Act Happy

Todd Glass is a comedian’s comedian, a veteran who is more interested in generating frenetic chaos than delivering a polished set. He performs alongside a seven-piece house band at The Lyric Theatre in Los Angeles, using the musicians as a live comedy foil. The band isn’t just there for walk-on music; they mock him when he takes a drink of water, play rimshots, and provide backing tracks for his frantic rants. It is a loose, meta hour where the structure is intentionally flimsy, and Glass is fully in his element playing the role of an outraged master of ceremonies.\n\nFilmed at a point in his career when he was established as an alternative-comedy staple and host of The Todd Glass Show podcast, the set highlights his knack for finding absurdity in the mundane. He covers his 2010 heart attack, coming out as gay, and his obsession with the reality show House Hunters. He also performs a chunk mimicking Rodney Dangerfield delivering Mitch Hedberg’s surreal one-liners. Reception was split between critics who found the manic energy and repetitive musical gimmicks exhausting, and fans of his podcast who appreciated the unscripted, unpredictable rhythms of his stage craft.