Dylan Adler Is Post-Pandemic Joy

an interview with New York City’s evil musical queer comic

The first time I saw Dylan Adler, I had no idea who he was. (That’s on me. He’s been named a comic to watch multiple times and has performed with Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast.) I was sitting on a long bench on the left side of the room where the Tiny Cupboard hosts its nightly stand up. Adler was the last comic of the 8:30 evening show and at that point, I had taken two edibles and was laughing at every joke thrown my way. 

But there was something about the way that he jumped up on stage that caught my attention. Everything was high-energy. Each joke landed like a slap, or perhaps a better analogy would be a hair whip. At one point during the set, he backflipped across the mini stage to accent the skit. His jokes were punctuated with keyboard melodies and musical numbers. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, except maybe pre-Inside Bo Burnham. 

But have you ever seen a biracial, gay, and Asian Bo Burnham dressed in a tanktop and running shorts? No, you haven’t. 

At the end of the show, I went up to Adler and asked awkwardly, “Would it be rude if I introduced myself by saying ‘hello, my fellow queer Asian?’” to which he graciously answered “Not at all!”

When I saw Adler, in the daylight for our virtual interview, his bright personality

stood out against the mundane, clay-colored brownstones in Brooklyn. He had just left a hair appointment and was headed home.  

He carries himself with both ease and the constant thrum of a hummingbird. It’s not a difficult comparison to make as his iPhone’s front facing camera follows him. Our conversation follows his life with music, mental health journey, and

Ivy: When did you first start performing stand-up? 

Dylan: I started stand-up five years ago. I was inspired when I saw Joel Kim Booster’s set on Conan. It was something that I was thinking about doing already, but then I got so excited to see someone doing it, and killing it, and making it. I started with improv and stand-up around the same time. 

You’re based in New York now. Is that where you first started in the comedy scene as well? 

Yes, I took an acting elective my junior year at NYU. We did improv and I fell in love with it. There were people in the class who [invited me] to an improv jam – people doing improv for fun late at night. I did it and I got addicted to that, so I started joining a bunch of improv jams. I had friends [from school] and the friends that I met there were like, “Let’s do an open mic!” so we tried out an open mic for the first time together. I started to do those and it got more serious. I started to think “Actually, this is what I really want to do.” I haven’t stopped since.

The arts always culminate and blend together. There are so many ways to approach stand-up. How would you describe your comedy? 

It’s evolved over the years. I brought in music a year into comedy. I was just doing jokes [when I started], but then I decided to incorporate the two and it got a better response than any of my jokes alone ever did. 

My comedy is high energy, frenetic, kind of dark and gross at times. It’s chaotic. 

I think those words fit it really well. It’s definitely how I experienced your set. Out of all the venues you’ve performed, do you have favorites?

Absolutely! My favorite is a place called Union Hall. I love the Caveat, Little Field, Bell House. They are all incredible places that I love to perform and do shows. 

Any that you’re avoiding? 

There are a bunch of toxic open mics filled with homophobic straight dudes. Comedy clubs that I’d go to, but don’t think I’d ever go back. There have been some venues and shows I’ve done that haven’t been my favorite vibe. I did a show super far out, in Queens, and the audience was confused. Maybe next time I won’t go an hour out to Queens to [perform]. 

I can imagine. The audience is a huge part of the live experience. You mention your parents and your gay twin brother in your shows. I was wondering how they took it when you mentioned that you wanted to go into comedy, or even studying music. What was that like? 

I feel as an Asian person, I’m lucky that my parents, when I first decided I wanted to go into music, were supportive. My brother also went into music; he’s an oboe player. He was dead set on going to college for oboe, so it was an idea that my parents felt seemed like the path for him. It wasn’t too much of a stretch that I would too. 

When I first went into comedy, I think my parents were a little confused. It seemed so fast that I wanted to do this that they were like, “But you spent so much time and tuition on music—” They were confused by it, but now I’m fortunate that they’ve grown to be very supportive. They come to my comedy shows! 

That’s great to hear. Polishing jokes and refining shows is a huge part of the craft. Because it is such an iterative process, does it ever feel repetitive for you? Are there days that you think “I don’t want to do that part anymore”? 

Absolutely. One hundred percent. All the time. I’m performing anytime between 10 to 15 times. Sometimes I don’t want to start with the Lin-Manuel Miranda bit. I want to get into my new shit. But then I have to think about getting the crowd onboard. 

With your current schedule, what do you do to take care of yourself and your well-being? 

Before the pandemic, I felt like I was not taking care of myself too well. I was all: work, work work, work, comedy, comedy, comedy, day job, day job. Mental health wasn’t a priority. During the quarantine, I reexamined that. 

Exercise for me is helpful when it comes to mental health. I like to do that twice or three times a week to get out excess energy. Sometimes, I will prioritize seeing my friends or doing something leisurely instead of a career thing. It’s a balance. I’m navigating it and figuring it out. 

I need a bit of a break to generate more material. If you’re not living life – not experiencing life outside of comedy and doing shows – then there’s no wellspring for you to tap into. 

Your identities, being Asian and being gay, have become a huge part of your jokes. I want to commend you for doing so. What informed that decision to make it personal and bring these into your show? 

I appreciate that. When I was first starting out, I would mostly do musical impressions and little snippets of characters, but then I experimented with talking about personal and more vulnerable material. It felt more rewarding for that to be received warmly than say my Lin-Manuel Miranda [impression]. It's more rewarding to have something be understood and seen about my family, about my relationship with my twin brother, or my mom, or my sexuality than anything else. 

I connected with that. How have other people come up to you after shows, any memorable ones? 

Some queer Asians will come up and be like “OH MY GOD!” This is TMI, but I have a joke about being really tight. And there was a gaysian that came up to me and said “I’m really tight too!” I’ve had jokes about experiencing fetishization in the gay community and some queer POC or Asians will come up to me and say “That shit has happened to me too!” 

Also with my friend Kelly [Bachman], when we do our show “Rape Victims Are Horny Too,” people will come up and say that they felt seen and the show is helpful for them in their healing process. And it was for me in writing it. Those are some things that have felt really nice and meaningful to me. 

Courtesy of Kelly Bachman’s YouTube

You also talk about mental health and therapy at your shows which is awesome. As someone who goes to therapy, I feel this is something lagging behind in the Asian community, and for some queer folks as well. What made you want to bring those jokes in? 

I agree. Especially in older Asian communities, therapy and mental health is a foreign concept. It was helpful for me to talk about therapy on stage because it was something I would spend a lot of time thinking about. For those jokes, even though I’ve said them a lot, it’s still exciting to say because it is authentic and real. 

I love when people of color and Asians talk about their mental health journey. I’m also happy that I have a POC therapist. She is so helpful. When I wanted to talk about race with my white therapist, she could only feel sorry, or at times say insensitive shit. 

Sometimes in my longer shows, especially if there are more Asians in the audience, I say “Asians!! Get yourself an Asian therapist. POCs, get yourself a POC therapist!” 

Snaps to all of that. Okay, so a quick sidebar. One of your jokes is about going to therapy and having your therapist tell you that you’re making a lot of progress. But then the punchline is “What if I’m just evil?” Can you talk to me about that? 

With that joke, I’m trying to make comedy out of doing so much trauma work and innerwork with my therapist and unpacking racism, internalized racism and the messages and its effect that it has on the self. With her, I uncovered parts of myself that felt wounded, but also angry, and sometimes frightened and scared. Parts of myself are stuck in fight or flight mode. There are also parts that feel rejected, or inherently bad or sad. That joke voiced the parts of myself that feel like that evilness. 

I get it. I feel like with all those “ugly emotions” we bury them so much that it doesn’t feel acceptable to have them. 

Exactly! Yes, that’s exactly it. 

This process of uncovering and turning trauma into art. What has that been like for you? That’s something that so many people go through. Sometimes, I wonder what happens if I no longer have trauma. If I’m just happy, will I be able to make art? Is that a fear you have? 

Some artists– and I used to feel that “maybe if I get better, happier, I’ll be less funny and I’ll have less material. I’ve realized that is such an unhealthy mental space to be in. Absolutely prioritize getting better and your mental health. Take care of yourself. Go on a run. Take time away. 

Also, if you are processing things and going through that healing process, it can be overwhelming. To make comedy from those moments is such a beautiful thing. I really commend people who make comedy from things they’re experiencing and are still processing and learning from. 

But I think the mentality of “the only way I can create is if I’m in this place”–– absolutely no. Prioritize getting better and make stuff along the way. You can still create and talk about things. You can find goodness, creativity, and spark out of anything you feel in life. 

I agree with that. Out of all of your shows and bits, do you have a favorite skit or anything you’ve ever written that you like to perform?

Sometimes it wanes, because my favorite bit might be the newest bit that I'm working on. But one that I always love to do is in my show with Kelly “Rape Victims Are Horny Too.” It was the first joke that I ever wrote about the experience. 

It goes like this: This morning I was feeling super triggered and on edge. I wrote a song about it. Yeah this is the reason why (and I’m on the piano). This morning I took a poop so big it was triggering. So that’s where I’m at right now. 

Of course. I always feel that first experiences are so powerful in terms of how we look at things and how the narrative shifts. What is the most aspirational thing you hope to work on? You’ve already worked on an Off-Broadway show and co-composed for which, first of all, is so amazing. You’ve been named a comic to watch. What is next? If you could do anything, what would that be? 

In a very big way, something that involves music that I would want to write. Like a movie musical. To be able to be a part of the creative, writing process, or act in it. 

Where do you hope to go from here, in the next year or few years? 

When I think about specifics, a goal of mine is to have a special. I want to be able to write and act in TV. I still want to write for musical theater. But creatively, I just want to create things that make me genuinely belly laugh, that feel exciting and meaningful. That’s the kind of work that I want to keep putting out there. 

The world is sure to see more of Dylan Adler. *Fabulous villain laugh* 

You can follow him on Instagram @dylanadler_, Twitter @dylanadler6, and Tiktok @dylanadler7. He will be releasing a new album with Kelly Bachman for “Rape Victims Are Horny Too” on September 23. Catch their release show on September 22 at Union Hall!

Get your fill of Dylan and comedy IRL, check out Mixed Asian Media Fest 2022 for a film festival and in-person events and networking.

Ivy Fan (she/they) is the editor-in-chief of juxtapose magazine. They studied at Boston University (no thanks to The Social Network) and currently lives in a shoebox apartment with her cat. In her free time, she’s probably psychoanalyzing TV show characters and her friends, making yet another Spotify playlist, or buying more houseplants.

Connect with them on Twitter @ivyzfan and Instagram @vee_fan