In curating our comedy show, Kim and I spend a non-negligible amount of time keeping up with current trends in comedy. And at the Netflix Is A Joke Festival this May, we got a glimpse of comedy's future: a live taping of Stamptown for Netflix.
If you've spent more than fifteen minutes with me over the past two years, there's a decent chance I've tried to convince you to see Stamptown (and the show inspired me to start taking Clown classes in LA). I am, admittedly, a little obsessed.
Which is why the idea of Netflix filming a Stamptown special feels both thrilling and slightly absurd.
How a Weird Little Cult Phenomenon Became a Netflix Show
I first saw Stamptown at the Edinburgh Fringe in the summer of 2024. Kim and I snuck into a university auditorium for the midnight performance. Seven hundred people packed the room wall-to-wall.
Every single person was having a blast.
There wasn't a phone in sight.
People were batting around a giant beach ball. Strangers were talking to each other. The energy felt less like a comedy show and more like some sort of joyful rebellion.
So What Actually Is Stamptown?
The problem with Stamptown is that it's incredibly difficult to explain.
I'll try anyway.
It's part clown show, part cabaret, part variety show, and part fever dream. The performers are wildly talented, occasionally sexy, relentlessly silly, and completely committed to making the audience lose its mind.
In the past, that has sometimes meant hula hoops, sometimes elaborate dance numbers and sometimes things that I genuinely would never have imagined another human being attempting on stage. Yikes.
The Moments That Will Stay With Me Forever
The version I saw this year felt like the fully evolved form of what I saw in Edinburgh.
(Spoiler alert.)
Two moments in particular are burned into my memory forever.
One involved a live, bloody birth complete with an umbilical cord and a singing fetus.
The other featured a completely naked trans performer belting show tunes with such confidence and joy that the entire theater couldn't help but cheer.
I kept looking around the room during these moments. What it felt like was electric live performance, the type where people gather outside of the theater after and marvel: 'what did we just witness?!'
Why Stamptown Matters Right Now
In a world where everyone is trying to curate themselves, Stamptown invites you to be ridiculous instead.
At the end of every show, host Jack Tucker leads the audience in one final rallying cry:
"Suck our d*cks, we're never gonna die!"
Somehow, after two hours of Stamptown, it feels oddly profound.
Because walking out of the theater, I felt the same thing I felt in Edinburgh: a reminder that life is supposed to be fun.
And for two hours, everyone in that room remembered.