Route 66 Tour
Kevin Ryan · 2025 · YouTube
Podcast hosts take their trashy crowd work on the road.
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Watching two middle-class comedians slowly unravel on a tour bus is the real appeal of this hybrid stand-up special and travel documentary. Kevin Ryan and H. Foley, hosts of the Are You Garbage? podcast, take their class-interrogating brand of comedy on the road for an 11-day journey starting in Chicago and ending in Los Angeles. The result is a gritty, behind-the-scenes look at the unglamorous reality of touring, interspersed with stand-up and crowd-work sets performed along the historic Route 66.
Rather than filming a polished set in a single theater, the special leans into the chaos of the highway. The camera captures the duo stopping at roadside diners, visiting odd landmarks like Uranus, Missouri, and dealing with a series of minor disasters, including a broken-down bus, a cameraman with dysentery, and a widely discussed incident where Foley suffered an unfortunate bathroom accident. On stage, Ryan and Foley deliver short individual stand-up sets before teaming up to scan the crowd for trashy behavior, turning each audience’s local habits into fuel for their signature game.