Late-night television has long been a prestigious platform for joke slingers to reach. Hosts like Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien have helped propel the careers of numerous legends and household names in the industry over the years — Joan Rivers, Brian Regan, Jay Leno, and Drew Carey to name a few — and now, thanks to The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Josh Gondelman can add himself to that list.
The Stoneham native is by no means new to the comedy scene, and has the resume to prove it (he’s a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where he’s won an Emmy) but Wednesday night (January 24) marked the late-night stand-up debut of the bespectacled jokester, and he certainly didn’t let his five minutes in the midnight spotlight go to waste.
Riffing on a handful of personal accomplishments in 2017, despite it being an admittedly tough year, Gondelman gave some insight into how he felt about the dog he and his wife adopted, his fear of being killed in boxers, as well as his version of why it’s a sexist presumption that his now-wife would be taking his name when they tied the knot last year. “It’s my name, and it’s my choice,” Gondelman quipped, leading to his warning of the long-term complications of hyphenating names before closing out his set to uproarious applause.
Given last night’s reception, it’s no surprise that Gondelman has made it this far since his days at The Gas at Great Scott and countless other comedy clubs around the city. But if last night was any indication of his commitment to continuing his consistently evolving success, we’ll be seeing a whole lot more of him, in a much larger capacity, in the future.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.