Michael John Ciszewski: IF MEMORY SERVES

Overview

SOBRIETY, SEX, AND PROFOUND STUPIDITY… the horrors are indescribable, but you’ve still got to serve! And if memory serves, NYC comedian Michael John Ciszewski made a fine mess of things before getting sober six years ago.

Help him remember everything he wishes he could forget—from transformative pop culture and hookups with radical leftists to queer villainy and accidental car theft. Make new memories on the scorched earth of a gay youth quite literally WASTED in this hilarious and searingly honest hour of comedy JAM-PACKED with LAUGHS about anxiety, identity, relationships, and the inscrutable conundrum of existence!

IF MEMORY SERVES invites audiences on a journey from Michael John’s first drink to his last and beyondinto the uncharted wilds of life in recovery! Along the way, it gleefully traipses through stand-up, sketch, storytelling, and parody, making shimmering light of the darkest nights of the souland those we cant even quite remember.

Heralded as “absolute gay nonsense” and “comedic gold,” IF MEMORY SERVES is the new, fourth solo hour from a “one-of-a-kind storyteller” thats earned raves from critics and audiences with its “unmatched blend of pop culture, pathos, and silly queer-assery!” IF MEMORY SERVES debuted at a sold-out Brooklyn performance in February 2024 before acclaimed engagements in Boston and Manhattan. It arrives to Philly Fringe fresh and HOT off a full run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Just the Tonic, one of the UKs leading comedy presenters.

About the Artist

Michael John Ciszewski (he/him) is a queer comedian and actor born, raised, and returned to New York City after launching his career in Boston and London. Ciszewskis solo work, cited as required queer viewing by NYC comedy duo BAPHTA, is rooted in queerness and healing and gleefully journeys across genres from stand-up and storytelling to collective ritual. His debut EVERYONE IS DYING AND SO AM I premiered in July 2019 and has since enjoyed sold-out performances with Bostons Open Theater Project and Manhattan's Theater Row and United Solo Theater Festivalspotlighting the best in international solo performance. It was subsequently nominated for the festivals audience award. His second effort THE SUN IS SLEEPING, a full-length film composed at the start of the pandemic era, was screened in virtual theatrical events from late 2020 into 2021 and is now available to stream online. His hit third solo show LOVEFOOL premiered in 2022 and has since played to over 1200 people in venues ranging from proscenium and black box theaters to comedy clubs and festival stages in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Provincetown, Jersey City, and beyond. In the meantime, Ciszewski has launched his fourth solo show IF MEMORY SERVESan hour of comedy on sobriety, sex, and profound stupidity that critics call comedic gold, delivering vulnerability and authenticity along with absolute gay nonsense. In Summer 2024, IF MEMORY SERVES played engagements in Boston and New York City before a full run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Just the Tonic, one of the UKs leading comedy presenters. Ciszewski is a member of the staff of ArtsEmerson at Emerson Colleges Office of the Arts. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and is a proud graduate of Boston Universitys B.F.A. Theater Arts program. Ciszewski is joined by director Noah Simes (The Penumbra Podcast, Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare) and producer Brian Dudley.