Fall comedy covers a lot of ground: The Catskills Comedy Festival fills seven Catskill venues, Aziz Ansari tests new material in Kingston, and Chris Fleming brings his surreal characters to UPAC. Dave Attell handles the wrong jokes; Samantha Bee takes on menopause. Maria Bamford and Candice Guardino find plenty to work with at home.
Catskills Comedy Festival
October 16-18 at various locations in Catskill
Now in its third year, the Catskills Comedy Festival turns the village of Catskill into a walkable comedy campus, with performances at seven venues. Jared Freid headlines, joined by Tina Friml and Emmy-nominated “Saturday Night Live” writer Alex English. The expansive lineup also features Ophira Eisenberg, Raanan Hershberg, Jocelyn Chia, Sean Patton, John Hill, and Nico Carney, plus a showcase of Hudson Valley comics. Beyond stand-up, the weekend includes an improvised-film screening, musical comedy, circus and burlesque, a family variety show, workshops, and a panel asking whether comedy can go too far.
Aziz Ansari
October 17 at UPAC in Kingston
Aziz Ansari brings his “Hypothetical Tour” to the stage, continuing a stand-up career built on observation of romance, technology, food, family, and the elaborate social rituals people invent to make themselves miserable. Ansari first became ubiquitous as swaggering entrepreneur Tom Haverford on “Parks and Recreation,” then co-created Netflix’s “Master of None,” winning two Emmys for comedy writing. The new tour finds Ansari testing fresh material and following each premise wherever it leads.
Chris Fleming
October 24 at UPAC in Kingston
Chris Fleming’s comedy exists somewhere between stand-up, performance art, and a transmission from a public-access station in another dimension. The comedian, actor, and writer comes to UPAC in Kingston following the success of “Chris Fleming: Live at the Palace,” the HBO special that earned him an Emmy nomination. Fleming has also appeared in Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay”; his debut special, “Hell,” streams on Peacock. Expect elastic physicality, surreal characters, and observations that veer gloriously off-road.
Dave Attell
October 24 at Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill
Dave Attell has spent decades proving that insomnia can be a viable career path. He became a cult figure prowling after-hours America as host of Comedy Central’s “Insomniac with Dave Attell,” then built a reputation as the rare “comedian’s comedian” who also destroys audiences. His delivery is clipped, unsentimental, and densely packed with misdirection. A fixture at New York’s Comedy Cellar, Attell remains a master of the beautifully wrong joke.
Samantha Bee
November 13 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington
After 12 years skewering politicians and public absurdity on “The Daily Show,” followed by seven seasons hosting “Full Frontal,” Samantha Bee turns her famously acid wit toward an adversary closer to home: menopause. In the intimate one-woman show “How to Survive Menopause,” Bee reports from the front lines of hot flashes, hormonal upheaval, and the conspiracy of silence surrounding a bodily transition experienced by half the population. She promises the candor of a best friend—the one willing to tell you what is happening and how strange it may get. It’s personal, unsparing, and presumably more useful than Congress ever was.
Maria Bamford
November 13 at The Egg in Albany
Maria Bamford can make an internal monologue sound like a crowded dinner party. Using a startling repertoire of voices, she turns anxiety, compulsive thoughts, family dynamics, money, and the humiliations of ordinary life into comedy at once intricately constructed and apparently on the verge of collapse. Her semi-autobiographical Netflix series “Lady Dynamite” transformed a psychiatric breakdown into gleefully fractured television; her bestselling memoir, “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult,” examined belonging, mental illness, and the groups promising salvation. Beneath Bamford’s vocal acrobatics lies an unusual generosity: She implicates herself first, then invites everyone else to feel less alone in their weirdness.
Candice Guardino
December 6 at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie
Candice Guardino turns growing up in a loud Italian American family into “Italian Bred,” her acclaimed one-woman theatrical comedy. Born in Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, Guardino summons a household’s worth of characters—including her formidable grandmother—through stories drawn from real life, creating the feeling of a family gathering without requiring audiences to bring a tray of baked ziti. The show mixes character comedy, music, nostalgia, and spontaneous departures that change from performance to performance. A national touring hit recently adapted into an Amazon Prime special, “Italian Bred” finds the affectionate absurdity in family traditions, inherited habits, and cultural identity.
