Danny Lobell
A patient storyteller who builds slow-burn punchlines out of bizarre personal failures.
1 special · 2017
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Danny Lobell approaches a microphone like a guy who just cornered you at a diner booth to explain a doomed business idea. He operates in a register of bewildered patience, setting up twisting autobiographical narratives that sound entirely invented until he provides the specific details that prove they are real. He will pause, lean slightly into the mic, and deliver a fact about raising hairless cats or cleaning Israeli shark tanks with a weary shrug.
Specials
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An ancestral homecoming fueled by Costco sandwiches and historical paranoia.
Stand Up! Records · Album · 60 min
On stage
He does not rush.
He is a fixture of the Los Angeles club scene, occupying a space where traditional joke setups dissolve into long-form personal history. He is also a quiet pioneer in comedy media. He launched an interview format focusing entirely on standups years before it became an industry requirement, and later built a show mapping comics’ premises onto classical philosophy.
He builds his longest bits out of the oddest margins of his own resume. He will lay out a sequence of terrible decisions, like trying to start a revolution in a nursing home, and calmly defend the logic of every single step. The downside of this unhurried rhythm is that a story can occasionally lose momentum, drifting toward an ending rather than snapping shut. He relies on the sheer strangeness of the details to keep the audience on the hook.
Lobell grew up in New York with Scottish and Sephardic Jewish roots, and his complicated relationship with Orthodox Judaism frequently anchors his storytelling. The religious framing does not restrict his subject matter. Instead, it provides a rigid set of rules for him to constantly bump against as he moves through the world.
Turning points
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2004–2012
Pioneered Stand-Up Comedy Podcasting with Comical Radio
Lobell created Comical Radio, credited by Marc Maron as the first podcast dedicated to stand-up comedy, interviewing over 1,000 comedians.
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2017–2019
Edinburgh Fringe Breakthrough with Solo Shows
Debuted his autobiographical one-man show Broke As A Joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017, later returning in 2019 with Tipping the Scales.
At a glance
- On stage
- since 2007
- Style
- autobiographical, storytelling, observational
- Breakout
- The Nicest Boy in Barcelona
- Influences
- Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Jackie Mason, George Carlin, Shelley Berman, Harvey Pekar
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia
Fans also like
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Jackie MasonMason served as an early mentor and major personal influence on Lobell's comedic outlook and roots in Jewish humor.
Podcasts
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Modern Day Philosophers · host
Approaches classical philosophy through conversational interviews with stand-up comedians.
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Comical Radio · host
Pioneering comedy broadcast featuring longform interviews with over 1,000 comedians.
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We Think It's Funny · co-host
A weekly comedic and pro-Jewish podcast discussing current events and news from inside a converted school bus studio.
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Tipping the Scales · host
A podcast focused on personal discussions surrounding body image and health.
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Leading Voices · host
A podcast hosted for the medical information website Doctorpedia.
Also on screen
- Rise of the Radio Show
- Jewbellish the News
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- Reconquistador!
A clip to start with
Danny Lobell Does Stand Up at Good Heroin in Los Angeles