at The People’s Improv Theater (PIT) in Chapel Hill. The PIT in NYC hosts Abeles’ monthly show.

When Abeles decided to expand the Hey Guys! Tour to four North Carolina cities, he got fellow New York stand-ups Yedoye Travis and Gabriel Pacehco to join him while sticking to his plan of using local talent at each tour stop.

The tour kicks off Thursday in Asheville, followed by stops at Durty Bull in Durham on Friday, The PIT Chapel Hill on Saturday and Lonerider Brewery in Raleigh on Sunday.

During a Monday afternoon phone interview, Abeles and I discussed how the idea for the tour came together, how NC comedians were chosen for the Hey Guys! shows, why he’s excited to spend time on and off stage in North Carolina and more.

Enjoy the interview, follow Abeles, Travis and Pacheco on Twitter, and don't forget The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes at the end.

Tony Castleberry: How did the idea for the “Hey Guys!” tour come to be?

Will Abeles: I started Hey Guys! two years ago in New York at the People’s Improv Theater (PIT). We just celebrated the two-year anniversary of it last month. Leading up to that, I was thinking, how can we keep the show fresh and do something else? The PIT opened up a location in Chapel Hill. We were talking about (a show at the Chapel Hill location) a couple of months ago. Instead of it being a one-off show, I decided to kind of build it into a whole tour and I found two other comics in New York who were willing to travel with me. That’s how it came together.

It was cool. I had a couple of connections in North Carolina, but for the most part it was just word of mouth and people suggesting, “Oh, you should reach out to so and so and see what they’re doing in Durham.” That kind of thing. It happened very organically. It was nice because it got me connected with a lot of different people in different parts of North Carolina. I think it’s gonna be a good way not only to show some New York comedians but also showcase some of the talent in North Carolina as well.

TC: I think it's cool that you're using local acts. Some tours don't do that. Was that the plan all along?

WA: Yeah, that was something I wanted to do from the beginning. Originally, I didn’t know how many New York comics I was going to bring. I don’t have a big enough name to headline on my own. [Abeles, interviewer laugh] So I brought a couple of New York guys down.

The show in Asheville, that was the first one we put together outside of the Chapel Hill location. That one has three other comics, all from Asheville. Raleigh and Durham both have a local comic who help set it up and The PIT Chapel Hill has two guys from the Raleigh/Durham area.

TC: That’s fantastic. Do you know anything about these local comedians or do you lean on the people at the venues to say, “Hey, this is a good local person you should put up.” How did that decision-making process go?

WA: I performed in Asheville once so I knew a guy named Tom Peters, a comedian there. He helped select people for the Asheville show. I took suggestions based on him because I think he’s a very funny comedian and I trust his judgment.

A lot of it just came from word of mouth. “Hey, I’m looking for someone on this date.” “You should hit up so and so and so and so.” I’d hit up two people and one would be booked, the other would be free and from there, we’d get another person. It really just came from trusting the comics and who they suggested might be a good fit for the show. I haven’t seen a lot of them, so that’s why I’m excited because it’ll be something fresh and new, but I trust these comics’ judgment.

TC: You live in New York, where you can get pretty much anything you want at any time and I know this is a tour you’re on so you have to keep things moving, but is part of you looking forward to time slowing down a little bit while you’re in North Carolina?

WA: Absolutely. We’re going to Asheville a day early just for that reason. I do a lot of road work so it’ll be nice, first of all, because there won’t be as much driving. Everything’s pretty close, ya know? We’ll get to relax during the day and then do the show and not have any reason to stay out until 4 a.m. [interviewer laughs]

Here it is, The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes:

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