Kate Berlant Brings Laughs To A “Weird, Precarious” Moment – Comedy Means Business Podcast
News Source
•Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:45:00 +0000
📰 What Happened
Comedian Kate Berlant talks to Deadline's Comedy Means Business podcast about her new HBO special, Parmesan. She calls it her most straightforward hour of written material so far.
Berlant says stand-up is a refuge in a strange, unstable time. She worries about online life and about AI copying jokes that comics spend years building.
🔍 The Backstory
She developed Parmesan over two years and taped it at the Plaza Nightclub in Los Angeles after touring theatres. She believes the truest comedy happens in small rooms.
Berlant started stand-up at 17 and studied at NYU, where she created her own major in the cultural anthropology of comedy. Her friend John Early calls her the alt-comedy princess.
🎯 Why It Matters
It shows how comics build careers as TV and streaming shrink, and as AI starts copying their work. For fans, it also explains why live rooms still matter.
Comedian Kate Berlant talks to Deadline's Comedy Means Business podcast about her new HBO special, Parmesan. She calls it her most straightforward hour of written material so far.
Berlant says stand-up is a refuge in a strange, unstable time. She worries about online life and about AI copying jokes that comics spend years building.
She developed Parmesan over two years and taped it at the Plaza Nightclub in Los Angeles after touring theatres. She believes the truest comedy happens in small rooms.
Berlant started stand-up at 17 and studied at NYU, where she created her own major in the cultural anthropology of comedy. Her friend John Early calls her the alt-comedy princess.
It shows how comics build careers as TV and streaming shrink, and as AI starts copying their work. For fans, it also explains why live rooms still matter.