Comics Chris Distefano and Damien Lemon will come to Parlor Live Comedy Club Bellevue for shows on “The Code Tour,” from July 31 to Aug. 2.
Both men are longtime contributors to MTV’s “Guy Code,” a comedy reality series that explores the alleged unwritten code of conduct between men. They also act as enforcers — and sometimes transgressors — of “the guy code” on spin-off series “Guy Court.” Distefano is a contributor to female-oriented spin-off “Girl Code” and Lemon appears on the game show“Hip Hop Squares.”
Distefano, 29, was born in Brooklyn, New York and has remained in the New York City metro area performing at clubs like Caroline’s, Gotham and The Comic Strip. And New York City has remained an influential part of his material.
“I have no idea what my dad does for a living,” he said, opening a 2013 appearance on Letterman. “I’ve never known. He’s just a big, tough Italian dude from the Bronx. Never had a job and he’s always had money. Everything’s paid for in cash, always. College tuition: ‘Here, here’s a $100,000 in a briefcase. Paid for two extra years ‘cause you’re an idiot.’”
The wise guy is also a smart guy: he earned a doctorate in physical therapy in 2010.
Lemon was raised in Ossining, N.Y., and performs throughout New York City. He made VIBE magazine’s list of “20 Comedians to Watch in 2014” for his style of “emotionless insight.”
That insight caught him in a comic’s worst nightmare at the Hot 97 2013 April Fool’s Day show at Madison Square Garden, where he was booed off stage for telling a joke about the love given to dead rappers. The same joke, which goes on to discuss the pleasures of breaking the news of celebrity deaths, had gotten big laughs a year earlier on an episode of “Russell Simmons Presents: The Ruckus.” But he kept a positive outlook on the incident when recalling it on the Power 105.1 Breakfast Club.
“The cool thing about being booed is, immediately if you get off stage, they tell you ‘Everyone else has been booed,’” Lemon said. “‘Listen, don’t worry about it. They booed Chappelle… they booed Martin Luther King. You’re gonna be good!’ So it was cool.”