Today, a
Bloomberg feature introduced us to Ben Shoval, a hedge fund manager who runs
Ambit Funding, managing $260 million of his family’s money. Hoping to
emcee conferences and charity events, he’s been giving stand-up comedy a whirl,
taking a dozen group lessons since January that have cost him $3,500 so
far. He performed last week at New York’s Broadway Comedy club. The
inspiration for his shtick? What he knows best — the world of hedge
funds. But he didn’t exactly slay the audience.
“When things are bad, particularly like they are now, we seem to be a good scapegoat for absolutely everything,” Shoval said. “That’s what’s neat about the whole hedge-fund manager routine that I’m doing, because there are so many misunderstandings.”
“A hedge fund is like a
mutual fund on steroids,” said Shoval, who manages $260 million for his
family’s firm, Ambit Funding. “It’s like the Barry Bonds of investments. Barry
goes to Mexico for his juice. We go to the Cayman Islands.”
The line drew a smattering of laughs from the audience of almost three dozen, highlighting the challenge Shoval faces delivering hedge fund humor to a crowd more accustomed to wisecracks about sex and race. His non-financial one-liners got more response during a 12-minute set on Aug. 5.
Shoval isn’t the only hedge fund manager who’s given comedy a shot. He might want to take a lesson from Carl Icahn who’s also been known to do a bit of stand-up….
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Tags: Carl Icahn, Hedge funds, Humor
