Ruby Karp
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Ruby Karp made her debut on the Upright Citizens Brigade stage when most kids her age were barely out of kindergarten. By the age of 8, Ruby had appeared on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party webseries and had become a regular monologist for the UCB’s premier improv showcase, ASSSSCAT. At 10 she began writing columns for the website, Hello Giggles, and at 13, she went viral for writing about how kids her age were most definitely not on Facebook. Now 26, she has released her first comedy special, Ruby Karp: I Don’t Trust Adults, on VEEPS. She caught up with me over Zoom to talk about...
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Alaina Bamfield
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Alaina Bamfield is a Brooklyn-based stand-up comedian from Lansing, Michigan. She self-financed and filmed her debut comedy special, Untouchable, at The Independent Comedy Club just north of Detroit. Untouchable, which debuted on on June 7, 2026, is a half-hour of jokes that almost exclusively touches upon her experiences as a survivor of sexual abuse, one of 139 victims who took former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar to justice. Bamfield was a 13-year-old cheerleader with a skeletal condition when she was directed to Nassar’s medical offices, and 19 when Nassar was charged in court...
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Garry Starr
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Blink and you might’ve missed Damien Warren-Smith’s Netflix debut, making a brief cameo onstage during the Stamptown variety comedy special. But New Yorkers can see all of him in the fall of 2026 as he has made his Off-Broadway debut with Garry Starr: Classic Penguins, a hit show at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe and winner of best show at the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Classic Penguins began its run September 3, 2026, at Studio Seaview just off of Times Square on West 43rd Street. Before becoming Garry Starr, Damien Warren-Smith was a young TV actor in his native...
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Elf Lyons
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Elf Lyons is a British comedian and writer who performs in both the worlds of stand-up and clown, having studied in France with the late Phillippe Goulier. Her 2017 show, Swan, received a nomination for Best Show at the Edinburgh Fringe, while her 2024 show, Horses, earned Best Show from both The (ISH) Edinburgh Comedy Awards and The Comedians’ Choice Awards. Her newest show, The Woman on The Edge, was the best-reviewed show of the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe, and earned her “Spirit of the Fringe” honors from The List, Scotland’s biggest arts and entertainment guide. Lyons is making her...
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Stuart Goldsmith
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Stuart Goldsmith is a British stand-up comedian who has performed on BBC’s Live At The Apollo (BBC), Conan, and Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central. He began his career as a street performer at age 17, and over the course of 32 years at the Edinburgh Fringe, has evolved into one of the world’s preeminent climate comedians, speaking at global conferences about our world’s ongoing climate crisis through his humorous perspective. His first climate-based comedy hour, Spoilers, won Best Show at the 2023 Leicester Comedy Festival, and his newest show, Canary, relates to his...
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Dan Wilbur
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Dan Wilbur is a comedian and author of two humor books, “How Not To Read” and “Never Flirt with Puppy Killers.” He released his first stand-up comedy album, Husband Material, in 2023, has been featured on CollegeHumor, McSweeney’s and Someecards, where he also worked as the Ecards editor. Wilbur sat down with me over Zoom to talk about the thrill and agony of getting a Tumblr book deal, how he disliked JD Vance even before realizing he could pull off a great Vance impersonation during the 2024 presidential campaign, and how his comedy life has changed because of it. In...
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Chloe Radcliffe
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Chloe Radcliffe is a comedian and actress most recently seen on the big screen playing a comedian and magician opposite Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper in the film, Is This Thing On? Radcliffe is based in New York City but came up out of the Twin Cities comedy scene in Minnesota. Over the past couple of years, she landed on a bunch of comedy watch lists, from Just For Laughs’ New Faces to Deadline to Vulture. Her TV credits include The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson. She hosts her own comedy chat series, In Tandem, where she interviews a comedian...
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Jenny Gorelick
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Jenny Gorelick is a comedian, author, actress and former Jersey girl based in New York City. She performs monthly at Club Cumming at her signature show Love, Sex, & Magic and played an adoring fan of “THE Che Diaz” in And Just Like That. Her personal essays and humor pieces have appeared in The New York Times' Modern Love, Cosmopolitan, McSweeney's, and the New Yorker's Shouts & Murmurs, all of which led to a book deal for The Book of Red Flags. Gorelick joined me over Zoom from Edinburgh to talk about what she learned from her first Fringe production — the two-hander Billy &...
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Kimmy Gatewood
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Kimmy Gatewood is a comedian, actress and director whose newest project is directing the 2026 movie Descendants; Wicked Wonderland, the fifth installment in Disney’s musical cinematic universe following the teenage children of classic Disney villains. She previously has directed episodes of Ghosts, Girls5Eva, Going Dutch, and Sesame Street, the latter of which earned her a Daytime Emmy win in 2021. In front of the camera, Gatewood’s credits include multiple appearances on Conan, a small role on the film adaptation of Jersey Boys, a recurring role on Netflix’s Atypical, and three seasons...
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Michael Cruz Kayne
The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
Michael Cruz Kayne is a comedian, actor and writer based in NYC. He wrote for the last six seasons of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he’s an Emmy nominee again in 2026. At the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, he co-wrote and starred in Terrible Babysitters, a 2013 webseries with D’Arcy Carden, and directed Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson in their two-person musical, Fucking Identical Twins, which ultimately became the 2023 feature film, Dicks: The Musical. You may have seen Michael Cruz Kayne in a supporting role on Severance, or seen him tell jokes on Late Night with Seth...
info_outlineAlaina Bamfield is a Brooklyn-based stand-up comedian from Lansing, Michigan. She self-financed and filmed her debut comedy special, Untouchable, at The Independent Comedy Club just north of Detroit. Untouchable, which debuted on YouTube on June 7, 2026, is a half-hour of jokes that almost exclusively touches upon her experiences as a survivor of sexual abuse, one of 139 victims who took former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar to justice. Bamfield was a 13-year-old cheerleader with a skeletal condition when she was directed to Nassar’s medical offices, and 19 when Nassar was charged in court and she realized the extent of what had happened to her. She caught up with me over Zoom to talk about how she initially found comfort and catharsis in stand-up comedy, finding a comedy friend and mentor in Sam Tallent, why she decided to focus solely on turning her tragedy into comedy for her debut special, and what she jokes about onstage now to make sure her trauma doesn’t define her as a comedian or as a person. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to it!