Vail Comedy Show returns with two shows this week

Raanan Hershberg, “one of the sharpest up-and-coming comics on the New York scene” according to Deadline, will be performing two shows this week in the Vail Valley.

Hershberg will do a Thursday set at The Sebastian Hotel in Vail and will be at Moe’s Original BBQ in Eagle on Friday. Tickets to both shows are available at VailComedyShow.com. We caught up with Raanan, who has appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and on Comedy Central, in advance of his visit.

You recently were on the biggest podcast in the world, how did that come together?

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I’m not sure. I think he was a fan of my work. 

Was it fun?

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It was weird. I’ve heard he can be a little stone-faced when interviewing comics, and I definitely made him laugh a bunch so that felt good. But he did smoke a joint right before we started recording so maybe it was just good weed. 

On YouTube it has been seen more than 300,000 times, what is that like?

About 10% of the YouTube comments for the episode were antisemitic. But to be honest, I’d rather you be antisemitic than call me fat any day of the week. Being fat is a bigger problem in my life. I didn’t lose my virginity at 25 because I was morbidly Jewish all through high school. 

How would you describe your comedy?

I have a special called “It Could Have Been Better” because that’s the thought I have after every single life experience. There is a dissatisfied neuroticism at the core of my comedy.

Another special of mine, available free on my YouTube channel is called “Brave.” It satirizes the political divide in America while also exploring recent developments in my personal life. I talk about my girlfriend getting open heart surgery, my overbearing Jewish mother and the simultaneous feelings of being loved and being trapped.

In Vail, it will be other stuff. It will be funny. Maybe best to quote Deadline, which said my comedy is “energetic, loud, silly, dark, thoughtful, absurd, painfully honest and vulnerable, while being packed to the brim with jokes.”

How do you pronounce your first name?

Raw-Ah-Non 

You have your own podcast, what is it?

I do a podcast with Joe List called “Joe and Raanan Talk Movies” where each episode our friendship is jeopardized by us having very different opinions on a movie we just watched. 

Joe List directed his own movie called “Fourth of July” and now you have directed your own movie, what should we know about that?

Mine is a short film called “Memory Room.” It is a 20-minute thriller about a caretaker who suspects one of her patients with dementia may have committed a murder in the past. We aim to depict dementia in a realistic manner, based on our experiences as caretakers. We hope it is not perceived as exploitative or sensational.

Do you have a favorite Colorado comedy memory? 

If I did it would have been implanted in my brain “Blade Runner” style because I have never performed here. Which is why I’m so excited to come.  

What do you know about Vail Comedy Show?

Not much. 

Any major events coming up?

I am writing this before the election so … possibly the collapse of America? 

You are from Kentucky and live in New York City but tour nationally, how does Colorado compare to other markets?

I say the major difference is you get drunk way quicker. 

What is next for Raanan Hershberg?

There are much bigger things, but if any of your readers are outside the Vail Valley, let’s say in Frisco, Aurora or Denver, they can catch me at other shows with Mark Masters around the state of Colorado this November.

Vail Comedy Show will be back in December with Carmen Morales from Comedy Central and HBO with shows in Vail Village and Eagle. Vail Comedy Show will continue through ski season with Pat Burtscher in January, Ariel Elias in February, a special guest in March and Rojo Perez in April. For the second year in a row, a Spanish-language comedy show will happen during Semana Santa (Easter week). All tickets will be at VailComedyShow.com.