After His Broadway Debut, Alex Edelman Is Ready for Anything: ‘Comedy Is Subjective, Getting Laughs Is Not’
Christian Zilko
On June 6, the 2024 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate thirteen creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, this event is a new edition of its IndieWire Honors event focused entirely on television. Alex Edelman will host the event. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event.
Alex Edelman’s recollection of attending a Neo-Nazi cocktail party in New York City without telling anyone that he’s Jewish is the marquee moment in “Just for Us,” his blockbuster one-man show that later became an acclaimed HBO special. The anecdote manages to turn a horrifying situation into a comedic exploration of the logical fallacies that are required to maintain a bigoted worldview thanks to Edelman’s sharp wit and his fast-paced delivery. But even as his tale of undercover racism helps introduce him to mainstream audiences, Edelman insists that he never expected the experience to lend itself to comedy.
“I live my life thinking that maybe I’ll talk about stuff. And also live my life never thinking ‘This is material!’” Edelman said during a recent Zoom conversation with IndieWire. “You never know, because you plan something and it won’t amount to much. And then you find a wallet on the street and that’ll be a five minute routine. … I try never to plan for anything to be material, because that’s almost the most surefire way to make sure that it’s not.”
The comedian’s lack of planning certainly paid off, as “Just for Us” has emerged as one of the most talked about stand-up comedy specials of 2024. The show, which ran for two months on Broadway at the Hudson Theater in 2023, is a succinct distillation of Edelman’s unique brand of comedy. Equal parts cerebral and manic, the show manages to explore the ways that Edelman’s Jewish faith has shaped his worldview and the often ridiculous ways that hate continues to shape our society. Edelman, who has been writing and performing one-man shows since 2014, developed “Just For Us” over the course of six years, with trials in Australia and Europe leading into its eventual Off-Broadway and Broadway runs. The comedian can laugh about the massive amount of revision that went into the project, but he also says he’s aware that it caught the kind of lightning in a bottle that nobody can plan for.
“The show took years to congeal into something that’s right,” he said. “It lost a lot of material, it added a lot of material. These shows take forever to put together. And I just sort of lucked out on this one. I love my stupid show. It’s been the most beautiful, enriching artistic experience.”
Where do you go after earning rave reviews for a project you spent half a decade on? Edelman plans to follow his success by hosting the Spring 2024 IndieWire Honors on June 6. The Los Angeles event will honor some of the most exciting artists pursuing creative independence in the world of television including Carol Burnett, Quinta Brunson, and John Mulaney.
The mix of comedic and dramatic talent being honored makes Edelman a natural fit for the role. The comic insists that being funny is always his top priority, but his mastery of the one-man show format has allowed him to weave more serious storytelling into his work with ease.
“The thing I’m most proud of is that my shows are funny. Or at least, they get laughs. Funny is subjective, but I guess getting laughs is not,” he said. “Solo shows can give you that, but they can also give you other things that you can take out of the room with you besides the laughs. You can take discussion points, or thoughtfulness, or you can offer something up that people can argue about on the way home. My shows are very much stand-up, but you also get the extra oomph of post-coital conversation.”
While Edelman hopes to perform more of his original shows in the future, he’s also eager to expand his horizons. He explained that playing multiple creative roles on his shows has left him feeling well-positioned to tackle a plethora of new opportunities.
“When you’re a stand-up comedian or a solo show artist, you’re a Swiss Army knife. You’re writing, you’re acting, you’re directing, you’re producing. So I want to do all of those things individually.”
It’s safe to say that comedy fans will be seeing a lot more of Edelman in a variety of creative capacities very soon. But no matter what endeavor he tackles next, he’ll take his Broadway lessons with him wherever he goes. Looking back on the success of “Just for Us,” Edelman said that the show taught him to never stop revising your own work — even if that means reevaluating your own worldview.
“My show is much more optimistic and empathetic than it would have been if I had written it when I was starting in comedy,” he said. “‘Just for Us’ changed a lot from the beginning of Broadway to when we filmed it on Broadway. I’m a big fan and a huge believer in changing your stuff in real time, down to the last minute. What you’re doing is creating the capacity for your show to be more of a living organism. When you do that, you end up with a show that’s conversing with the world you’re living in.”
