Chris Maddock
Midwestern dive-bar comedy delivered with the patience of a tired bartender.
1 special · 2020
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Chris Maddock leans into the microphone like a guy explaining why your car won’t start. He has a thick mustache, a tired posture, and a voice built to cut through the din of a noisy room. He does not rush a setup. He describes the realities of aging, divorce, and drinking with a flat, matter-of-fact Midwestern rhythm. When he delivers a bleak punchline about his own life, he barely smiles, letting the crowd sit in the awkwardness of the premise before he exhales and moves on to the next disaster.
Specials
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A Twin Cities veteran sweats through a sarcastic country-and-western set.
Stand Up! Records · 73 min
On stage
He is a fixture of Minneapolis comedy, the kind of veteran club act who anchors a greenroom. For fifteen years, he hosted a weekly showcase at a local dive bar that served as a loud room where the city’s scene cut its teeth. He is a regional lifer, a comic who chose Midwestern basements over coastal industry showcases.
His material relies on the fallout of bad decisions. If he brings up a personal tragedy, he isn’t asking for sympathy; he is just explaining how he got into his current mess. He has a routine about the grim logistics of trying to have sex quietly while kids play video games in the next room, turning domestic frustration into an absurd stand-off. He will occasionally pick up a guitar to bookend a set with a country song, but he isn’t a traditional musical comic. The chords just give his drinking stories a rhythm track.
Turning points
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2003–2018
Hosting Death Comedy Jam at Grumpy's
Maddock hosted the weekly Minneapolis comedy showcase for 15 years, which became a focal point of the local scene and the subject of the documentary film Death's Last Stand.
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Stillwater Decrees Chris Maddock Day
Mayor Ted Kozlowski officially decreed April 15 as Chris Maddock Day in Maddock's hometown of Stillwater, Minnesota.
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Release of Country Music Legend
Maddock released his sophomore album and video special through Stand Up! Records, incorporating music and hitting the top five on the iTunes comedy chart.
At a glance
- Style
- autobiographical, storytelling, musical comedy
- Breakout
- Country Music Legend
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia
A clip to start with
Chris Maddock: Black Mellencamp