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Brick Wall Comedy
Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · Joe List

Small Ball

Joe List

YouTube · 2025 · 75 min

An hour of neurotic parenting jokes from two Chicago comedy clubs.

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

Joe List is at his best when quietly agonizing over life’s minor administrative and social friction, and this hour leans heavily into that exact variety of low-stakes discomfort. Having spent years building a reputation as one of New York’s most reliable and neurotically self-deprecating club comics, he brings his anxious energy to the newfound terrors of early parenthood, attempting to parse the surreal vulnerability of being left alone with his newborn son for a mere forty-five minutes. Spliced together from back-to-back shows recorded in Illinois at Zanies Downtown in Chicago and Rosemont Zanies in the suburbs, the special eschews typical single-theater grandeur for the intimacy of local comedy clubs. Much of the material targets the minor humiliations of the modern world, detailing the quiet panic of ordering a coffee at Starbucks, explaining why some tattoos should have just been t-shirts, and wondering why anyone would have ever trusted Picasso. List also devotes a healthy chunk of the set to the biological realities of childbirth and the awkward rhythms of married sex. While long-time podcast listeners and late-night viewers might recognize a few of the bits from his developmental sets, the hour flows with a tight, well-honed momentum that cements his status as one of the most prolific and consistent joke-writers of his generation.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Screenshotting bird poop on a phone

    Explains how after a bird pooped on his phone, he reflexively took a screenshot thinking it would save a picture of the bird droppings.

  2. Pablo Picasso misconceptions

    Recounts assuming Picasso was Italian until seeing a plaque at the Art Institute of Chicago, and being shocked to learn Picasso lived until 1973 and overlapped with modern culture.

  3. The invention year of Mountain Dew

    Polls the audience on when Mountain Dew was invented, getting derailed when an audience member guesses almost the exact correct year (1940) instead of giving a ridiculous answer.

  4. Ordering at Starbucks for a fake boss

    Pitches a tactic for ordering an overly complicated coffee by acting frazzled and blaming the high-maintenance drink on a demanding boss he made up.

How it plays

Tone
Neurotic, candid, sardonic, and self-effacing.
On stage
Neurotic, self-deprecating, sardonic, and observant with sharp wit and understated charm.
Pace
Starts conversational and slightly self-conscious, building into a tight, confident, and goofy delivery.
About
Childbirth and fatherhood, Married sex, Technology making people dumber, Misconceptions about history and art, Everyday interactions and ordering coffee

What the critics said

Praised for List's distinct brand of neurotic observational humor and understated charm, with several viewers highlighting the unique two-venue cut and theatrical presentation as his strongest hour to date.

In the room: Energetic club and theatrical atmosphere; theatergoers noted it recreated the feeling of being in a live room, blending crowd laughter from the screen and the cinema.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: matsonfilms.com, ifccenter.com, nofilmschool.com, originatorstudios.com, letterboxd.com, springfieldspringfield.co.uk, deadline.com, en.wikipedia.org, nypost.com.

Backstory

Filmed shortly after the birth of his first child, during the same period he directed and released the documentary 'Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian'.

Details

Released
Taped
Zanies Old Town and Zanies Rosemont, Chicago and Rosemont
Runtime
75 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Willie Rockefeller
Topics
Before
Enough For Everybody (2023)

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