Heart In art. Humor in Humans.
Our Mission
The Rubbish Comedy Collective believes that becoming a better comedian goes hand in hand with becoming a better human. We are a community that cultivates equity, representation, integrity, and transparency. We believe in creative expression that is Bold, Brave, Joyful, and Kind, where the best results come from you being radically you.
When creating art, so many ideas end up in the trash can. We honor and embrace that messy and beautiful process of becoming. So let’s go dumpster diving in our own weird brains! Trash is treasure!
In-person classes are currently held in TriBeCa!
But since we’re actually doing stuff all over the place, stay in loop via social media @RubbishComedy on Twitter and Instagram and @RubbishComedyNYC on Facebook. Or just subscribe to our newsletter in the form below!
Our complete Community Guidelines and Policies can be found here: Rubbish Comedy Community Guidelines and Policies
At Rubbish, we are passionate about nurturing a ground-up approach to comedy, one that embraces and celebrates all the messy, grubby, chaotic parts of the creative process, because we think they lead to the most inspired art. We want to free ourselves from the traditional forms and formats of performing and learning comedy to put joy and laughter in the spotlight.
We use a “crawl, walk, run” approach to our class levels. In general, we recommend you make sure you can crawl before you walk, that you walk before you run.
L1= crawl. These classes require no prior knowledge to sign up, though we strongly believe even experienced students would get a lot out of these courses with our amazing teachers.
L2= walk. These classes will be confusing if you don’t have some prior experience. There will be terminology and techniques that will be hard to understand without knowing the fundamentals. We recommend this level of classes for those who have done one or two L1 classes first with Rubbish or at another similar comedy school.
L3= run. These are advanced classes for experienced students. They will rely on extensive prior knowledge and focus on honing specific skills. We strongly recommend taking L1 and L2 classes OR at least a year’s experience at another comedy school before taking one of these classes.
No! Though we think it never hurts to revisit fundamentals, we leave it to you to pick classes based on where your skills are at. There are no hard rules about who can take what class, but you’ll get the most out of your class if it’s lined up with your experience level. Need help figuring out what’s a good fit? Just contact us:
Of course! Our teachers have extensive experience running workshops that help with public speaking, creative thinking, group collaboration, communication, and good old fashioned team-building. Our staff has run workshops at companies such as Venmo, Amex, Dartmouth Medical School, federal government agencies, and beyond.
Email us for more information on setting up a workshop for your workplace:
We try to keep classes as affordable as possible, but we understand that there can still be financial hardships.
To help, we are planning to offer payment plans for classes over $100. Keep an eye out for more announcements.
If you are interested in either a payment plan or an internship please inquire by emailing:
Follow this link to our Performer Submission Form to tell us about your show!