You may know him from such works as Singled Out, The Talking Dead, Tales from the Borderlands or, well, Nerdist.com. He is Chris Hardwick, one of the pioneers in helping nerddom become cool and is now well compensated for the effort.
Earlier this year he kicked off the Funcomfortable Tour, which landed in the Nation’s Capital on June 6th at the 9:30 club. So great was the demand to see him that a second show was added at 10:00 PM and both sold out. (But, if you live in Western New York, fear not, he will be in Buffalo on September 25th, so get your tickets well in advance!)
His opening act was April Richardson, who has appeared with him on @Midnight. Her set went through growing up with a proper genteel mother, whom Richardson affectionately referred to as a ‘Southern Belle.’ She also talked about dating guys who look like J. Crew models, despite her own awkward punk rock appearance, and her two previous relationships.
When Hardwick took the stage, he prefaced that the show was about things that are very human. He touched often on his later father, Billy Hardwick, who passed away in the fall and made unnamed references to his ex on a few occasions.
If you’re unfamiliar with his brand of humor, it does tend towards sex jokes, poop jokes and his own experience with anxiety. In one story, he talks about losing his virginity to a blow up doll he received as a gift. In another, driving up a mountain with his current girlfriend and her having to take over the driving because he’s somewhat afraid of heights.
And of course, in tribute to his father, talking about all of the mortifying sex conversations that he and his father had, including his father revealing that he had also had sex with a blow up doll.
During a sold out show in Tennesee.
Awkward.
If you want a taste of what his comedy is like in person, his previous Mandroid tour is available for rent on Amazon and iTunes.
I enjoyed the show, simply because it was my first time seeing him and my sister and I are huge fans of him. It was a little depressing because you could tell that the material was in some way how he was coping with the loss of his father.
If you haven’t seen him yet, there are still plenty of dates for you to see him, but act fast as they are selling out!
