As John Early recalls, his last show in Boston wasn’t as joyous as he hoped, as the Boston Calling crowd in 2017 wasn’t exactly feeling the antics he and his longtime creative cohort Kate Berlant brought to the stage ahead of Tig Notaro’s headlining set. However, he’s looking to correct the record as he brings a lot of those same antics to town for people who not only love his comedy, but also specifically bought tickets to see him perform this time around.
Making his Wilbur debut tonight (June 14), Early is feeling the importance and excitement of the moment, through both creative and personal lenses. For starters, it will mark his first show in Boston since that fateful night in Allston, and his first headlining gig in the city since god only knows when, if not ever. For that reason alone, Early is floored at the ability to perform in a space like The Wilbur, especially after years on the grind and setting up shop in all kinds of environments from ice rinks and skate centers to comedy clubs, and now theaters. Having been able to level up to larger historic stages for this tour, the New York comedy staple has only further realized just how important the physical environment of a comedy show is, and he’s making the most of it as he continues to check legendary spots off the list.
“I just continue to be so shocked on this tour that people come to see me in these big venues. It’s very meaningful to me, almost bordering on maudlin, and I think I’m also so exhausted from this tour that I’m more prone to bursting into tears if I think too long about the fact that people spend their hard-earned money on coming to my show,” Early tells Vanyaland. “I also just love performing in these historic theaters. I’ve been so lucky to book shows at places like The Wilbur, where it feels like a milestone, or that there’s something a little bit more elevated about the whole thing because people care about the space and the history of it.”
Over the course of the last few years, Early has remained active in the stand-up stage, while balancing a career as an in-demand actor, having played in a number of projects like Would It Kill You To Laugh?, a sketch comedy special he co-created with Berlant, Tim Robinson’s smash-hit Netflix series I Think You Should Leave, HBO Max’s Search Party, Apple’s The Afterparty, just to name a few.
He’s also spent a lot of time behind the scenes as a collaborator and director, most notably as the showrunner behind Jacqueline Novak’s Get On Your Knees.
But now that he’s putting his own name on the marquee, he feels as if he’s letting fans in on a bit of a secret, as he brings what he considers to be something of a “sacred and sweaty” mish-mash of music and stand-up, with the help of his backing band The Lemon Squares, beyond the confines of the New York City comedy scene.
Over the past 10 years, Early has gathered his band just once a year to unleash a smattering of song covers to compliment his stand-up routine. Although he compliments the band’s ability to “beautifully go along” with his very limited taste in pop, disco and R&B to curate an incredibly fun night for everyone in the room, Early also hasn’t taken the medium seriously enough to bring it out on tour, until now. As a result, he’s found himself falling more madly in love with the approach after each show, and feeling the most natural of his wide-ranging creative abilities.
“I would say, compared to the sort of psychotic characters I play on screen, like on I Think You Should Leave, [this hour is] actually the closest thing to my personality,” says Early. “My bread and butter is playing gay psychos, so it’s kind of nice to do a show for people where I’m a little more warm, silly and generous, and most like myself. This material, and this kind of performance style is modeled after Bette Midler and Sandra Bernhardt, with a sweaty 1970’s cabaret sort of vibe.”
On top of it being a milestone in the way a first show at The Wilbur is for a lot of comedians, it’s also the end of an era for Early in that it marks the very last time he will be performing these jokes and songs in a live setting. Upon taking the stage, he will only be a few hours shy of the premiere of his debut hour-long special, Now More Than Ever, which premieres on HBO Max on Thursday (June 15). Although he doesn’t expect the crowd to be as moved on a foundational level as he expects himself to be after molding, polishing, working and re-working this batch of material since starting his stand-up career 11 years ago, he’s already feeling the added weight of sending this body of work into the sunset with one last hurrah in Boston.
When it comes to the special, Early admits that the initial idea of putting his work out there in this fashion was fairly terrifying and elusive. However, with the direction of both Leah Hennessy and Emily Allan, and the added spice of having The Lemon Squares involved, what became the final product has turned out to be Early’s most prideful output of his career.
“To me, this is the most accessible thing I’ve ever done, where it gives the most access to me, but I know some people will watch it and be like ‘what is this?’ and some people will still find this to be weird,” says Early. “The goal for me, and Kate Berlant whenever we do stuff together, we think of ourselves as these classic vaudevillian entertainers, where we think we’re kind of for everyone and universally silly, but then we always get labeled as weird or artsy and niche. So I’m sure that will happen again with this special, but to me, this is for everyone. That’s my intention, and we’ll see how it’s received, but I’m very excited to share something with everyone that really does represent who I am, and is made with a more generous spirit.”
Although the tour is taking place during Pride, Early doesn’t really think about the timing of it all. But that doesn’t mean he can’t feel the excitement this time of year brings for the LGBT community, and the fact that a lot of fans that have come out to the first batch of shows have already been in “party mode” as a result of the activity and background noise that Pride brings has brought the live experience to a whole new level for Early.
“I really think it lubricates people, so to speak, to be in a more accepting mode of what I would do, which is fundamentally very gay,” says Early. “I’m doing a Britney Spears cover and impression, and I’m singing Donna Summer, and there’s a really bad, long-winded and sloppy joke about anal in there somewhere. So, there’s definitely a Pride spirit within the show, but I come by that naturally. I’m never thinking about how I need to focus the theme of the show on homosexuality or gay pride.”
“I just can’t wait to sing these songs one last time,” says Early. “My keyboardist and back-up vocalist Michael Hesslein, who is an absolute genius, and I have had such a blast together on this tour, but even with the stand-up as part of it, it’s really about performing the songs for me.”
JOHN EARLY :: Wednesday, June 14 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 6 p.m., $35 to $49.50 :: Advance Tickets