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Comedian D.C. Benny and Erik Brown outside Brown’s Southold restaurant. (Credit: Tara Smith)

Something a bit different will be served up at Erik’s in Southold next Saturday: Dinner and a show.

The special menu will accompany a comedy show headlined by Ben Wartofsky aka D.C. Benny.

The Southold resident and top-eight finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing has performed nearby at the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. But aside from the occasional open-mic stint at Taps and Corks, he’s never performed in Southold.

“I wanted to be able to perform in my favorite place,” he said. He had been searching for a performance space when his neighbor, chef Erik Brown, one day suggested he use his eponymous North Road restaurant for a venue.

“We thought it would be really cool to do a big night of comedy and a night of really great food,” Benny said, in between bites of his favorite sandwich at Erik’s Friday.

Dinner at Erik’s will be a rare treat, as Brown is known for bringing fine-dining quality to simple breakfast and lunch dishes.

He’s excited to flex his culinary muscles for this special event.

“All I did was fine-dining, my whole life,” he said, until Erik’s opened in 2006. “This is what I do best,” he said with a smile, as he reviewed the menu planned for next weekend.

The $120 ticket includes the comedy show, and a buffet menu featuring sliced filet mignon, Maryland shore crab cakes, Bosc pear salad with grilled shrimp, grilled vegetables, potatoes au gratin, sliced heirloom tomatoes with key lime pie or strawberry shortcake for dessert. Doors open Saturday, Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m., and dinner will be served ahead of the showtime at 7:30 p.m.

Benny will be joined by standup comic Kendra Cunningham and he hopes to secure one more performer. He said he’d love to turn the comedy show into a monthly event, at Erik’s or at different venues in town, with other nationally headlining comedians.

He said this show comes as he prepares to tape his third comedy album at the Brokerage Comedy Club in Bellmore this fall. “This will be a sneak preview at some of that material,” he said. He also recently taped a Dry Bar Comedy special.

Known for his storytelling and characters, Benny has been performing for more than 30 years. He filmed a Comedy Central special in 2004 and currently hosts a podcast, “Tall But True” with his friend Ben Bailey of Cash Cab. He tours nationally and internationally and his personal essays and stories have been featured in New York Magazine, The New York Observer, Narratively, and Heeb Magazine.

Benny said performing is still the highlight of his career, and is looking forward to bringing some laughter to the North Fork. “I’M happy to be able to bring it to the place I love so much.”

Tickets are available at Erik’s, located at 43715 Route 48 in Southold or by calling 631-765-6264.

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