Editor’s Note: With a brand new year comes new shows, new faces, and a new format for Vanyaland’s recurring weekly live comedy rundown, Mic’d Up. We’ll be hyping club shows, theater and arena gigs, open mics, and whatever else to help fill your free time with some much-needed laughter.
The friendship between Joe List and Tom Dustin may very well be a “bromance,” but at its foundation, it is a friendship forged over years in the trenches of comedy clubs and, in some ways, personal struggles that have resulted in a deep bond between the two. So deep, in fact, that List went and made a movie about Dustin – and now they’re both bringing it back home to show it to us.
Making their way back to Somerville, List and Dustin will be in attendance for a screening of Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian at Crystal Ballroom on Thursday (January 9). Directed and co-produced by List, the documentary follows the longtime comedy cohorts over the course of a weekend of shows in Key West, Florida as they recount tales of their friendship and careers early on in the Boston Comedy scene, as well as Dustin’s struggles with depression and alcohol – and all the feelings that come with them – in a way that brings the most genuine representation of Dustin to the forefront, through his signature brand of humor and storytelling.
Both List and Dustin will make appearances at the screening, bringing a journey and friendship full circle, at least in some ways, so don’t miss out on a chance to see two of the city’s best comedy exports chop it up on stage together.
TOM DUSTIN: PORTRAIT OF A COMEDIAN :: Thursday, January 9 at Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square in Somerville, MA : 6:30 p.m., all ages, $25 :: Advance tickets