NYQ<\/a>, a series in which we find out how \u201cNew York\u201d notable New Yorkers really are.<\/p>\nHow many years have you lived in New York City? <\/strong>My whole life. I grew up here. I\u2019m always here.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the longest you\u2019ve ever waited on a subway platform? <\/strong>I grew up taking the subway to high school every day from Queens into Manhattan. I\u2019ve waited a long time for subways.<\/p>\nDo you own a car? <\/strong>I don\u2019t own a car. I don\u2019t have a driver\u2019s license. Don\u2019t know how to drive. Never have \u2014 hate driving.<\/p>\nYour train line is down and you\u2019re running late. What do you do? <\/strong>If I can walk, I\u2019ll walk it. Usually, I\u2019d probably get out and, like, kind of frantically jump in a yellow cab.<\/p>\nYour cab driver is taking you on a horrible route. Do you interrupt? <\/strong>Yes, say, \u201cSir, I\u2019m sorry, how are you going?\u201d And then I look at Waze and I\u2019m like, \u201cWaze is saying to do this.\u201d And they don\u2019t like that.<\/p>\nEvery New Yorker should do what at least once? <\/strong>Go to Queens. Shout-out to the neighborhood I grew up in, Forest Hills. I wasn\u2019t rich enough to be bar mitzvahed at the Forest Hills Jewish Center, so I got bar mitzvahed at the Rego Park Jewish Center, but I love Forest Hills.<\/p>\nSomeone tries to hand you a flyer on the street. What do you do? <\/strong>I have a lot of experience going up to people on the street, and so I always try to be really nice and not just walk past them and ignore them.<\/p>\nSomeone tries to make you film a TikTok on the street. What do you do? <\/strong>I ain\u2019t doing that shit. No.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the best place in New York to film? <\/strong>I filmed a lot of Billy on the Street in Chelsea. Twenty-Third Street between the Flatiron Building and Ninth Avenue, it\u2019s magic. I owe a lot to 23rd Street in Chelsea.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a blinking red light and you\u2019re about to cross. Do you wait it out, or are you crossing? <\/strong>If I\u2019m alone, I might try to make it. When I\u2019m shooting with my whole crew, we do not cross against the light.<\/p>\nYou\u2019re in town for a long holiday weekend and know the city will empty out. Where do you go? <\/strong>Maybe get tickets to a show, walk through Central Park. I don\u2019t know, sit on Grindr for a minute or two.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s your area code? <\/strong>646. But growing up, 718.<\/p>\nDo you think they matter? <\/strong>Yes, they do matter.<\/p>\nDo you call Manhattan \u201cthe city\u201d or just Manhattan? <\/strong>Growing up in Queens, it was always \u201cthe city.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the most you\u2019ve ever paid for a coffee in New York City? <\/strong>I had a meeting once in the Park Hyatt hotel, and someone bought me a cold brew, and it was, like, 20 bucks.<\/p>\nBedbugs or roaches? <\/strong>Roaches. That\u2019s kind of like a romantic New York vibe.<\/p>\nRoaches or rats? <\/strong>Roaches. Rats have more, like, humanity.<\/p>\nWhere do you go to cry? <\/strong>I was recently walking in Central Park listening to Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Sunday in the Park With George, and I started crying.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s your go-to public bathroom? <\/strong>The bathrooms in Central Park. When in doubt, they\u2019re usable.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s a place that closed that you wish you could bring back? <\/strong>The Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on the Upper West Side. It\u2019s an iconic, elevated, chic, sophisticated movie theater. And they left the marquee up. Someone buy it or take the marquee down because it\u2019s very depressing.<\/p>\nLast time you ate a hot dog from a hot-dog stand? <\/strong>Oh, it\u2019s been years. But my dad loved getting those disgusting hot dogs from the hot-dog stand. It always freaked me out. That water.<\/p>\nHas your phone ever gone off during a live performance? <\/strong>God, I hope not. I don\u2019t think so. I\u2019m very, very neurotic about that.<\/p>\nAisle or center? <\/strong>Aisle because I\u2019m like Big Bird \u2014 I\u2019m so tall.<\/p>\nBest New York celebrity sighting? <\/strong>The first celebrity I ever saw was the local news anchor when I was a kid here, Ernie Anastos. A New York local-news legend. My parents and I went to see a Broadway show and Ernie Anastos came out of the theater. It was like seeing Justin Bieber to see Ernie Anastos. It was magical.<\/p>\n
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