Los Angeles-based comedian, actor, and writer Carmen Christopher is coming to Urbana for the first time as part of his 16-city stand-up comedy tour. The tenth stop is a show at the Rose Bowl Tavern at 8 p.m. on October 19th, and it’s a show not to be missed.
Christopher has performed comedy on stages in Chicago, New York, and L.A., but you might know him for his role as the roommate Chester in The Bear, the tv series about a chef in a Chicago Italian beef sandwich shop. He’s acted in Killing It on Peacock, I Think You Should Leave on Netflix, Joe Pera Talks with You, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and more. In his 2021 Carmen Christopher: Street Special, he does stand-up on the streets of NYC, and it’s hilarious.
Ahead of his show in Urbana, I talked with the comedian via video call. The guy grew up in Chicago, so he’s has a familiar Midwestern, down-to-earth vibe. He told me that he loves telling jokes, and he can’t wait to visit Urbana for the first time. From a sunny porch in L.A., Christopher shared all about his upcoming show at the Rose Bowl, how he started in comedy, and answers which reigns supreme: Chicago deep-dish pizza or Italian beef.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Smile Politely: Carmen, can you talk about your Wave Runner Tour of 16 cities?
Carmen Christopher: I’m doing my first headlining stand-up comedy tour. I’ve opened in the past for Joe Pera and Chris Gethard, but this is the first one where I’m just going out by myself as a headliner. I’m really excited. I have this hour of comedy that I’ve been working on for the last two years, and it’s in a really good place. I’m ready for as many people to see it as possible. I’m pretty pumped.
SP: Why is it called the Wave Runner Tour?
Christopher: The reason it’s called the Wave Runner Tour is — there is no reason. It’s just, I took a picture of a bunch of wave runners in the ocean, and it looks really nice. And I was like, maybe I could use this as an image for my poster? Then somebody took a photo of me after a show, and I thought the photo was funny, so I combined the two — and the tour name came from that.
SP: Have you ever been to Urbana before?
Christopher: I actually haven’t been down to Urbana yet, but I’m so excited to come to Urbana. I’m one of those guys that couldn’t get into University of Illinois, so I went to the University of Iowa. All the people that get rejected from University of Illinois at Urbana, go to University of Iowa; I’m one of those guys. I’m excited to see what I missed out on. I have a lot of friends that went to college there, and they have nothing but great things to say about Urbana, so I’m excited to see the campus and what kind of energy you guys bring to the to the comedy show.
SP: I read online that sometimes you interact with the audience in your show. What can ticket holders expect from the show?
Christopher: It’s a stand-up show, but there’s an element at the end of the show where I’ll have two volunteers come on stage — and I don’t want to spoil too much.
SP: What type of comedy do you do?
Christopher: It kind of sheds light on the type of environment I grew up in, which was very heterosexual, like a toxic type of male environment, and so — I make fun of that. I think a lot of people that usually make fun of it are people seeing it from the outside, but I’ve lived in — hung out in — these environments. There’s nobody better to make fun of it than somebody from the inside that has fully seen how ridiculous it is.
SP: How long have you been doing stand-up? When did you get into it?
Christopher: Good question. I’ve been doing comedy now for like 30 years, but I’ve only been doing standup for five years. I started with improv and sketch in Chicago. I did classes at Second City, IO, and the Annoyance Theater; I really loved improv. By the time I left Chicago, I was doing like ten sketch and improv shows a week; it was fully my life. I was still working a full time job while every night doing all of these shows because that’s what I wanted to do. After doing comedy in Chicago for like four or five years, I moved to New York.
When I was in New York, I was doing stuff at the Annoyance Theater out there and UCB in New York. I was doing sketch and characters and improv, but when the Annoyance Theater closed down in New York, I really wanted to make a name for myself. When you’re doing improv and sketch, it’s a lot of relying on other people’s schedules. And I was already getting booked on stand-up shows, but I was playing characters. And I just wanted to be me but a heightened character version of myself, you know? I started writing towards that. I was writing on The Chris Gethard Show at the time, and he asked me if I wanted to go on the road with him.
It’s kind of funny how it happened. He liked me and asked me, “Do you do stand-up?” At the time, I wasn’t really doing stand-up, but it just so happened the week before, I made a tape of a five minute set at Union Hall, the Brooklyn venue that everybody loves. And so I just said yes, even though I hadn’t been doing stand-up really yet, and he’s like, “Great, send me a tape. I want to see a set.”
I sent him a tape — that tape that I had just taped — and he liked it. He asked if I wanted to go on the road with him, and yes, absolutely. I got thrown into it right away, doing stand-up shows on the road in clubs. He took me around the country, and it was learning how to ride a bike with no training wheels — immediately doing clubs. I’ve done a great job performing for the Brooklyn and the L.A. scenes, but when you’re doing a club, you’re performing for tourists. People who are maybe only there for the chicken wings. Maybe somebody got free tickets. And so I’m trying to win over somebody who has no idea who I am — and may not even have an interest in comedy — so the touring really helped me.
I don’t want to just make my seven friends laugh in the back of the bar. How can I make everybody laugh? The tour helped me contextualize things and really figure out how do I keep doing the weird stuff that I like, but also make a random crowd laugh? Once I’m out there, I want to do a good job; otherwise, it feels like shit.
SP: Do you remember the first time made a whole room laugh?
Christopher: I remember the first time somebody told me that I should do stand-up. I was in fourth grade, and I was acting up as usual. My family thought I was shy. I was around my family because I was scared of them! Because they were a bunch of loud Mexican and Italians just aggressive with their sense of humor but also funny. I was the youngest, so I was shy around them, but when I would go to school, I was the class clown. When my mom found out about that, they were shocked because I was so quiet at home.
They thought I was the good kid, and no, I was being bad. And my teacher, her name was Miss Lynch, called me out. She said, “Carmen, stop!” And I froze, and the class froze, and she’s said, “You should do stand-up. You should be a stand-up comedian.” And I never forgot it. I didn’t I didn’t do anything about it until like 20 years later.
SP: How is your comedy evolved from elementary shenanigans through opening for Chris Gethard to now with your own comedy tour?
Christopher: I just have confidence in my jokes. I used to not know if I should do something, and now I just do it. If people don’t get it, they don’t get it. If I think it’s funny, I have to trust that it probably is. And if it doesn’t match up with what the audience thinks is funny, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not. It means maybe I didn’t contextualize it well, or I didn’t word it the right way, or it’s a little too niche — and that’s fine.
I fully commit to the stuff that I think is funny right now. Whereas when I was touring with Gethard, it was me taking all these characters and asking how I can make this right for the audience. I do still want to make it right for the audience, but I believe in myself more. I know that the stuff I’m doing is going to work — and even if it doesn’t, I’m not going to beat myself up about it.
Ultimately we’re all here for the same thing: to laugh. So let’s try some shit out, you know?
SP: Can you tell me about some of your jokes?
Christopher: I talk about Chicago. There’s a big theme of Chicago and the type of people from Chicago. Definitely relationships and dating. There’s pop culture, movies, music, just me making fun of those things. Oh yeah, there might be a bug joke.
SP: So where are you from?
Christopher: Chicago, born and raised. I grew up at Foster and Western, like in the city. Then we moved, and I went to Riverside Brookfield High School. After college, I lived in the city for another eight years. I know Chicago. I love Chicago.
SP: Since I’m particularly interested in food, can we talk a little bit about Chicago food? Or is that not allowed?
Christopher: Sure, I would love to. I can imagine which show you’re dying to talk about.
SP: Where do you eat when you go back to Chicago?
Christopher: Yeah, what restaurants? I don’t go to restaurants; I eat shitty food. I eat Lou Malnati’s pizza because they don’t have it anywhere else. And I eat Buona Beef. It’s my favorite beef sandwich. I’ll eat Portillo’s, but it’s not my favorite. I’ll go Buona Beef over Portillo’s. Bouna Beef, that’s my favorite and honestly, the best spot in Chicago.
If you want to take a ride just a little bit, right on the edge of the west of the city in Cicero, it’s called Freddy’s Pizzeria. Oh, best Italian ice, the best pizza, the best beef sandwiches. It’s a gem. And no one that doesn’t live around that area — like those western suburb areas — really goes to it or knows about it. Fresh pastas, fresh meat, sub sandwiches. It’s just a little mom-and-pop deli that’s been there forever. All my family goes there. It’s the best.
SP: If you had to pick one, which is better: deep-dish or Italian beef?
Christopher: My God. That’s the hardest question I’ve ever been asked. That’s how disgusting I am. After I moved to New York and the first time I came back to visit Chicago, my mom bought a jug of Italian beef and had it in the fridge, so we could just cook it whenever. And so I had one every night for seven days. And also I had deep-dish pizza like four times while I was there.
Anyway, here’s the thing. Italian beef is good because it’s, like, the best. You could eat it whenever, and it feels like a meal. But saying no to pizzas? It’s like against the law, you know. I’ll go with Lou Malnati’s pizza.
SP: Anything else we should know?
Christopher: My comedy is just fun. There’s a lot of people that have a strong message with their comedy, and I think that’s great and they do that good. I’m good at making people laugh. All I care about is that I put on what I like; I like absurdity and committing to playing a heightened version of a dumb character. I like playing a dumb version of myself — and it being funny.
SP: Awesome. Can’t wait for your show at the Rose Bowl.
Carmen Christopher
Rose Bowl Tavern
106 N Race St
Urbana
Th Oct 8 p.m., doors at 7 p.m.
tickets $20
