Emma Willmann returns to her Boston comedy roots tonight and Sunday to headline Laugh Boston, giving fans a chance to catch the hilarious comedian before her career blows up even more than it already has.
One of New York’s fastest comedic risers, Willmann possesses an impressively long list of credits for someone who is considered fairly new in comic years. In the past two years alone, Willmann has been featured in the Just for Laughs Festival’s New Faces showcase and was named one of the 10 Funniest Women in New York according to Time Out New York.
A Maine native, Willmann rose quickly through the ranks of the Boston comedy scene with her fresh perspective, energy and sharp writing — garnering her a first place win in the Beantown Comedy Riots. A regular on SiriusXM Raw Dog, Willmann is the host of the monthly show The Check Spot and recently made her first appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her expert performance was praised for not including a single political joke, despite her appearance taking place following the first Presidential debate.
Speaking with Splitsider recently, Willmann recounts her decision to make the jump to New York: “I won a local comedy contest and thought, ‘I am ready for NYC!’ So I came here and started grinding it out but I was also in grad school at the New School, studying Media Studies where I did a thesis on ‘Celebrity Construction and Monetization as it Relates to U.S Capitalism,’ basically studying the mechanics of entertainment which gave me an existential crisis creatively, seeing how brutal it is to really make it make it in this business. For better or worse, entertainment is the business for me…”
And we’re certainly glad it is.
Willmann dons an impressive acting resume, and can be seen in the 2016 comedy Viral Beauty, a film that has been widely received on the festival circuit. She has appeared in The 2014 New York Comedy Festival, hosted the 2013 Hoboken Comedy Festival, and appeared on ComedyTimeTV. She has also opened for Louie Anderson, appeared with Aziz Ansari and Donald Glover, and starred in two episodes of the popular TV show Deadly Affairs, on the Investigation Discovery Network.
Now, she brings it all back to where it began.
EMMA WILLMANN :: Wednesday, November 30 and Sunday, December 4 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: November 30: 8 p.m., $20, advance tickets :: December 4: 7 p.m., $5, advance tickets