Hear Me Out with Nick Smith is a stand-up comedy show where Nick Smith brings his unique perspective to the stage alongside a few guest comics. The show mixes stand-up with crowd-work, as Nick asks comics and audience members to share their “Hear Me Out” takes, goals, dreams and fears.
Although Smith is a comedian and singer, he is also known for his podcast I Never Liked You, which he co-hosts with Matteo Lane. (On that podcast, they have discussed everything from the greatest female singer of all time to which kitchen utensils are queer.) Talking with Windy City Times, Smith discussed fast food, his first comedic performance, Lane and the dearth of queer comics.
Note: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Windy City Times: So you’ve been in Chicago before, correct?
Nick Smith: Yes, I’ve been numerous times. I love Chicago, actually.
I always say if I didn’t live in New York, Chicago is the only other place that I actually could see myself living in. Because who wants to live in LA? But Chicago just feels the most like New York. You can take the subway and you can walk around, and it’s easily accessible. I can walk out of my apartment and still get Dunkin’.
Everywhere else, you need a car. I don’t want to drive. The other people on the road don’t want me to drive.
WCT: Are you a bad driver?
NS: No—I actually think I am a pretty good driver. I’m just very cautious. Matteo says that I drive like a grandmother, but better cautious than sorry.
WCT: By the way, I interviewed Matteo, but that was a phone interview last year about his cookbook. But he did mention you. In fact, he described you as “the bane of my existence and my cross to bear.” I’ll allow you to rebut.
NS: Yeah, he’s absolutely right. I am his cross to bear. I would argue that he is also the bane of my existence. He’s the Susan Boyle to my Simon Cowell and the flight attendant to my Selma Blair.
WCT: Oh, geez… [Laughs] Or the bird to your Kelly Clarkson.
NS: I gotta be honest, I didn’t really follow [Clarkson’s situation] that much. The Selma Blair thing, though—I can’t get enough of it. It brought me back to celebrity news in the 2006 to 2010 range, you know. That’s the stuff I live for. Everything in the world right now is so depressing. Every time you turn on the news—I mean, you work in journalism. The news has the most depressing, absurd stories you could possibly imagine.
WCT: So I take it you would accept her as a guest on your podcast.
NS: Easily. If she wants to be on it tomorrow, she’ll be there.
WCT: Switching to [another recent video], what was this whole situation with Bob the Drag Queen setting up a dating scenario for you? I saw that video.
NS: You know, if my friends are going to do anything, they will torture me and use me for content. Bob is out in LA sort of making a name for himself in the production world; he started his own production company and he’s really out here doing it, especially for the girls and the gays. And apparently he now wants to do that dating balloon-popping trend that was popular for a while. So he produced it, unbeknownst to me.
WCT: It was very interesting to view.The guy at the end was someone I would have chosen, too. But then it turned out he was in a relationship.
NS: In a monogamous relationship.
WCT: Well—not so monogamous.
NS: Well, not so. Leave it to the gays. They will agree to do anything that they can be seen in. They’re not there for the right reasons. We all want to be seen. “Oh, there’s going to be a camera? Count me in.”
WCT: And as for dating, I have advice for you and Matteo. Because you’re an old soul, I think you should date someone a little older.
NS: I would love that.
WCT: You don’t want pets or children, and you hate camping. I always tell people that if I want to commune with nature, I’ll watch a documentary.
NS: You know, I love a nature documentary. I have the comfort of my robe while on my couch. And I have, what’s his name? The British guy.
WCT: Sir Richard Attenborough?
NS: Sir Richard Attenborough speaking away to me in a documentary. That is what I live for.
WCT: As for Matteo, there’s nothing wrong with liking someone who is very appealing physically, of course, but I think he also needs someone who engages him intellectually.
NS: I agree. I would love to see him find someone who makes him laugh, challenges him and fits all his criteria. Yeah. He’s more likely to find someone before me. I don’t think I’m for the dating world—but not in a sad way. I’m on the road a lot, or I’m back and forth between LA and New York. And then, throw on all of my quirks on top of that.
WCT: Earlier, you mentioned Dunkin’. You like all the fast-food places, it seems.
NS: I do. This has been my fitness and wellness year. I have been doing much better. Well, I’ve been doing better. [Smiles] I still eat Dunkin’ and Chipotle, but I get Sweetgreen salads every day now. Don’t get me wrong: Occasionally, I still go to Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Domino’s—just not as much.
But, according to my doctor, I’m not getting any younger. I even do Pilates a few times a week. I complain the whole time and don’t do most of the moves, but I go. With yoga, you can’t talk; that’s also not for me.
Also, I don’t shop at the grocery store—it’s overwhelming. My refrigerator has a bottle of Diet Coke, a Brita [water filter] and Parmesan cheese in it. My freezer has some ice trays, and that’s it.
WCT: What can people expect at Hear Me Out?
NS: So it’s basically a version of my monthly show that I host here in New York. I do stand-up material throughout the show. I have a couple local guest comics—and there’s crowdwork [interacting with the audience]. One time, I had Mateo on the show in New York’ we had to sing a duet because he couldn’t follow rules. [Smith rolls his eyes.] I say “hear me out” so much, and I said it so much on the podcast.
WCT: How tricky is crowdwork? Some people—like Bianca del Rio and Joan Rivers—have been known for it.
NS: It really is dependent on the crowd because it has to be willing to participate. I always find it challenging when I see stand-ups just walk on stage and they just start demanding crowd work from the people there. They haven’t developed a rapport. A lot of times, these people aren’t there to be part of the show; they are there towatchthe show. If they wanted to perform, they’d be on stage.
With Bianca, Joan and Jessica Kirson—who I love—they’ve developed a following that knows that’s what they’re going to do. With Bianca, the people who sit in the front want to be roasted.
WCT: Do you remember your first stand-up performance?
NS: Well, that’s a difficult question because I started stand-up very uniquely—it began as a joke.
My friends, who I love, Bob and Matteo—I truly credit them with so much. And I was a performer my whole life. I did musical theater and opera, I was on stage for 25 years of my life. And when I met them, I had taken a step away from the performing world so they never knew me as a performer, but they knew that I did it.
For as long as I’ve known them (10 years), they have said, “You need to get back on stage” and they’ve always found me funny. About five years ago at The Comedy Cellar, Matteo said, “I bet you won’t open for me tonight”—and I said, “I will.” I wrote a minute of jokes, and I went up and did it. And then, for that year, it was a running gag.
Now you need to take it seriously and go to open mics, enter the comedy community and all that. So I really delved into it about three and a half years ago. My first official show was at the backyard in Brooklyn. It is definitely harder than a lot of people think.
WCT: For you, what does representation mean?
NS: it’s interesting that you’re asking this right now because, in the stand-up world, being queer is still so taboo. Don’t get me wrong: We have come a long way—but still not that far. If you look at the major touring stand-up comics, there are very few of us. But if you look at straight white male comics, there’s another one every weekend at a theater or something.
And a lot of times—to this day—you see people in the audience, usually straight men, who refuse to laugh. They think that if they laugh at the gay comic, it means they’re gay—even though you can tell they want to laugh.
So representation in the stand-up community is still needed very much because we don’t have a lot of people to emulate. That’s why so many gay men like Joan Rivers or other women—it’s because we relate to them. That’s why [it’s great] when you see people like Matteo, Bob and Joel Kim Booster, who are really out here doing it.
WCT: Is there anything you wanted to add about the show, or do you have anything pressing on your mind?
NS: Not really. I just hope everyone who comes is there for a good time. The guest comics are going to be amazing. I’ve been working really hard on the show. And if you live in Chicago and want to take me on a date, now’s the time because I will be there for two days.
Nick Smith will perform “Hear Me Out” on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 and 9:15 p.m., at Zanies, 1548 N. Wells St. Tickets are here.