BIO

  Al Lubel became a lawyer to satisfy his mother. Three years later he quit the law for standup comedy in order to displease her.

  Getting stage time is difficult for a new comic so Al would unannounced, stand up in the middle of restaurants and do his five minutes. As he says, "I may have originated pop up standup!" Al eventually got work at comedy clubs and four years later won the $100,000 Comedy Grand Prize on television's Star Search. He went on to become one of the last comics to do The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, then making multiple appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman.

  In 1990 Al played Blake Clark's attorney on the Blake Clark HBO Comedy Hour and in 1992 was the subject of A Standup Life, directed by Peter Lydon for the BBC. A documentary about American Standup, it features Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Mort Sahl and Joan Rivers. In 2002 he played basketball superstar Bill Walton's sidekick in the ESPN series, Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip.

  Al's solo show, Mentally Al, won the $2500 Amused Moose Judges Prize as the best one person show in the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show, reviewed by The Independent, said, "If you see Al Lubel you'll never forget his name. That's because the middle-aged New Yorker spends much of his mostly captivating hour playing with the sound of it - though not quite as much time as he spends describing how is over-protective Jewish mother smothered him. Al's 2014 Edinburgh show, I'm Still Al Lubel, was reviewed by One4Review, "Al Lubel can take the simplest of observations and turn it into the funniest thing you've ever heard. His reasoning for avoiding relationships and having children are hilarious as are his observations of the use of everyday vocabulary, funny and thought provoking. Al has such a relaxed, laid back manner that he gives the impression he's just winging it, he even says he doesn't practice in front of a mirror, that this show is his rehearsal then at home he does the real show in front of the mirror. He actually manages to switch from joke to joke jumping from subject to subject effortlessly."

  Al's solo show, Al Lubel Free, saw Al nominated for best performer of a one person show along with four other comics by the Barry Awards at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. If anyone is wondering, Al lost.

  A new documentary about Al, directed by Joshua Edelman, Mentally Al, featuring Sarah Silverman, Judd Apatow and Kevin Nealon, recognized by the New York Times as the best comedy documentary of 2021, is being distributed by Comedy Dynamics and can be seen on Amazon Prime and You Tube.

  At the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, Al's show, Al Lubel Talks About His Name for Fifty-Six Minutes and About Something Else for Four Minutes was reviewed by Chortle's Jay Richardson, "It's a mad, ludicrous enterprise with real aspirations to art and profundity..." Greg Clay of Entertainment Now said, "This show is an absolute fever dream, an hour of daft, dry humour that will make you think you're going mad. This is because the title, "Al Lubel Talks About His Name for Fifty Six Minutes and About Something Else for Four Minutes" is by no means an exaggeration. It's a wonderful name but never have I heard the deconstruction of two words in as much detail as this. Al Lubel talks about how to spell Al Lubel, how Al Lubel sounds phonetically, and every which way you can construe the name Al Lubel. He'll sing for you, play games with you and downright entertain you."