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Business & Tech

Italian Restaurant Serves up Comics Close to Home

Suppa's hosts the Comedy Shop on select weekends.

Some people knit, others collect classic cars, but James DeBenedetto and Joe Conte, of The Comedy Shoppe, produce comedy shows for a hobby.

Suppa's Restaurant is home to The Comedy Shoppe, the hobby of two comedy producers, JJCOMEDY.com, who book headliner comics at the Montville area restaurant one to two weekends each month. 

This Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24, "Dr. Dirty" John Valby, the classically trained pianist who writes musical parodies, will bring his raunchy repertoire to town.

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DeBenedetto and Conte share a mutual admiration of comedy.   These avid fans, whose passion for the art of stand-up took them to a variety of comic shows, got to know comics and comedy clubs pretty well.  To their surprise, they were shocked by the business of comedy.

"I met Joe and started going to more and more comedy shows, meeting more comics and finding out more and more about the business and how terrible comics got treated by bookers and club owners," said DeBenedetto. "It really bothered me and I just wanted to see if I could do it any different, and so far, I have." 

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Chief among the many concerns the two had about the comedy business was the fact that comics often have to pay for mike time.  The two felt the performers should get paid, rather than have to pay, to perform.  Together they founded JJCOMEDY.com, a booking agency that, over the past six years, has produced both new and well-known comics through The Comedy Shoppe. 

The Comedy Shoppe has staged shows in a host of venues throughout New Jersey.  With experience, however, DeBenedetto and Conte discovered that some venues were in direct competition with established comedy clubs, making it difficult to book the acts they wanted. 

"The only solution was to move to uncharted territory," DeBenedetto said.

That's when Conte got the idea to come to Pine Brook.

"Joe called me and said, 'Hey, a couple of my childhood friends have a restaurant with a banquet room.  Wanna check it out?'  And with that, The Comedy Shoppe at Suppa's Italian Restaurant was born," DeBenedetto said.

"It's a fun evening," said Vincent Suppa, owner of Suppa's Restaurant.  "The feedback from the audience has been great.  The comics are really funny and the food is great.  Plus, it's local and we're BYOB so it's affordable."

JJCOMEDY.com schedules more than 60 shows per year.  The duo's occasional hobby is developing into something of a full-time job.  In addition to Suppa's and other club settings throughout the state, the Comedy Shoppe is also seen at corporate and fundraising gigs for a variety of businesses and organizations.

"Dr. Dirty" John Valby will perform at Suppa's Restaurant, located at 17 Old Bloomfield Avenue, on July 23 and 24.  The show starts at 9 p.m. but a three course dinner begins at 7 p.m.  The cost to attend is $30  plus a $15.95, $19.95 or $24.95 dinner package.   Dinner packages provide over a dozen choices ranging from eggplant parmesan to filet mignon.

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