We all know how the old saying goes: “Not all heroes wear capes.” But if you were to ask Joe Mande how he sees it, he’d be quick to tell you that, in fact, self-proclaimed heroes aren’t really heroes at all.
Bringing his latest show “Hero” to Somerville’s Crystal Ballroom tonight (July 15), Mande has some unfinished business to take care of, but he’ll be unleashing a good majority of new material all at the same time. The unfinished business comes in the form of jokes and stories that have marinaded over the past two years, lingering from what he felt was a finished product in his last batch of material.
But now, it’s sort of a blessing in disguise, as the award-winning writer and comedian has been able to mesh the two different batches together, which has proven to be a fun challenge onstage to see what still stands on its own legs after two years in hibernation. Surely, it was maddening for the Emerson grad to be away from the stage as long as he was, but the time off has resulted in a bit of creative growth that has him more comfortable in exploring different directions.
“I don’t know if I want to say it’s more personal, but I definitely talk about a couple experiences with therapy and stuff, and I don’t know if that’s interesting or new, but I’m talking about that a little more,” Mande tells Vanyaland, before adding with a chuckle, “To be fully honest, it’s a lot of dick jokes, but I’m fifteen years into the game, so I’m good at those. I’m a professional.”
The material found within the hour has certainly been put through a process, but when it comes to the name of the show, Mande wasn’t super invested in putting too much time into finding a powerful name for it. But as it turns out, he wound up being inadvertently philosophical about the title in the end.
“I didn’t put much thought into it at first. There’s just something very funny to me about how there are people out there, as well as some comedians themselves, who put themselves into some sort of position of being heroic or modern-day truth tellers and philosophers, but it’s usually ninety percent dick jokes,” says Mande. “I’m not trying to belittle stand-up comedy, because I love it, but it’s not a heroic feat in my mind. But on top of that, I realized that I do have a major joke in the act about the idea of heroism. So it works in the end, but it was not a deliberate choice at first.”
As a traveling comedian, Mande has seen cities all over the world, many more than once over the course of his 15 years in stand-up. But naturally, as an Emerson alum, a return to Boston always a little bit extra for Mande.
Whether that means he’s excited to bring his latest hour to his “comedy motherland,” or walking through Cambridge and other parts of the city and seeing all of his old haunts like The Comedy Studio, or he’s just looking forward to finding the best $45 lobster roll to scarf on is still up for debate. But no matter what, the Hacks writer will always a little bit of sentimentality with him whenever he makes his way back.
“The funniest thing to me about walking around Boston now is thinking back to when I was in college, and feeling like I was becoming a man with all of these huge life experiences, and now I’m almost forty, so it’s just a city full of confident children now,” says Mande. “To me, it’s a city full of teamsters, Dunkin Donuts, and children.”
JOE MANDE: HERO (with special guest Josh Gondelman):: Friday, July 15 at The Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square in Somerville :: 7:30 p.m., $25 :: Crystal Ballroom event page :: Advance tickets