Medicated

Joe Matarese has a classic, loud, East Coast energy that he spent decades trying to control before finally giving up and letting pharmaceuticals do the heavy lifting. In Medicated, he uses his own late-in-life mental health diagnostics to frame a set about the exhaustions of family life, his own simmering anger, and why he finally decided to take Celexa and Adderall. He is married to a psychologist, which means every one of his psychological flaws has been thoroughly mapped out, analyzed, and categorized.

Filmed at The Village Underground in Greenwich Village, the hour finds Matarese at a transitional point in his career. He was coming off a high-profile run on America’s Got Talent, where his highly personal stand-up secured a standing ovation from the judges. But instead of chasing polished, crowd-pleasing material, he uses this hour to lean into his neuroses.

The material works best when Matarese points his aggression inward. In segments like “The ADD Test” and “Rocky Was My Mentor,” he connects his adult anxiety to a childhood spent in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, idolizing fictional boxers and dodging his family’s chaotic moods.