If you’ve never encountered Beth Stelling before, it might take some getting used to before her brand of comedy really hits. Her routine in this special isn’t necessarily built around huge punchlines, animated delivery, or edgy subject matter. But there’s plenty of oddly specific detail to her many, many anecdotes that gradually begins to feel warm and easy to connect with, whether or not you’ve ever been to Ohio. Stelling usually comments on the absurdity of many of these details herself—which, surprisingly, never ruins the joke but helps invite the audience in closer. Her storytelling is consistently engaging all throughout, painting this easygoing outlook on life, which just happens to be punctuated by the most bizarre memories that still remind us of the people we’re fondest of.
Comedian Beth Stelling is aging in dog years, camping with a fake husband and monitoring her dad's raccoon army in this slyly laid-back stand-up special.
Performing right in her home city, the comedian talks about the absurdity of her childhood, relationships, and sexual health.
The first half of this special focuses more on Spelling's experiences growing up, and the kinds of stories she's remembered from those years would be right at home in a narrative comedy series (think something lightly surreal, like PEN15). Her narration of her childhood is relatively unique in that she never seems to judge her past self or the other people in her life who might have made things weird for her back then. She never coddles, for sure, but there's always a sense that she respects everyone she talks about. It's as if making it into her routine is her way of saying thank you.
People from Dayton, Ohio are so funny, I wish they were real.
