Asha Ward
She delivers punchlines like the act of speaking is a chore.
1 special · 2024
Get an email when there's a new special. You'll need a Google account.
Asha Ward operates at an energy level barely above sleep. She stands perfectly still, staring at the middle distance, and speaks in a slow monotone that forces the audience to quiet down and listen closely. The rhythm is entirely her own. She will pause for seconds at a time, comfortable in the silence, before dropping a punchline that is surprisingly graphic. The contrast between her flat vocal tone and the vividness of the imagery—like describing cheap toilet paper dissolving like a breath strip, or catching hibachi shrimp in her mouth at her mother’s funeral—is how she earns laughs without begging for them.
Specials
-
Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda with Hannah Gadsby, Jes Tom & 5 more
Hannah Gadsby hosts a showcase of seven standout genderqueer comedians.
Netflix · 75 min
On stage
She operates as a counter-weight in New York comedy. In a scene crowded with loud crowd work and chaotic acts, Ward quietly takes control of a room by doing less. That restraint got her hired as the youngest writer in the history of Saturday Night Live, and it makes her the standout on showcase lineups where the other performers are trying to shout over the audience.
Her material pulls from a Maryland childhood, a stint in a psychiatric ward, and her life as a lesbian, but she refuses to treat her background as tragic. She frames family hardship as an annoyance. When she mentions that her mother died on Halloween, it isn’t a bid for sympathy; it is a mechanical setup for a joke about sibling dynamics. She never smiles to let the crowd off the hook, leaving the room to wonder if she actually wants to be on stage at all.
Turning points
-
Hired as Youngest-Ever SNL Staff Writer
Ward was hired as a writer on Saturday Night Live in December 2022 after meeting cast member Ego Nwodim and receiving support from writing supervisor Gary Richardson.
-
Primetime Emmy Nomination for SNL Writing
Ward received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series alongside the SNL writing staff.
-
Named Just For Laughs New Face
Selected as one of Just For Laughs' prestigious New Faces of Comedy and featured by Vulture among comedians to know.
At a glance
- Style
- one liner, deadpan, observational
- Breakout
- Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Wikipedia, Instagram
Fans also like
-
Jes Tom
Both are sharp, genderqueer standups exploring identity and culture who were co-featured on Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda showcase.
-
Chloe Petts
Both performed prominent sets on Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda representing contemporary queer and gender-nonconforming standup.
-
DeAnne SmithBoth comedians share an inventive approach to genderqueer identity in their standup and were featured in the Gender Agenda showcase lineup.
Also on screen
- Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda
A clip to start with
Hibachi After a Funeral - Asha Ward - Stand-Up Featuring