Charlie Guerra
Stefanie Cedar Shames, Class of 1977
Charlie decided to try his hand at standup comedy after performing in plays throughout high school. He performed at his first open mic night at the famous but now-closed Catch-A-Rising Star on the Upper East Side of Manhattan about a week before graduating from HHS in 1977. He took the LIRR into the city and waited outside the club for a number which gave him a chance to perform for three minutes later that night. After graduating from HHS, where everyone knew him as Charlie (his real name is Carlos, but he goes professionally as Carl), he went to Nassau Community College as a theatre major.
Bob Nelson, another student, and a popular comedian now, encouraged Carl to try open mic night at the White House Inn in Massapequa. He started going there a few times a week, where he met other aspiring comedians like Eddie Murphy, Rosie O’Donnell, Ray Romano, Jackie Martling, and many others who are now stars. Chris Rock once opened for Carl at a small club in NJ!
In the Summer of ’78, Carl sublet an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for a few months and worked for the Schubert Organization at The Imperial Theatre on W. 46th St. doing a pre-audit on box office statements. At night he went to open mic nights at some of the city clubs, including The Comic Strip, where he was passed into the club by none other than a very young Jerry Seinfeld, who was the clubs’ Master of Ceremonies and gatekeeper for new comics.
Charlie moved back to Long Island at the end of the summer to finish up at NCC while still performing at local open mic nights. He also had part-time jobs at Westbury Music Fair, working for the stage manager and in the lobby bar, and got to see name entertainers and shows which inspired him even more to pursue a career as an entertainer.
He then put his comedic pursuits on hold when he was accepted into Cornell University, where he received his Bachelors’ degree in Communications. After college, he returned to Long Island. He got a job in outside sales covering Brooklyn and Queens. He performed regularly at The White House Inn in Massapequa, East Side Comedy Club in Huntington, Governors in Levittown, and Chuckles in Mineola. He later moved to Queens and then into Manhattan and started performing in the NYC clubs such as The Comic Strip, Dangerfields, and The Improv, as well as studying acting and going on auditions. After a few years, he could leave his “day job” to make a living performing regularly in clubs and colleges, mostly in the Northeast.
In the mid-90s, Charlie sublet his Manhattan apartment on E. 83rd St. to go to Florida for the winter and wound up relocating there after meeting his wife, a South Florida native. He actually auditioned for her since she was running an improvisational theatre company in Miami at the time. Now he works regularly for major cruise lines performing his observational style of comedy on ships in the Caribbean, Europe, and Alaska, as well as in country clubs and corporate events.
Because he can do a clean act, he's also had the opportunity to open in concert for such artists as Patti LaBelle, Paul Anka, Julio Iglesias, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Rivers, and George Benson. Charlie and his wife, Linda, are the proud parents of their 29-year-old son Dylan, a successful television and play writer living in Brooklyn. He’s represented by one of the largest talent agencies in the country (CAA). He is a staff writer on “The Other Two,” a Max TV show nominated for an Emmy Award in the Comedy Writing category for 2023. Dylan recently sold a screenplay to John Legend's production company.
Coincidentally, Carl performed on the same cruise Stefanie Cedar Shames' (HHS '77) daughter and family took recently. Here he is after the show with Stefanie's grandchildren.
Charlie loved growing up in Hicksville with its proximity to NYC, the beaches, the countryside, and the mountains. You can see a current photo and read more about our famous HHS grad, Carl Guerra, at his website: www.carloscomedy.com
