LI's Jackie Martling and Peter Bales to launch new comedy podcast

Long Island comedians Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling and Peter Bales have been making audiences laugh for more than 40 years. These days they are cracking each other up on their new podcast, "Stand-Up Memories," which they record at Tiedin Media in Plainview. Episodes will drop every Wednesday morning starting on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2.

"We bounce off each other perfectly because I’m an idiot and he’s straighter," says Martling, 73, of Bayville. "Peter’s drier and more low-key than I am. When I’m notched down from 10 to 2, I’m still five-times louder than him!"

Bales, 67, of East Northport adds, "We just click. Both of us are Baby Boomers from the North Shore who want to share these memories about a time that is rapidly passing. We are getting ready to hand off to the next generation. We talk about not only what fun we had but what we learned."

Both Martling and Bales were at the center of the stand-up comedy boom on Long Island with the birth of Governor’s Comedy Club in Levittown and the long-gone East Side Comedy Club in Huntington. On the podcast, the duo gets into tales of the old days.

"Fellow comedian Richie Minervini knew there was room for a comedy club so he took our show at Cinnamon in Huntington on Tuesday nights and grew that into the East Side Comedy Club," recalls Martling.

Bales was the first comedian on the mic when the East Side Comedy Club opened in 1979.

"I remember stamping my foot on the stage saying, ‘Welcome to the East Side Comedy Club, this is the beginning of an era,’ " says Bales.

Meanwhile Governor’s Comedy Club wasn’t far behind opening in September 1981.

"There was a rock and roll club in Levittown and the bands were getting louder. The neighbors were going to have them tossed out so they turned it into Governor’s Comedy Club," says Martling. "At the time I had my dirty joke line 516-922-WINE (9463) and they called me up to book all the shows."

Bales remembers first meeting Martling when he went to see his band Off Hour Rockers at Rumrunner in Oyster Bay in the late ‘70s.

"Jackie was playing songs and telling jokes in between songs," says Bales. "This podcast will show a side of Jackie that people have not seen. They typically think of his dirty jokes, which are terrifically funny, but he also has a great sense of irony and sarcasm."

Each episode will run approximately 20 minutes and feature a variety of subjects.

"We keep them bite size so people want another one," says Martling. "The focus is on interesting stories from the early days, coming up as a comedian but they can segue into my time on the Howard Stern Show to something recently. It’s anything that’s interesting — a real potpourri that will continue to evolve."