Born Illiterate

Aaron Naylor operates on an economy of words, building a half-hour of stand-up out of dry, surreal one-liners and punchy, deadpan premises. He does not spend fifteen minutes setting up a single story or chatting with the front row. Instead, he moves quickly through brief, slightly twisted thoughts, explaining why his dad hung pictures of better families on the refrigerator and describing a reverse tooth fairy who filled his wallet with teeth.

The Chicago-based comedian, who built his career in the Midwest after winning competitions in Kansas City and Wichita, released the debut special with Four by Three Productions at the end of 2023. The release capped off a year where he also published a book of his written humor. Much of his material relies on a warped logic, like questioning why X-Men leader Professor Xavier uses his telepathic mind to move a wheelchair rather than simply moving his legs, or explaining how trying to learn Braille via audiobook only succeeded in making him good at Morse code.