Boston Calling Day 3: Cameron Esposito, David Cross Provide Day’s Comedy Highlights
I can’t pinpoint precisely how, but it somehow seems fitting that the one crowd confrontation between a comedian and an audience member would take place on the day Eminem was on the festival lineup. And so it was that the memorable moment of Boston Calling’s day 3 came to be Cameron Esposito eloquently but unequivocally taking down an audience member indiscreetly asking, “Where’s the comedy?”
Esposito, fresh off a six day filming an hour special focusing on jokes about sexual assault, drew attention to the situation by saying “I feel like you think I can’t hear you,” before defending both her right and ability to tell jokes about the current administration and political climate in a way that had kept much of the rest of the packed arena entertained. “It’s almost like I’m really good at my job,” she concluded; the loud cheers and applause in the crowd affirmed that assessment of the situation.
Whether buoyed by buzz from the previous day’s performances, or a welcome place of refuge during the festival’s rainiest day, the arena was packed again and treated to hosting from Martin Urbano, a set from hometown-adjacent comic Max Silvestri (when fellow Southboro natives shouted from the crowd, he shouted back, “Impossible, I’d know all of you), and a headlining set from David Cross, working on material in advance of his “Oh, Come On” tour.
Silvestri took the opportunity to speak to groups of guy friends who came to the festival together, lamenting that he’d never fit in with them (“I never know what to do with groups of all guys, I don’t know what to do with my hands”), sharing his worries about having to raise the kind of boy he never was (“what if I end up being a parent to a quiet, athletic boy?”) and ending on a story of his girlfriend’s affirming female friendships – and just how far they’ll go for one another.
Before and after her notable takedown, Esposito shone as she told stories about her recent knee injury and subsequent EMT experience, how her respect for differences led her to overlook a hilarious misunderstanding, as well as venting her frustrations about politics, the president, and how his politics have impacted her and her family. If the brief preview of material from her forthcoming special is any indication, it’s going to be something really special.
Cross closed with a forty-minute set that, while not full of dad jokes, he acknowledges have a lot to do with his kid because that’s where he is in life right now. Among those stories: how to whisper your radical beliefs in rhythm with a white noise machine, how to avoid hanging out with awful parents on the playground, and how she carries herself maturely like a 67 week old, though she’s only 52 weeks old. The bulk of the set was devoted to an extended story about what he thought was going to be a couples’ colonic (a story uncomfortable enough to remind me why I struggled so mightily with IFC’s Todd Margaret), and a fantasy about the election that involves Ron Perlman, the next presidential debates, and the Democratic unity needed to make it happen. It’ll be interesting to see how this set evolves in advance of the tour he kicks off next week.
In the festival’s most traditional day for comedy, it proved that there is an audience for comedy at Boston Calling, just as booker Trevor Solomon had wanted. In years to come, I’ll be curious to see if more podcast recordings will make their way into the arena, if local talent will make a return, and what other sorts of headlining talent will make it to the stage.
