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The Open
Hey Zingers,
Two years ago Jo Koy had the single worst night any comedian had in public this decade. Last Tuesday he dropped what reviewers are calling the best special of the year, and never mentioned the first thing once. Also tonight: a Kill Tony golden ticket holder turning her own disability into the sharpest crowd work going, a debut hour given away for free, and seven cities' worth of plans for the weekend ahead.
🎙️ Weekly Feature
"Blue in the Face" — Jo Koy's sixth Netflix hour — premiered September 15, filmed before a sold-out crowd at Stockton Arena, the city he grew up in and one with deep Filipino American roots. Director Shannon Hartman shot it there for a reason: the whole hour is a guy going home. A dental disaster, getting fired from McDonald's, and the veteran stepfather whose line gives the special its title. Reviewers are already calling it the best stand-up of 2026 and saying it'll be hard to beat.
Here's the part that matters. In January 2024 Koy hosted the Golden Globes and got flamed harder than almost any comic that decade — a monologue that went so badly it became its own news cycle for a week. Most comics never come back from a beating like that in public. He didn't do a redemption tour or an apology podcast. He went back to arenas, worked, and turned up two years later with the most personal hour of his career in his own hometown.
Hot take: surviving a public execution and then declining to ever mention it again is the most roast-proof move available to a comedian. You can't roast a guy about the worst night of his life if he already took it, shut up, and went back to work.
📋 Open Mic Bites
Jack Assadourian Jr. gave his debut hour away for free — "Mexican Armenian" hit YouTube Thursday, September 17, no streamer attached, taped at the Alex Theater in his hometown of Glendale and directed by Jeremiah Watkins. Half-Mexican, half-Armenian, raised by a Spanish-speaking grandmother and later shipped off to Armenian school — he spends the hour roasting both branches of the family tree, and now that he's raising mixed kids of his own, admits he's just passing the bit down a generation.
Vanessa Gonzalez's debut special, "Mamona," hit Hulu the same day — raised by a devout Catholic mother and a witch grandmother in a Texas border town, she unpacks exactly what it means to get called "mamona" growing up.
"Roast the Internet" returned for a new episode Monday, September 21 — Iain Stirling, Jonathan Ross, AJ Odudu, and Lou Sanders spent the week tearing into the internet's worst reels and even worse advice. Catch it on demand if you're outside the UK live window.
The Killers of Kill Tony alumni tour hit San Diego and Indio this week — David Lucas, Hans Kim, Martin Phillips, and Dedrick Flynn, and it's still rolling: San Jose is up next on September 25.
Quote of the week: "The most common question I get is people wanting to know the hardest part about living life from a wheelchair… Honestly the hardest part is, no one knows what a great ass I have." — Fiona Cauley
😂 The Joke Drawer
🍞 Dad Joke of the Week I told my suitcase there'd be no vacation this year. Now I'm dealing with emotional baggage.
🔥 Dirty Joke of the Week I asked her what she was into. She said "guys who last." I said great news — I collect vintage stamps.
🚨 The One That'll Get You Fired I listed "flexible hours, hands-on experience" on my resume. My interviewer blushed. HR called it "creative phrasing." I call it accurate.
If HR asks, you read this on a competitor's newsletter.
🎙️ One to Watch
Fiona Cauley — a Nashville-based Kill Tony golden ticket winner (nine-plus appearances and counting) who's built her name on dark, punchline-heavy sets that confront her own disability instead of tiptoeing around it.
Cauley has Friedreich's ataxia and performs from a wheelchair, and instead of playing it safe she leans all the way in — disarming rooms with material most comics wouldn't touch. She's a frequent drop-in at Austin's Comedy Mothership, headlines her own "Fiona Cauley and Friends" series at Zanies Nashville, and has toured as direct support for Nikki Glaser, which is about as on-brand a credential as this lane hands out. If you like your comedy dark, disability-forward, and completely unbothered by what's supposed to be off-limits, get in a room with her before the rooms get bigger.
Go see her: The Comedy Zone, Greenville — Oct 1 and again Nov 19. Nashville — catch her home series, Fiona Cauley and Friends at Zanies. Austin — she's a regular drop-in at Comedy Mothership; check the calendar. Tickets start around $58.
🗺️ Comedy Mic Check
Each city: the big show to know about this weekend, plus the two clubs worth your time.
City | Big stage this weekend | Club pick 1 | Club pick 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
NYC | Greenwich Village Comedy Club — Billy Hockman, Chloe Fimiano, Dominic Leonelli, Mac O'Harao & Neema Naz, Fri Sept 25, 11:55pm | St. Marks Comedy Club — Alvin Kuai, Chris Barnes, Janice Messette & Nati De Argentina, Sat Sept 26, ~6:30pm | |
LA | Hollywood Improv (Main Room) — "Tonight at the Improv" ft. Margaret Cho, Damon Wayans Jr. & Charles Fleischer, Fri Sept 25, 7:30pm | Laugh Factory Hollywood — "Friday Night All-Stars," Fri Sept 25, 7:30pm & 9:45pm (lineup drops closer to the date) | |
Nashville | Zanies Nashville — William Montgomery, Fri Sept 25, 7pm & 9:15pm | Brooklyn Bowl Nashville — "Up Top Comedy" showcase ft. Kyler Finney, Lamon & Teresa Morrison, Fri Sept 25, 7pm | |
Austin | Noel Miller: New Supply — Paramount Theatre, Sat Sept 26, 7pm (Moody Center, ACL Live, and Bass Concert Hall all checked — no comedy any of them this weekend) | Cap City Comedy Club — Rachel Williams, Fri–Sat Sept 25–26, 7:30pm & 9:45pm | Sunset Strip Comedy Club — "Main Course: Stand-Up Comedy," Sat Sept 26 |
Boston | Laugh Boston — Craig Robinson, Fri Sept 25, 9:30pm & Sat Sept 26, 6:30pm/9pm | Nick's Comedy Stop — Frank Santorelli, Sat Sept 26 | |
DC | DC Improv — Dave Attell, Fri Sept 25, 7pm & 9:30pm | The Comedy Loft of DC — Jasmine Burton, Fri Sept 25, 7:30pm | |
Chicago | Zanies Chicago — Tim Convy & Sean O'Brien, Sun Sept 27, 7pm | The Comedy Bar Chicago — Jay Washington, Sun Sept 27 |
💬 Crowd Work
Reply to this email with the meanest nickname a friend or family member ever gave you that actually stuck. Best one gets featured in a future issue.
📼 ICYMI
"Show Must Go On" premiered on Netflix August 11 — Scovel's first hour for the platform since 2017's "Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time," filmed at The Neptune in Seattle and directed by Scott Moran. The 68 minutes swing from a hypothetical home invasion to a full biblical reenactment to, in the special's most-talked-about stretch, the strange and very specific request his late father made before he died. It's the rare hour that's genuinely unpredictable scene to scene — which is exactly what a comic with nothing left to prove should be doing with a Netflix slot instead of rerunning the twenty minutes that got him the deal in the first place.
RATE TONIGHT'S SET
What'd you think? Click to vote:
🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤 Absolute headliner 🎤🎤🎤🎤 Solid set 🎤🎤🎤 Decent open mic energy 🎤🎤 Needs work 🎤 Booed off stage
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