For the past month, Daniel Sloss has been performing his latest comedy show “X” off-Broadway at the the SoHo Playhouse in New York. This weekend, the Scottish comic whose Netflix special “Jigsaw” has reportedly resulted in thousands of breakups, canceled engagements and divorces will bring the show to Boston’s The Wilbur.
And he couldn’t be happier.
“I can’t f–king wait,” he tells Metro. “I think it was about four years ago when I did Boston and I sold like 40 tickets over the course of three days. 40 tickets for three f–king shows, and for every single one of the shows, I had to buy the audience shots and drinks to appease them.”
“Now, thanks to Netflix,” he laughs, “I get to go to the f–king Wilbur Theatre. It’s f–king ridiculous and I’m very, very excited about it.”
This doesn’t mean that Sloss is going to buy everyone in attendance a round of drinks, of course, so don’t get too excited. Rather, the 28-year-old performer simply cannot believe his luck.
The Wilbur is one of the oldest and most respected comedy venues in New England. Some of the biggest names in the business have performed to packed houses there. The names of Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari and many others are emblazoned on plaques located behind many of the seats in the balcony. This Saturday, Sloss will get to add his name to the list.
His excitement notwithstanding, the comedian won’t be changing his aggressively funny and insightful demeanor to appease his Boston fans. After all, this is the same man who tweeted at an inquiring fan in January: “You’re all f–cking morons, BTW. Every last one of you.”
Sloss wasn’t being mean for the sake of meanness. The fan in question had begged him to come to Boston without Googling the comic’s name beforehand. Because if they had, they would have seen Sloss’s name listed among the March performances scheduled for The Wilbur.
“If only there was a handy website with all my f–king tour dates,” he joked while providing a link to his website.
“I’ve got zero problem trash talking my fans,” Sloss explains. “I’m not going to sit there and f–king pamper you, just as I don’t expect my audience to pamper me. I expect my audience to correct me when I f–king step out of line. That’s how I will grow as a comedian. That’s the only way I can grow, to be honest.”
To be clear, the comedian doesn’t want his Wilbur audience to heckle him incessantly on Saturday. Considering all the the ways the #MeToo movement has (and hasn’t) impacted the American stand-up comedy scene, however, Sloss recognizes how important these uncomfortable dialogues between entertainers and the people they’re entertaining are.
“I mean, who else is going to tell me what I can and cannot say?”
If you go:
March 2, 7 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston, $37, thewilbur.com
