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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · Dan Soder

On The Road

Dan Soder

YouTube · 2024 · 39 min

A relaxed club set on aging, tech anxieties, and being dumb.

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

Dan Soder wanted to do something that felt like a regular, unpretentious weekend set rather than a high-concept theatrical event. Recorded at the Helium Comedy Club in Portland, Oregon, the 40-minute YouTube release captures a comedian intentionally dialing back the scale to focus purely on the jokes.

The set kicks off with a bit about wanting to be “fun dumb”—the kind of blissfully unbothered person who gets genuinely excited by a Fast & Furious trailer. Soder talks about the subtle advantages of being effortlessly attractive, the indignities of aging, and the quiet horror of a Bluetooth speaker connecting to the wrong device at the wrong time. He also digs into the vulnerabilities of sex and dating in his late thirties.

Filmed by 3 Nuts Studios and released in March 2024, the special arrived during a transitional era for Soder. He had recently stepped away from co-hosting The Bonfire on SiriusXM to refocus on touring and his new self-titled podcast. By bypassing a major streaming platform for a free, club-recorded YouTube release, Soder joined a growing wave of headliners opting for direct-to-fan distribution, racking up millions of views in the process.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Being a child of divorce

    Explored with Dan Soder's characteristic vocal delivery.

  2. Modern sex and TikTok culture

    Observational material delivered with authenticity, payoffs, and punchlines without cheap laughs.

  3. Did you type that with your boner you weirdo

    Punchline quoted as part of a comedic routine in the set.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, casual, authentic, silly, and vulnerable.
On stage
Warm, casual, silly, and authentic; balancing a dudebro exterior with emotional intelligence and secret vulnerability.
Pace
Casual, seamless momentum over a tight 39-to-40-minute set.
About
relationships, politics, Hollywood, current state of affairs, true happiness, sex

What the critics said

Praised for Dan Soder's undeniable warmth, authenticity, character voices, and sharp joke construction, proving classical observational comedy works well within a tight 40-minute format.

In the room: Resonant and funny, connecting with audiences through understated vulnerability and realness.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: libraryofcomedy.com, dansoder.com, imdb.com, letterboxd.com, thecomedybureau.com, weownthelaughs.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Released independently on YouTube ahead of Dan Soder's 2024 national theater tour with Outback Presents to give audiences a preview of his road material.

Details

Released
Runtime
39 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Mike Lavin
Topics
Before
Live from the 10th Hole (2023)

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