Solo comedy shows are the move

January was never ending but my first 5 days of Feb have been all time

It has been a GREAT week for comedy shows in the Bailey Dunn household! January was the longest month in existence, but my first five days of February are starting on a big time high. I’m skipping our usual Park It programming this week in favor of talking about the live shows I’ve seen because we have a very special installment of Park It coming next week in honor of Galentine’s Day. I want to build the hype, build the buzz, leave you in a state of suspense.

This week alone, I have solo attended two A-list star comedy shows for the low low price of $35 each. Let’s say $50 each, including fees and my respective show beers. That’s $100 flat to see THIS LINEUP: Kathryn Hahn, Nikki Glaser, Zach Galifianakis, and Judd Apatow. How insane is that!!

Kathryn Hahn started off my week. I’ve been a big time Kathryn Hahn fan since How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days — perfect movie, think I’ve seen it 30 times, the “Somebody Like You” Keith Urban motorcycle scene runs through my head every 3-5 business days. Kathryn playing therapist slash sad friend slash plot catalyst Michelle is some top tier side character work. I’m also a big sucker for both Bad Moms movies and — duh, her Parks and Rec stint at Jen Barkley.

I got a perfectly targeted instagram ad a few weeks back for a Kathryn Hahn “tribute” last Sunday afternoon in SF. I swooped up a ticket without a second thought. It was the final event of SF Sketchfest, a two week series of comedy events that I missed most of this year because I was down bad with whatever flu is going around right now. The event was conversation-style and moderated by David Wain, who’s one of those comedians whose name I would never know but the minute I see his face I go: “oh, thaaaaat guy!”

Oh, thaaaat guy!

The event was, to be totally honest, pretty chaotic and slightly underwhelming. David and Kathryn are good friends who worked together about 10 years ago on the movie Wanderlust. David asked Kathryn a series of nonsequitur, funny-ish (?) questions about her thoughts on auditioning, working as an actor, and making Agatha. I think the effect was meant to be the two of them off-the-cuff kinda vibing, but he kept taking the conversation in such weird random directions that I kinda wanted to shake him a few times and say "just let Kathryn speak!!” As a result, I barely remember what she said.

The highlight of the event was when they opened it up to audience Q&A. A line of (mainly queer) young women formed 20 people deep at the microphone. It was a great vibe. One girl was wearing a shirt that said “you may be hot, but you’re no Kathryn Hahn” and Kathryn ASKED WHAT IT SAID. Poor girl legitimately could have given a tomato a run for its money. Another girl opens by going “hi, I’m so anxious I think I might faint!” and then proceeds to gift Kathryn a snowglobe she’s gotten her because KH collects snowglobes. Yet another woman slid a pair of homemade earrins across the stage so that they landed at Kathryn’s feet. The women proceeded to basically thirst trap Kathryn for the next 30 minutes and ask her what it felt like to be a queer icon now as a result of Agatha. It was insanity.

You’re probably wondering if I asked a question and, if yes, what I asked. Unfortunately the answer is no, because the lovely event moderators decided to place the microphone as far as humanly possible away from my specific seat, so I would have had to brave a sea of 200 bodies to reach the microphone. Probably would have still been worth it. But I wanted to ask her about her best memory working on Parks and Rec!!! And I’m pissed no one else did!!!

WHAT I WILL SAY. Before she came on stage, they played this incredible montage of clips from her movies and shows. And the two shows that got the loudest cheers? Agatha All Along, of course. And Parks and Rec!!! The crowd went NUTS.

My second show of the week was impromptu and probably a highlight of my life. Up there with seeing Tina and Amy last year (many, many rungs down, but generally — up there). I’ve been in LA for work this week, and my friend Julianne has been chirping my ear off about the Largo for years. I randomly had a free night Tuesday, so was able to walk into a show at the Largo for $35, sitting in the 3rd row. Sipping a Guinness. Maybe my dream evening?? Especially once my immediate anxiety about being heckled faded.

It was hosted by Dan Levy (not Schitt’s Creek, Google “Dan Levy other.” Poor guy) as a benefit for the LA fires and he brought out a group of his friends to workshop new material. First out came Zach Galifianakis and the crowd went nuts. He brought out a notebook, would tell a one sentence “joke” (more like half of a punchline), look back down at his notebook and go “what else, what else?” It was weird and unpolished and absolutely killed.

THEN. Nikki Glaser came out. I’m actually seeing Nikki Glaser in San Jose in April as part of a big stadium tour vibe, but seeing her do a completely off-the-cuff 20 minute set was next level. I’ve basically never seen Nikki Glaser not in a skin tight dress and heels. In her HBO special, at the Golden Globes, ripping off Benson Boone’s shirt at the Grammy’s — always the stilettos, always the bodycon dress. But she popped out in wide leg jeans, a long sleeve polo shirt I immediately went home to online shop for, New Balance sneakers, and no makeup and she. fucking. DESTROYED. The entire crowd was eating out of the palm of her hand. She talked for 20 minutes and basically never took a breath? And look, I know that me saying “it’s almost like she just thought of it on the spot” is so idiotic because like, of course she’s workshopping new material, but it really really felt like she was just standing up there saying the first things that popped into her head. Every single line just killed.

this is how I usually know Nikki Glaser

She was by far and away the peak of the evening. After her came Judd Apatow. I love Judd generally. I’ve read both of his books, Sick in the Head and Sicker in the Head, where he interviews other comedians. I love his movies and very much can appreciate what they’ve done for the genre, even if most of them are the epitome of very bro-focused early 2000s humor that movies like Bridesmaids had to radically later work against to carve out a little space for women (and, to be fair, Judd produced Bridesmaids, so he helped with this). You know what I’m talking about though — his IMDB list has Superbad and Pineapple Express and Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. I love love love these movies, but they are sooo very boy. They always feature an incredibly mid man ending up with a woman so incredibly far out of his league it’s laughable (Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, anyone?). Basically every guy I was friends with in high school treated Pineapple Express like it was the Bible.

Judd’s contributions to comedy via film and TV are totally undeniable, but he’s not a stand-up. He workshopped a few jokes about movies coming out, talked about aging and why he thinks 57 is the worst age for men, and told a story about a time he falsely made his family evacuate from what he thought was a fire. Again, love Judd and his work very dearly and I was absolutely ecstatic to get to see him in the flesh, but definite low point of the night.

Judd-low aside, this week reminded me of why I love a good solo comedy show, the same way I really, really love a good solo movie. Don’t get me wrong, going to shows with friends is great and I love nothing more than those moments where you adopt a comic’s joke into your friendship lexicon for weeks after their show. But something about just having that completely unfettered level of perception is so freeing, especially in a comedy show. I can laugh at whatever the hell I want as loudly as I want, and if I maybe possibly shed a tear or two when Tina and Amy come on stage, the only person judging me is the preteen on my right. There’s no one to yuk my yum. There’s no one else I have to account for when I’m looking at ticket prices (dropping some dollars on Tina and Amy? Hell yeah), or walking up to the Largo 15 minutes before the show to get in off the waitlist and get a seat in the 3rd row. I didn’t drag anyone to see an underwhelming Kathryn Hahn show (it was David, not you Kathryn!) and then have to feel bad about it afterwards.

I’ve got some amazing comedy shows lined up with the homies this spring. Nikki Glaser in April, like I said, and my friend Maeve just texted me to see Meg Stalter — the very funny Kayla from Hacks — in SF in March. But I’m still manifesting more solo comedy shows in 2025. They’re just kind of a vibe!!