Retired LI Teacher And Comic, Produces 1st Documentary

NORTH BABYLON, NY — Claudia Bonavita became a stand-up comic five years ago. The longtime Babylon resident has taken her interest in the field into a new documentary "By Day, By Night: Working to Make People Laugh." She wrote and produced the film that explores the lives of five people, each finding different reasons to grab the microphone.

"In doing stand-up, I've met some of the greatest people," Bonavita told Patch. "I have met some interesting people, and those people are highlighted in the movie."

Her idea was to showcase people who turn to comedy while maintaining their day jobs.

"I wanted to find people who had really peculiar and unique daytime backgrounds," she said.

Bonavita's day job was as a special education teacher at St. Joseph's in Patchogue before deciding to get laughs for money.

She hopes watching the documentary will encourage people to "try something that you've always wanted to do," she said.

The film is getting screened at St. Joe's on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. A question-and-answer segment with the audience follows the film.

The premiere for "By Day, By Night" took place earlier this month at the Sayville Theater.

Watch the full "Patch Weekly Spotlight" interview below with Claudia Bonavita.