Poppy Champlin
A high-volume veteran who treats her club sets like noisy variety shows.
1 special · 1991
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Poppy Champlin never just stands at the microphone. She paces, she gestures wildly, and she treats her time on stage like a noisy variety show. A typical set is loud and aggressively physical, bouncing from standard observational premises to sudden impressions or literal bird calls. She watches the audience closely, fully willing to abandon a written bit if an interaction with the front row looks more promising. She often ends her hour by belting out a song.
Specials
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VH1 Stand-Up Spotlight: November 1991 episode with Lee Allan, Jeff Joseph & 4 more
A rapid-fire nineties cable television showcase featuring seven working comics.
VH1
On stage
She works primarily inside the LGBTQ+ comedy circuit. After decades in mainstream rooms, she realized her specific brand of loud, out comedy needed its own vehicle. She built the Queer Queens of Qomedy tour, creating a lane for herself and other lesbian comics that bypasses traditional gatekeepers entirely. You are as likely to catch her headlining a queer cruise or a room in Provincetown as you are at a standard brick-and-mortar club.
She commits entirely to whatever strange impulse strikes her in the moment. When she acts out a bad date or mimics a political figure, she uses her entire body to recreate the scene. The constant gear-shifting means a set can occasionally feel scattered, but she relies on sheer volume and velocity to power through the transitions.
After stints in Chicago and Los Angeles, she anchored herself back in her native Rhode Island. She teaches standup classes locally, introducing her highly physical approach to the state’s open mic scene.
At a glance
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