The last time Laurie Kilmartin was in Beverly, life was a bit chaotic. But now, with a brand new hour and a fresh perspective on what’s to come of her next chapter in life, the award-winning comedian is excited to be back in town, and to catch us up on some of the happenings, and more importantly, the have-yet-to-happenings she’s experiencing.
With a double dose weekend at Off Cabot starting on Friday (June 28), the California native isn’t just looking forward to telling jokes and stories. Of course, being able to work out new material is the main reason for her anticipation of returning to the area, but away from the stage, it’s also the vibe of the town, the aroma of the local coffee shops and the opposite-coast suburban camaraderie she tends to feel with the area that has her especially stoked to be back in the Commonwealth.
“On stage, I’m talking about what I’m going to do after my son leaves, and the kind of life I want to live, so I’m looking toward the future now, as opposed to being mired in the present,” Kilmartin tells Vanyaland. “That always made me feel like a giant with twenty people at my feet all the time, and now they’re kind of gone. Now, my act is looking more at what is coming instead of what is currently happening.”
In keeping with the spirit of letting us in on her life with the behind-the-scenes type of honesty that she prides herself on and utilizes to connect with her audience on a deeper level, Kilmartin remains steadfast in keeping politics and other divisive approaches out of the equation on stage. Social media may be a bit of a different story, but in a live setting, Kilmartin is just looking to bring us the best laughs she can.
Her previous hour, which became the material found in her most recent special, Cis Woke Grief Slut, dealt heavily in the processing of her mother’s 2020 passing as well as her outlook on her son growing up and getting ready to enter adulthood. But now, as she continues to put the pieces together of what is to come next, that’s exactly what she, for the first time in a very long time, is choosing to focus on.
“With my last hour, I was grappling with the passing of my mother. Now, I’m a woman in her fifties, I have a teenage son. He has one year of high school left, and then who knows what happens?” says Kilmartin. “Over the last 10 years, I just feel like I’ve had people on top of me all the time between my mother and my young son, where I was taking care of an elderly person and parenting a young child. Now the elderly person is gone, and the young child is getting older, and it’s a really strange feeling that I’m not used to. I’ve always just been used to tending to things and taking care of the little needs of people, and now I’m not doing that so much.”
AURIE KILMARTIN :: Friday, June 28 to Saturday, June 29 at Off Cabot, 9 Wallis St. in Beverly, MA :: 7 p.m., $35 :: Advance tickets