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Promotional art for Hair Plugs & Heartache
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Hair Plugs & Heartache

Matteo Lane

YouTube · 2023 · 48 min

Matteo Lane jokes about hair transplants at the Comedy Cellar.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Matteo Lane takes the stage at the Comedy Cellar in New York City with a set that focuses heavily on his personal life and physical maintenance, starting with the painful logistics of getting a hair transplant. Releasing the 48-minute set directly to YouTube in June 2023, Lane stepped away from the crowd-work and advice formats that built his massive social media following to deliver a fully polished stand-up set.

The set leans into his experiences as a gay man in heteronormative environments, highlighting a memorable story about playing Call of Duty online with straight players. He also shares stories about friendships, pandemic habits, and dating. Filmed in the tight, brick-walled basement of the Cellar, the special captures his high-energy delivery and theatrical impressions without the high-production gloss of major network specials.

By releasing the special independently on YouTube, Lane joined a growing wave of comedians bypassing traditional streaming networks to build direct audiences. The special went on to pull millions of views, cementing his status as a headliner who could translate online fame into a cohesive live hour.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Undergoing a hair transplant

    Details ten years of balding denial, straight men not deserving nice hair, his consultation asking for a hairline like Scar from The Lion King, being drugged with Valium and Ambien, and his friend Nick acting as an incompetent emergency contact.

  2. Universal 'gay voice'

    Explains that the inflection of gay voice is not just an American trait but recognizable internationally in Italian, Spanish, German, and across cultures.

  3. Gripes with Italian cooking and pasta

    Complaining about people's approaches to Italian food and cooking.

How it plays

Tone
Radically transparent, humorous, irreverent, and self-deprecating.
On stage
Self-deprecating, candid, and authentic; described as a hot, gay comic who balances physical vanity with relatable self-deprecation without seeming thirsty or disingenuous.
About
Hair loss and hair transplants, Growing up gay and gay culture, Italian cooking and making pasta, Male vanity, Roller coasters, Call of Duty

What the critics said

Praised by NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour as a 'great' special by a comic who is 'the real thing' and successfully self-deprecating; noted by The New York Times for its 'radical (and very funny) transparency regarding the cosmetic' surgery experience.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: primevideo.com, themoviedb.org, thetvdb.com, nytimes.com, apr.org, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.

Backstory

Filmed following Lane's decision to undergo a 10-hour hair transplant surgery after years of balding denial.

Details

Released
Taped
Comedy Cellar, New York City
Runtime
48 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Matteo Lane
Honors
Featured recommendation on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour (July 2023)
Topics
After
The Advice Special Part 2 (2023)

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