Comic and area native Aparna Nancherla will perform tonight at The Lincoln Theatre as part of The Bentzen Ball comedy festival.
The Bentzen Ball comedy festival kicks off tonight at The Lincoln Theatre and the highlight is always festival curator Tig Notaro. But the first album released on Notaro’s label, the appropriately named Bentzen Ball Records, is an area native: Aparna Nancherla. And Nancherla is taking part in two Bentzen Ball shows, supporting her album, Just Putting It Out There.
Their relationship started back in 2009, during the inaugural Bentzen Ball (Notaro has always made it a point to feature local comics). Over the years, the two developed a professional relationship, which included Nacherla opening for Notaro on several occasions. Notaro raised the idea of recording an album.
“This is all available on audiobook, if you’re interested. And if you’re not, I don’t blame you,” Nancherla joked about how the project came together. “I had toyed with the idea of making an album before, but with no concrete plans. So this felt like the right sign and magical opportunity to finally just do it.”
Nancherla’s career started about a decade ago here in the District (author’s note: I produced events here in D.C. in which Nancherla was a featured performer). She cut her teeth at local open mics before relocating to Los Angeles, and she now lives in New York.
Over the past few years, her career has seen a series of highlights outside of the album. She was a writer and performer on the short-lived but excellent show, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Nancherla also was on Seth Meyers’ writing staff for his late night talk show. But more recently, she has focused more on her stand-up career, and is on the road regularly.
Nancherla’s comedy is rooted in her daily experiences and her bits between shorter jokes and longer stories.
“I like to put everything under a fine-toothed microscope and explore them in a macro way,” Nancherla said. “This varies between shorter jokes and longer stories. I think that still holds true today, so I would say silly existentialism.”
Nancherla has also had to deal with mental health issues in her personal life, and following role models and friends like Maria Bamford, Jacqueline Novak, Jake Weisman, and Naomi Ekperigin, she used her comedy as a means to confront her struggles head-on. She tells a story of a British radio show who once asked her if I felt guilty for “laughing about depression.” (She doesn’t.)
“While it wasn’t necessarily the solution to my problems, it did help me elucidate what was going on in my head and the way people have connected to it has been incredibly humbling and gratifying,” Nancherla said.
Nancherla also teamed up with fellow comic Jo Firestone to develop the web series, Womanhood, an absurdist vehicle to “vaguely poke fun at the way society expects women to comport themselves and behave and act and evolve, and how we don’t always feel like we fit into that schema.”
With her profile in the comedy world growing, in addition to increasing demand for her work as a writer, Nancherla has a lot on her plate. Though the salad days might be upon her, Nancherla is happy to take the occasional step back.
“I am also available for naps and other activities involving stillness,” she quipped.
The Bentzen Ball comedy festival kicks off tonight at The Lincoln Theatre and runs through October 30th. Tonight’s show is sold out, but Nancherla is also on the bill for a free show at the Kennedy Center, “Picture This,” on Friday.
