For Joe List, every Patriots Day weekend is the most wonderful time of the year. From the crisp spring air, the magic of the Boston Marathon, and the customary late-morning Red Sox game he attends with his family every year, to the more-common-than-not Bruins playoff game they all gather at the homestead for, it’s all about the tradition.
But this year is a bit different, as the man himself is a part of the weekend festivities.
After 22 years on the comedy grind, the Whitman native is making his way back home to unleash his multifaceted brand of comedy in front the largest crowd he’s ever performed for in Boston, at a sold-out Wilbur Theatre on Saturday (April 15). Now, with the amount of work he puts into creative outlets from stand-up and podcasts to the social media-driven promotion through reels and other assets, his focus hasn’t exactly stayed locked on to the fact that he’s about to check off a milestone, or that he’s been in the scene for more than twenty years at this point.
But that’s not to say that the significance, both personally and professionally, of such a feat is lost on him in any way. It’s been quite awhile since he first got on stage during an open mic at the now-defunct Chop’s Lounge near Fenway Park back in 2000, but every time he makes his way back home for a visit, the feelings and memories of those early days on the grind all come flooding back in a myriad of ways.
“There are moments when I’m there and walking around Boston where I remember that feeling of being a teenager walking into this place I found in the yellow pages, and saying I want to be a comedian and asking to go on stage,” List tells Vanyaland. “I haven’t thought about the amount of years too much, but it definitely feels strange to have done five minutes at an open mic in front of twelve other comics, and now I’m doing my biggest show in Boston in front of more than a thousand people. It’s a great feeling.”
With that milestone in play, List is working with a brand new hour of material following the release of his latest special, This Year’s Material, as well as another in the can. Although he feels the hour he’s working through now is “all over the place” at the moment, List is comfortable with approaching it with much of the same strategy and attitude that he’s worked with throughout his career.
With an ear for audience response, and channeling that into creative muscle, List is still keeping things silly and largely personal, an ability he’s honed and employed through a myriad of specials, albums, and even off-stage projects (read: his starring role in 2022’s Fourth Of July) over the years. Of course, his top-tier observational perspective is still alive and well, and he plans to riff on his home city upon his return, as he does in every city he performs in, but that’s more of a result of a natural flow than consciously pinpointing Boston’s latest foibles.
“When I start any set, especially headlining sets, I mess around and try to see how far I can go before I get into material,” says List. “It always tends to be local stuff, and I have a few local observations that I touch on, but we’ll see. A lot of the Boston stuff seems to come out naturally for me, through attitude and anger, but it isn’t exactly a conscious effort. It just comes out in the moment.”
Whether “Joe List’s Pre-Marathon Homecoming” (or whatever you feel like calling it) becomes a permanent fixture in The Commonwealth’s calendar leading up to the iconic race remains to be seen. Nonetheless, he’s excited to at least be a part of the buzz around the city this year, and add a bit more personal connection to an already long-running tradition.
“It’s tradition that I go to the Sox game early with my whole family, and we have a whole crew of us that go every year, then we go straight to the marathon from there, then we get home and watch hockey playoffs,” says List, before adding with a chuckle, “The show is in the way of all of that in some ways, but that’s what I’m looking forward to. It’s great to be part of a local New England tradition.”
JOE LIST :: Saturday, April 15 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., $31 to $41 :: Advance Tickets