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Archive for the ‘Comedians’ Category

Atsuko Okatsuka (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 9, 2026)

Posted in Atsuko Okatsuka, Maddy Kelly, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ on April 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 9, 2026] Atsuko Okatsuka

I had not heard of Atsuko Okatsuka when this show was announced (with the striking image to the right).

I have been going to a lot of comedians this year and reading the blurb and the fact that it was so close I thought it might be worth checking her out.  After buying the tickets, I watched some of her special on TV and wasn’t that excited by the opening moments.  But since I didn’t know if this was the routine she was going to do, I didn’t watch anymore.

So I wasn’t that excited going in.  And it turned out that my wife had a commitment that she couldn’t get out of.  So I almost stayed home.  But again, it was close, so I went.

And I’m so glad I did, because she was hilarious.

She started with a routine about her playing a video game in which you own restaurants.  I didn’t think this could be an extended riff, but it was and each level of the joke made it funnier.  From the fact that she is very very busy (she has so many restaurants) to the part where she is making so much money (in the game) but losing so much money (in real life) as she upgrades.  To how her husband found out about her spending on the games (snitch accountant) to a hilarious joke about her caveman cafe and the dinosaur that runs it with her.   Any paleontologists in the audience?

She spun this off into a series of jokes about how having a phone and doomscrolling is very healthy because otherwise you are left alone with your own thoughts!

I really enjoyed her take on depression commercials–do you really want to be like the people in the “after” scenes?  I really enjoyed the sequence (and the big payoff at the end) about the white man who is excellent at kendo.  She explained that this man has trained for years and is really impressive.  At first she thought it was racist, but realized that he is so sincere and devoted that it is honoring rather than appropriating.  Although she acknowledged that if he hurt himself and someone asked her to finish the routine, THAT would be racist.

The only person who is more Japanese than this man is her father, who is the quintessential Japanese man.  She went to visit him and that’s when she learned she had a brother (from her father’s first marriage).  She was unsure if she wanted to meet him, but when she did and he said, do you want to pretend po be cats while waiting online, that she knew she’d found a kindred spirit.

She crammed so much good material into an hour.  It was a great set.  At the end she did a brief Q&A which turned into a fan fest of people who went to the show wearing a wig that looked like her hair.  I had no idea this was a thing.  Apparently it is.  And she loves it.

I’m sorry my wife couldn’t make it, but I’m really glad I went.

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Puscifer / Dave Hill (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, April 3, 3026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dave Hill, Puscifer, Wind Creek Event Center on April 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 3, 3026] Puscifer / Dave Hill

I saw Puscifer this past summer as part of a triple bill with Primus and A Perfect Circle.  I didn’t know much about Puscifer except that it was one of Maynard Keenan’s bands.  But their live show was so great that when they announced this tour, I immediately grabbed a ticket to the Bethlehem show–Bethlehem?  Amazing.

But this show also fell within our Minnesota trip dates.  So I would miss this one too.  There were really some special shows to be missed in these few days.  Alas.

I saw Dave Hill open for Kevin McDonald Superstar.  HE was really funny and was a great guitar player as well.  I was really looking forward to seeing him too.  Interestingly Dave played at a small venue in Frenchtown (a venue I have yet to go to even though it is so close).   But that show was on the same night as my Baroness show. So, no luck for me.

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Nish Kumar: Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 2, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in McCarter Theatre, Nish Kumar, Princeton, NJ on April 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 2, 2026] Nish Kumar

I missed a lot of shows when we went to Minnesota.  No one should have that many shows lined up, but this one hurt doubly.

Tonight I had a ticket for Dirty Three, a band I desperately wanted to see.  But when Nish Kumar (whom my wife and I had seen last year) announced a stop in Princeton!   Well, I wanted to check it out.  It conflicted with Dirty Three, but then my son said he really wanted to see him.  So I got us tickets for that show.  But we couldn’t make either.  Gah.

Nish is hilarious and I would definitely see him any time he came back to the area.  I hope Princeton treated him well and he wants to come baclk

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John Miller Giltner (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, March 28, 2026) [THE TEETH]

Posted in John Miller Giltner, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Purples, The Kinks, The Teeth on March 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 28, 2026] John Miller Giltner

I was delighted when I saw that The Teeth has comedians open for them on the last time they played Johnny Brenda’s.  They did the same this time.  Although last night’s show opened with a magician (which sounds awesome), I got a kick out of John Miller Giltner.

They are a young comedian (meaning he uses a bunch of young person slang) and they used a powerpoint presentation (which was really funny).  It opened with a slide that said Comedy set for The Teeth.  Which is pretty spot on.

The main point of their comedy was about how they had a bed with no frame (it’s amazing how much material you can get out of that).  This included a phot of said bed and a lengthy story about the person he was dating’s reaction to the lack of bed frame.

But it started off funny when John said that in order to get through this set they were going to need to borrow someone’s vape.  A woman nicely obliged.  If they didn’t have the vape it would induce a panic attack for sure (the panic attack graphics on the powerpoint were hilarious).

An unintentionally funny part came when they clicked the wrong button and reset the whole PowerPoint.

There was a funny part about being nonbinary and the way his dad was supported but said the worst things.

The end of the set featured a long call with Amazon help.  He called up to say that he had given his then girlfriend a video game controller and she broke up with him and he wondered if he could get some kind of rebate since she broke up with him.  The woman on the other end of the call was confused but polite and ultimately sweet.  It was a funny bit of reality in a wild set.

I do rather like the idea of a comedian opening for a rock band and think more bands should consider it.

Here’s an article about another of Giltener’s performances.  I think our night was maybe a variant of this but cut much shorter.

 

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Mae Martin (Kimmel Center/Miller Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, March 27, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mae Martin, Philadelphia, PA, Taskmaster on March 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 27, 2026] Mae Martin

I decided I would like to see my favorite Taskmaster contestants if they came to the United States.  I have seen a few of them already and Mae Martin was a favorite contestant for me.  But we had recently watched Mae’s TV show Feel Good and it was funny but very dark as well.  I didn’t really investigate any of Mae’s standup, but I kind of got the feeling that it was all kind of dark and I didn’t think I wanted to go to that kind of comedy show.

It turned out to be on the same night as the Lucius show that I was super excited to go to, so it was a moot point anyhow.  I might reconsider if they come back around–but I will have to see just how dark the show gets before I commit.

Of course I have just watched a few clips and it looks very funny and not dark at all, so what do I know?

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Wanda Sykes (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 27, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Wanda Sykes on March 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 27, 2026] Wanda Sykes

Whenever I think about comedians that I like, they’re usually British.  Because I receive ads for comedy clubs, I feel like there are hundreds of American comedians and I don’t know any of them. So I forget that there are quite a few American comedians who I really like.  And Wanda Sykes is one of them.  I don’t know much about her standup, but she cracks me up whenever I see her.  I didn’t hear about this show until recently and we had had tickets to Lucius for quite a while already.

When I looked at the tour poster I saw that she was only doing six dates!  And Philly was one of them.  That makes me think she doesn’t tour very often and I’ll have to keep an eye out in case she comes back any time soon.

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Dave Hill (ArtYard, Frenchtown, NJ, March 6, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in ArtYard, Dave Hill, Frenchtown NJ on March 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 6, 2026] Dave Hill

There have now been at least three events at ArtYArd in Frenchtown that I have wanted to go to  And for one reason or another I have been unable to.

Tonight’s show was Dave Hill, a comedian/guitarist who we saw open for Kevin McDonald Superstar.  I loved his opening set and would definitely see him again.

But this show was the same night as my Baroness show.  And i Have been wanting to see Baroness for real for quite a long time.

Mu consolation is that all of these ArtYard shows are selling out so it means that either the artists will keep coming back or they’ll get comparable artists.  Which is awesome

 

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Ed Gamble (Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, March 1, 2026)

Posted in Ed Gamble, Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, Stuart Laws, Taskmaster on March 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2026] Ed Gamble

I have made a list of all of the contestants from Taskmaster who I want to see do stand up.  And while I don’t wish to rank them or anything, Ed Gamble was near the top of my list.  I have enjoyed him immensely on his TM podcast, and really I think he’s funny in just about anything.  I didn’t know anything about his standup, but I assumed it would be very funny.

So after Stuart left the stage, Ed came out and made immediate jokes about the lateness of the set.  He said he wanted to play Philadelphia and when the tour manager said Friday or Saturday?  Ed said no Sunday–as late as possible.  Tell them I’ll go on at 8:15 but I won’t go on until 9:20.  He explained the the previous comic went over time, but he watched it and enjoyed, noting that the audience was very different (the previous comedian was black and the entre audience was as well).

Ed made some quick audience banter.  He noted how British comedy clubs don’t have food “ah yes, it’s 9:30 o a Sunday night, let’s get food!”  And then he joked with someone up front who had a lot of food in front of them.  They said that their toddler had eaten all of their food and then said something which made Ed crack up and say that he is tired after this tour and he asked for an audience that would supply half of the jokes for him.

He also noted that the far side of the room was not as vocal as our side.  So he guessed that they were a church group who had come out to the comedy club.  He played up that joke all night and it worked every time.

He told us that every time he makes fun of something in his act, within three years he is doing that.  He used to make fun of vaping, now he vapes (who starts vaping in their late 30s if they don’t smoke?).  He used to make fun of tattoos and now he’s got a bunch.  He promised not to make any jokes about pedophiles.

Every non-American comedian I’ve seen seems to be amazed by our bathrooms.  Ed explained that he was amazed when the automatic toilet went off when he moved–and whisked everything away too fast to even look at it.  While in England, the bowl, is like a lazy carousel, swirling everything around so you can see how it went.  He also said that there is a brush in each stall designed for you to clean up and maybe help the stragglers down.  He imagined just how much human DNA is on it.  Gross.

He made some jokes about the posh school that he went to.  So posh that Marcus Mumford was in the year below him.  Then he joked that someone told him Mumford was on Saturday Night Live last night which made him hilariously furious.  They put on plays and he was often cast in the role of the woman.  Which led to a segue about drag queens.  He told us that when he was on a show that filmed in the States, he met some drag queens (for the show) and they made him up.  He said it gave him the utmost respect for drag and loved seeing it on stage even now.

The drag show was the only thing about his honeymoon that he liked.  He said that he and his wife wanted to prove that they weren’t a boring old married couple, so they honeymooned in Las Vegas.  And hated everything about it. They hated the heat, they hated the drugs, they hated the gambling (and how many time people heard his last name and assumed that’s why he was in Vegas.

His description of their Thai massage was hilarious (and Makes me never want to have one.

Ed was pretty explicit and he joked that the Christian side was muttering, enough with the shit and boob jokes.  He also joked about muttering himself.  That when he gets to be like 70, he’s looking forward to becoming a bigot–because that’s what you do when you get old: you make holidays uncomfortable and then you die.  But he joked that as a posh person he can make that harrumph sound, and you can put any kind of slur in there.

He imagines that when he is a grandpa he will have no tolerance for humanoid cyborgs, and when his child brings one home to date, he will have some choice words for it.  Somehow saying the kind of racist things old people say but saying it about a cyborg was really funny.

So yes, he made me laugh a lot.  It was a lot of fun.  And he told us that he loved American audiences because we think, I paid money to laugh so I’m going to laugh.  Whereas British people say, “let’s see if this guy can make us laugh.”  We are giving him an inflated ego.

There was no mention of Taskmaster, which doesn’t entirely surprise me, but I thought there might be a nod to it.  It’s also interesting that his partner in the Off Menu podcast, James Acaster, played a much larger venue.  I guess Ed is not quite as well known here–and indeed, this was his first stand up tour in the U.S.  I think it went rather well for him.

 

 

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Stuart Laws (Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, March 1, 2026) [ED GAMBLE]

Posted in Ed Gamble, Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, Stuart Laws, Taskmaster on March 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2026] Stuart Laws

After seeing Rhys Nicholson here a month ago, I had a better idea of what to expect.  But all my expectations went out the window when we arrived with a solid 25 minutes to spare and there was a massive line outside.

Evidently the previous comedian (who went on at 6) ran really late.  And they were still clearing the audience out and getting the place ready.  I wasn’t sure if there would be opening acts like last time.  There was an opening act, but there was no “Host” like last time.  There was someone who introduced Stuart, but he also just told us about the venue’s policies.

Stuart Laws came out and immediately told us that he’d only be doing about 15 minutes of material.  I’m not sure if his set was truncated (I assume so).  (more…)

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Rhys Nicholson (Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, February 2, 2026)

Posted in Hannah Trav, Helium Comedy Club, Jim Gillespie, Philadelphia, PA, Rhys Nicholson, Taskmaster, Taskmaster Australia on February 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 2, 2026] Rhys Nicholson

I have made a list of all of comedians from Taskmaster who I would like to see live.  It’s not everyone of course (some of them don’t do stand up and some I don’t think I would enjoy).  And then we started watching Taskmaster Australia and Taskmaster New Zealand, and I’ve added a dozen or so more to that list.

Rhys Nicholson was one of the funnier people on Taskmaster Australia and I was really excited when I saw that they were playing in Philly (apparently not their first time playing here).

Rhys set the tone well asking who had heard of them (much applause) and who had not (more than usual).  They assumed that the people who hadn’t heard of them were straight boyfriends/husbands.  And sadly there were no jokes for those people–they’ve had enough.

And then, geez, it was like 90 minutes of nonstop hilariousness. (more…)

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