NANCHERLA, APARNA
JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE (BENTZEN BALL RECORDS)
Label:
BENTZEN BALL RECORDS
Aparna Nancherla never considered recording an album before Tig Notaro encouraged her to take the plunge.
The two first met at 2009's Notaro-curated inaugural Bentzen Ball in D.C.; six years later Nancherla opened for Notaro's historic New York Comedy Festival performance.
The latter bared her mastectomy scars onstage at The Town Hall Theater, an experience Nancherla describes as "amazingly powerful." When Notaro decided to launch her own Bentzen Ball Records, Nancherla was the first comedian invited to join the new label.
Nancherla puts bold, incisive twists on food, travel, technology and more on debut Just Putting This Out There.
As her trademark one-liner "Don't you think any pizza can be a personal one if you cry while you eat it?" illustrates, Nancherla subverts live comedy's traditional setuppunchline structure to comment on the very art form she pursues.
She not only embraces substance over style, she mines unexpected substance from style itself.
Just Putting This Out There retains a warm, broad appeal as it progresses, inviting listeners into Nancherla's own personal headspace.
Her frank discussion of mental illness is both self-effacing and revealing. "MarcMaron andMaria Bamford created an open playing field to talk about that stuff," Nancherla praises.
"It's raw and confessional, but they also make it brilliantly funny and relatable." "Aparna Nancherla can put a room in stitches" - The Washington Post // "this gentle-seeming stand-up can pack a punch." - Vulture's 50 Comedians You Should Know in 2015