Shoulda Tried Harder

Drew Barth spends much of his set addressing the quiet indignity of realizing you are clearly the dumber half of your relationship. His argument hinges on the distinction between being smart and merely being clever: one person understands facts, while the other is just trying to survive an argument with quick reflexes. Taped at the Dry Bar Comedy club in Provo, Utah, the 43-minute set works cleanly within the venue’s alcohol-free and curse-free format. Barth was a Pacific Northwest club regular by 2018, having started stand-up on a high school dare in 2002. His material stays anchored in self-deprecation, running through the humiliation of seeing chiseled soccer players on television, Seattle’s gloomy climate, and the misery of owning an unreliable car.