Six nights a week, Pete Burdette arrives on Macdougal Street wearing a Hawaiian shirt and wielding a clipboard. Out of respect for vaudeville tradition, he keeps a rubber chicken in his pocket.

“Date night, guys?” he asked a woman in suede high heels walking with a man in a gingham button-down on a recent night.

“We’re brother and sister,” the woman spat.

The venom didn’t bother Mr. Burdette, who goes by Comedy Pete. He belongs to a community most outsiders loathe or pity. Mr. Burdette is a comedy barker, someone who peddles tickets to stand-up shows that struggle to attract a crowd.

Out-and-out hawkers bark for quick cash. Aspiring comics do it for a smaller cut of sales plus, crucially, stage time. Mr. Burdette belongs to the latter group. At 48 years old, he is almost surely the oldest barker on Macdougal Street still holding on to the dream of becoming a professional comedian.