Tartar Terrorist

The standout sequence in the set involves a twenty-five-cent sticky rubber hand and a father trying to drive a family sedan in peace. Smiley builds the memory patiently: the whip-crack sound against the back of his father’s neck, the sudden panic that a demon had seized the car, and the toy ending up stuck to a police cruiser’s windshield. It is high-gear southern storytelling built entirely around domestic chaos.

Filmed at the Dry Bar Comedy club in Provo, Utah, and directed by Aaron Stephenson, the 2019 release caught Smiley after more than two decades working the clean comedy and church tour circuits. While many club comics hone their sets in metropolitan basements, Smiley developed his timing opening for Christian arena acts, where physical stage presence has to fill oversized rooms without relying on profanity.

The thirty-minute performance stays tight to road-worn material. The title routine comes from an encounter with TSA screeners who treated an oversized tube of toothpaste like a security threat, which leads into confusion at regional terminals in Provo and Little Rock. Other stretches cover parental discipline, the awkward mechanics of his marriage proposal, and the survival instinct required to avoid offending locals in Arkansas.