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    Beverly Munter, an 81-year-old grandmother, took a stand-up comedy class and performed her first show at a comedy club. During her set, she told raunchy jokes that surprised the audience who expected a "sweet old lady." Munter has always loved making people laugh, drawing from her experiences growing up in a comedic family and decades of public speaking. Her natural talent and life experiences have proven her to be a successful student of comedy at an older age.

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    Laughing Matters PDF

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    179 views3 pages
    Beverly Munter, an 81-year-old grandmother, took a stand-up comedy class and performed her first show at a comedy club. During her set, she told raunchy jokes that surprised the audience who expected a "sweet old lady." Munter has always loved making people laugh, drawing from her experiences growing up in a comedic family and decades of public speaking. Her natural talent and life experiences have proven her to be a successful student of comedy at an older age.

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    Beverly Munter, an 81-year-old grandmother, took a stand-up comedy class and performed her first show at a comedy club. During her set, she told raunchy jokes that surprised the audience who expected a "sweet old lady." Munter has always loved making people laugh, drawing from her experiences growing up in a comedic family and decades of public speaking. Her natural talent and life experiences have proven her to be a successful student of comedy at an older age.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    179 views3 pages

    Laughing Matters PDF

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous akXajxJzw
    Beverly Munter, an 81-year-old grandmother, took a stand-up comedy class and performed her first show at a comedy club. During her set, she told raunchy jokes that surprised the audience who expected a "sweet old lady." Munter has always loved making people laugh, drawing from her experiences growing up in a comedic family and decades of public speaking. Her natural talent and life experiences have proven her to be a successful student of comedy at an older age.

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    E22

    newsday.com/act2

    E19

    act two N1

    act2

    MYTURN

    Grandparenting
    boomer
    style

    Beverly Munter
    mines 81 years
    of living for her
    comedy shtick

    Laughing
    matters B
    BY JIMIN KIM

    Special to Newsday

    Beverly Munter thrilled the crowd with her raunchy humor at Governors Comedy Club last week, the culmination of an eight-week workshop.

    NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016

    NEWSDAY / THOMAS A. FERRARA

    newsday.com

    ackstage at Governors Comedy Club


    in Levittown, Beverly
    Munter sat waiting in
    a room as the chatter
    of more than 100
    audience members permeated
    the walls. After taking stand-up
    comedy classes for eight weeks,
    Munter, 81, was about to
    perform her first show before
    a paying crowd.
    Im very excited, said
    Munter, who had a list of her
    jokes to help remember them
    before going on stage last Sunday evening. I love performing
    in front of an audience.
    The Plainview grandmother
    of three was one of seven fledgling comedians who recently
    participated in Governors
    Comedy College, an eight-week
    workshop culminating in two
    performances on the clubs
    stage, where professionals are
    booked every week. John
    Trueson, a stand-up comedy
    veteran with 30 years experience, taught the students how
    to write and deliver jokes. Their
    first show Sunday also featured
    several veteran comics.
    Of all the older students Trueson has taught, he said, Munter
    just may be the best and the
    raunchiest. She looks like a
    sweet old lady, but shes the sort
    of bawdy old grandma that everybody wanted to have, said Trueson, who lives in Levittown. She
    will talk about sexual topics and
    things of that nature. If people
    are expecting a sweet old lady
    when she walks out, theyre in
    for a rude awakening.
    Demonstrating his confidence in Munter, he gave her
    the tall order of closing the
    show. The audiences sat at
    tables lined in rows, some
    very close to the stage, which
    was more like a platform
    about the size of two king
    mattresses. The setup created
    an intimate feeling with the
    comics who seemed within

    See MUNTER on E20

    ACT2

    NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016

    newsday.com

    act two N1

    E20

    Comedy crowd pleaser


    MUNTER from E19

    reach. For each of the performers, the reception was


    hearty and warm; family
    members and friends of the
    first-timers, especially, turned
    out to support.
    When Munter stepped on
    stage, the greeting was wildly
    enthusiastic. She began her
    prepared material, rattling off
    one joke after another, gesturing to accentuate her punch
    lines. No joke was too edgy

    for Munter, and her upbeat


    attitude was infectious. She
    told a story about meeting a
    90-year-old man through
    online dating. He was
    lovely, Munter said. I had
    such a wonderful dinner with
    this guy, but he didnt call
    me. And after two weeks, I
    was so upset. But, then I read
    in the newspaper . . . he died
    . . . and I felt so much better. The audience howled.
    Munters comedic chops
    came as no surprise to her

    daughter, Holly Koenig, 57, a


    Westbury resident who attended Comedy College with
    her mom and also performed
    Sunday night. Shes the type
    of person that sits next to you
    on a train or an airplane and
    you want to talk to her for an
    hour. Koenig said.

    COMEDY QUEEN

    Munter said she owes a lot


    of her personality to growing
    up in Hollis, where she lived
    with her parents and aunts

    families in the same Queens


    home. Leisure time was often
    spent watching comedy films
    starring Dean Martin and
    Jerry Lewis. I went to every
    one of their movies when I
    was young, she said. Lucille
    Ball was another favorite. As
    the youngest child in her
    home, Munter said, entertaining came naturally to her.
    Anything that came out of
    my mouth, everyone would
    look to me to see what I was
    saying because I was the

    youngest, she said. So, I


    think thats where the comedy came in. I would want to
    make them laugh and I
    would want to perform in
    front of them.
    Inspiration was provided
    by her mother and father, she
    said. When her mother was
    young, she was a professional
    tango dancer in Harlems
    Apollo Theater. Munters
    father, a World War I veteran,
    was a traveling salesman in
    Manhattan, hawking various

    ACT2

    E21

    NEWSDAY / THOMAS A. FERRARA

    act two N1

    When she was 18, she left


    Queens to live in Dayton,
    Ohio, and married Paul Leon
    Munter, who was a first lieutenant working as an aeronautical engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In the
    mid-1950s, they moved to
    Long Island where they
    raised Holly and a son, Rick
    Munter, who is a dentist in
    Jericho. She lost her husband,
    who had endured many years
    of physical problems, in 2004.
    The couple was married for
    51 years, and she still calls
    him her soul mate. After he
    died, she briefly attended a
    bereavement group. I didnt
    care for that at all, Munter
    said. That wasnt my nature.
    I wanted to go forward and
    start a new life.

    LESSONS IN STAND-UP
    anna make em laugh? Here are
    places on Long Island that teach
    the art of stand-up comedy.

    BROKERAGE COMEDY CLUB,


    STAND UP UNIVERSITY
    2797 Merrick Rd., Bellmore
    In this seven-week course, students
    learn how to create a five- to eight-minute
    act. The class is taught by three professional comics, including Rich Walker,
    a 21-year comedy veteran. In the sixth
    week, students perform a live show. Week
    seven, students receive a review of their
    performances. Class limit of 10 students.
    The next classes begin in March.

    COST $295; or $500 if two students


    enroll together. For more information,
    email [email protected] or call Walker
    at 516- 810-5447.
    GOVERNORS COMEDY COLLEGE
    90 Division Ave., Levittown
    An eight-week stand-up class taught by
    30-year comedy veteran John Trueson.
    Students learn how to write material,
    deliver jokes and gain insight into the
    business. At the end of classes, students
    perform two live shows.
    COST $275. For more information,
    email [email protected] or call
    516-731-3358.
    COMEDIC
    COLLEAGUES
    Munter, center,
    waits backstage
    with other
    comedians
    at Governors.
    The Plainview
    grandmother of
    three, had the
    honor of closing
    the live show.
    The retiree is
    no stranger to
    public speaking.

    NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016

    items like towels and Christmas ornaments. Her father


    wrote jokes on 3-by-5-inch
    cards, using his prepared
    material to make his customers laugh, she recalled,
    and she was his practice
    audience. I was very lucky,
    Munter said. I had a wonderful relationship with my
    parents.
    Munter said her comedy is
    more like storytelling and
    that she draws from life experiences, both happy and sad.

    FUNNY FAMILY Munter took comedy lessons with her daughter, Holly Koenig, right, at Governors
    Comedy Club in Levittown, where both performed.

    newsday.com

    CROWD CONTROL
    The audience
    eats up Munters
    performance,
    full of raw humor
    that breaks the
    stereotype of sweet,
    old lady, her
    instructor says.

    In 2012 and 2013, she volunteered as a motivational


    speaker for senior citizens in
    local community centers and
    public libraries. Her talks were
    meant to inspire: drawing on
    her own experience of finding
    love again as an older person
    after losing a spouse.
    Two years after she began
    online dating, she said, she
    had met 1,200 men and
    dated 44 of them. The last
    one was a keeper. H. Barry
    Waldman, whom she affectionately calls No. 44, has
    been her companion now for
    nine years. Waldman, 80, a
    dentist who is a distinguished
    teaching professor in the
    Department of General Dentistry at Stony Brook University, said he loves Munters
    colorful personality.
    Of the women I had been
    with, she seemed to be on a
    different plane, said Waldman, who lives with Munter.
    She has the capacity to
    make friends with the world
    inside of minutes. The two
    often travel the world together. Munter retired in 2010
    after working for more than
    35 years as a top administrator for a medical/dental insurance company in Hicksville.
    There, she gave corporate
    speeches and used her humor
    to roast workers who were
    retiring or had hit a career
    milestone. Her public speaking for the company provided
    her with endless stage time,
    and she always felt comfortable in front of a crowd.
    Performing as a stand-up
    comic meant she could scratch
    that goal off her bucket list.
    But, she said after the show, it
    may not have been a one-time
    deal. I love people and I love
    making them laugh.

    NEWSDAY / THOMAS A. FERRARA

    NEWSDAY / THOMAS A. FERRARA

    LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE

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