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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Here Comes The Bride

Ashley Hesseltine

YouTube · 2026

An anti-marriage podcaster tapes an hour weeks before her wedding.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Released , on YouTube.

After spending years building a career out of being single and swearing off marriage, Ashley Hesseltine steps on stage three weeks before her own wedding at age 42. Rather than softening into pure sentimentality, she works through the dissonance of becoming what she calls a “geriatric” bride-to-be, turning wedding traditions into punchlines while the ceremony is still weeks away.

She refuses to have her father give her away at the altar because she out-earns both men involved, splits her bachelorette celebrations into separate parties for her Republican and Democrat friends, and questions why traditional vows bring up poverty at all. Between family stories and dating post-mortems, the set leans into blunt bedroom material, including a bit about her partner’s anatomy serving as an “emotional support penis” during scary movies and news broadcasts.

Taped at City Winery at Pier 57 in New York City (the venue’s first stand-up special), the 63-minute hour closed out her 43-show Sex Before Marriage Tour. Directed by Kyle Kazanjian-Amory and produced by Don’t Tell Comedy, it debuted with a live YouTube premiere on April 30, 2026, before arriving on Amazon Prime Video the next day, folding in actual footage from her wedding.

Hesseltine started stand-up in Atlanta at 29, though most of the room knows her as half of the long-running dating podcast Girls Gotta Eat, and the pacing reflects that fan-club familiarity. Outside her built-in podcast audience, reception has been mixed: the special holds a 4.6 out of 5 rating across a handful of Prime Video reviews alongside a 4.1 out of 10 on IMDb and roughly 98,000 YouTube views six months after release.

Notable bits & set list

4 bits

  1. Cracking a double yolk egg on the morning of her special taping

    Googles the symbolism to find it represents either fertility or someone close dying, jokes about seasoning eggs with Plan B, debates the pronunciation of yolk with her fiance, and interrogates audience members about their double yolk experiences.

  2. Dating culture differences in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles

    Contrasts Atlanta men wearing pastel polos and asking about college football with career-focused New York men and unemployed Los Angeles men who call themselves breathwork coaches.

  3. Getting the 'ick' from a man being cold in Los Angeles

    Recounts a date via Raya with a man who shivered and complained of being chilly, declaring that men should never be cold in California.

  4. Using TaskRabbit as a dating app in Los Angeles

    Recommends scrolling TaskRabbit to hire attractive actors and models to come build furniture as a superior dating alternative.

How it plays

Tone
Raunchy, humorous, candid, and romantic.
On stage
Raunchy, candid, unfiltered, fearless, and relatable, balancing high-energy standup with intimate and vulnerable personal storytelling.
Pace
High-energy with a palpable sense of urgency and direct crowd engagement.
About
Dating disasters and single life, Engagement and marriage, Moving to Los Angeles and West Coast culture, Sexual mishaps and relationship dynamics

What the critics said

Decider highlighted the special as 'shockingly relatable and hardcore hilarious,' maintaining high energy throughout and eliciting deep laughs from its candid look at womanhood and relationships.

In the room: Enthusiastic and vocal New York City crowd responding actively to crowdwork and relationship confessions.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: variety.com, primevideo.com, weownthelaughs.com, decider.com, ashhess.com.

Backstory

Filmed two to three weeks before her wedding at the conclusion of her 43-show 'Sex Before Marriage Tour', documenting her transition from long-term singlehood to marriage, and featuring real footage from her wedding.

Details

Released
Taped
City Winery at Pier 57, New York City
Where
YouTube
Director
Kyle Kazanjian-Amory
Topics

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