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Promotional art for Prison For Wizards
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Comedy Dynamics

Prison For Wizards

Shayne Smith

Comedy Dynamics · 2018 · 40 min

Heavy neck tattoos paired with clean, small-town storytelling.

Watch on Comedy Dynamics(opens in a new tab)

Released , on Comedy Dynamics.

Shayne Smith walks out covered in throat and neck ink looking like an armed robber, then spends forty minutes explaining that he is actually an anxious nerd who has never spent a night in jail. The set hinges on the gulf between how intimidating he looks and who he actually is: an awkward kid from rural Utah whose ink looks less like state prison and more like time served in Azkaban—the fictional wizard penitentiary.

Filmed in Provo, Utah for Dry Bar Comedy and released in early 2018, the set came right as Smith was breaking out of the Salt Lake City club circuit. Dry Bar’s strict clean-comedy policy forced him to recount his delinquent youth, financial illiteracy, and brief adolescent gang phase without relying on profanity.

The restriction works in his favor. Instead of leaning on shock value, Smith builds narrative momentum around mundane misunderstandings, from accidental baby-sneezing and aggressive toddlers at Target to being sent to a summer camp meant to scare wayward teenagers straight.

Clips from the performance circulated widely on social media after release, accumulating tens of millions of views and quickly moving Smith from local opener to national headliner.

Notable bits & set list

3 bits

  1. Mountain Dew Guy at 7-Eleven

    Claims he drinks so much Mountain Dew that store clerks know him for his soda habit rather than his neck and face tattoos.

  2. Azkaban prison time

    When approached in Walmart by an intimidating tattooed stranger asking where he did his time, he claims he did five years in Azkaban.

  3. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Scared straight bootcamp story closer

    Recounts setting up a scared straight bootcamp with a friend named Angry Anton to deter kids from gang life.

How it plays

Tone
Self-deprecating, clean, and humorous.
On stage
Magnetic, polite, and self-deprecating; presents as a walking contradiction whose nerdy demeanor contrasts with his face and neck tattoos.
Pace
Shaggy narrative storytelling with conversational delivery.
About
Face and neck tattoos, Reactions to his appearance, Not being gangster, Mountain Dew consumption, Gang past and scared straight program

What the critics said

Praised as an impressive debut highlighting Smith's magnetic on-stage presence and storytelling abilities despite some shaggy structure and callbacks.

In the room: Laughter and positive engagement with clean comedy material.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: drybarcomedy.com, comedydynamics.com, angel.com, amazon.com, letterboxd.com, religiopoliticaltalk.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

A former gang member covered in face and neck tattoos who performs clean comedy for VidAngel's Dry Bar Comedy, contrasting his intimidating look with an un-gangster demeanor.

Details

Released
Runtime
40 min
Where
Comedy Dynamics
Director
Isaac Halasima
Topics
After
Alligator Boys (2019)

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