This winter’s comedy line-up is a who’s who of reliable favorites, including Lewis Black, Sarah Silverman and Kumail Nanjiani. Whether you want bawdy humor or contemplative musings, there is nearly a something for everyone. Stay warm by laughing it up at these six comedy tours.
Aziz Ansari
Actor-comedian Aziz Ansari is perhaps best known for writing, directing and starring in the Netflix original series “Master of None,” for which he earned two Emmys. After facing backlash following a sexual misconduct allegation in 2018, Ansari addressed the incident in his stand-up, apologized and attempted to move forward. “There’s an argument that Ansari’s trial-by-public-opinion even enriched his comedy with colours that just weren’t there before,” said The Guardian. This marks Ansari’s first major tour since the release of his Netflix special “Nightclub Comedian” in 2022. The “Hypothetical Tour” begins Feb. 21.
Lewis Black
Lewis Black has been working as a stand-up for more than 35 years, and this tour is his swan song. “I am only retiring from touring,” Black said to Deadline. “It’s time for me to explore other avenues such as writing, reading your rants and pitching TV shows that will be rejected. (Which is why I know they are good.) More importantly I can finally give my Fantasy Football team the focus and time it truly needs.” You can also enjoy Black as the voice of “Anger” in this year’s Pixar sequel, “Inside Out 2,” or read one of his 40 plays and three bestselling books. The next show in Black’s “Goodbye Yeller Brick Road: The Final Tour” is Jan. 23.
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Jim Gaffigan
It is easy to like sheepish Midwestern stand-up Jim Gaffigan, whose deadpan comedy has long detailed the most mundane aspects of life, including fast food cravings and parenting. His jokes tend not to rely on profanity, although the father of five has gone darker in recent years. The “Everything is Wonderful” Tour is ongoing now through October.
Jim Jefferies
Everything sounds sillier when said in an Australian accent, and Jim Jefferies proves it. The stand-up released his fifth Netflix special “High & Dry” in 2023, in which he “sounds off on the laziness of koala bears, the injustices of male pattern baldness and the reason why he’ll never drink again,” said the tour’s press materials. “The way Jefferies loves to put himself in the crosshairs for haters, while simultaneously striving to remind audiences that he’s on the right side of history, puts him on a similar path alongside Bill Burr,” said Decider. The “Son of a Carpenter” Tour kicks off Jan. 10.
Kumail Nanjiani
You have no doubt seen Kumail Nanjiani in one of his many acting roles, be it HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” “Welcome to Chippendales” or “The Big Sick,” the latter of which he also wrote and produced with his wife Emily V. Gordon. You may barely recognize Nanjiani if you have not seen him for a while because he transformed from unassuming to chiseled for a role in 2019’s “Eternals” and never looked back. Nanjiani is also a comedian, although he took a break. “There was a moment earlier when you said, ‘You were a comedian,’ and that hurt my feelings,” he said to Vulture in 2022. “I definitely consider myself still a comedian, and I love doing it.” Nanjiani’s next show in his first proper comedy tour in a decade, the “Doing This Again” Tour, is Jan. 17.
Sarah Silverman
This veteran’s latest tour is mostly about her parents dying in May of last year, she told Las Vegas Weekly. But do not let the somber topic fool you: Habitual line-crosser Silverman has been making “politics, societal doom [and] personal grief” into laughter for over three decades, said the outlet. Comic relief is “necessary for people to get over the difficulties of life, and for Silverman, channeling grief into work seems natural.” The “Postmortem” Tour is ongoing now through February.
