Summary
My first experience with Chad Daniels was worthy, and it made me wonder why I’d never seen a set of his before.
Okay, before I get stuck in, this is my first experience with Chad Daniels as a stand-up comedian, so I had zero expectations with Empty Nester. But I felt familiar with him by the end of his set, and that’s a good thing.
And it’s because Chad Daniels is an intelligent, natural comedian, and I mean that in its simplest terms. He often states that he’s “terrible“ at transitions, but ironically, his complaints about his flow represent a good transition, regardless of whether he knows how good his flow is. Chad knows how to command a stage effortlessly.
Empty Nester warms up the crowd without needing a whiplash joke because Chad decides to settle his audience early, trusting them. You’d think a joke about siblings kissing each other would make for a controversial discussion, but the comedian is testing the threshold with the audience, even doing some handy crowd work to gauge his limits.
Comedians who can make jokes relatable to their own experiences instead of political angling and detaching themselves personally are the best ones, and Chad Daniels seemingly understands that. He goes on a long rant about his casual thoughts on religion but, at the same time, connects his distaste for the Catholic Church. A promising sign of comedic talent is whether they can weave in controversial topics without the audience clocking to the punchline. Empty Nester caught me off guard a few times.
But if you want to know the bones of the set, then the title Empty Nester is a giveaway. Chad Daniels brings a clever line of stories, describing his life as a single father, honing in on the stigmas around it. There’s an awareness of the cultural opinion surrounding single fathers, and he uses that to his advantage.
I kept getting the feeling that the comedian had way more in his weaponry than he let on. He never seemed short of a punchline, even when he went off kilter slightly. Chad Daniels may not be ready to give everything in his locker because he has plenty of Netflix specials up his sleeve. And that’s a good thing. If you walk away from a comedian wanting more, then there’s always that anxiety that they rehash similar material and patterns in their jokes. Of course, I could be wrong. This is my first experience of him, but I appreciate smart comedy when I see it.
There’s something for everyone in Empty Nester. Even if you are not buoyed by parenting jokes or religious analogies, you’ll probably chuckle at his experiences with political spectrums.
Am I a fan of Chad Daniels now? Absolutely. That’s the point of why so many comedians use Netflix as a promotional tool. I wouldn’t have known about him if not.
