diversity Tag

November 6, 2025 In Blog

Shapiro PePijn Host Review

Greg Shapiro – Pepijn’s Comedy Club Host – Reviewed by ArtsTalk Magazine

6 November, 2025

This season I’m returning as the programmer and host of PePijn’s Comedy Club in The Hague. And we just got another great review!

Some highlights from ArtsTalk Magazine:

“Comedy is a funny thing …This was demonstrated last night at the PePijn comedy club in The Hague.”

“The evening was MC’d by …the ever suave Greg Shapiro. …His relaxed, easy-going style got everyone in the mood.”

“There was a lot of interaction ..it was always good natured and created a really good, friendly atmosphere and everybody had a good night out.”

https://artstalkmagazine.substack.com/p/stand-up-comedy-in-english-at-theater

I’ve been doing this gig since 2022, and I think I’m getting good at it. But I can’t claim credit… There’s such a wealth of talented English language standup in the Netherlands! And more and more, there are professional traveling comedians passing through. It’s hard NOT to create an excellent lineup every month.

I try to aim for diversity in my lineups. When the host is always a white guy (me), it’s easy to fall into the trap of having yet another standup night dominated by white dudes. And if they’re funny, they’re funny. But why not look a little harder? There are a lot of diverse voices who are not only hilarious, but they bring this variety of perspectives and life experience to the show. To my mind, that is what makes it worthy of Theater PePijn.

In the past, I have had a bisexual Afghan/Dutch comedian (finalist of the Dutch Camaretten awards), an Egyptian woman who works for an EU think tank, a Ukrainian refugee, and a former dominatrix.

This past month I had Ram Adithya Arangi (India), Kaili Smith (Australia) and Sharon Em (Irish), whose solo show was nominated for best debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Our next show will be on 26 November. This time I do have another white American male on the lineup. But it’s Matt Castellvi, whose comedy chops are legendary. I also have Faris Abusada, who is Palestinian, Christian and hilarious. And then there’s the Persian-American Cid Clementine, who is also intrumental in creating an English-language scene in The Hague.

Want to come?

PEPIJN’S COMEDY CLUB IN ENGLISH

https://www.diligentia-pepijn.nl/theme/pepijns-comedy-club-t7gc

 

See our previous review from 2024:

Shapiro Comedy Review Pepijn

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October 20, 2025 In Blog

Greg Shapiro Hosts Inclusivity25

Greg Shapiro Hosts ‘Inclusivity 25’ for Hello Zuidas, September 2025

20 October, 2025

“We need someone to host our Diversity event in Amsterdam. Who should we get?” A WHITE GUY?!

Yes. As host of INCLUSIVITY 25 for Amsterdam’s Zuidas business community, I knew my job was to make the event a conversation. I literally passed the mic to as many diverse voices as possible. I used my loud American persona to encourage people to share their own perspectives. And it worked! I “broke the fourth wall.” At the office space known as The Edge – Stadium.

As I found out, maybe my white maleness was useful. Maybe it helps to indeed have a white guy arguing for more diversity. In my solo show Leaving Trumpland 2, I talked about Kamala Harris, and I talked about my experience working for a Black woman as my manager. After the show, I heard from many women – and people of color. Their take was “Thank you for talking about it. When we bring it up, people think we’re whining. When you bring it up, it’s harder to ignore.”

These days the US government is anti “DEI.” My message was “without ‘Diversity Equity and Inclusion,’ you’re at a disadvantage. Without DEI, your organization will D.I.E.” (but seriously, next time make me co-host.)

A Diversity Pub Quiz for Your Organization

My part of the event was organized by Hello Zuidas. The main event was a Pub Quiz with 10 different categories, from ‘Gender Gap’ to ‘Age Gap’ to ‘Digital Inclusivity.’ At the end of the event, the organizers provided the 50 questions in the form of a deck of cards – for people to use if they wanted to host their own pub quiz for their own organization. I still have one deck left over, if you want one.

Thank you to the sponsors and initiators. Thanks to Hello Zuidas for producing the flashy video. And thanks to Elisa Schouten for bringing me on and helping prepare the quiz questions!

 

Hello Zuidas “Inclusivity 25”
https://en.hellozuidas.com/nieuws/inclusivity-25-let-s-celebrate-together-682489578a151554da037d47

Greg’s Blog piece on working for a woman of color as his manager (Amber Ruffin)!
https://gregshapiro.nl/blog/shapiro-improv-tim-walz/

 

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