Hey you. Yes, you. Thanks for coming to this.

 

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I’m a Boston kid — as you’re about to find out — so this is really lovely for me. 

 

OK. A little about the show. I started writing it in 2018. It’s based on stuff that happened in 1995, 1996, 2012, 2021 and, most notably, on a Tuesday night in the winter of 2017.

 

It incubated at Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia, the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland, and at the Soho Theatre in London. Those will sound like just festivals and places but they represent warm audiences, wonderful staffs, well-made cappuccinos and administrators who took shots on a show that was not yet an Broadway offering. I’m also extremely grateful to Greg Nobile, Rachel Sussman and Jenny Gersten, who are bringing this show to Broadway next month — tell your friends or enemies in NYC.

 

A bunch of people have had powerful influences on JUST FOR US. My director Adam Brace — a rugby-loving dramaturgical genius equal parts gentle and gruff — and the unquestioned master of the American solo show, Mike Birbiglia, have steered me in the right directions, but I also owe gratitude to literally dozens of comics and friends.

 

I started comedy in Boston as a teenager, learning from the comedians I watched in venues like the Orpheum and the Comedy Studio and the Opera and The Wang and Agannis and the Cape Cod Melody Tent and the Comedy Connection above Faneuil Hall and — I can’t believe this — The Comedy Vault at Remington’s, which was in the basement of the bar next door to this theater. 

 

I learned just as much, though, from the hungry and ambitious acts that I saw at open mics in coffee shops, ice cream stores, the Emerald Isle in Dorchester, the Green Dragon in the Back Bay, and Roggie’s Pizzaria in Cleveland Circle. Some of those comedians are famous. Most are not. I love each and every one of them. Many are thanked below, in no particular order.

 

Finally, and most importantly — Go Bruins. Go Sox. Go Celtics. Go Pats.

THANK YOUS

Adam Brace

 

Mike Birbiglia

 

Mike Lavoie, Carlee Briglia, Joe Birbiglia

 

Greg Nobile, Rachel Sussman, Jenny Gersten, Emily Bergquist and everyone at Seaview and ShowtownTheatricals, especially Nathan.

 

Cheryl Edelman, Elazer Edelman, AJ Edelman, Austin Edelman, Julian Edelman — my grandpa, not the football player.

 

Julian Edelman — the football player

 

Hannah Einbinder

 

Tristan Eaton

 

Alex Timbers

 

David Korins

 

Jenji Kohan

 

Colleen Reilly

 

Larry Lucchino

 

Dr. Charles Steinberg

 

Benj Pasek

 

The Saturday Night Seder team

 

Allysa Mahler

 

Danielle Esparza

 

Mike Berkowitz

 

Michael Finkle

 

Roger Green

 

Andreas Valhouli

 

Denis Leary

 

Dave Rath

 

Tara Beppel

 

Danny Jolles

 

Shane Kosakowski

 

Chloe Ifshin

 

Josie Long

 

David Burstein

 

Steve, Kelly, Mark, Lee and the rest of the Soho Theatre office staff

 

Haley Zoller

 

Dan Smith, Sophie Foster and everyone at Oswin

 

Amy Clear, Ellika Heribertson, Emilie Brittain, Ed Smith and everyone at Phil McIntyre Ent.

 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Iso Waller-Bridge

 

Maria Goyanes and my Woolly Mammoth crew

 

Beth Lapides and Uncabaret

 

Chris Lander and Kate Watson

 

Jack Whitehall

 

Stephen Fry

 

Alfie Brown and Josh Weller

 

Guy Garvey

 

Chris Harris — a great boss, responsible for one very useful four-word phrase in the show

 

Ross MacDonald, Matty Healy, George Daniel, Adam Hahn

 

Sarah Hurwitz

 

Michael Solomonov

 

Mel Brown and her team at Impressive

 

Molly Barnett, Chelsea Nachman, and Amanda Marie Miller

 

Vivacity, Marathon, SpotCo, and Sine Digital

 

Katherine Ryan, Violet Ryan and Bobby Kootstra

 

Susan Provan and Rebecca Austin and everyone at MICF

 

MC Mangum, Bryan Bauer, Taylor Poer, Rachael Albert, Ilana Simon, Mel McSweeney, Adele Traub and my company managers, stage managers and crews all over the world. I love you guys. 

 

Finally, those Boston comedians: Gary Gulman, Tony V, Dan Boulger, Joe List, Lamont Price, Dan Crohn, Sam Jay, The Walsh Brothers, Don Gavin, Kelly MacFarland, Steve Sweeney, Jim Lauletta, Lenny Clarke, Alvin David, Tom Dustin, Rick Jenkins, Renata Tutko, Chris Coxon, Myq Kaplan, Kevin Knox, Ted Pettingel, both Whitman brothers, Will Noonan, Jim Colliton, Zach Sherwin, Sean Sullivan, Shane Mauss, Joe Wong, Dan Hirshon, EJ Murphy, Taylor Connolly, Josh Gondelman, Chris Fleming, Ken Reid, Tony Moschetto, Baron Vaughn, Eugene Mirman, Steve Macone, Alingon Mitra, and Bethany Van Delft.

ALEX EDELMAN (he/him) is a comedian and writer whose Orthodox Jewish upbringing has informed critically and commercially acclaimed work for the stage and screen. He is known both for his solo shows—three, all award-winning, sell-out hits in London’s West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival—and for his TV writing. At the start of the pandemic, he served as the head writer and executive producer of Saturday Night Seder, a star studded 70-minute special, posted on YouTube, that has so far raised $3.5 million for the CDC Foundation (COVID-19) Emergency Response Fund. He’s so very grateful you’re here.

ADAM BRACE (Director, he/him) is currently Associate Director at Soho Theatre, London where he works across Comedy, Theatre and Performance Art in roles encompassing dramaturg, director, writer and producer. He has developed a varied range of work including 9 Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated shows, 2 Herald Angel Award-winners, 3 Fringe First Winners, 2 nominees for the Melbourne Barry Award and 2 Southbank Sky Arts Awards. Credits include: all of Alex Edelman’s shows including Just For Us (Drama Desk Nominee 2022) extended six times Off-Broadway; One-Woman Show by Liz Kingsman (West End run 2022/23); Age Is A Feeling by Haley McGee (Fringe First 2022); all of Sh!t Theatre’s multi-award winning international shows; Leo Reich’s Literally Who Cares?! (Best Newcomer nominee 2022, NY run 2023). TV credits include Ahir Shah’s HBO Max special Dots and Creative Supervisor on two series of Soho Theatre Live on Amazon Prime. As a playwright he has been produced by The Almeida, the National Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse; his plays are published by Faber and Faber.

Chief Executive Officer — Stephen Lewin
Executive Vice President, Content & Creative — Kristin Caskey
SVP, Music, Comedy and Special Events — Samantha Bullock
VP, Theatrical Programming — Erica Schwartz
Producer — Bee Carrozzini
VP, MCE Programming — Jason Rio
Programming and Production Assistnat — Ben Fleischer

Emerson Colonial Theatre, an Ambassador Theatre Group Venue