Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese

Chris Gethard builds an entire set out of hyper-regional gatekeeping, trading broad appeal for jokes specifically engineered to make outsiders feel left out. The performance is a loud, unapologetic tribute to the trivialities of the Garden State, treating matters like highway directions, the local Medieval Times, and the naming convention of a pork breakfast sandwich as high-stakes local lore.

Recorded in August 2019 at the Asbury Park Brewery in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the performance was surprise-released as a comedy album by Don Giovanni Records later that year. The project came in the wake of the cancellation of his public-access-turned-cable TV program, giving the West Orange native an outlet to perform highly specific regional material he could never workshop at mainstream comedy clubs. Many of the bits, such as a segment on the Evil Clown of Middletown, were completely unpolished, with Gethard trying them on stage for the first time. During the set, Gethard even prompts immediate pushback from the audience when he wades into the geographical dispute over pork roll. Because the material was recorded at a brewery in Asbury Park, the Central Jersey crowd was more than happy to argue back.