Downtown Milwaukee briefly became “KurtisTown” on Nov. 8, as YouTube personality and self-proclaimed “mayor of KurtisTown” Kurtis Conner brought his Goodfellow World Tour to the Riverside Theater.
The Goodfellow World Tour is a stand-up comedy show named after Conner’s childhood neighborhood. Conner has made his mark as an internet comedy celebrity throughout his 10-year YouTube career. From commentary to product testing videos, Conner’s comedic wit has resonated with a mass audience, with his YouTube channel gaining over five million subscribers.
Before this show, I had never seen a live stand-up performance, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Being relatively familiar with the entertaining and creative nature of Conner’s YouTube content, I was also curious as to how his comedy would translate into a stand-up format.
Although I think Conner’s comedy on YouTube is successful for the platform, much of his content follows a skit-like format, utilizing video editing and characters to convey his jokes. So, I was a little doubtful that he would be able to replicate that sort of humor in an hour-long stand-up comedy special.
From the beginning, I realized that the Goodfellow tour would continue to surprise me. Upon arriving, the merch line was my first indicator of the crowd’s character. Spanning three floors, fans crowded the Riverside Theater an hour before the show in hopes of buying a souvenir to remember the night. The variety of the pre-show playlist also set the tone for the show, as it featured both Conner’s comedy songs and mainstream music.
The show opened with Conner’s good friend and frequent collaborator, Jacob Sharpe. Much of Sharpe’s set consisted of how he navigates and views the world as a bald man. After beating his battle with brain cancer, Sharpe has found the comedy in his situation and observed some hilarious moments surrounding bald men. Sharpe had plenty of examples of the interesting variety of bald people he’s interacted with, which further supported his claim of how he’s “not like other bald guys.”
Though I occasionally laughed at some of these anecdotes from Sharpe’s life, the bald theme started to get old after a couple of minutes. I found myself consistently waiting for Sharpe to change topics, but somehow it always circled back to being bald.
The best moment from Sharpe’s set was his ending skit, which simulated a date between Sharpe and the crowd. This part of his act by far got the best response from the crowd, as its creativity and goofiness were a much-needed change of pace.
After finishing up, Sharpe then enthusiastically introduced the show’s main act, Kurtis Conner.
Conner’s set really caught me by surprise in terms of talent and comedic timing. Each of Conner’s talking points flowed seamlessly into one another and allowed for witty callbacks to previous jokes made in the show.
Conner began his set by talking about his phone addiction, which further led him to discuss his experience with hate comments. Specifically, he mentioned a tweet he had seen that described him as looking like “the final boss of lesbians,” which spiraled into a long bit surrounding a lesbian centered video game that he creatively titled “The Lesbian of Zelda,” a play on “The Legend of Zelda.” I find that sometimes these long-winded and multifaceted bits can get tiring and go on longer than needed, but for Conner, each addition to the joke brought something more dynamic.
Throughout his set, his many anecdotes were intelligently constructed to be consistently hilarious. His many stories about his childhood past of being a compulsive liar really illustrated this ability. Conner was able to take these unique stories and beef them up to make even the mundane details interesting.
In addition to these silly life stories, Conner was able to tackle sensitive topics in a way that was relatable and funny without crossing the line of being offensive or going “too far.” Conner spoke about his grief that came with the death of his stepdad and still demonstrated the love and respect he has for his stepdad, despite him occasionally poking fun at the situation.
The methodical structure of the show made Conner’s 90-minute set fly by, and it felt more like a conversation with a friend than a performance. After the show, I felt like I learned so much about Conner, and I gained a greater appreciation for his work.
At the end of the show, Conner called Sharpe back on stage to thank the audience, and in doing so, named Milwaukee as the best show of the entire tour. Overall, it was definitely a celebratory and heartwarming way to end my night.
This article was written by Elise Emery. She can be reached at [email protected].
