These are Time Out New York’s comedians to watch for 2025

Kenice Mobley once dated a self-proclaimed comedian and went to one of his shows only to find out he wasn’t funny. That’s when she realized people could be bad at comedy, so she decided to give it a shot. Since then, she’s made a career out of being a funny person and recorded an acclaimed comedy album Follow Up Question in 2022. These days, you can find her at Union Hall, a spot that’s near her heart for its ability to bring together seasoned comedians with up-and-coming ones.

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

"I’m on this kick of self improvement, I’m calling it the day of 100%. Everyday I try to do as much as possible but now I’m also sleepy all the time."

What’s a joke that always lands?

"I just got back from traveling where I saw tons of dudes flying back from having hair transplant surgery. Women can go to the DR and we can get fake tits and butts and come back to find a husband. Men go to Turkey, get hair transplants and they come back just to find out that wasn’t the problem."

Kenice Mobley plays several shows a month; check out her schedule here.

JC Mendoza’s comedy journey started on Snapchat, where he used to make funny videos for kicks. Then, he got noticed by comedian and DJ Chipha Sounds, who brought Mendoza on to write with him. Since then, the New York born-and-raised comedian has kept himself busy, most notably with his hilarious podcast Soft Launch, which he does with his girlfriend and fellow comic Samantha Santos. For IRL performances, Mendoza loves Barbershop, a LES venue that’s a functional barbershop and an event space. He’s also a fan of Greenwich Village Comedy Club, which he says “is a dark dusty basement where it feels like nasty jokes are supposed to happen.”

What’s the funniest thing about your life right now?

"We just moved into my grandma’s apartment, she passed away at 94 years old in August. The funny thing to me is that we sleep in the same bed that she passed away on because it’s so comfortable."

What’s one joke that always lands for you?

"Me and my girlfriend use Task Rabbit a lot for work that needs to be done for our apartment. It’s a very expensive service and my girlfriend gets upset and says JC you understand if you were more handy, we could save a lot of money on Task Rabbits. But I just tell her I can’t because I am a sassy Puerto Rican."

JC Mendoza is the host of “Uncomfortable Questions” and @softlaunchpodcast. You can follow along on where he's performing at thestandnyc.com and Instagram.

Jamie Wolf is a comedian who tours around the country, and has amassed an Instagram following of 125K, but when it comes to his future in the comedy world, it’s safe to say he’s not idealistic. 

“I'm more realistic now than when I started,” Wolf tells Time Out New York. “Almost everyone who even gets to where I am doesn't become a comedian for their career. Nearly everyone.” 

Even so, the 28-year-old has already passed, meaning he was accepted and allowed to perform after an audition, at New York City’s iconic Comedy Cellar, which is a milestone many comedians only dream about. For Wolf, the opportunity to audition came to him at a time when he was considering giving up on the career path for good. 

“I was about to move out of New York to Philly a year ago because nothing was going on and I was gonna have to quit and get a day job,” Wolf says. “And my friend was like you should just, ask to get in the Cellar—comedians recommend you get in there—and I asked people, and they recommended me.” 

It has now been one year since that five-minute-long audition, and Wolf says it’s still one of his favorite memories at the club. “Like five hours after finding out I was auditioning, I was getting spots at the club,” he says.

“It went better than I could have possibly imagined it,” Wolf added. “I was so lucky with the crowd—they were such a good crowd and they just happened to connect with me a lot—I've done so many shows at the Cellar, and that still is one of my best sets there.” 

Wolf considers his almost-nightly shows at the Comedy Cellar to be the reason why he was able to afford to stay in New York City. Originally from Philadelphia, Wolf initially attended college at U.C. Santa Barbara before transferring to NYU when he realized that he wanted to pursue stand up comedy.

As he’s continued to hone his comedic voice, Wolf has spoken on stage about the more serious topics he’s faced in his life, like addiction and anxiety. In addressing darker topics, Wolf makes it clear that the same elements of stand up that initially spoke to him when he started loving the art form are something that he is working on honing in his own act. 

“Stand up has helped me through really hard times,” says Wolf. “By bringing levity to the horrible shit, it actually makes it less horrible.”

The funniest thing about his life right now:

“I can’t even understand what that means.” 

The one joke that always lands:

“That doesn’t exist. If someone told you it does exist, they’re lying. Or they’re delusional.”

Jamie Wolf is on tour this spring. You can find out where he'll be performing on his website and on Instagram.

Alex Kumin’s comedy is a confluence of hilarity and the hard-earned perspective she’s gleaned from her wide-ranging life experiences.

At 37, Kumin has been performing comedy for 12 years. She moved to New York City three years ago from Chicago where she studied improv comedy at The Second City. From there, she discovered stand up and ended up teaching classes and hosting shows across the city—all of which led to her landing her acting and voiceover agents and eventually to NYC. Luckily, many of her peers from the Chicago scene had already ventured to the city with the goal of broadening their comedic horizons. 

After moving, Kumin quickly started hosting shows at comedy clubs throughout NYC. This helped her integrate herself in the New York comedy scene as she was able to meet and even book up-and-coming comedians on her show. 

“Hosting shows is always a big one for me because the host is forced to meet everyone on the show,” says Kumin. “New York Comedy Club was the first club that I really started to work heavily in, and again I hosted a ton, which I also did a lot in Chicago—I love hosting, it’s just fun.” 

On stage, Kumin is open about having been through three bouts of thyroid cancer. She also worked in sexual health education after college, and it’s a topic that’s still very near and dear to her heart. 

“I'm pretty open on stage, and I think it comes from having worked in sexual health education for so long and just wanting to normalize all of these things,” says Kumin. “Let's normalize talking about sex. Let's normalize talking about cancer. Let's normalize talking about this stuff that we're not supposed to talk about.” 

She not only manages to make these topics funny, she has written and performed hilarious critiques of the healthcare system on stage at the iconic Comedy Cellar, where she was passed in March 2022. 

As her comedic voice continues to develop over the course of her career, Kumin is adamant about continually honing a voice that expresses hard truths with both levity and heart. In addition to her comedy, she also brings her vivacious but welcoming demeanor to her podcast, “Into the Mud,” which she co-hosts with Broadway performer and actor, Drew King. On it, they’ve interviewed a wide range of performers and discussed topics ranging from creator burnout to patterns of behavior in friendships. It’s at once meaningful and funny. 

As Kumin tours to cities across the country and manages all of her creative endeavors, she’s never lost sight of the reason she fell in love with the artform in the first place.

“I love strangers in a room coming together from all walks of life—different ages, genders, religious groups, political backgrounds—and being able to sit presently and laugh together and create that once in a lifetime evening that’s never gonna happen again,” says Kumin. “It's never gonna be that combination of people in the room again. That's the drive for me.”

The funniest thing about her life right now: 

"I think it's just that the world is burning around us, and every day I'm waking up just like, ‘What’s funny about the coffee shop?'"

The one joke that always lands:

"HPV is so common, it's like the first day of law school. It's like, look to your left, look to your right. You have HPV."

Alex Kumin is touring this spring. You can see her perform live by following her website and Instagram.