Size 38 Waist

Chris Distefano’s comedy thrives on the friction between the tough-guy Brooklyn he grew up in and the gentrified borough it became. He acts out this generational divide with high-energy physical impressions, contrasting his 385-pound father’s physical threats with the delicate modern realities of peanut allergies and therapy-speak. The core of his act is a refusal to fully commit to either side. He is a guy who has a doctorate in physical therapy but is still deeply embarrassed by grown men riding kick scooters in business suits.\n\nFilmed at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn and released by Comedy Central in January 2019, Size 38 Waist arrived at a transitional moment in Distefano’s career. Having built his name on MTV’s Guy Code and several failed network sitcom pilots, this first hour-long special was designed to establish his voice on a larger stage. He even secured an on-stage introduction and a pre-taped sketch from veteran actor Chazz Palminteri, lending some cinematic wiseguy credibility to a set that spends a significant amount of time discussing the comic’s own struggles with anxiety and his complete inability to handle recreational drugs.\n\nMuch of the material centers on his domestic life, particularly co-parenting his half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian daughter. He leans heavily into his own contradictions, detailing his anxiety diagnosis and a disastrous experience with a cannabis edible while maintaining the loud, defensive cadence of a guy from the neighborhood.