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Comedy Central Presents

Nick Di Paolo

Comedy Central · 2007 · 21 min

Abrasive takes on the Pope, pregnancy, and plastic surgery.

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Nick Di Paolo has built a career on making audiences groan right before they laugh. Taking the stage for a 2007 half-hour on Comedy Central Presents, the comic leans into his abrasive East Coast persona, offering blunt, cynical takes that usually center on how soft the world has gotten. The set features a tight string of premises covering the death of Pope John Paul II, the exhausting mechanics of trying to get his wife pregnant, and the correct approach to getting plastic surgery.

Filmed at the Hudson Theater in New York City, the appearance caught Di Paolo in his element. At the time, he was a regular fixture on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and was hosting his own daily talk show on New York’s 92.3 Free FM. He doesn’t bother looking for universal agreement from the crowd, opting instead for a deliberate, antagonistic pacing that dares the room to get offended.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Attending a politically correct funeral

    Skewers the expectation of forced grief where everyone must mourn equally regardless of their connection to the deceased, mocking pressure to conform to social norms in tragedy

  2. Race relations, feminism, and male-female dynamics

    Tackles polarizing and uncomfortable territory without holding back, aiming to provoke and challenge social sensitivities

  3. Working with retired police officers

    Mocks their lingering obsession with past law enforcement careers and their penchant for telling long-winded stories

How it plays

Tone
No-holds-barred, politically incorrect, edgy, and boundary-pushing
On stage
Confident, fearless, unapologetic, and at ease on stage with razor-sharp wit
Pace
Moves seamlessly between material, always in control and aware of audience reactions
About
forced grief and social norms, race relations, feminism, relationships between men and women, retired cops

What the critics said

Praised as a no-holds-barred, boundary-pushing set showcasing Di Paolo's mastery of the craft, razor wit, and refusal to shy away from uncomfortable subjects

In the room: Challenged and made to squirm by offensive territory, but kept laughing and satisfied throughout

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: yidio.com, en.wikipedia.org, dead-frog.com, thetvdb.com, imdb.com, nickdip.com.

Details

Released
Runtime
21 min
Where
Comedy Central
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents: Nick DiPaolo (2002)
After
Another Senseless Killing (2015)

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