Gary Gulman ‘Grandiloquent’ 2025: Where to buy tickets, schedule
Gary Gulman has a knack for writing jokes that stick deep within your brain.
For some, his loopy, six-minute âHow the States got their abbreviationsâ Conan set where he recounts the difficulties a fictional crack team encountered while trying to determine which two letters would represent each of the 50 U.S. states is the definitive, memorable Gulman gag. The absurd, punchline-heavy story put the âLast Comic Standingâ alum on the map.
âI remember one of my favorite instances of being recognized was a man yelling âneâer-do-well!â [one of the many jokes embedded within the story] from across the street and I was floored,â Gulman told the New York Post in an exclusive interview.
For others, his stickiest bit might be the observation that you âdonât need to point at the food youâre ordering at Chipotle.â Or âhow everything is always 40% off at Banana Republic.â Perhaps you know him from his classic âTrader Joeâs is no doubt Communistâ line. Or, per chance, youâre a fan of his timeless âoh sâ handleâ routine. The options are endlessâGulman has a gift for turning ideas on their head while nonchalantly employing trademark Ivy League-level vocabulary to get his point across.
Still, whatever the joke of his was that nestled itself deep within the recesses of your subconscious, seeing Gulman live can be equally unforgettable.
And, if youâre in New York, now is your opportunity to catch him onstage.
Starting Tuesday, Jan. 7, the 54-year-old comic is settling in at the 299-seat Lucille Lortel Theatre for a month-long residency where heâll debut his one-man show âGrandiloquent.â
âThe show, in some ways, is a prequel to [Gulmanâs 2019 HBO special] âThe Great Depreshâ and an adaptation of [Gulmanâs 2023 memoir] âMisfit,’â Gulman noted. âItâs a show about my childhood and what it did to me in terms of of my personality and certain neuroses but also a survey of important incidents, both positive and negative. Itâs given a theatrical, dramatic presentation by my director [Tony nominee] Moritz von Stuelpnagel so thereâs a more elaborate set up than just a stand-up stage.â
Gulman recognizes the irony that heâs pivoted to Mike Birbiglia-style storytelling after he made fun of one-man shows in his most recent hour, âBorn On Third Base.â
âYes, the new show is âBirbiglian.â Thatâs the exact adjective I would use,â Gulman chuckled. âItâs Birbiglian in that itâs very funny, but there are also some heavy moments and strong acting.
âThis show, Iâm told, has an abundance of this thing where â have you seen âHarold and Maude?â I hadnât seen it until I was 50 because I knew it was sad â but it is so funny and so joyful. And yes, I cried really hard at the end, but I would have missed out on so many laughs and so much joy. I think âHarold and Maudeâ and I hope âGrandiloquentâ is sort of a stand-in or a surrogate for life in some ways in that, yes, life is always going to have a sad ending, but in the middle of it and in spurts, you can have great joy and great laughter.â
Even though the subject matter may be of a more serious nature than usual, the âLast Comic Standingâ alum is quick to point out that he has âtrouble saying things that arenât funny onstage.â
He claims if he had written âDo Unto Others,â he âprobably wouldnât share it unless I could have punched it up. Then I imagine Jesus workshopping âDo Unto Othersâ at the Open Mount and different sermon and hymn clubs.â
âThatâs a piece from the show,â Gulman laughed. âIn a small theater, itâs not a joke. Itâs a piece.â
âGrandiloquentâ runs from Jan. 7 through Feb. 8 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Gary Gulman âGrandiloquentâ dates
After developing âGrandiloquent,â the Boston-born comic decided the Lucille Lortel Theatre â located at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattanâs West Village â would be the perfect home for his new material.
âI had seen Colin Quinn and Jacqueline Novakâs one-person shows at the Lucille Lortel and really liked the vibe,â Gulman told us.
âItâs the right size for intimacy. I also didnât want it to be too big because I was concerned about having to fill the space for a number of shows, which as as any performer knows, you donât want to be in too big a space for your fan base in terms. That can be very humbling. So it met a lot of requirements in terms of my experience as an audience member, but also my lack of fame.â
A complete calendar including all âGrandiloquentâ dates, start times and links to buy tickets can be found below.
Gary Gulman âGrandiloquentâ dates |
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Wednesday, Jan. 8 7 p.m. |
Friday. Jan. 10 7 p.m. |
Tuesday, Jan. 14 7 p.m. |
Wednesday, Jan. 15 7 p.m. |
Thursday, Jan. 16 7 p.m. |
Friday. Jan. 17 7 p.m. |
Sunday. Jan. 19 5 p.m. |
Tuesday, Jan. 21 7 p.m. |
Wednesday, Jan. 22 7 p.m. |
Thursday, Jan. 23 7 p.m. |
Friday. Jan. 24 7 p.m. |
Saturday, Jan. 25 5 p.m. |
Saturday, Jan. 25 8 p.m. |
Tuesday, Jan. 28 7 p.m. |
Wednesday, Jan. 29 7 p.m. |
Thursday, Jan. 30 7 p.m. |
Friday. Jan. 31 7 p.m. |
Saturday, Feb. 1 5 p.m. |
Saturday, Feb. 1 8 p.m. |
Sunday, Feb. 2 2 p.m. |
Tuesday, Feb. 4 7 p.m. |
Wednesday, Feb. 5 7 p.m. |
Thursday, Feb. 6 7 p.m. |
Friday, Feb. 7 7 p.m. |
Saturday, Feb. 8 5 p.m. |
Saturday, Feb. 8 8 p.m. |
Gary Gulman on the road
After wrapping his run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in early February, Gulman will do portions of âGrandiloquentâ on the road.
â(My tour) will be very different in terms of staging and pacing,â he explained. âThe context of doing a standup show in a theater is more similar to doing it in a club because youâre trying to be funny most of the time. I think most of âGrandiloquentâ is funny but thereâs an extended period where I call it ânonfictionâ because itâs not humor. Itâs heavier and goes longer without laughs.
So what Iâm doing on the âMisfit Tourâ is straight stand up and then âGrandiloquentâ is more like Birbiglia or Novak.â
And although thereâs no opening act at his âGrandiloquentâ gigs â âthe opener is a little music and then I come out,â Gulman quipped â he does bring a number of different openers on the road âbecause (he tries) to give as many people as (he) can at that level work.â
While we canât confirm who heâll join him at these shows, recent openers have included Todd Glass, Sean Donnelly and Kelly MacFarland.
To see if heâs headed to a venue near you, you can find Gary Gulmanâs complete 2025 calendar here:
With 31 years of stand-up under his belt, Gulman has had more than his fair share of great road stories. However, one takes the cake for him.
âI was doing a âGreat Depreshâ show in Delaware at the Baby Grand Theater, which if you donât have an ego is one of the most perfect places to play because itâs only about 200 seats, really intimate and the stage is at the right height and distance from the audience,â he smiled.
âThere was a man sitting front center who was clearly not enjoying the show. I have a great instinct for when somebody is not enjoying my stand up and I couldnât help it. I said âis everything okay?â and he said, âwhat is this, therapy?’â
The crowd fell silent.
âI remember saying something to the effect of âwell, it is the Great Depresh. Itâs about depression. So itâs not a shocker that I would be mentioning depression during this showâ and he walked out in a huff and was very upset but the audience cheered for me and I thought âthis is not a bad ratio of people enjoying to people exasperated and outraged.’â
QED Comedy Club in Astoria
Prior to opening at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Gulman workshopped âGrandiloquentâ at Astoriaâs QED Comedy Club.
âThat was just such a perfect space to not feel bad about bombing because it wasnât all that expensive for audience members,â Gulman shared. âSo, it was invaluable, which also means valuable.â
In addition to being an incubator for his new hour, the cozy club also caters to Gulmanâs artistic sensibilities.
âYou can literally buy paints, drawing implements and sketch pads there,â he noted. They also have a small bookstore.â
More than anything, he appreciates thatâve curated an audience âthat is so patient and encouraging and enthusiastic. Iâm just so grateful for that space.â
About Gary Gulmanâs writing process
In 2019, Gary Gulman shared one comedy tip a day on Twitter from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
Naturally, we tried to squeeze a few more nuggets out of him in our chat.
He told us that he loves topical humor âbut itâs so hard to make it lasting because the context is changing all the time.â
Gulman also let us know that years of experience has made him more comfortable inserting his point of view into the material.
âI try to get my philosophies and opinions across in a subtle way,â he pointed out. âVonnegut and Mark Twain were so good at that and their work never felt heavy-handed or preachy.â
And, sometimes, more than anything, all you need is encouragement from a comedian friend.
To wit, when Gulman returned to âLast Comic Standingâ for Season Three, he did his now beloved role-play bit to a âcompletely unimpressed audience.â Thankfully, Colin Quinn was there to save the day.
âHe told me âdonât give up on that bit. Go even further in terms of being more specific,â Gulman recalled. âAs a comedian, a lot of times another comedianâs support can mean more than an audienceâs laughter.â
Still, his tallest task as a scribe thus far may have been authoring his vivid, sensitive yet punchy memoir âMisfit.â
âIt took me countless drafts, especially at the very beginning,â he said. âMy aim was to do justice to this medium that I revere. The artists who write memoirs well are so are so honest and open. Itâs just this great way to do something that books do best, which is to instill empathy. I also had been burned so many times by comedians who just typed up their act and put it into a book. So that resistance and stubbornness about not doing that to the readers and audience drove me.â
In order to get to a level that met his literary ambition, Gulman had to build up endurance.
âYou canât say âIâm going to write eight hoursâ from the first day. You build it up over time. The other thing is to not skip a day because the second day is so much easier to skip than the first day. Luckily, I had bins to put all the stories in since it was a memoir of kindergarten through 12th grade.
Later on, I was able to figure out the interstitials, which became a very important component because it was necessary to know why this 50 year old man is thinking about second grade.â
Clearly, the man still has wisdom to share and is thankfully mulling reviving his daily advice on social media sometime soon.
âI was thinking that there were tips that really helped me recover from my depression, and I thought maybe I would put them on Blue Sky and Instagram. The question is, do I have 365 of them? I imagine some days I could just say something like what got me out of bed or what Iâm fighting through.â
âLast Comic Standingâ
In 2004, Gulman finished third in the second season of NBCâs âLast Comic Standingâ behind John Heffron and Alonzo Bodden. To this day, he looks back fondly on his time as a finalist on the show.
âOne of the great experiences from âLast Comic Standingâ was living for 24 hours a day with Alonzo Bodden and Todd Glass. It was like being at a summer camp for comedians.
The only thing that comes close are comedy festivals where shows almost become incidental to hanging out, joking around and enjoying each other. Doing bits at the house and hanging out around the fire pit really felt like the equivalent of a fantasy camp that was just for comedians.â
On acting in âLife and Bethâ
These days, when heâs not onstage or writing books, Gulman moonlights as a character actor playing Shlomo on Amy Schumerâs Hulu series âLife and Beth.â
That didnât happen overnight, though.
âFor so many years, acting was just preparing and auditioning and not doing all that much acting,â Gulman said. He had taken classes with a teacher named Anita Jesse â who also taught Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy â but not much else had materialized.
âLike most of the things in my career, Iâm overly prepared for opportunities that take 20 years to arrive. I donât know if that was one of the tips I put on Twitter but that is a really good tip- prepare as if somebody might cast you.â
In the late â90s and early aughts, Gulman landed multiple development deals and wrote a trio of pilots for himself to star in. The only problem was that none of them ever got made.
âThe first show was about a guy who wanted to open a restaurant, but was living at home with his mother. The second pilot was about a guy who was a resident in a hospital. When he wasnât a resident in the hospital, he lived with his mother,â he deadpanned.
âThe third one was about a guy who had been a football star and blew out his shoulder and moved back to his hometown. He didnât live with his mother. It was the first one where my mother was not a co-star of the show.â
Now more than two decades later, Gulmanâs years in the trenches â it should be noted he appeared in the 2013 independent film âLucky Themâ starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church and Oliver Platt and shows up in âJokerâ as well â paid off and he landed his âLife & Bethâ recurring role.
âI was anxious as I always get in every new situation but once I was on set with with Amy â who is such a great boss and acting partner â that it was really much easier than my imagination had made me fear.â
Five great comics to see in 2025
At the end of stories about performers, we like to promote similar acts for readers to seek out.
Since Gulman is such an avid fan of comedy â and generous interview subject â we figured he may have a few suggestions of his own. Of course, he was happy to share. Here are five comedians that inspire the Gul:
Maria Bamford
âWithout her, I donât know that I would have had the courage to talk about my mental health and treatment like being in the hospital. Sheâs just so open.â
Chris Gethard
âHe did this incredible HBO show âCareer Suicide,â which as I watched it, part of me was sort of like, âwell, he did a great job. Do we need mine?â Luckily, people talked me into not giving up.â
Eddie Pepitone
âI love Eddie. Heâs so open about his life, but the commitment to every joke he tells is so inspiring and so inspired. No matter what age you are, you think, âIâm too old to be only this far along in my career.â Iâm sure Eddie has those thoughts, but they they have not held him back at all.â
Barbara Swanson
When I was coming up there was a woman in Boston named Barbara Swanson. Sheâs since passed but she was the first person I ever saw talk about being depressed and on Prozac. I was so blown away and in awe of her courage. Iâd been doing stand-up for 15 years before I even snuck it in to the Trader Joeâs joke where I said âIâm on everything but roller skates.â She was an enormous influence in terms of that.â
Chris Elliott
âHe was comfortable being a soft man in a lot of his sketches on âLettermanâ and wasnât intimidated by him.
On âGet A Life,â he was just himself, which was such a wonderful gift because it was a template for this character that so thatâs so compelling to me, which is the loser whoâs a little bit arrogant. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly do that really well but Chris Elliott was one of the originals who did that.â
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows â and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change