Alex Edelman thinks the ‘surprise’ of White Nationalist meeting has a ‘natural tendency towards comedy’ in ‘Just for Us’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“The best dumb jokes have a real intelligence at the center of them,” declares comedian Alex Edelman. For our recent webchat, he continues, “There’s a beauty of them.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Edelman’s HBO comedy debut “Just for Us” was filmed during the show’s acclaimed Broadway run. While the special has plenty of “dumb” jokes, it also trades in the currency of important commentary; as the whole set revolves around the comedian covertly attending a meeting of White Nationalists. He explains the material came “with prodding from a lot of people saying, ‘you have to be doing comedy about this!’ I didn’t think of it as stand-up. I just thought it was a weird story I would tell my friends.”
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On finding the comedy from his experiences with hatred, the comedian thinks, “Comedy is about the build and release of tension. And the surprise of an environment like has a natural tendency towards comedy.” He also muses that “I do find that people with racist views are often not humorous about themselves. And there’s something very authentic about addressing your weakness. Reckoning with it makes you a stronger person.”
Edelman reflects that “the show’s about the elasticity of empathy.” He adds it’s about “understanding where we end and others begin. What is OK to compromise on in your personal values? Things you view as essential to your humanity. At the same time, we live in a very rancorous environment. How do we move ourselves outside of that? In terms of walking into a room like that (for the meeting) it raises a bunch of really interesting questions for me.”
On the power of comedy, Edelman explains, “Stand-up can be a very human experience. Even on television it’s a real person-to-person thing. There’s real potential for communication and capacity for new ideas. After every show, I stand outside and talk to anyone who wants to talk to me. People tell me they walk away a little different. I’ve had about a dozen interactions with people who tell me they have thought of themselves in some way as, ‘not fans of Jews.’ My work has never had this type of resonance before. Absolutely comedy can change people. One of the reasons this thing is so near and dear to me is I’ve watched that happen.”
Edelman has recently been named one of Time magazine’s 100 “Most Influential People” for 2024. “Just for Us” is dedicated to Adam Brace who is credited as directing the material for stage. Edelman reflects, “He passed away right before we started Broadway. I don’t know that I’d be a comedian without Adam. I’d be working in an office somewhere in sports marketing. He was able to take the clumsy neuro-divergent parts of me and provoke them towards something that was communicable but still unique to me. Which is what a great directurge or dramaturge should do. I could speak for hours and never quite capture it ,which is frustrating.”
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