After years of trying to be diplomatic and get people to listen to the messages in his stand-up material, Nemr is changing course.
Returning to The Wilbur on Saturday (December 4) with his latest hour, the Lebanese-American comic isn’t holding back anymore. Sure, he’s excited to make his way back to the city after not being able to do so for so long, but more so, what has Nemr jazzed to get back into the swing of live comedy with this new material is the fact that when it comes to speaking his truth a bit more aggressively and less apologetically in the face of people who have disregarded guidelines and facts during the pandemic, he couldn’t care less about how they react.
As a result of that new confidence, Nemr feels his material is funnier and more honest, and he’s looking forward to continuing to get better at it all over again as he gets back out on the road.
“It’s a relief to finally be able to go back to doing what we love to do, but at the same time it’s foreign again,” Nemr tells Vanyaland. “The world has changed so dramatically, and usually in stand-up, you generally evolve with the change going on around you, and you’re lock-step with everything. But it’s like, we all took a collective break as comedians and let the world make the most dramatic changes ever, and then we came back. So, it’s going to be a lot of fun because it made our jobs really easy.”
While the inspiration to get fired up hasn’t been in short supply since the pandemic started, the time away from the stage certainly affected Nemr’s overall approach and vibe as a performer, but in the best way possible for him, likening his refreshed confidence to “the liberation of a ninety-year old shitting his pants.”
“I have that confidence now where I’m going to say whatever the fuck I want to say, and if I’m wrong then I’m wrong, and if I’m right, then maybe it’ll make a difference. But if you don’t like what I’m saying, then unfollow me,” says Nemr. “I don’t have time anymore to care about general emotions, because one day I’m going to bring kids into this world. And what am I going to tell them? That I could’ve done something, but I was afraid to hurt someone’s feelings?”
With the last few years, and especially the last 21 months, having happened, there’s a lot that Nemr wants to talk about. However, like many other comedians, he wasn’t sure how to approach any sort of pandemic-centric material, but what he did know was that he wanted to add something valuable to the conversation. The way he sees it, when the world is going crazy, that’s when comedians are needed most, and he’s looking forward to getting the chance to make a difference in a different way, and get back on the grind to fight the good fight and work to “call out the stupid.”
“Just being back in Boston on a stage like The Wilbur in front of a massive crowd like that is going to be exciting, because you get a lot of people in one room, and you get the opportunity to alter the energy of so many people,” says Nemr. “That’s what I’m really looking forward to about coming back to Boston, to hopefully swing the pendulum in the other direction, because I feel like a lot of people are wrong about a lot of things, and we’ve been missing that type of social interaction where you can tell someone that they’re an absolute moron.”
NEMR :: Saturday, December 4 at The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: $40 to $80 :: Wilbur event page and ticket link