2026 Creative Team
Jim David—Host
Jim David will forever be grateful to the Bistros, his first award for comedy, and he has hosted numerous Bistro Awards shows in the years since. He’s also a three-time MAC Award winner, was the first openly gay man to have a “Comedy Central Presents” Special (now available on Paramount Plus—Season 4), and has appeared on many other TV shows. He toured the U.S. with his theatre comedy, South Pathetic, and has performed around the world for nearly 40 years. He can currently be seen in the Netflix documentary Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, about the history of LGBT comedy. His comic novel about showbiz, You’ll Be Swell, is available on Amazon. Instagram/TikTok: @comicjimdavid; comicjimdavid.com
Daryl Kojak—Musical Director/Piano
Daryl Kojak—pianist, arranger, producer, musical director, composer and songwriter—is honored to have worked with a long list of talent, including Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Phoebe Snow, Ben Vereen, Sheila Jordan, Michael Feinstein, Jane Monheit, Cheryl Bentyne, Kristin Chenoweth, Vicki Sue Robinson, George Coleman, Randy Brecker, Sheldon Harnick, Sandra Bernhard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Mary Testa, Rita Rudner, Richard Belzer, Tiny Tim, Catherine Russell, Laurie Krauz, Heather MacRae, Stephanie Pope, and many others. He has composed and scored music for film, television, stage, artist recordings, and video games and has been honored with the Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Director, the Caribbean Gospel Music Award for Top Gospel Arranger, the MAC Award for Best Jazz Group, and—with Laurie Krauz—the Bistro Award for Outstanding Theme Show for Tapestry Rewoven.With Deborah Stone, Sean Harkness, and Tom Hubbard, Daryl also received the 2026 Bistro Award for Outstanding Collaboration for String Theory.
Ritt Henn—Bass
Ritt Henn (bass) is the 2025 MAC Award recipient for Ensemble Instrumentalist, having accompanied artists including Liz Callaway, Ann Hampton Callaway, Amanda McBroom, Michele Brourman, Jeff Harnar, Karen Mason, Karen Akers, and more. He and his wife, Beth Falcone, recently presented their 10th annual Beth & Ritt’s Holiday Survival Kit at Urban Stages and are currently releasing new recordings, with a full album due later this year. Ritt’s original tune “Union Square” is streaming now. RittHenn.com • beacons.ai/bethandritt
Rex Benincasa—Drums
Rex Benincasa has been a freelancing drummer and percussionist in New York since 1978. He has performed with the Concordia Chamber Players, Eurasia Consort, BaBan Chinese Music Society, Apollo’s Fire, Long Island Baroque ensemble, Ensemble Caprice, Alba Consort, The Sebastians, Seraphic Fire, American Ballet Theatre, Flamenco Latino, Carlota Santana Spanish Dance, Andrea Delconte Danza Espana, Zorongo Flamenco Dance, Pilar Rioja, and Amanecer Flamenco Progressivo. He has recorded CDs and/or movie soundtracks for Marty Balin, Karen Mason, Andrea Marcovicci, Craig Rubano, Jamie deRoy, Stephanie Pope, Celia Berk, Wendy Scherl, Ann Kittredge, Renee Katz, Foday Musa Suso, Douglas Cuomo, Philip Glass, Sesame Street, NFL Films, and others. Broadway appearances have been with Fosse, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, The Full Monty, Flower Drum Song, Man of La Mancha, Never Gonna Dance, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Color Purple, Shrek, In the Heights, Billy Elliot, Peter and the Starcatcher, Motown: The Musical, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Rex likes all kinds of music. RexVB@aol.com
Jonny Mercado—Production Stage Manager/Light Design
Jonny Mercado is an actor, musician, and freelance technician who’s been working professionally in New York City since 2014. This is his eighth year as lighting designer for the Bistro Awards, as well as his second year as the event’s Production Stage Manager. He joined the technical staff at the Metropolitan Room in 2015, earning a MAC Award Nomination for his work the following year and in subsequent years as well. His past experience has included being technical manager at Don’t Tell Mama—eventually the club’s associate booking manager—and the booking manager and special events director at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Jonny received his training at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University and enjoyed a decade of work at Chicago’s Davenport’s Piano Bar and Cabaret before relocating to New York City. He also serves as a member of the Technical Staff at The Players, and is the Director of sacred music at a Roman Catholic parish in Brooklyn where he is also organist and choirmaster.
Sidney Myer—Announcer
Sidney Myer has been seen on screen most recently in the six-time Emmy-winning Amazon Prime series After Forever, Seasons 1 & 2. He has entertained from Palm Springs to London and is a recipient of MAC, Bistro, Broadway World, Theater Pizzazz, Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Classic, Mabel Mercer, and Paula Laurence Awards. Myer has been a cabaret booking manager for over four decades (Don’t Tell Mama, Rose’s Turn, Panache). Off-Broadway credits include Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral, Dressing Room, and Split Ends. Other theatre: 25th Anniversary revival of Irene, Kaye Playhouse; Edinburgh Festival Fringe with La Gran Scena Opera Co.; Beauty and the Beast, Theatre By the Sea; Times Square Angel with Charles Busch; The Boys in the Band; Laughing Wild, The Ball. Film: 20th Century Fox’s Headin’ for Broadway. Television: Celebrity interviewer on cable’s Broadway Beat and Cabaret Beat, and on a Nancy LaMott DVD, I’ll Be Here With You. Commercials: RCA Victor, New York Lotto. Radio: Regular on The Joey Reynolds Show.
Frank Dain—Program and Promo Design
Frank Dain has designed the Bistro Awards program since 2010. He has been the Editor of Cabaret Scenes magazine since 2013 and was honored for his 20 years at the magazine at a star-studded event in December 2022. He is the treasurer for the American Songbook Association, on the Advisory Board of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, and served on the Board of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets for eight years. He has served as one of the permanent judges for Don’t Tell Mama’s talent contest, Mama’s Next BIG Act!, since its inception. He has provided designs for Kurt Peterson’s James William Productions (Proud Ladies, When Everything Was Possible, Zero Hour, Captain Louis), St. Luke’s Theatre, Theatre at St. Clement’s, and for many cabaret performers. Dain is a MAC nominee for Male Vocalist, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Café Pierre, Waldorf-Astoria, Jazz at Kitano, Don’t Tell Mama, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Metropolitan Room, Pangea, Chelsea Table + Stage, and Danny’s Skylight Room. He has just released his new CD, I’ve Had a Love, which has garnered high praise.
Site Rockstar—Website Producers
Site Rockstar specializes in helping new businesses establish a strong website and also helping established companies enhance and expand their existing sites. Services include domain registration, hosting, website maintenance, security, and more. Site Rockstar prioritizes an understanding of each client’s unique goals and requirements, so that they can provide tailored, effective recommendations. siterockstar.com
Bob Peterson—Logo Design
Bob Peterson, a director and digital artist/animator, comes to the Bistro Awards with more than 35 years’ experience in multimedia design and production. He is the lead animator for the Exhibitions Department at the American Museum of Natural History. His animations and designs have been viewed on Broadway in The Normal Heart (Hewes Award for projection design), Lucky Guy, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. His past work has included permanent installations for the British Olympic Museum in London, Russia’s first Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, and the Museum of Tolerance in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is a recent winner of the Collision Award for Animation for “Secret World of Elephants” AMNH exhibition.