Straight for Pay
Apple TV · 2024 · 57 min
Manic physical comedy tracking a post-divorce queer awakening.
Cara Connors plays with vocal registers and facial contortions like a cartoon character trying to break free of her ink. This performance is built on frantic, sweaty movement, with routines that track a second adolescence after divorcing her husband and coming out as queer. She adopts a host of exaggerated personas, from a well-meaning but hopelessly lost straight ally to a drunk mom holding court on a wedding dance floor, driving her points home with dramatic physical comedy rather than tidy setup-punchline delivery.
Filmed at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the Comedy Dynamics Stars of Tomorrow showcase, the hour captures Connors during a transitional career moment, just after joining The Groundlings Sunday Company. The material deals heavily with the lingering residue of a Midwestern Catholic upbringing, millennial anxiety, and the chaotic reality of trying to find oneself in Los Angeles after thirty. Her performance style received praise from the New York Times, which noted her frenetic charm and a powerhouse voice that shifts from giggly to demonic in a flash.
The set list
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Billionaire coming out headlines
Expresses comedic terror over the prospect of waking up to news alerts announcing Elon Musk is bisexual or Jeff Bezos is gender-fluid, dreading having to welcome them into the queer community.
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Looking like Timothée Chalamet
Self-deprecatingly analogizes her physical appearance to what would happen if Timothée Chalamet was allowed to start eating again.
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Lesbian breakups versus heterosexual divorce
Contrasts the acrimony of heterosexual divorce with the overwhelming expressions of mutual gratitude during lesbian breakups.
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Lustful older man audience interaction
Brings up or recruits an audience member to roleplay a lecherous older man leering and confusing Connors and her partner for sisters.
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The closer (spoiler). Show it
Growing up and hockey team slideshow
Plays a slideshow of childhood photos—including pictures showing her on the same hockey team as her future ex-husband—soundtracked to Laura Bell Bundy's 'You Can’t Pray the Gay Away'.
How it plays
- Tone
- Exuberant, irreverent, absurd, candid, and neurotic.
- On stage
- High-energy, self-effacing, charismatic 'sassy gay cowboy' described as part Sandra Bernhard and part Kristen Wiig, exhibiting Looney Tunes-style physicality.
- Pace
- Frenetic, relentless physical momentum featuring bounding across the stage and rapid vocal shifts spanning high-pitched impressions, laid-back banter, and demonic baritone yells.
- About
- Queer identity and coming out, Divorce and past heterosexual marriage, Catholic upbringing, Dating Gen Z and generational divides, Family quirks and aggressive dad sneezes
What the critics said
Praised for Connors' singular physical energy, charismatic persona, and elastic vocal range, with reviewers noting that her magnetic stage presence carried the hour even through occasional raw joke writing.
In the room: Infectious and energetic room dynamic responsive to Connors' candid and absurd performance.
Backstory
Details Connors' journey of self-acceptance, coming out as gay, and divorcing her husband after a Midwestern Catholic upbringing, transitioning into dating Gen Zers in Los Angeles.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- The Hideout, Chicago
- Runtime
- 57 min
- Where
- Apple TV
- Director
- Brian Volk-Weiss
- Honors
- Rave reviews from The Boston Globe, Austin Chronicle, Paste Magazine, and The New York Times
- Topics
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