Gay? Check.
Geeky? Check.
Hot? Check.
Hilarious? See all three above. Because of course, comic Matteo Lane is a scream. The man is made of the best things on Earth required to forge a world view with a twist, and his 1.7 million Instagram followers all know it. So does Variety, which has named him one of their “10 Comics to Watch” An absolute smokeshow who’s no doubt come across your feed in his yellow duck t-shirt, performing in front of The Comedy Cellar’s iconic stained-glass window, Lane’s myriad clips have been a social-media treat for years, and now, folks will get a full dose of the Chicago native’s cat eye-sharp in Hulu’s latest standup offering, Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special.
Disney/Christopher Willard
“What’s so funny is, I recorded an hour of material I had been working on for years to try and sell to Netflix or whoever, and of course, they all rejected it,” he told us recently from his home, a tastefully curated wall of nerdy collectibles from his video-game, Marvel, and anime favorites behind him. Rather than take the L, however, Lane instead took the advice of fellow comic Andrew Schultz, who suggested that he parse out portions of the content he’d filmed and post them online. “So I did it. I cut it up, and all the clips blew up and thank God. Now I could afford hair transplants!”
Despite being a genetically blessed riot who can successfully pull off a thirst trap or 30 without seeming cringe, Lane peppers Al Dente with bursts of that sort of elf-deprecation along with flawlessly timed tangents, name-drops, and sly insights that, while unapologetically gay, strike a universal chord. Like his podcast, “I Never Liked You,” it’s a bitch-perfect showcase of his speedy style — influenced by the holy trinity of Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho — that feels more like a stream-of-consciousness, good-natured conversation with his audience than an actual set at times. Something Lane, who gathered his funniest friends for the special’s opening and closing (below), feels we could all use these days.
Disney/Christopher Willard
“I want my stand-up to feel like you’re catching up with an old friend at brunch,” he explains, eschewing the long-held thesis that all comics are dark and damaged. “That’s not to say there’s not heavy subjects within [the set], but they’re masked through laughter, which is something that I try really hard to do. I hate going to a comedy show where you’re laughing for 10 minutes and then they’re like, ‘And that’s when everyone died.’ It’s like…give me an hour to not think about the world’s worst things. Lemme just laugh for an hour.”
Mission accomplished. Now, can we get seconds?
Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special, Friday, May 16, Hulu