It’s a full-circle moment for the Brookline native, performing in a show he first experienced as a fan.
Alex Edelman’s career comes full circle Saturday night when he steps onstage at TD Garden for Comics Come Home. The appearance caps off a year in which the Brookline native received rave reviews for his one-man show, “Just For Us,” in New York and got to post selfies with comic legends like Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld. It’s possible none of that would have happened without Comics Come Home.
As a teenager in 2005, Edelman saw live comedy performed for the first time at the annual charity show that benefits the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care. That show, then in its first year at the Agganis Arena after moving from the Orpheum Theatre, left a huge impression. Edelman was already a fan of stand-up, but seeing the craft up close made him want to be a part of it.
“I’d say it turbocharged my interest in it and really made it something that I wanted to pursue,” he says.
He was already a fan of Brian Regan, who was part of a lineup that year that included host Denis Leary, local stalwarts Steve Sweeney, Lenny Clarke, Kenny Rogerson, and Jim Lauletta, plus Dane Cook at his height and Bill Burr still on his way up. And there was another local legend onstage that night, Patrice O’Neal, who challenged the hometown crowd with a particular sartorial choice. “I remember laughing so hard at Patrice O’Neal,” says Edelman. “He came out in a red Yankees hat and the crowd booed him … I remember so vividly wanting to do that. And how much fun it was.”
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