Just for Us

A Jewish comedian crashing a white nationalist meeting in a Queens apartment because he wants to see who they are—and, weirdly, wants them to like him—is the engine of this highly polished solo show. Alex Edelman spent years refining the narrative on stages worldwide, culminating in a celebrated Broadway run and this filmed adaptation for HBO. Instead of a tense confrontation, Edelman spends the evening trying to blend in, eating a muffin, flirting with a woman named Chelsea, and wrestling with his own desperate desire to win over a room of people who despise his existence.\n\nThe show was filmed at the Hudson Theatre in New York City and directed by Alex Timbers, preserving the physical staging originally shaped by the late director Adam Brace. Edelman does not stay behind a microphone stand; he paces, leaps, and re-enacts the apartment meeting with frantic, self-deprecating intensity. He weaves the main Queens story with seemingly unrelated detours, including his brother’s unusual stint in the Winter Olympics, a childhood Christmas his family staged for a grieving Christian friend, and a lengthy opening segment about Robin Williams and Koko the gorilla.\n\nRather than offering a neat moral lesson about tolerance, the show highlights the limits of empathy and the absurdity of trying to find common ground with extremists. The performance earned Edelman a special Tony Award and a 2024 Emmy for outstanding writing, marking the end of a multi-year touring run.