NYC NOW - Midday News: Activist Mahmoud Khalil Sues Trump Administration, LGBTQ Support Line Staff Face Layoffs, and Fun & Dumb Improv Festival Brings Laughs to Brooklyn Through Sunday

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

Columbia graduate and campus activist Mahmoud Khalil is suing the Trump administration for $20 million, alleging he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and smeared as an anti-Semite. Meanwhile, a dozen crisis workers in New York and New Jersey who staff the 988 Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ support line are expected to lose their jobs this month. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst speaks with Phillip Markle, artistic director of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, about this weekend’s Fun & Dumb Improv Festival.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, July 11th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Columbia graduate and campus activist Mahmoo Khalil is seeking restitution from the Trump administration for his months-long detention. Khalil and his lawyers are suing the White House for $20 million. They claim Trump and its associates falsely imprisoned him, maliciously prosecuted him, and smeared him as an anti-Semite. Khalil spent 104 days in immigration detention after his arrest for participating in pro-Palestinian

protests. He missed the birth of his only child. The administration alleges Khalil's presence in the U.S. could harm foreign policy. About the lawsuit, a State Department spokesperson says the law fully supports the government's actions. A dozen crisis workers in New York and New Jersey who staffed the 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ-plus support, are expected to lose their jobs this month. WNMIC's Julia Hayward reports. These local crisis workers are part of the hundreds nationwide,

expected to be laid off next week because the Trump administration cut funding for suicide prevention services specifically for LGBTQ plus people. Gloria Middleton says it's a tragedy. She heads the NYC-based union representing the workers who will be let go. People are going to die. And we're going to see that happen, and we already see people dying. The New York State Mental Health Office says it's already preparing for an influx of calls following the layoffs.

When 80 degrees now with partly sunny skies in the city, we have sunshine today, a high of 86 with a calm wind. And then tomorrow, patchy morning fog, slim chance of mid-afternoon showers and thunderstorms, partly sunny and mid-80s. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First. We are in peak summer when lots of us rush off to the beach on the weekends, but there are still plenty of things going on around town. And if you're looking for something different to do this weekend,

the fun and dumb improv festival is happening in Brooklyn. It plays host to more than 750 comedy performers, with over 200 shows happening on three stages. For more, we are joined by the founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective. Philip Markle, welcome. Thank you so much, David. So glad to be here. The Brooklyn Comedy Collective runs this festival.

The festival is now in its fourth year. And as you say on the website, it might be the biggest improv festival in the world. Tell us about this event and what the Brooklyn Comedy Collective is. Okay. So the BCC, as we call it, is seven years old. And we really have had a moment since, I guess, after COVID, when we opened up in East Williamsburg at ERIS, this venue space that, you know, does nightclub and parties and stuff like that. But I knocked in the door, walk in my Labrador and said, hey, do you ever do anything in this space before 10 p.m.? And they said, nothing ever. So that was the start of our relationship to find a new home after COVID.

And we are now doing 30 shows a week between ERIS and then our two. kind of like satellite locations, literally a block down the street, the doghouse and the pig pen, because it's a barnyard of comedy over here. And then we have a stage at the pig pen, and we do classes there and classes in stand-up improv sketch, clowning, and more at the doghouse as well. And this festival was conceived originally by our managing director, Julian Hernandez, who was like, UCB, another comedy theater used to have a Del Close Marathon. It was like the biggest improv fest in the world. And that ended with COVID. And we're like, something has to fill the vacuum. And we want that something to have our vibe. So fun and dumb was the

name that we settled on for that silly, goofy, good stuff, all the make-em-ups. I want to ask you about that name. Why fun and dumb? What is the philosophy behind that? So the philosophy matches what we teach in all our classes and all our shows espouse at BCC, which is, first of all, not taking ourselves too seriously. You know, live performance is more important than ever right now because the world is really serious. And the one thing about improv that we love is improv doesn't have to be. And so we approach it from a place of joy and community and love. And that's also respect for the craft and people taking classes and getting really good because improv to most people is the scariest thing in the world. But the greatest way to get good at it is to not put it on a pedestal and say this is impossible,

et cetera, et cetera, but to approach it from a place where nobody is cooler than anybody else, we're just going to let loose and be fearless and not care how we look and bring love. The community at BCC, as we've gotten bigger, that's the thing I'm most proud of of just that there is a real spirit of home here. People often call the neighborhood chuckle square. And so it's like, especially during the festival, it's like a college campus. People are like, oh, I'm going to the doghouse. Oh, I'll see you at the pig pen.

I'm going to the theater right now. And we've also partnered with our local businesses that are all getting a ton of, you know, it's just bringing a lot of love to this really beautiful spot that I've personally lived in 13 years in New York. I love East Williamsburg in the neighborhood here. So we're really happy to have a home here. Can you mention a few of the festival highlights coming up tonight and tomorrow? Sure. So the festival on Saturday and Sunday starts at 11 a.m. And yes, some people will have been up to 4 a.m. the night before. That's how late it goes. And so on Saturday, and Sunday it's happening all day. And then we get to headliners around 7 p.m. I mentioned musical improv,

Baby Once Candy. They're literally making up a musical on the spot. It's mind-blowing. But then following us, Padma Lakshmi is taking the stage with a bunch of really great S&L writers and other very talented improvisers. It's called Bagels with Lakshmi. So I'm going to have an everything toasted bagel ready for you, Padma, so that you can enjoy yourself if you want to eat on stage. And then Sunday, the headliners again start at 7 p.m. And of note, girls, Rewatch, you know, I'm often Grandpa Sparkle. My last name is Markle. So people call me Grandpa Sparkle. Like, I'm almost 40. I'm the grandpa in a room full of Gen Z's. But the King and Queen of Gen Z's right now, I think, are the Girls Rewatch podcast with Amelia and Evan. And they just had a podcast with Lena Dunham, and they're going to be hitting the stage with some great people. And that's Sunday night with more to close. This is the fourth time that you're doing this festival. Have you seen it building and growing each year? I mean, yes, in terms of audience size and in terms of the number of performers, we have almost 800 this year. We had 600 last year. And then just, you know, it being a tent pole event, you know, this isn't just for the BCC and our people. We have performers from all walks of life and all the different comedy theaters in New York joining us. That's Second City, the Pitt, the magnet, UCB, and more. And so it really feels like a celebration of the art form.

That really sounds like a coming together of a lot of comedy powerhouses there. Yeah, and I'm of the, I'm always of the spirit that, like, look, what we do at the BCC is our own thing. We do feel it's different and unique. And we're not approaching this from a place of scarcity. Every theater is really important and vital right now. And so every one of them has a place in the city and we're really excited to welcome them to our home for this weekend. Once again, this is happening in Chuckle Square, East Williamsburg. The main venue is ERIS and that's at 167 Graham Avenue in Williamsburg. Yes, and accessible to the L, the JMZ, and the G train, sort of like the convergence of North Brooklyn. What's the best place to go for more information? Our website, which is easy to remember. It's just www.brooklyncom. It'll be right there on the front page. The Fun and Dumb Improv Festival in Brooklyn, founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, Philip Markle. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.