Fall fun of the knee-slapping variety ramps up Grand Rapids in coming weeks with national stars, a three-night comedy microfestival and a comedy night during Tech Week. Get the lowdown with Local Grins.
Samantha Bee: ‘Be the kind of person people want to work with twice.’ (Courtesy Photo)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Once a month, Local Spins rounds up area comedy news with “Local Grins,” a spotlight on the region’s comedy scene compiled by writer and comedy maven Virginia Anzengruber.
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Email comments, questions and show additions to virginia.anzengruber@gmail.com. View full comedy show listings across the region online here.
What Do We Do When Nothing Feels Funny? – Being a comedian right now is one of the oddest experiences. The job of “jokes” is tremendously challenging during times when it feels frivolous to laugh or dismissive to be lighthearted. How do we engage with the world and reality while creating a safe and inviting place to forget about it all for an hour or two and just laugh? Getting on stage for audiences that are keenly aware of current events presents a creative fork in the road: You either laugh in the face of the darkness, or ignore it entirely. As I mentioned in last month’s edition of Local Grins, the ethos of “comedy as a form of rapid community,” as popularized by comedian Reggie Watts, is something that has felt nearly impossible to maintain in recent weeks. But, in writing this even now, I’m joyful in celebration of all of the incredibly funny events and people and experiences we have access to in West Michigan. We don’t have to go far for some of the world’s funniest people: They come to us. So, I hope, dear readers, you genuinely feel the heart and community of comedy. We are not alone. And things can be funny and joyful and light, even and most especially during times that feel too dark to find the laugh. – Virginia Anzengruber
Samantha Bee is Here to Help You Survive Menopause – Samantha Bee understands how to make stressful information funny. As a longtime correspondent for “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central and the host of “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” on TBS, Bee has spent years at the intersection of informing and entertaining. She brings her latest live tour, “How to Survive Menopause,” to Wealthy Theatre at 8 p.m. Sept. 25, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Presented by The Pyramid Scheme, tickets — $56.36-$100.65 — are available now online here.. Bee hopes to connect with audiences on a deeper level, aware of how authentically showing up can make a real difference, not just for audiences, but for Bee herself.
“This week has honestly been really hard. You know, it makes it hard sometimes to do what we’re doing, to be on the road. But then I’m just really grateful for comedy at times like this. And to have the opportunity to be with people and in the community of people who willingly all got together to laugh about something else that’s really hard, menopause, that’s pretty special.”
On what folks can expect from the show, “Emmy Award-winning comedian Samantha Bee brings her razor-sharp wit to ‘How to Survive Menopause,’ a bold and brutally honest one-woman show about the most universally unspoken stage of life. With the same fierce humor that made Full Frontal a late-night standout, Bee dives into the hot flashes, taboos and absurdities of menopause — because someone has to, and it might as well be her. This hilarious and cathartic experience is for anyone who’s in it, past it, headed toward it, or just brave enough to listen.”
Bee enthusiastically supports the notion of “comedy as rapid community.” “I definitely agree with that. Especially in my case, menopause and peri-menopause were all about finding community. I thought I was alone, and it was all happening in my brain. I thought I was the only human in the world to be going through this, because I had no idea what was really going on. And then it took me a long time to finally go to the doctor, and she very quickly was like ‘oh, you’re in perimenopause’ – so doing this show, where people are intentionally coming out to talk about this journey of menopause is great because I feel less alone. I mean, I went into this about six or seven years ago and we weren’t talking about it the way we are now. So, I love doing this show for that exact reason. We can find community in this hard thing that we’re all going through.”
Named one of Time 100’s Most Influential People in 2017, Bee’s legacy is one that extends well beyond her storied television tenure (she was the sole female correspondent for five of her years on “The Daily Show”). An author of multiple books, including 2010’s “I Know I Am, But What Are You?, ” Bee dispensed some of the best advice we’ve heard when asked what she would say to folks who are looking to be No. 1 on the call sheet:
“Be the kind of person people want to work with twice. If you’re the kind of person that people walk away from working with thinking ‘Life’s too short to ever do that again’ you’re not going to go very far in this business. But that goes for any industry, too. Be someone people want to work with again.”
Generous, sharp and kind during our conversation, Bee’s playful attitude is something audiences can see in her weekly Substack newsletter, which has a sign off “DO IT LIVE!” When asked if it was a reference to the infamous clip of O’Reilly’s emotional outburst on The O’Reilly Factor, Bee giggled and responded: “Of course it is! Maybe I should use the full quote …”
Jerry Gergich Will Slide Into Your DMs – Local Grins readers rejoice: Our very first “Local Grins LIVE” event is happening on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids. An Evening with Jim O’Heir features an intimate live conversation with actor Jim O’Heir, known best to audiences as Jerry Gergich from NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” with Local Grins author and comedian Virginia Anzengruber. The show will open with stand-up from comedian Brittany Devon, and after the conversation and audience Q&A portion, the evening will conclude with a SPECIAL PERFORMANCE of a super group of Grand Rapids improvisers (including Rapid Fire Improv and Half Hazard), featuring Jim O’Heir as guest monologist! Tickets are still available – but moving fast – at https://grcmc.vbotickets.com/event/An_Evening_With_Jim_OHeir/170811.
O’Heir and Anzengruber caught up last week on Instagram Live (watch the video replay here), and according to O’Heir, audiences can expect “we’re gonna have fun you guys. It’s going to be just a lot of BSing like this, telling stories, and then working with the improv group I’ll probably make a huge fool of myself because that’s my life and I’m used to it.”
Chicago theater native O’Heir is no stranger to foolishness, as he joked with us about being technologically “advanced” – he now slides into DMs. “That’s right! I know how to do that now, I slide in!”
Fans of “Parks and Recreation” will love this evening as O’Heir tells stories from his latest book, “Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation.” The audience will have a chance to ask questions of their own. The event is sponsored in part by GVSU, Sidecar Studios and CityFlats Hotel.
A la Carte Comedy Hosting a Three-Night Stand – A la Carte Comedy, produced by comedian Alastair Watt, is hosting the inaugural Three-Night Stand, a comedy micro-festival proudly sponsored by Founders Brewing Co. — packed with stand-up, improv and local legends. Three nights. Three flavors of comedy. One unforgettable weekend. Tickets are available for all three nights now at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/three-night-stand-a-comedy-festival-4383223. Here’s what’s going down:
Thursday, Sept. 18 | The Dirty Bastard Comedy Hour: Improv Night
DOORS: 8:30 p.m. | SHOW: 9 p.m. | $15 GA
A night of fast, loose, and unpredictable improv comedy featuring Church or Basement, Denim Darlings, and headlining Grand Rapids own Rapid Fire Improv.
Friday, Sept. 19 | East Side Takeover
DOORS: 9:30 p.m. | SHOW: 10 p.m. | $25 GA PRESELL | $30 GA DAY OF | $50 VIP
Some of the sharpest stand-ups from East Michigan take over the stage. Performances by Ree, Peggy, Alex, and more — delivering a night of bold, fearless comedy.
Saturday, Sept. 20 | Legends Showcase
DOORS: 9:30 p.m. | SHOW: 10 p.m. PM | $25 GA PRESELL | $30 GA DAY OF | $50 VIP
The best of West Michigan, headlined by the incredible Stu McCallister & Allen Trieu and a stacked lineup of hometown favorites. Founders beer and food available. Come for one or hit all three — Three-Night Stand is your new favorite comedy tradition. Sponsored by Founders Brewing and LocalSpins.com.
Tech Week Grand Rapids Comedy Night – It’s a sober stand-up comedy show. Local Spins author of the #LocalGrins column Virginia Anzengruber is hosting the 2025 Tech Week Grand Rapids edition of the #ScorpionFartsClubComedyShow. Sponsored by Fat Baby Hot Sauce, Local Spins and Sidecar Studios, the $5 tickets make this one of the most accessible comedy shows in the Midwest. We’ll have a Tech Week/comedy-themed drink at this sober show (announcing soon) and our lineup features headliner Sam Rager (“Don’t Tell Comedy”), as well as Marcus Cusic (two-time Anime Expo Comedy Champion), and Brittany Melvin with special guest Juwan Tett. Register and get $5 tickets online here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdHnwswLOlx1I…/viewform
(Virginia recently was featured on the Tech Week Grand Rapids LIVE podcast, and you can watch the episode here on LinkedIn.)
Tech Week Grand Rapids runs through September 20. From their website: “As an unconference, Tech Week is participant-driven. That means that the events, discussions, demos, and showcases are led by the people who live and work in our community. This is your chance to mingle with like-minded people — from our region and across the country — face-to-face, to exchange ideas, network, pick up new information and ultimately help move the conversation forward.” The 2025 Tech Week saw Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak as keynote speaker, with more than 120 events slated throughout the entire week – a record for the unconference that’s making waves in West Michigan and beyond.
Local Grins is assembled by writer and comedy devotee Virginia Anzengruber. Email comments, questions and show additions to virginia.anzengruber@gmail.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
The Comedy Project – The Comedy Project (TCP) is a comedy theater and moonshine bar in Grand Rapids’ vibrant Westside Business District, Joe Anderson and Kristin Kendall helm TCP and foster an incredible community of comedic performers and writers right here in West Michigan. Anderson, a veteran of improvisational theater training, created The Comedy Project’s Training Center Program, which “provides training in Improvisation, Sketch Comedy and Stand-Up Comedy.” They host private events, and their slate of weekly sketch and improv comedy shows can be found at https://thecomedyproject.com/shows/.
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