Comedian, writer, closet buddhist, lifelong romantic, actor, poet, and, on a good day, an excellent friend--these are but a few of the ways Matt Nagin describes himself.
Matt grew up near the food courts of Long Island, a land of incomparable frozen yogurt and reckless club-hopping. He was a class clown who often got kicked out and/or beaten up for his antics.
After a stint in L.A., where he worked in the film industry, Matt began to pursue standup comedy. His first night on stage he pretended his elbow needed a job as a substitute teacher. For seven minutes. At a place called Sal's Comedy Hole. No one laughed. You could have packaged the response as a meditation CD at Barnes and Nobles. Still, perhaps owing to a sadistic streak, he was back trying again the next night.
Since those early days Matt has begun to make a name for himself. His standup is insightful, challenging, original, and, very often, carefully constructed. His writing is imaginative, plays with form, has a personal element, and, at times, relies upon a careful synthesis of genres. (For example, the current novel he is working on combines the comedy and thriller genres).
Matt has been writing fiction and poetry for over ten years. He currently is shopping around a novel, King Cash, and a memoir, Joker In The Electric Chair. Shorter work has been published in The Antigonish Review, Void Magazine, The Binnacle, The American Drivel Review, Spillway, The New York Post, and Judy Brown's Joke Express. He's performed story monologues at The Moth, Cornelia St. Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, and Under St. Marks.
Matt has performed standup all over the Northeast. He often appears at clubs such as Gotham Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club, and Standup NY. He was a featured performer in a recent TV Pilot, PN, that appeared in the 2010 Williamsburg Film Festival or Willifest. Matt also regularly appeared on the Ed Tyll Radio Show on Big 810.AM, The Staten Island Comedy Show (Time Warner Cable Access), and was featured in The New York Post.
Matt has opened for comedic legend, Robert Klein, and performed on many terrific shows with incredibly talented acts. He hopes to match their success; of course, in the end, though, this is hardly the whole picture.
Jim Rohn put it best when he said, "Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are." To grow, to evolve, to prosper within--these are the ultimate rewards.
All this being said, if you want to book Matt, or are interested in his writing, he'd very much appreciate it. After all, doing so will help him evolve that much more rapidly. You can reach him at mbn4@yahoo.com.
