Them

Big Jay Oakerson sits on a stool, peers into the dimly lit tables of the front rows, and does what he does better than almost anyone else: talks to strangers until they reveal their weirdest secrets. The set operates without the safety net of written material. It is a full hour of pure, unscripted crowd work, where Oakerson transforms casual club chatter into highly specific, often filthy running gags.

Filmed at Comedy Works in Denver and released on YouTube in February 2025 by 800 Pound Gorilla Media, Them serves as the first half of Oakerson’s two-part crowd work project, Them/They. After streaming networks passed on the hour, the veteran club comic put it out independently. It went on to win the 2025 Audience Choice Award for Independent Comedy Special of the Year on his tour platform, proving that his core audience of podcasters and club-goers was more than ready for his signature, off-the-cuff style.

The Denver crowd provides plenty of strange fodder, but the peak of the show arrives when Oakerson zeroes in on a one-armed former biker. The man explains that he lost his limb after being hit by a car, which happened to strike his needle arm back when he was using speedballs. Oakerson instantly turns the grim confession into a bizarrely endearing exchange, riffing on the driver’s odd luck and wondering if the man can scratch records like a DJ. Other encounters include a woman with forearm tattoos who is married to a man named Lauren, a couple too high on weed brownies to follow along, and a table of biker women who get pulled into the crossfire.