The last time Matt Braunger was in Massachusetts, he was quarantined in a Mansfield hotel room with COVID. A little over four months later, he’s making his way back to the Commonwealth for a much better reason.
After cancelling and rescheduling more than once, Braunger finally makes his way to Nantucket’s Dreamland Theatre on Saturday (April 23) to deliver his latest hour. While the prospect of getting to visit places like Nantucket already excite the Oregon native for reasons beyond comedy, he’s more than ready to finally get down on the island and cash in on a show that has seen its fair share of back and forth.
“I’m psyched for this show, because it’s one of those ultimate examples of a great excuse to go somewhere with your family,” Braunger tells Vanyaland. “My wife and daughter are coming out, so it’s going to be one of those nice things where we get to visit my wife’s family, since she’s from Massachusetts, then we’ll go enjoy the island, do the show, and then come back the next day. It’ll be nice because not only is it a getaway, but it’s also tying up a great loose end.”
While the pandemic may have effectively clotheslined any chance of Braunger performing this specific show until now, his connection to Massachusetts, oddly enough, became much stronger as a result of the west coast wildfires last year.
With, at the time, a six-week old child, Braunger and his wife packed up their electric car and headed east to escape the worsening air quality in California and Oregon. By the time they decided to return home and make their way back to the Golden State a little over a month later, Braunger fully admits that, even aside from being awarded the badge of “honorary townie” by his wife and her friends, he had fully forged his own bond with the New England lifestyle, and he’s looking forward to getting back to it and all that comes with it, regardless of how short of a time he’ll have to visit this time around.
“I just really like the New England vibe, and the angle on life that people take there, in terms of enjoyment, community and of course, the food is a huge part of that,” says Braunger. “I know my wife enjoys getting the chance to get back home, and it’s fun to see our daughter react to things that we really enjoy. When you go to a place like Nantucket, it just feels like another world, really, and it’s cool to get away and have those experiences while at the same time, getting to entertain folks.”
The way Braunger sees it, comedy in its grandest sense is aimed to help “let the steam out” and forget about their troubles for awhile, while realizing that things are better outside of what you might be going through. He’s hoping he can provide that same vibe with this new slate of jokes and stories rooted in both self-reflection and depreciation, while also providing a bit of escapism from the news cycle.
You may not see too many headlines, if any at all, weaved into his new material, but given his locally-tied experience with the pandemic, he’ll at least be touching on that aspect of COVID — but rest assured it will not take over the whole set.
At the risk of sounding pretentious, Braunger just wants to make his comedy more timeless than timely, and he’s trying his damndest, as he always does, to follow his life mantra of not wasting anyone’s time while he’s on stage. He just wants to deliver the highest caliber laugh fuel he can, and in the process help people move forward from the frustrations and tragedy of the past two years — because he too is working on that himself.
“Of course I’m still dealing with the same mental and emotional issues that I’ve always dealt with, but I’m just grateful that this show is finally happening,” says Braunger. “It’s nice that I have what is now a fun story to tell about my experience, and the ridiculousness of that time, and it’s going to be cool being able to come back to that area of the country to talk about it.”
MATT BRAUNGER :: Saturday, April 23 at Dreamland Theatre, 17 S. Water St. St. in Nantucket, MA :: 7 p.m. :: Tickets are $50