“My first paid gig was at a prison in Kentucky,” comedian Raanan Hershberg tells an audience. “It was for about 200 inmates.” It didn’t go as well as he hoped.
“There’s nothing more discouraging as a comedian than to be performing and watching a couple inmates walk out. Where are you going? You know in your heart they’re going back to their cell. There’s not another room with midnight bowling or a movie. Those inmates were watching me onstage and thinking, ‘You know what? I’d rather be in a cage right now.’ ”
Hershberg hails from Louisville and was an English major in college. “If you’ve never been an English major, just imagine joining a book club that costs $40,000 a year. And then not reading any of the books.”
Through Sunday. $8-$14. Go Bananas, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com.
