As someone who has deemed himself “pretty close to becoming an old man,” Chad Daniels still gets excited about playing new stages. Now, playing a new stage that is also iconic just makes it that much sweeter.
In his leveled-up return to Boston, which finds him at The Wilbur on Friday (April 12) after years of performing in club settings in the city, Daniels is finally realizing a long-standing goal of his after years of watching some of comedy’s biggest names tout headlining gigs at the famed Boston venue during late night sets and guest spots on radio shows like Opie & Anthony. Not only is he “pretty jacked up” to finally be able to check that goal off, and to have Dan Boulger start things off for him after seeing the longtime local favorite kill in a room in Key West, but Daniels is also just pumped to mix it up again with a Boston crowd — a faction of showgoers that the Minnesota native regards as elite and vital in the comedy scene.
“I’m really looking forward to being back in Boston. It’s such a great comedy town, because you have people who pretty much laugh at everything, where you can go on both sides of the political spectrum, and really just talk about anything,” Daniels tells Vanyaland. “What I’ve enjoyed so much about Boston crowds over the years is that they will laugh at the expense of others, but then also laugh at themselves, and that’s really what I think makes for a great crowd.”
As a historically inward-seeking comic who uses personal perspective and situations in his life to paint his often deeply detailed and sharply executed verbal illustrations, Daniels is gleefully veering back into that familiar lane after admittedly letting human nature get the best of him in his highly opinionated, but evenly balanced special, Mixed Reviews. As may be evident by the name of his Empty Nest tour, Daniels once again brings his audience into his world as he copes with the whole process of his two kids, who have been prominent targets for his material over the years, growing up and moving out of his house.
Of course, he knows he’ll never stop being a dad, and that these fresh stories are largely coming from the same perspective as always, but just the idea of where he is in his own life, which he now shares with his partner and fellow comedian Kelsey Cook, naturally has him feeling a bit differently about things, especially when it comes to parenting.
“My son just got married, and my daughter is a sophomore in college, so I think I’ve always had the same approach, where I’m writing about how I’m feeling when I’m in a certain situation,” says Daniels. “So when they were in the house, it was more about hands-on parenting, and now it’s more about what I’m doing with my life, how I’m continuing to parent from afar, whether that includes stories about visiting my daughter at school or going to my son’s wedding in Mexico. Talking about my kids has been one of my favorite things, because it kind of makes me feel like I’m staying close to them when I’m telling stories about them.”
As an artist who is always working toward “the next thing,” Daniels has been hard at work building up more than one new hour in between his latest special and his current hour. In fact, he has another hour already in the can, and has also recorded the initial material he brought out on the road for this run, but that’s not to say he’ll be doing the same material found on his forthcoming special when he makes his way to town.
Instead, Daniels has continued to follow his long-standing process of keeping his touring hour fresh by replacing one joke every week with a new bit to work out. That way, by the time he reaches the end of a tour cycle, or in this case the middle of one, it’s already a brand new product that keeps both him and his fans actively engaged with the material without the risk of it running stale.
“In doing it that way, there are things in the hour that you’re continuously looking forward to and that keeps you focused on the stuff that you’ve said before,” says Daniels. “You really become more emotionally involved in the material because you’re getting to something that’s brand new and exciting.”
For a seasoned veteran of the craft like Daniels, the opportunity to take the stage at a place like The Wilbur doesn’t harness any added pressure. What it does harness though, aside from a larger space where check drops won’t hinder the home stretch of the show like they’ve been known to do in smaller clubs, is the chance to step foot on the same stage as an endless list of comedy legends, and to be included in the history of the venue. The surreal nature of the moment isn’t lost on Daniels, and he’s ready to show everyone why he’s there in the first place.
“I always think about this time when I was flying to San Francisco to work Punchline, which has a notorious, sort of abstract backdrop of the city behind the stage,” says Daniels. “As I was flying, I was watching a Robin Williams documentary, and there’s a video of him on that stage in front of that backdrop, and I was just like ‘what the fuck, man? Little ol’ me from northern Minnesota is flying to San Francisco to perform on the same stage as him?’ It might be a little odd when you start thinking about it like that, but I’m just happy to know that my name will be in the Wilbur books with some real legends. It’s really a cool thought.”
CHAD DANIELS :: Friday, April 12 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6:30 p.m., $30 to $40 :: Advance tickets