Big, Small Town Kid

Arnór Daði has an awkward, self-deprecating charm that works perfectly for a comic who grew up in Hauganes, a tiny Icelandic fishing village of 150 people. The hook of Big, Small Town Kid is how that hyper-specific, isolated upbringing translates into the anxieties of adulthood, fatherhood, and a surprisingly deep obsession with The Real Housewives.

The special was recorded live at The Secret Cellar in Reykjavík, Iceland, just shy of the Arctic Circle, and released in late 2021 by Stand Up! Records. It arrived after Daði won three awards at the 2020 Reykjavík Fringe Festival, capitalizing on a growing momentum that saw him transition from film school student to a core fixture of Iceland’s English-language comedy scene.

Daði’s bits range from the sheer bewilderment of having a baby right before a global lockdown to trying to buy skincare drugs from a bald dermatologist. He spends plenty of time on “bathroom math,” but the high point of the set is his story about a goose, the 151st resident of his hometown, who managed to completely captivate his small village. It is a dry, charmingly clumsy debut that avoids the standard high-energy swagger of American club comedy, leaning instead into the quiet, slightly warped perspective of a kid who did not know what alcohol was until his twelves.