The Half Hour

Ramon Rivas II performs with the unhurried cadence of someone recounting minor indignities from a front porch. His stand-up relies on a quiet economy: he never rushes a punchline, letting the indignity of scraping by in his thirties do the heavy lifting. When he explains how admitting his astrological sign torpedoed a romantic prospect, or why his desperation leaves him tolerating terrible dates, the humor works because he never tries to make himself look dignified.

Filmed at the Civic Theatre in New Orleans and broadcast in August 2016, the set marked his national television debut. Unlike most of the comics cycling through Comedy Central’s half-hour showcase that season, Rivas was a Midwestern outlier who built his reputation running the independent Accidental Comedy shows around Cleveland. He arrived in New Orleans without an agent or manager, having spent the preceding weeks sleeping on couches during road gigs.

The set leans heavily on the practical absurdities of living broke. Rivas walks through the mechanics of jump-starting a dead car battery completely alone on a Chicago street, the extreme habits required to save money in New York City, and his young niece casually informing him he is ugly. He also reads actual thank-you letters sent to him by elementary school students after a speaking engagement, where children show no mercy in sizing up an adult visitor.