For as long as Kyle Gordon has been performing on stage, the two most constant elements of his act have been both music and character work. Now, with his most recently announced project, he’ll be able to deliver his lasting loves in an all-in-one package.
As recently announced, the stand-up comedian and viral social media personality, who makes his way to Boston tonight (November 2) for two sold-out shows at City Winery, will also be coming in hot during the first quarter of 2024 with his debut musical comedy album, Kyle Gordon is Great on March 1. Featuring the hit single “Planet of The Bass,” the multi-genre style parody album is a longtime labor of love for Gordon, and he’s looking forward to not only putting these out into the world, but also putting these battle-tested tracks to bed in a sense.
“I’m very excited to put this album out. It’s really been such a labor of love, and what’s funny is that ‘Planet of The Bass’ was the first single that came out and it really exploded, but it’s funny because it was the only song on the album that was written for the album,” Gordon tells Vanyaland. “Everything else comes from bits and songs that I’ve been performing in my live act for years now, so in some way, my first album is also my greatest hits. I can’t wait for people to hear it, but it’s also exciting because it’s like closing the book on this chapter of my comedy life.”
Having started doing comedy as a college grad in 2014, the Westchester native immediately immersed himself into the world of improv in New York City. With his 10,000 hours registered on stage, Gordon was still focused on combining his love of music with comedy, but due mostly to a strapped budget, didn’t have the chance early on in his career to fully produce his songs the way he envisioned them. Now that he’s able to do that, thanks in part to a rapidly growing social media reach, Gordon wanted to make sure each of the tracks were able to connect smoothly, while still keeping the artistic edge he’s sculpted them with over the years.
“At its simplest, I’m just a big music fan, and I especially like exploring different pop music genres, and the subgenres of particular eras of music. That’s always fascinated me, and when I come across a new subgenre of music, I want to know everything about it,” says Gordon. “While I was doing improv in New York, I wanted to develop a solo act, so I could get booked on shows with stand-ups, even though I’m not really a stand-up myself. Like my work you see online, I’m always in character, so the musical comedy thing was sort of a combination of all of my interests.”
Even though his live shows are still a largely stripped down version from the songs on the album, with the exception of “Planet of The Bass,” which Gordon knows can’t really ever be anything but at its full force, he knows that coming back to town and taking the stage at City Winery again after all he’s accomplished since his visit last year is going to be a special night.
“Playing in Boston has always been really fun for me, because the crowds get what I’m trying to do. Hopefully, now that more music has come out and they’ve gotten a bigger taste of the album, they’re going be even more on board with what I’m going for,” says Gordon. “The album is a pretty unique comedy product, so I’m excited to hopefully get the people that have followed my work for awhile to really see the musical comedy side of my work that maybe they hadn’t fully gotten over the last few years.”
Sold out shows are always nice, but for Gordon, his connection to the city of Boston was already strengthened earlier this year when The Jonas Brothers tapped him for a surprise appearance during the TD Garden stop of their world tour.
Having been followed by Nick Jonas on TikTok for quite awhile, Gordon was shocked when the youngest JoBro slipped into his DMs with an offer he just couldn’t refuse — one that brought him and his hit single “Planet of The Bass” to the Garden’s center stage less than 24 hours after being approached.
“[The rush] was kind of nice, because if I’d had a week or two to think about it, I think I would have been freaked out,” says Gordon. “But that TD Garden show was actually the same night the song dropped, so with it being such short notice, and having so many other things on my mind, all of that made it so much easier to do it because I didn’t even really have time to wrap my head around it before it was over. So I just said ‘fuck it,” and had fun with it.”
With it being his first album, Gordon is quick to shout out his producer Jamie Siegel for being his “Sherpa” throughout the process, and he hopes the blood, sweat and tears they both poured into the final product shine through as brightly as Gordon’s own creative flow and direction.
“With this album, I’m hoping people get a better sense of my tastes as a comedian,” says Gordon. “Also, I hope people can appreciate that I was trying to do something really different with this album, which I feel is a very pure expression of my work. The making of the album was so fun, and I’m really happy with how it came out, so all that there is now is just hoping that people check it out and appreciate what I was trying to do with it.”
KYLE GORDON :: Thursday, November 2 at City Winery, 80 Beverly St. in Boston, MA :: 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., sold out :: Event info