(He has had long-term romantic relationships with the female comics Katherine Ryan and more recently, Hannah Einbinder, though they broke up a month ago.) They talked comedy and Brace later asked him if he could give him notes. Brace was especially alert to the dramaturgy of a show, insisting on cutting jokes that worked if they weren’t worth the lost momentum. If Edelman riffed too much, Brace told him: You’re on the jazz tonight. The previous month, when in Boston, he knocked on the door of the 94-year-old comedy legend Tom Lehrer, whom he did not know, just to talk.

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Persons: Edelman, Katherine Ryan, Hannah Einbinder, “, Josie Long, it’s, Brace, Phoebe Waller, Billy Crystal, Eric Bogosian, Susan Stroman, Robin Wagner, Edelman deadpanned, ”, Tom Lehrer, ” Edelman Organizations: New York Public Library, Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Locations: Boston, London, British