Actor-comedian-extraordinaire Dax Flame came to UC Berkeley’s Krutch Theater for SUPERB Production’s “Debate Dax Flame” event Monday. Dax is known for his viral social media presence — and a little less known for his appearances in “Project X” and “21 Jump Street.”
Dax began with a standup set to a full house of UC Berkeley students, and it’s safe to say that it was one of the most — if not the most — unique sets I have ever seen. Dax is known for his monotone, stuttering presentation. He began with a classic line that I recognized from my Instagram Explore page: “I love going to the aquarium. My favorite thing is looking at all the jellyfish, but I always just wish there were some peanut butter fish as well.” Dax fired at a rapid pace, refusing to wait for the laughs to peter out.
In the spirit of International Women’s Day just a day prior, Dax took the opportunity to empower the many women in the crowd: “I think a better title for the movie ‘Wonder Woman’ would have been ‘Normal Woman,’ because every woman is a superhero.” Later, he said, “I hate this woke bulls—. If another Gen Z person tells me to say ‘unhoused’ instead of ‘homeless,’ I’m going to unalive them.”
He then moved on to some masterfully terrible crowdwork, which he attempted several times during his set. Once, he requested heckling in hopes of countering it with a humorous comeback. Unfortunately, he was unable to respond to comments from the crowd, asking, “Anyone wanna heckle me differently?”
Over the course of the set, Dax attempted a variety of comedic approaches and topics: self-deprecation (“Nobody respects me because I’m a loser. I hate myself”), relatable riffs on slow internet (“it’s slower than the line at the DMV!”), timid retellings of other comedians’ jokes (“Thank you to Demetri Martin, Shane Gillis and — I forgot the other person”) and even some UC Berkeley-specific humor (“Y’all hate Stanford? Cool.”), which were all met enthusiastically. At times, he completely abandoned jokes and asked the audience plainly to “please laugh.” It was truly something to behold.
For the uninitiated, it might be hard to imagine these jokes prompting so much laughter, but Dax Flame’s strong suit is more delivery than wit. Whereas other comedians train themselves not to stutter or fumble a joke, Dax thrives on the awkwardness that his jarring style produces — the awkwardness is his style. His mistakes are all made seemingly intentionally — the question of his sincerity is a frequent topic of controversy in his comment sections — and create a singular hilarity.
After his set, he transitioned abruptly to presenting something unexpected: a song. He introduced it as “My Sparks,” a ballad dedicated to his fans. With his music video projected behind him, Dax stood and awkwardly bobbed to the beat, holding the microphone so close to his mouth that it was impossible to tell if he was lip-syncing or not. Not quite dancing, not quite singing, but certainly physically present on the stage, Dax bewildered the audience with all the stage presence of a Chuck E. Cheese animatronic. The song, like his jokes, was received with fervid applause.
Finally, the actual debate ensued. In a set-up reminiscent of Jubilee’s “Surrounded” series, Dax sat across from an empty seat to be filled by one of 12 student debaters. Each student was introduced with a fun fact, ranging in intensity from “My favorite movie is The Lego Movie” to “I’m going to crush you, Dax Lame.”
The prompts were lighthearted and encompassed a broad array of topics. One round was dedicated to the existence of Santa Claus. Arguing with perhaps the most resistant attitude of the night, Dax Flame politely disagreed even when pitted against milk and cookies-related evidence. After the debater persuaded the crowd to clap for their belief in Santa, Dax ended up agreeing.
Each round ended similarly: Dax either admitted a lukewarm stance on the prompt or agreed with his opponent to avoid confrontation. In the context of today’s screamy political hellscape, it was both hilarious and sort of therapeutic to watch such a low-stakes and low-energy series of arguments.
Other debates dealt with the emotional capacity of AI, the legitimacy of ghosting and eye contact as an assertion of dominance. Despite almost uniformly ending in agreement, each round was entertaining and spirited enough to keep the audience’s attention.
After the debates concluded, the show’s presenters transitioned to a Q&A portion where a long, long line of students asked Dax things like “Is there a Mrs. Flame?” to which Dax responded that there was not, and that he had deleted Hinge. “Would you date a fan?” He said no — sorry to hopeful readers — unless, of course, they were Doja Cat. One student used their time to simply comment on Dax’s “natural ‘aegyo,’” while another asked why they hadn’t been invited to “Project X.” Dax keenly responded that their age would have made things weird, but that now everyone in the room was invited to the next one. The crowd cheered, and Björk’s “Big Time Sensuality” played as the show concluded and the audience was instructed to line up for photos.
Dax Flame may not be the most traditional comedian, but his distinctive style and friendliness towards the audience left me and many others with cheeks sore from laughter and camera rolls blessed by selfies, which is all you can really ask for.