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Thursday, March 28, 2024

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092214i-Stand-Up-Sit-Down

True fans of comedy will love the show coming Tuesdays to the East Meets West Bookstore, The Stand Up Sit Down, where comedians Kwasi Mensah and Christine An are adding discussion time after the standup itself – a chance for the audience to pick comedians’ brains about their process and ask about the material they did that night.

The comics doing sets and talking afterward include Dan Boulger, Kofi Thomas and Dana Cairns.

Mensah already curates the bookstore’s monthly Standup++ show, which combines comedy, storytelling and slam poetry, and believes the new show fits well with the mission of the store. East Meets West was founded in 1999 but revived by a second generation of family owners in 2004 to be “the community space of the 21st century.”

“The space is all about helping people foster creativity,” said Mensah, who began exploring the comedy discussion concept in early August, asking fellow comics if he felt there would be interest.

The shows are set for the fourth Tuesdays of each month, putting the second of them on Oct. 28. By then, Mensah may follow up on plans to capture the discussions on video or to turn them into a podcast – a kind of class for comedians in training or just a deep, luxurious dive for comedy aficionados. Corey Manning, a Boston comic and motivational speaker transplanted from Durham, N.C., held similar shows at Mottley’s, a comedy club open from 2008 to 2012 by Faneuil Hall in Boston.

The Stand Up Sit Down is at 8 p.m. Tuesday at East Meets West Bookstore, 934 Massachusetts Ave. There is a suggested donation of $5.