The Standups: Aparna Nancherla

Aparna Nancherla brings a PowerPoint presentation to her half-hour set, using it to look at digital communication, dating apps, and the dramatic prose of one-star Yelp reviews. She does this not to be wacky, but because her quiet, deliberate presence naturally suits a slideshow. The format allows her to anchor her soft-spoken style on stage, turning a corporate tool into a very funny vehicle for her anxiety.

Taped at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the second season of Netflix’s The Standups, this 30-minute special caught Nancherla during a major career surge. In 2018, she was voicing Hollyhock on BoJack Horseman, co-starring in Comedy Central’s Corporate, and appearing on Crashing. Her stand-up here plays directly to her strengths, focusing on the everyday exhausting realities of being a person who thinks too much. She treats her anxiety and depression as baseline facts of life, building quiet momentum through awkward self-awareness and highly specific observations on modern communication.