Who says psych majors will never find a career? Chris Distefano is here to prove you wrong.
The New York-based actor and comedian — coined “the most New York man of all time” — will be making his third visit to Comedy Club on State this weekend, Oct. 17, 18 and 19.
“It’s one of the best comedy clubs in the whole country,” Distefano said of the venue. “For realzies. It’s just consensus amongst comedians.”
When it comes to performing for college kids, Distefano said the audience can either learn his life experience or identify with it.
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Distefano uses things he’s gone through as inspiration for his comedy, whether that be his experience in higher education — he has a doctorate, no big deal — or co-parenting with his daughter’s mom.
Distefano said that in today’s “politically correct” culture, comedians can find it hard to navigate easily-offended audiences — especially on college campuses — but he said he just plays into it by facing it head on.
“True humor is saying the thing that people wouldn’t dare to say at work, but they’re thinking about it and it’s really funny,” Distefano said. “Sometimes I feel like in 2019, it’s this movement of the PC police that want to take that away because we don’t want to offend someone, but that’s what comedy is, it’s laughing at all of our pain and our differences, because that pushes us together before pushing us apart.”
For example, at a show he did on 9/11, he joked that a waitress in the back of the club offered him hummus. “Not today,” he replied.
Comedy was something Distefano wanted to do since he was young, but like many, he wanted to have a back-up plan and please his mother, so he went to school. In his last year of graduate school, he finally got the courage to give his dream of comedy a shot. After getting picked up by popular MTV show “Guy Code/Girl Code,” he had to go both feet in.
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Since 2013, Distefano has been doing comedy full-time and his career has only gone up from there.
Distefano’s first hour-long special, “Chris Distefano: Size 38 Waist,” came out on Comedy Central in January, and he co-hosts a popular weekly history podcast “History Hyenas.”
Last time Distefano visited Madison, he saw the Badger women’s basketball team play and loved it, so he is looking forward to watching any sports team play while in town — “even the swim team,” he said.
If he doesn’t get to watch the Badgers, he joked he’ll just go out on the lake and enjoy some cheese curds.
Though Thursday is already sold out, tickets are still available for the Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. shows. They can be purchased at the Comedy on State website starting at $20.
