It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and Will Smalley has just the thing to get us in the spirit of the season with a magical stand-up sleigh ride of his own.
While he doesn’t have a shiny red nose, Smalley will be leading the way to the Theater District as he brings Will Smalley’s Big Queer Comedy Christmas Miracle to Nick’s Comedy Stop on Saturday night (December 11) alongside the comedy talent of Kendra Dawsey, Connor Doherty, Chloé Cunha and Corey Saunders. While it’s not fully set in stone as to what the show will entail beyond the Yuletide yuck-yucks of some of Boston’s hardest-grinding comedy voices, Smalley is a self-proclaimed “Christmas boy,” and he’s loving the opportunity to combine a few of favorite things for a holiday hoedown at one of his favorite spots in the city.
Vanyaland recently had the chance to chat with Smalley about the show, how it all came together, and the excitement of being able to not only perform comedy and put on a production of this caliber during his favorite time of year, but also what it means to be able to pump some much-needed queer holiday spirit into the world for a night.
Check it out.
Jason Greenough: Jumping right in, the big reason why we’re here is Will Smalley’s Big Queer Comedy Christmas Miracle on December 11 at Nick’s Comedy Stop. How are you feeling about this show as we get closer to it?
Will Smalley: I’m super excited. I was supposed to do a show at the Comedy Attic in October, but it was during the last game of the ALCS, and no comedy shows were going to do well that night, so they wound up canceling it, and they asked if I wanted to do a show at Nick’s for end of the year or beginning of the year, and I thought about how I kinda wanted to do a Christmas-themed show. The week before I was supposed to do that show at the Attic, I was in Cleveland for the Midwest Queer Comedy Festival, and I was just really struck by that experience. It was my first traveling experience for a festival after coming back, and my heart was filled from that and being in such a supportive environment where all the performers were queer, and it was just such a lovely experience, and I want to do more shows like that here.
Chloé Cunha, who is on this show, runs a show called Queer Comedy Hour, but there aren’t really a whole bunch of spaces for queer performers, and I wanted to offer that in the spirit of Christmas and turn that on its head a little bit.
Right on. So, in that sense, where there aren’t really a ton of those types of spaces, how does it feel to not only be a representative of the LGBTQ voice in the Boston comedy scene, but also the Boston arts community in general, and be able to bring a little bit more representation to the forefront in this way?
It’s one of those things where I’m now ten-plus years into comedy and performing, and when I started, I had a naive view of it where I didn’t want to be tokenized and known for one thing. The more that I do stand-up, and the more I’m around these amazing queer performers in general, I think we’re in such a different environment from even jsut ten years ago that it’s nice to not be on the defensive, but rather on the offensive with it in a way. A lot of my early experiences with stand-up were going into spaces where you didn’t know what the reaction was going to be. Most of it was good, or at least more good than bad, for sure, but there was that handful of times where you had to respond and react to small-mindedness in an audience. Sometimes, it made a new bit, but just in general, it’s nice to be in a space and a mindset to sort of control that narrative a little bit more, and sort of have it be on your side more than it had been in the past.
I’m just happy to create a show like this and have it maybe be a thing, ya know? Folks who don’t know me or who don’t know these performers are seeing that there is a queer comedy Christmas show, and that they’d like to go see that. The hope is that it offers something different for an audience.
Now, how about this lineup? If you’re a fan of Boston comedy, or even if you’re not and you’re not familiar with these artists, this is still a top-tier show. What went into curating this lineup? Did you have specific acts in mind? Or was it more of a general calling and these are the folks that came through?
It was definitely a curated thing, which is hard, because there are more performers that you want to add into the mix. But hte hope is that there might be more shows like this, and you don’t want to really put everyone on one show, and that’s the tough thing about curating a queer show within Boston, because at a certain point you feel like you’re running out of talent, but there’s currently a crop of comics that identify as some part of the community, and I think it’s a fun time to endeavor on something like this, because it means that there are opportunities to showcase people.
I wanted to be able to showcase a handful of people that I really enjoy, and give folks who don’t really get a lot of opportunities in comedy to perform at a place like Nick’s or even just be on a fun, non-traditional show like this a chance to do that. I happened to be out in Cleveland at that festival, and both Corey Saunders and Chloe Cunha were there, so it was really nice to spend some quality time with them outside of this scene, and kind of represent Boston in that way. Kendra Dawsey and I did a Queer Night show for the city of Cambridge over the summer, and she’s just so talented. Connor Doherty is someone who hasn’t been doing stand-up for a long time, but I met him on a Las Culturistas show at Great Scott, and he blew me and the audience away. He also has this impressive social media presence, so it’s pretty cool to have a varied lineup for this.
You’re no stranger to Nick’s, but how does it feel to be able to bring this show to such a historic stage?
Well, that was a big part of it when the slot was offered. It’s such a historic comedy stage, no matter where it is, because it is in different locations sometimes, but that name has stayed and it obviously has put on successful shows every weekend. They’re also doing a lot of great outreach with local talent to headline, and I think that’s a pretty cool thing where they’re offering folks who might not always get the chance to stretch their legs out like that to do it. I’m very excited to bring this type of show, which is going to be mostly stand-up with the holiday sprinkled into everyone’s act, but then there’s little sketch surprises. It’s rooted in stand-up, and I think that’s an important distinction to make. I’m part of Old School Game Show, and all these different things like burlesque shows, and all of that spirit is being forged into this show, but I really like the idea of infusing it with that, but rooting it in stand-up, which we’re all sort of known for.
You can’t go wrong with that, man.
I think one of the last times we spoke, I had said I wanted to create shows and nights that stood on their own and were experiences that left you feeling like ‘oh, that show happened and that was what happened on that specific night,’ and I still really dig that idea of creating shows where I don’t want the show’s form to happen the same way again. I want it to be this one night, and even if we do it again with the same lineup, we can do different things that shake it up.
We’re already down to the last question. With all of these elements in play, What are you looking forward to most, above everything, about heading into this weekend?
I think what I’m looking forward to most is both hosting and headlining the show, which is my plan. But I am excited to be able to do that, have the room and show people the amazing comics that are on the show with me, and then also be able to stretch my legs out, as well. It’s a different kind of muscle to train, at least in my head, but I am excited to do that, and I’m really just a Christmas boy. It’s my holiday, and I’ve said it to the folks that you’re either a Christmas person or a Halloween person, and all of my friends are Halloween people.
I just love this time of year. Obviously, it proves harder and harder as time goes on to really get into it, but when there’s opportunities like this to dress up, go crazy, infuse music and do all the things come with the holiday season, and sort of reframe it a little bit and sort of take it over in a queer way, it’s already a very campy and fun time. So, to go into it mindfully, trying to to really camp it up even more, there’s so much meat on the Christmas bone to really sink your teeth into and have fun with. Even as we sit and speak. The show still isn’t done. There are more ideas coming to me as we get closer, and to be able to implement those things is really fun for me, especially knowing that I have a space and a stage, and some time to really make this a big holiday blowout.
WILL SMALLEY’S BIG QUEER COMEDY CHRISTMAS MIRACLE :: Saturday, December 11 at Nick’s Comedy Stop, 100 Warrenton St. in Boston, MA :: 8 p.m., $20 :: Event page and advance tickets