NYC NOW - Mayor Mamdani’s Name Dropping Strategy, Staten Island’s Award Winning Bathroom, and the Comedy Grind

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

In this episode, WNYC’s arts and culture editor Matthew Schnipper discusses some of the stories his desk is covering at the moment, including how Mayor Zohran Mamdani uses pop culture name dropping to connect with different audiences, why a Staten Island public restroom just won a major architecture award, and what it actually takes to get stage time at the Comedy Cellar.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. You know, on this podcast, we spend a lot of time talking about politics and all the breaking news happening in New York City. But another way to understand this city is through its culture, the art, the comedy, the music, and the unexpected stories that reveal what this city is paying attention to right now. So this right here is our arts and culture check-in. It's a look at the stories coming across our arts and culture desk. Some big, some weird, some easy to miss. But together, they give us a snapshot of where New York City culture is in this moment.

So joining me to walk through what's been landing on his desk this week is our arts and culture editor, Matthew Schnipper. Matt, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. So before we get into everything that you've been covering this week, what do you love most about New York City culture? I know that you've been here 20 years. You were born here, but moved over to the world. Connecticut, but what do you enjoy most about New York City culture?

What I enjoy most about New York City culture is the just unknowability of it. There's too much. There's just too much. It's like you go to a restaurant. It's like a buffet. I still eat a buffet. I remember after COVID, they're like, you'll never eat at a buffet again. You know what?

I go downstairs and eat a buffet for lunch. Are people there with you? There's a hell of people at the buffet. Yeah. I think it's like that. You're not going to eat everything. You're not going to go to the buffet and eat everything, but it's nice to know it's all there. You know, like, oh, do I want porkloin for lunch?

Like, I can't have it. That's what New York City feels like. You want to do anything? You can. And it's all happening today. Yeah. All right. So what's going on?

What's coming off of your desk this week? Well, we have been tracking one of our favorite millennials, Mayor Mom Donnie, and all of the references he's been using in his speeches. And as he's beginning to appear around town as our new mayor. You may have seen at his inauguration. Yeah. One of our favorite things that he did. I'm outside. I'm outside.

Yeah. Was he, uh, he shouted out Jadaicus. He quoted Jada kiss at his inauguration. We will in the words of Jason Terrence Phillips, better known as Jada kiss or Jeterumois. Be outside. That's big. So big. The locks went crazy.

So, yeah, no, I mean, if he shouts out, Shikloosh, I think I'll probably pass out. So he, he shouted out Jada kiss, you know, really to say, hey, I'm going to be available. I'm here. I'm your mayor. I'm going to be on. the streets. There are a lot of different ways he could have said that. I'm sure, you know, Ed Koch had his way of talking to the people, but, but he chose very specifically to use the voice of a New York rapper to do that. Pretty cool. I think that's cool. And I think it makes

sense for him. That is the world that he lives in. You know, he was a rapper himself at one point. And these are the people he wants to reach in the city. He wants to reach people who know who Jada kiss is. And I think those are the people who voted for him. So we thought, wait a second, This guy is always talking about somebody. He's always dropping a reference, be it sports, music, food. Yeah, so true. Let's keep track. So for the next four years or the next eight years, we will be keeping a running list of the major cultural references that Mayor Mammondani makes as he moves his way around the city.

I got a feeling that's going to be a lengthy list. I agree with you. I've already had to go, well, he put a song in his Instagram. Like, do I need to, is that big enough? Jay Dilla? Like, should we talk about that? You know, he's really, being a part of the cultural world is very important to him. And I think it's going to be a lot of the bread and butter of how he communicates with people.

Yeah, it's all about that street crit, right? Yes, exactly. Because vote is a vote as a vote, you know, wherever it comes from. And I think he's been really successful at getting people to support him by saying, like, you know, he's reading, listening to eating, you know, watching the same things as everybody else. Yeah. Talk more about those cultural references. Yeah. So one that I thought was particularly interesting was one actually that he modulated depending on the audience that he had. So he is quickly going after junk fees, kind of fees that you have at the gym where they say, oh, you got to pay this extra for membership. Yeah. And he talked about gym memberships and he talked about concert ticket fees. And in one speech about this, when he was talking to a group of millennial creators, he referenced Lucy Dacus, who is an indie musician. who performed at his inauguration.

She played a socialist anthem, Bread and Roses. And he said, oh, yeah, when you're scrimping and scrounging up for these Lucy Dacus tickets, you don't want the extra fee on your 30 bucks. And at another speech, he switched it up. You know, when he had another group of people, he was talking about Taylor Swift, not Lucy Dacus. He didn't want this to go over their heads. But he said, I'm going to take this mainstream. And he said, okay, then you're saving hundreds of dollars to see Taylor Swift.

You don't want the fee there. And I thought being nimble like that and using the reference very specifically tailored, I thought it was genuinely clever. It shows he's really paying attention to who he's talking to. He wants to get that credit. He could have said Taylor Swift to the millennial creators. That would have made sense. I'm sure a lot of them made their way down to MetLife Stadium, you know, when she was there for the heirs tour. But he said, okay, I'm going to go a level deeper, you know, and I'm going to talk about Lucy Dacis here.

I think that that is the type of thing that makes people really attach to him. is that he feels like he's speaking their language because honestly he is. But Matt, have those cultural references, have they always landed for Mandani? That's a really good question. Yes, I think so. I mean, look, this is a guy with a, you know, a magnetic personality with a great smile. And he's showing up and he's saying, Taylor Swift, Jadicus, the Knicks, like, I'm your guy. Like, come right in the taxi with me.

Let's go. I love this, you know, this chai spot in. On the upper side and this one in Astoria, you know, I think it's the type of thing where if you're not paying attention, they'll roll off your back. Like, if you don't know who Taylor Swift is or Lucy Dacus and this, you still are going to be mad about, you know, extra fees at the gym or the concert tickets. He doesn't need it to connect. So it's this kind of extra detail. It's like, you know, the thing when they say, like, you know, when you get dressed in the morning, you know, take one thing off, you know, it's like he's like, what if I just put one extra one on? It'll be, you know, it's going to be a small one. Maybe nobody you'll notice. Maybe it's just a tiny pin. But. for the people who are paying attention to that detail, it will connect. If you don't know who Jadaicus is, if you don't know what I'm outside is, well, you could Google it. If you, you know, if you don't get it, did it make a speech worse at the inauguration? I don't think so, you know? So I think he does this in a way that doesn't say, you've got to know what I'm talking about.

If you don't get this reference, you're cut out. Yeah. He does it in a way that will just bring more people in. Another story that came from your desk, Matt, mentions a Staten Island restroom that one, an architectural award? A major architectural award. That's crazy. Tell me more about this.

So every year the American Institute of Architects in New York give some awards. They basically give awards to New York City buildings, structures, and to New York City architects who may have been working outside of the city. Yeah, but why a restroom? You know, that is a great question. There is a, I have to say, a lovely looking restroom in Staten Island in a park, which is modular. This is a prototype for a way that we may be able to have for the restrooms in the city. The kinds that you can just drop out of a truck kind of and just deposit somewhere. But it's this really lovely structure, this kind of blue and white tile comfort station, as it's called officially.

And I think it's really cool, actually, that this institution is looking not just Department Building Library. We have some of those on the list, I'm sure deserving of their awards. But they said, well, what other buildings exist? and where are they? So I think it's adventurous to go out actually and start to look for the way in which architecture and kind of public works affect your day-to-day life.

Yeah, adventurous to say the least, but I'm just thinking back at this restroom in comparison to like an apartment building or a library. And I'm just wondering, like, how does something like this even get judged in the first place? That's a great question. It's hard to kind of say,

how do you judge a restroom versus a movie theater versus an airport? Last year they ordered a bench. A bench? A bench? And look, I think it's fun and punchy and weird to go and look for this stuff, but it's real. You know, to me, I think that these, you know, and I'm not inside the judge's minds, obviously, but I think it's cool that they're saying, what actually makes a difference? What does design do for people?

I'm not an expert in that world, but it's something that makes a real, real, real difference. Forget the necessity of public restrooms, which is an entire other story. But what if they were a nice experience, you know? Who's to say that I can't pee comfortably? in a public space. Yes, and with beauty, you know, I think we all deserve that. Definitely. And I think keeping that in mind when you are not just the P element of it, the sitting element of it, bus shelters, you know, arm rests on the subway, you know, windows that go down easy, whatever you may have, the simple things that really do affect how we live. So I think this is a New York City award. Like, that's a thing that really says, we pay attention to what's happening, how you were living your life. as you move around. I think it was really cool if they did that.

So what's the actual design detail here? Like what one judge is over, I'm wondering. Oh, I think that they were impressed both with the elegance of it. But I think that what they've said was this is a thing that is a modular design. This can be picked up and dropped into any other part of the city. I think not just it's an effective tactical thing. We have room for, you know, the garray. buildings and the IMPA buildings and all of those in the city, this is a thing that is both

elegant and useful. They can produce these on an assembly line, you know. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I think it is cool. Like, this is a thing they can make a bunch of and it'll look the same and cost less because they can kind of buy it in wholesale. And if you can do that while not also making it kind of ugly, Godspeed. Yeah.

And there's a photo. of this public restroom on our Gothamist site. Go ahead and check it out. I'm impressed. You're going to go to Staten Island just to pee? No. Not at all, not at all. I do want to say, if you have peed in this restroom and you have feedback, please, you know,

please send us a note. Yes, send us an email at NYC now at WMYC.org. We'd love to hear about your experience. I don't know that I thought I would be coming here talking about doing pee reviews, but, you know, here we are. New York City, takes you in all kinds of places. And that's why you love your job.

Yes. We're talking arts and culture. We'll be back with more stories from Matt's desk. Stay with us after the break. Welcome back. We're talking to Arts and Culture editor Matthew Schnipper. What else are you working on on the Arts and Culture Desk? We have a great story this week by a great freelancer named Jamie McClellan.

He saw the new Bradley Cooper movie is this thing on. And in that movie, Will Arnett, who is a sad, divorced guy. basically stumbles onto a open mic at the comedy seller, which is a huge club in the city, and crushes it and has a whole new life as a comedian. So Jamie went out to go find out, how do you get a gig at the comedy seller? How does it actually work?

And what he found out was that you basically suck for a long time in a lot of different places, clubs in Brooklyn, anywhere that will kind of take you until you make connections. I mean, first off, you've got to not suck forever. So you've got to get better. But a lot of it is social. You're going out, you're meeting other people, you're meeting other comics who are then going to put the word in with the other bookers, who are going to give you an audition, and eventually you're going to build your way up. But what I was interested in was seeing how methodical this thing was.

You know when you are starting out, you're going to be at the bottom for a long time. And you need to kind of keep climbing and climbing and climbing. The people he talked to were very aware. He was not like, oh, they moved here and they're like, I'm going to be a star tomorrow. They were like, no, I'm going to show up at the open mic night at Freddy's again and again and again and again. And I think there was something kind of charming about that perseverance. A real grind. Yes.

It doesn't sound guaranteed. Like, you can go out and make a name for yourself in Brooklyn and all these other places, but you're not guaranteed a slot no matter how many shows the comedy seller has each night. No, you know, he talked to a comedian named Steph Dag, who you might know from Instagram. She has a funny show on social media called them Hot and Single. But, you know, she has grinded for a long time. And what she said was, you're not going to be good for 10 years, which I found to be kind of a devastating quote. And I think what's implied in there is not you'll be good after 10 years. You might be bad after that, too.

I mean, imagine if you had to do 10 years of just. job interviews to, you know, to get the one thing that you wanted. And you were doing it every day. Yeah. You know, one guy was going out and doing a dozen open mics a week, both to get better. Obviously, you need that practice, but also just to be in front of people. You know, it's like the worst dating experience or something where you're like, somebody look at me. Anybody? I'll try this new place. I will say, actually, he noted at one of the open mics that he went to, it was all men, 100% dudes. And he was the only person who did not perform a reporter. No one was there to just enjoy the comedy.

It's like a little factory of people just going up and having their chance. Honestly, it sounded really sad. You know, I know it's supposed to be funny, but it sounded like a... No, it does sound depressing A.F. Yeah. You know, so it made me appreciate people's perseverance, but I don't know that I admired it. In some ways, it's like there is a little bit of delusion if you think you are going to go and become a star and get into that world. And, you know, obviously some people do make it.

You know, there are people on those stages that are, making people laugh. That is clear. But the amount of people that are not on those stages performing, not making people laugh, is just a lot. I'm going to say something and I'm not trying to take away from what the comedy seller is. But even if you make it on the stage at the comedy seller, that's not saying you've made it as a comedian.

Like you still have to get paid. You still have to put food on the table. Right. Yeah. And you need to go back to the comedy seller the next day with new jokes. You know, like it may happen for a moment. And that's it. You got to, like, you have to keep going.

So I thought it was interesting that Jamie R. Writer was shocked how much of a fairy tale it really was. A fairy tale, indeed. Hey, Alexa. Play it was all a dream by the notorious B.I.G. Yeah, he didn't know that song was about trying to make it in stand-up comedy in New York City. Speaking of comedy, I remember the New York Post stories saying that Hannibal Burris has a club in Williamsburg. I solo, yes. And now it's closing.

Now he doesn't. Hannibal Burris, he got roasted not so long ago about being a landlord. I don't know if you remember this by any means. I think he was talking about, I think, on Eric Andre's show. And he talked about owning property. And people were like, nobody wants to be a landlord, except for him, I guess. So he also was an entrepreneur. And he opened up this club.

It's in the space of the former knitting factory on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. It opened up early 2025. And it didn't last a year. Yikes. Yeah. So we've been trying to do some reporting on this. We reached out to some folks who performed at the club. They said they got paid as normal.

Things are fine. But Burris just stopped paying and the club was done. You just shared with us that he's a landlord. Yes, exactly. You know, and to me he was like, I think I'm done. And it's sad anytime an independent venue closes in the city. But it is surprising when one that is six or eight months old closes. To me, that shows not a lot of planning.

Some people said, oh, his club closed. I didn't know that his club existed in the first place. I'll be honest with you, like, neither did I. I didn't know that, you know? And it was like, oh, he has that. Doesn't he live in L.A.? He's got a club in New York. What's the deal with this?

And it did not seem like it was a place that carved out a niche for itself. Without being Hannibal Burris's accountant, I feel like he had enough money to pay the rent. One can have the money. The rent can still be too damn. High. Well, sure. It wasn't like he had this club for 10 years and it spiked up. You know, I think he probably knew what he was getting into. Did he lose interest? Did he just kind of go, this was a bad idea? Did he have big ambitions that they couldn't follow through? We reached out to him, but we have not had comment back. So I am hoping Hannibal Burris will hit us up and talk to us about

why his club shut down. He has said that he will pay all the money he owes. He just hasn't gotten knit to the landlords yet. I hate to see so much turnaround in such a great spot, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's a cool venue. All right, Matt. What's your favorite band? Black Flag.

What's the last album you listen to? Dope Smoker by Sleep. Cardi B or Nikki? Is the answer not obvious? No, Cardi. All right. Kendrick or Drake? Am I going to get docks by Nikki Stans right now?

I don't know. The barbs are crazy. The barbs, thank you. Yes, they are. Kendrick. Okay. And what's your favorite bagel? Garlic bagel.

I paused for a while because I feel like that's the thing you'll get dachshund. Garlic bagel, not toasted with egg and cheese. No cream cheese.

No. Okay. Okay. What's a hot take of yours, Matt? I'm going to quickly say Bob Weir died this past week. I'm definitely a deadhead. Bob Weir songs were the worst

grape of lead songs. Whoa. Hit us up, NYC now at WNYC.org. Let us know if you agree or disagree. Some of them are good, but, you know, not all of them. Matthew Snipper is WMYC's Arts and Culture Editor. Thanks so much for joining me, Matt.

Thank you, Janay. We can't wait to talk to you next time. I can't wait to talk to you. Too spicy? I think it's spicy. I like it.