Adam Ruben

ajruben@jhu.edu / Princeton Stand-Up Club

Adam Ruben is a Jew from Delaware. You can imagine all the comic material he gleans from this rich upbringing.

Instead, he is renowned for his observational humor, his cheerful yet cynical take on the hypocrisies of daily life. Whether he's ranting about Inspector Gadget's libido or the grammatical nuances of the future indicative, Adam combines intellect with wit and just the right degree of whininess. Jerry Seinfeld himself once described Adam's comedy as "leave me alone" and "how did you get my phone number?".

Adam has also written numerous plays, short stories, comic articles, musicals, and a screenplay and is a writer for National Lampoon. Many of his plays have been performed on college campuses, and a few have toured nationally. His stand-up accolades include second place in the Pittsburgh Funny Bone's World Series of Comedy, second place in the Jewish Week's Funniest Jewish Comic Contest, and first place at the D.C. Improv's 4th Open Mic Competition. In his other life, Adam recently finished his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also a Lecturer in the English Department. Please don't hold this against him.

Adam has appeared with Greg Giraldo, Kathleen Madigan, Sue Murphy, Brett Leake, Jake Johannsen, George Wallace, Jim Gaffigan, Freddie Roman, ANT, Ty Barnett, Tony Woods, Bob Sommerby, Mickey Cucchiella, Freddie Roman, Dan Ahdoot, Jeff Caldwell, "Coach" Tom Whitely, Raymond the Amish Comic, Bob Levy, the comics of Dane Cook's "Tourgasm," and many others. It would be neat if you found this web page while Googling one of them.

Adam has appeared in Maryland at The Baltimore Improv, Winchester's, The Comedy Factory Outlet, The Five Seasons, The Wyndham Hotel, The Columbia Sheraton, Tracy's Comedy Club, The Crab Cake Factory, Kaufmann's Tavern, Saphire Café, Frazier's on the Avenue, Whispers, Ristorante Felicita, The Comedy Dock, The Bethesda Hyatt, Jillian's, and aboard the Lady Baltimore; in D.C. at The D.C. Improv, Chief Ike's Mambo Room, The Zoo Bar, Nanny O'Briens, Staccato Lounge, Politiki, SoHo Tea & Coffee, Lulu's Club Mardi Gras, Café Japone, Titan Bar, Topaz Hotel, Taglines Comedy Club, T.S. Muttly's, Busboys & Poets, the Warehouse NextDoor, and the D.C. Arts Center; in Virginia at Sterling Cinema Drafthouse, Arlington Cinema Drafthouse, Wiseacres, Stacy's Coffee Parlor, The Comedy Spot, and Freddie's Beach Bar; in Delaware at Hot Tamales, Comedians at the Doubletree, Comedians at Kahunaville, and the Sheraton Suites; in Philly at the Spaghetti Warehouse and the Philadelphia Comedy Festival; in Pittsburgh at the Funny Bone's World Series of Comedy and the Improv's Carnival Comedy Challenge; in New York at The Comic Strip, Gotham Comedy Club, New York Comedy Club, The Laugh Factory, and Three of Cups; in California at the La Jolla Comedy Store; at the Boston Comedy Festival; and at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, Towson University, and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

You can see some of the stuff he's written in the Dcstandup Reading Room.

You can read an article about him from the Johns Hopkins News-Letter, too.

And another one about the stand-up class he teaches in Johns Hopkins Magazine.

If you have a particularly fast connection, you can watch streaming video of his performance at GRO Comedy Night on J-Stream.

Have a bar/bat mitzvah coming up? Adam does those. He can do stand-up (rated G, of course), play improvisational comedy games with the kids, and if you want something more dramatic and impressive, he can even bring in the Bottle Dancers.

Adam also does character work with Carbone Entertainment and Alana Shor. So if you want, say, a guy dressed as a paparazzo walking around your party, those are the places to go. Adam leads a strange, strange life.

Adam now has a MySpace page! Adam is not a 13-year-old girl, so he really isn't sure what a MySpace page is. But he has one. It's here.

A couple of Adam's plays are published and can be purchased from Amazon.com. "New Tricks" appears in this anthology, and "Out of Character" and "Shot At" can be found in this one.

Upcoming Shows

  • 5/15: 8:30 PM, Opening for John Pinette, The DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC DC Improv
  • 5/16: 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM, Opening for John Pinette, The DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC DC Improv
  • 5/17: 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM, Opening for John Pinette, The DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC DC Improv
  • 5/18: 8:00 PM, Opening for John Pinette, The DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC DC Improv

READING ROOM: On occasion we get humor pieces from comedians -- you can find them all archived in our Reading Room.