Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Hot for My Name
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Hot for My Name

Esther Povitsky

Comedy Central · 2020 · 60 min

Self-deprecating millennial stand-up mixed with awkward family home videos.

Watch on Comedy Central(opens in a new tab)

Esther Povitsky’s brand of comedy thrives on a very specific type of weaponized insecurity. She leans into the absurdity of being an attention-seeking millennial, building bits around her old-fashioned name, her Instagram stalking habits, and the underwhelming reality of a romantic getaway where her boyfriend knelt down just to tell her he was not proposing. The stand-up is intercut with documentary footage of a trip home to Skokie, Illinois, where Povitsky tries to trace her neuroses back to her source: her disappointed parents, who remain thoroughly unimpressed by her Hollywood career.\n\nFilmed at the Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles across four separate shows, the special functions as a fashion showcase for Povitsky’s elaborate outfits and butterfly hair clips. At the time of its 2020 release on Comedy Central, she was already a familiar face on television, starring in Hulu’s Dollface and having co-created Freeform’s Alone Together. The Happy Madison-produced hour features Povitsky singing a musical number about inheriting her dad’s looks instead of her mother’s, likening herself to a slice of pizza in the bedroom, and physically rifling through an audience member’s purse.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Keeping her original name in show business

    Argues she sounds like an old Polish cabbage farmer and is 'hot for her name,' whereas if named Ashley people would wonder why Adam Driver's little brother is wearing a skirt.

  2. Dating men obsessed with magic

    Notes that looking like her means dating men who care strongly about magic, concluding that pretending to care for an evening makes her the greatest magician.

  3. Men lusting after teenage girls and naivete

    Examines men's fixation on 'barely legal' girls by satirizing how 'sexy' she actually looked at 18.

  4. Existential relationship dilemmas

    Examines why she compares to a slice of pizza in the bedroom and wonders why her ex-boyfriend's wife blocked her on Facebook.

  5. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Musical finale about family traits closer

    Joined by actors portraying heightened versions of her parents in a musical sketch detailing how she inherited her father's nose and eyebrows while her mother remains graceful as a swan.

How it plays

Tone
Endearing, self-deprecating, observant, and darkly funny.
On stage
Deadpan self-awareness combined with a sweet delivery, sharp wit, and a self-deprecating demeanor evoking early Sarah Silverman and Whitney Cummings.
Pace
Astute and conversational delivery mixed with deadpan repartee and jovial energy.
About
Relationship with parents and childhood upbringing, Physical appearance and self-image, Dating, sex, and relationships, Existential angst and external validation, Men lusting after teenage girls

What the critics said

Positively received by the Chicago Sun-Times as hilarious, insightful, and endearing, praising Povitsky's persona and her interactions with her parents, while another review offered mixed reactions noting her parents' deadpan humor almost overshadowed the stand-up itself.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: thetvdb.com, wgntv.com, allmovie.com, themoviedb.org, chicago.suntimes.com, thecomicscomic.com, wherever-i-look.com, latimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, thedandy.club.

Backstory

Filmed across multiple stand-up sets and intercut with documentary footage of Povitsky visiting her parents, Morrie and Mary, in her hometown of Skokie, Illinois to explore the origins of her comedic career; released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

Released
Taped
2019, Dynasty Typewriter at the Hayworth Theater, Los Angeles
Runtime
60 min
Where
Comedy Central
Director
Nicholaus Goossen
Topics

If you liked this