GOOD NOT GREAT World Premiere at Dances With Films NYC

The dark comedy short GOOD NOT GREAT will have its world premiere at the 2026 Dances With Films New York festival on January 17 at 2:45 PM, offering a brutally honest and deeply personal look at mental illness and self-destruction inside New York’s comedy scene.

The 22-minute short written by Nick von Gremp and Matt Pavich stars Pavich as a version of himself: a bipolar, New York comedian struggling to piece together his life. After a manic episode lands him back in the psychiatric hospital, he’s forced to revisit the drug-fueled spiral that brought him there.

“This film came out of my lived experience with bipolar disorder,” said Queens-born comedian Matt Pavich, named New York’s Funniest at the New York Comedy Festival, whose debut comedy special Wednesdays @ Bellevue hit #1 on Apple Music’s comedy charts. “Rather than wither in shame, I chose to take my power back by finding humor in the absurdity. I don’t know how healthy it is—but making it funny has always been how I cope.”

“Matt and I talked about collaborating for years, but could never land on an idea that felt right,” said director, co-writer, and editor Nick von Gremp. “One night I was watching him perform, and he was telling these wild stories about living with bipolar disorder and his time in the psych ward. Those jokes were the starting point for what eventually became Good Not Great.”

The film is produced by Rachel Barclay and Julie Deffet of Brooklyn-based Mae Productions (https://www.mae-prod.com/tour), a female-led company dedicated to amplifying bold, socially resonant storytelling.

“We back stories that challenge stigma through messy, lived experience,” said Deffet, a Belgian filmmaker whose work has screened at Cinequest, Prague International Film Festival, and Tallinn Black Nights.

Barclay, a former film programmer for TIFF and Whistler Film Festival, added, “This is a New York story through and through, shaped by the city’s comedy scene. It’s unflinching, fearless and very funny.”

GOOD NOT GREAT is launching its festival run and serves as a proof of concept for a larger episodic project in development.