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| Nicole Byer |
By Darlene Donloe
Nicole Byer has a ‘funny’ way of making her audience laugh.
For one night only, during a recent standup set at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Byer’s comedy was on fire as she held the nearly sold-out, diverse audience in the palm of her hand.
Dressed casually in jeans, a bright, multi-colored striped top and black-white checked sneakers, Byers showed why she is a popular comedienne. Her charming personality – coupled with a solid delivery makes her a formidable comical opponent.
With only a microphone and a stool, the actress, host, and comedienne, who confidently paced back and forth making good use of the stage, took the audience on a journey through her life.
As she was introduced, Byer, sporting a slimmed-down frame, walked quickly to the lone microphone in the middle of the stage and wasted no time getting to work. A veteran and a pro, she knows how to keep the audience’s attention.
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| Nicole Byer |
Best known as the host of the EMMY-nominated baking series Nailed It!, the podcaster and writer, whose 1,000-watt personality is as warm and inviting as it is hilarious and engaging, talked about being a big star with several Emmy nominations, using Ozempic, her hosting duties on ‘Wipeout,’ with co-host John Cena, traveling with her friend, Sasheer Zamata, who is also her co-host on the podcast ‘Best Friends,’ meeting a Munchkin-size Tom Cruise, her love of porn and her many failed relationships.
She proudly spoke about dumping one date because he bragged about putting sour cream in his mac ‘n cheese. It was a deal breaker.
But what she’s good at is interacting with her audience. She feeds off of the crowd. Half of her set was asking questions of those in the audience. With just a simple prompt as, ‘Who’s in a relationship,?’ Byer is off and running, with quick, and witty repartee. She could do a whole set by dissecting the relationship of her fans.
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| Nicole Byer |
Looking for relationship advice, Byer, who loves to interject anecdotes from her life, asked one couple in the audience the secret to their longevity. Both the man and the woman, who have been married for 49 years, seemed confused by the question. Awkward moments went by with Byer close to giving up on getting an answer. She jokingly looked at the couple and said, “I’m just trying to get some relationship advice.” Finally, the man said, keeping his mouth shut was the secret, while the woman said it was having good humor. By that time, Byer was ready to move on.
Fresh off her performance in the Netflix Is A Joke festival, Byer, who can be seen in the Netflix special, ‘Nicole Byer: Big Beautiful Weirdo and the NBC comedy, ‘Grand Crew,’ briefly bragged about her busy career.
In 2020, Byer made history by becoming the first Black woman ever to be nominated in the category of “Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program” and was nominated again in 2021 and 2022. The series premiered its seventh season in October 2022.
Byer can be seen in Comedy Central’s supernatural comedy, Cursed Friends alongside Harvey Guillén, Jessica Lowe, and Andrew Lewis Caldwell. She also appears in the immersive comedy special, Surrounded, presented by Just for Laughs.
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| Nori Reed |
Nori Reed was the perfect opener. With her acerbic delivery, she quickly had the audience in stitches.
Reed, originally from Kentucky, is an LA-based comedian, writer, and actress who, at one time, described her comedy as languid, critical, psychosexual, and secretly hopeful.
Her set was much too short. Reed, who introduced Byer, is a great warm-up. It would be worth the price of admission to see her set again.
As the audience left, it was clear by the quips and laughter, that Byer had successfully brought the funny!
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