$40 a seat.<\/a><\/p>\nComic Billy Procida hosts the Naked Comedy Show. Photo by Emily Akers. Naked Comedy Show\/ Emily Akers<\/p>\n
Comedian Billy Procida, who\u2019s hosted the show sans clothes since 2022, says the nudity may be a gimmick to fill seats but it\u2019s not a gimmick to get laughs. \u201cIf we all put our clothes back on, you\u2019d be like this is a great lineup,\u201d Procida told the Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, I book based on funny. I don\u2019t book based on how hot I think you are or your body,\u201d Procida said. \u201cI\u2019m not looking for models, I\u2019m looking for good comics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comedian Athena Pepe takes the stage at The Naked Comedy Show. Photo by Billy Procida. Naked Comedy Show\/ Billy Procida<\/p>\n
Worrying about getting laughs with your clothes on is already a giant feat for even the most seasoned comic, but doing it naked poses an added layer of vulnerability, for male comics in particular, according to Procida, whose show has seen top performers from Comedy Central, Netflix and HBO.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cParticularly among the gender male comics there\u2019s a lot of concern about the penis,\u201d Procida shared. \u201cThey\u2019re like, is my d\u2014k gonna be too small?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary concern with the nudity is usually from dudes, usually about their d\u2014ks,\u201d said Procida. \u201cNot to say that other people don\u2019t have their variety of body image issues and concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
But all that insecurity is great fodder for jokes, and can even be self-empowering to transform that personal fragility into laugh-out-loud material.<\/p>\n
Comic Beecher, on stage at The Naked Comedy Show. Photo by Emily Akers. Naked Comedy Show\/ Emily Akers<\/p>\n
\u201cMy problem is that my balls are too big. This makes this weird optical illusion, it kind of makes everything look smaller than it actually is,\u201d said Procida. \u201cBut instead of worrying about it, I just write a joke about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other novice nude comics have a different idea, they think taking a drug like Viagra will help bolster their bits on stage, however that approach often falls flat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think that\u2019ll make me look bigger, or make me get hard, or something. Or because it would be funny to be hard, but you have to get turned on for those drugs to work. Otherwise, it doesn\u2019t do anything,\u201d Procida explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unless a comic has a deep-seated fetish for being naked on stage, getting a boner under the spotlight is virtually impossible. \u201cYou\u2019re far more close to fight or flight than you are to an erotic headspace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comedian Hanna Gerlander tells joked sans clothing at The Naked Comedy Show. Photo by Emily Akers. Naked Comedy Show\/ Emily Akers<\/p>\n
While some comics make being in the buff a central part of their act, in most cases the goggling at one\u2019s birthday suit wears off within the first 60 seconds of a ten-minute set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One comic who was on her period, decided to do a tampon reveal as part of her act but it fumbled when she couldn\u2019t locate the tampon string on stage and was left rummaging around her vagina before turning around and having to finish her set, Procida said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While another act\u2014that might as well go down in Naked Comedy Show history\u2014featured a comic who squeezed a tiny set list into his foreskin and then pulled it out on stage with great humorous success. <\/p>\n
Each show features about five or six well vetted comics willing to give the skinny in their skinny, but the real reason The Naked Comedy Show packs seats is because \u201cas a nation founded by broods, who said the Christians in Europe were too kinky for them\u2026 there\u2019s a sexual conservatism at the genetic core of our country,\u201d said Procida, and that prude mentality is ripe for selling front row seats for a piece of counter culture.<\/p>\n
Evenbrite<\/p>\n
\u201cIf public nudity was more normalized, I would not be able to charge four or five times the cost of a normal show ticket,\u201d said Procida, explaining that American shame around sex is exactly why The Naked Comedy Show has been such a knock-out hit to begin with.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlike in New York, the first two rows of audience seating in Los Angeles will not be clothing optional. While that offering at his genesis location provides a rare opportunity for people to partake in public nudity. Whether the naked bodies invoke arousal though, is entirely unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on inside everyone\u2019s heads,\u201d said Procida. \u201cIf someone\u2019s being pervy in their head. I don\u2019t think that hurts anybody, so long as they keep it inside their head.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that nudity should not be mistaken for obscenity though, said Procida, or for that matter a stripe show. \u201cIf I tell a 911 joke with my balls out and you get a little wet, feels like a you problem,\u201d\u00a0 he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I invoked a prurient interest\u2026 it\u2019s not sexy. No one comes here and goes, this is a sexy thing. We don\u2019t strip on stage,\u201d said Procida. Adding that the comics undress backstage so \u201cthere\u2019s not even the, oh, you\u2019re watching me peel off my 2% Old Navy spandex jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n
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What does stand to be hot is the lineup for LA\u2019s inaugural performance slated to feature Martin Morrow (Netflix), Kylie Vincent (Comedy Central), Allison Rose (PBS), O\u2019mar Finley (Skankfest) and James Tison (Out Magazine). Doors open at 7:30 p.m. in the \u201cSkunk Room.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Naked Comedy Show, leaving nothing to the imagination, is making its Los Angeles debut at the Elysian,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,1743,48,52,51,47,50,49,55790,3586],"class_list":["post-138174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-hollywood","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-stand-up-comedy","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}