Whether it be from her friends and fans or the dreaded underworld of the YouTube comment section, Rosebud Baker is happy to hear that people like her debut special — and when it comes down to it, that’s all she’s really wanted to hear.
With her debut full-length special, Whiskey Fists, which has already been on the loose for a few weeks since premiering on Comedy Central’s YouTube channel, it’s more than just a slate of new content for Baker. Instead, it’s more of a culmination of nearly a decade on the stand-up grind, and a creative journey that has brought the New York-based comedy vet through the wringer, all the while showcasing a creative evolution that has molded some of Baker’s oldest jokes and stories (some were written in her first few years on stage) and brought them into a new light that keeps them as relevant as ever.
“Everything that I worked on, creatively, over the last nine years, this was all from that,” Baker tells Vanyaland. “There are jokes in the special that I wrote in my second or third year of comedy, that I built onto over the years. Obviously, the jokes are very different from what they began as, but a lot of it is about who I am, and I tried to choose jokes that were about my individual perspective and what makes that unique. It’s the finished product of years of writing jokes about my own experiences and finding the funny in them. A lot of the jokes are what people would consider ‘dark’, but I really wish that wasn’t even a fucking term. I wish we didn’t have to define certain areas as that, because if you can draw something funny out of it, how is it dark?”
Throughout Baker’s ascent through the comedy ranks over the years, her ability to extract the funny from the deepest, darkest corners of existence has been one of, if not her most defining trait as a stand-up champion. Following that same track in the new hour, the deep dive into what many would consider “dark humor” comes as a welcomed challenge for Baker, as she utilizes her own experiences for more than just laughs.
“I really like to write a joke out of a subject that is challenging, especially now, because we’re living in times where tensions are high,” says Baker. “When the tension is high, at least when it comes to comedy, the higher it is, the harder you can punch. I want to see who is going to go with me on stuff, and I figured that was the best way for me to find people who identify with me as a comic.”
While her top-tier comedy chops certainly brought the crowd along for the ride, Baker’s most fond recollection of the whole experience surfaces on the night of the recording, where the stress and anxiety of shooting during the pandemic met with her own anxiety of delivering a solid performance to create what she considers to be not only a rousing success, but one of the best nights of her life.
“Waking up after a show, then going to the aquarium, then getting in my car and driving to the next city is a very lonely life,” says Baker. “Walking through an aquarium by yourself is a very sad thing and shouldn’t happen before you turn 72, but I’ve done it so many times. But then I showed up to the taping, and All Things Comedy was there, and 800 Pound Gorilla, and Aristotle [Athiras] the director was there. Friends and comics that I’ve known for years, like Brian Simpson, and my husband were there for me, and it made it feel like my wedding day. It felt like a real thing that I had worked so hard for, and I was just really proud to be there and grateful for everyone who was there to support me.”