Laugh Out Loud works the senior circuit

Three guys walk into a village square — a custodian, a government worker and a retired accountant.

The scenario sounds like a classic joke setup. It’s also an accurate snapshot of a recent open-air evening with comedians Eddie Faicco, Pat Gagliardi and Mark Brier, a trio collectively known as Laugh Out Loud.

“We bring comedy to people who don’t go to the comedy clubs,” said Brier. The three Long Islanders specialize in performing at 55-plus retirement communities, and each Laugh Out Loud-er checks off that age category with room to spare.

Watching them in action onstage is a reminder that comedy is ageless: You’re never too old to appreciate a good joke — or to tell one.

A love for performing comedy brought the three together. In 2008, Gagliardi and Faicco, who are 61, met while taking a stand-up class at the Brokerage Comedy Club in Bellmore.

Pals ever since, they regularly checked in with each other while they were doing shows and getting gigs “as best we could,” said Gagliardi, of Massapequa, who has a day job working for Uncle Sam when he’s not spreading laughs as his comic alter ego, Patty G.

In 2015, they connected with Brier. He grew up in Long Beach and played ball as a kid with comedian Billy Crystal, who he said he greatly admires because “he’s so warm and likable. He inspired me.”

Brier, 75, who has done comedy since he was in his 30s, radiates his own easy-to-embrace persona. In 2004, he founded a monthly comedy program at East Meadow Public Library, not far from his home. The program is still going strong. Gagliardi and Faicco have participated numerous times.

Details for “Laughs at the Library” on the library’s website note: “We are not going to change the world, but we will meet for an afternoon to laugh together.”

Communal chuckles are what Laugh Out Loud is all about. “I said, ‘Why don’t we all join together and do some of these 55-plus communities and independent-living places,’  ” said Gagliardi. “So we banded together and we came up with our name.”

Except for a lengthy pause caused by the pandemic until 2021, they’ve been playing at retirement communities and other venues since 2015. They’ve brought their act to firehouses, Moose lodges, churches, temples, school fundraisers and private parties.

“We do it all,” said Faicco, who lives in Hicksville and has been on the East Meadow School District custodial staff for 40 years. “We go everywhere.”

On July 3, they were in Lindenhurst’s postcard-pretty village square. That evening, about 60 spectators situated themselves on benches and BYO lawn chairs and in the gazebo for a free hour-and-a-half of levity.

The noise and the crowd

One of the challenges of outdoor performances, along with mosquitoes, is noise — even with microphones and a public address system. Laugh Out Loud’s seasoned comics used the noise pollution to their advantage and joked about the Long Island Rail Road, Lindenhurst traffic and one very enthusiastic audience member with a cowbell.

It’s called reading the room or, in this case, the square. Patty G proved particularly adept at that as he talked to the audience. “All right, listen, between the traffic and the train noise, a list is going around,” he quipped. “Put your phone number down on it. We’re just going to text you the jokes.”

Lindenhurst Mayor Michael A. Lavorata, who’s seen Laugh Out Loud before and is a fan, greeted the crowd from the mobile stage before the shtick hit the fans.

“I am,” the official told Newsday, a “firm believer that laughter is the best medicine. I lost my wife 2½ years ago to cancer. Right now, I have a mother who’s got dementia. So I can tell you that if I don’t laugh, I cry.”

Before the show, Doreen Cooney, a local nurse, echoed the notion that comedy can be good for what ails you. When asked if there are topics she doesn’t find all that funny, she said, “Politics.”

That wouldn’t be a problem with the Laugh Out Loud trio, who have a shared philosophy when it comes to topics to avoid. In short: No politics. No religion. No death. No gotcha.

“We like to get the audience involved. But we don’t pick on anybody,” said Faicco. “We don’t curse. We don’t do anything nasty.”

Within those guidelines, each comic has his own brand of humor — and favorite comedian. Brier, who counts Dick Gregory and Nipsey Russell among his faves, tweaks everyday experiences and events into grist for laughter. Gagliardi, who is crazy for Steve Martin, often focuses on family dynamics. Faicco, who adores and respects Rodney Dangerfield, rants about his never-ending issues.

One of the things that’s bugging Faicco these days is the obsession with smartphones. “Where are you app people out there? I have issues with you,” he declared to spectators in the square. “My nephew Joey’s got the Domino’s Pizza app on his phone. It’s 20 minutes away. It’s 10 minutes away. He’s tracking a pizza! My sister’s paying $30,000 a year for him to go to college and he’s tracking a pizza. There should be an app that says when the garbage is overflowing.”

“Wholesome entertainment” is the brand of comedy LOL promises on a giant bubble-gum-pink poster on the mobile stage in the village square. Sure, some jokes and double entendres tip into PG-13 territory, but the three friends stick by that credo wherever they’re performing.

Laugh Out Loud members have performed regularly for veterans. In Lindenhurst they shared the stage with a guest comic — Air Force veteran Bradford Carpenter, 42, an air traffic controller and newcomer comedian who had only performed twice before.

Carpenter, who lives in Baldwin and goes by Bravo Charlie onstage, has honed his chops at Project9line, an Islip-based group with arts programs focused on bridging the communication gap between veterans and civilians. “I’m still new at this, so I got my notes here. So don’t judge me,” he entreated the audience, which included his wife, Maria, and father, Charles.

Like the other comedians, he looked to his life and experiences for material and then embellished, sometimes wildly. In one funny bit he took on the nutty requirements for creating passwords. In another, he boldly looked to his occupation. “Being an air traffic controller is considered by some to be one of the more stressful jobs there is,” he said. “And to those people I say, ‘Not when you’re drunk.’  ”

‘Good vibes’

Ericka Vitale, a musician who lives in Lindenhurst, came to the show with her husband and their dog and two out-of-town friends. Afterward she cheered LOL for filling the square with “good vibes.” The audience did, in fact, laugh out loud. “They were funny, and I had a few good laughs,” she said after the show. “I hope they do it again. I would definitely go.”

Laugh Out Loud members were delighted to hear about that report from Newsday. “To be honest with you, we’ve been very lucky,” Gagliardi said. “I can count on one hand how many shows that have not gone well.”

By his account, a show at Birchwood at Spring Lake, a gated community in Middle Island for residents of various ages, was a particular success. The audience at the venue concurred. The community newsletter agreed, noting that the show was “captivating.”

“It was a sold-out show,” said Gail Cholden, chair of Birchwood’s entertainment committee, adding that face-to-face activities had been shut down since spring 2020. “People felt like it was the first time they’d laughed in years.”

Working with senior citizens has been especially rewarding for Brier, who takes a gentle approach when it comes to a subject facing everyone — aging.

“I do churches and synagogues. A while ago a priest introduced me as Mr. McBrier, direct from Ireland,” he told the Lindenhurst audience. “I said, ‘Father, I don’t mean any disrespect but I’m not from Ireland. I’m from Long Island.’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, I must’ve had a monsignor moment.’  ”

Some kudos make a very deep impression. “The greatest compliment is when a man or a woman comes over to me after the show and says, ‘I didn’t want to come here tonight. My friend dragged me in. This is the first time I laughed since my spouse passed away.’ I really love working with older audiences.”

And with Patty G and Faicco. “The thing about us is that we never try to outdo or one-up the other,” said Gagliardi. “We like to have fun.” And that’s no joke.