Comedy Central Presents: Nick Di Paolo

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.