The Half Hour: Joe Wengert

Joe Wengert takes the lowest-stakes problems of modern adulthood and treats them with absolute, deadpan gravity. Rather than pulling from trauma or grand social issues, he zeroes in on the mechanics of minor annoyances. He spends time breaking down the specific awkwardness of casually bumping into an acquaintance on the street, analyzes the one earworm he can’t get out of his head, and explains his methodology for choosing a therapist. The centerpiece of the set involves a surprisingly thorough review of his cat’s behavioral report card.

Filmed at The Royale in Boston for the third season of Comedy Central’s The Half Hour in 2014, the set catches Wengert transitioning from stage to screen. An established improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade and a former “New Face” at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival, he was already building the television writing career that would lead to Kroll Show and Big Mouth.