Live From The Raven Room

Eunji Kim has a specific gripe about the contemporary social landscape: she is 39, hanging out with 24-year-olds, and deeply skeptical of the millennial-to-Gen-Z transition. She spent years in Chicago’s comedy scene, writing for Cards Against Humanity and performing stand-up, which shows in her dry, highly specific stage presence. Her focus is less on universal truths and more on the odd social friction points of being a bisexual, married mother who somehow finds herself rolling with a younger crowd that is simultaneously entirely hopeless and full of hope.

Filmed at The Raven Room in Chicago, the 2023 YouTube release captures Kim’s material at a point when she was establishing her voice as both a local favorite and a national touring comic. The half-hour set touches on her immigrant parents’ bemused view of America, a chaotic trip to New Orleans, and the trials of trying to be a progressive parent. One of her more memorable runs targets the aesthetic realities of non-toxic polyamory, which she describes as having a strong, visual Renaissance fair vibe. It is a short, club-level set delivered to a packed hometown crowd.