Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents: Garfunkel and Oates

Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci sit on two stools with a guitar and a ukulele, looking entirely ready to play a set at a sleepy suburban coffee shop. Instead, they spend their stage time singing bright, cheerful harmonies about accidental masturbation, handjobs, and how annoying pregnant women are. The joke of the act relies entirely on the contrast between their earnest, upbeat folk presentation and the aggressively dirty lyrics they deliver with unblinking smiles.

Taped at The Royale in Boston, this set aired as part of the inaugural 2012 season of Comedy Central’s The Half Hour television series. The duo was peaking in momentum at the time. They had just released their chart-topping comedy album Slippery When Moist and were actively pitching a television pilot that Lindhome succinctly described to the press as Glee with dick jokes. The setlist features early staples of their catalog, capturing the exact dissonance that made their internet videos take off.