Comedian Aaron Weber talks new special, the 'insanity' of choosing stand-up as a profession
Aaron Weber spoke with Fox News Digital about 'Special Dish' premiering Friday, January 31 on YouTube.?
Up-and-coming Nashville comic Aaron Weber says we’re in the middle of a major comedy "boom" right now.
Just ahead of the debut of his comedy special, "Signature Dish," the 32-year-old Alabama native and one of the Nashville comedy scene’s biggest rising stars, marveled at the relevance of the comedy scene in pop culture, as well as the massive popularity of certain standup comedians.
"Yeah, people talk a lot about the comedy boom of the 80s, but we're in the middle of, I think, a way bigger boom now," Weber told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview, adding, "And I think the big part of that is, it's never been easier to consume comedy."
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"Special Dish" premieres Friday, January 31 on YouTube. (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
Fox spoke to Weber this week from inside Zanies Comedy Night Club, one of the centerpieces of the comedy scene in Nashville and the venue where he filmed his new special.
Premiering this Friday on his friend and fellow comic Nate Bargatze’s YouTube channel, "Nateland Entertainment" – the 30-minute special is jam-packed with the jokes Weber says he has had the "most fun" performing over his nine years so far in the industry.
"It was nine years of doing standup almost every night that kind of got me to there. That was my 30 [minutes] where I was having the most fun," the comic said.
Showcasing the earnest yet self-deprecating style he brings to his comedy routines, Weber told Fox that he’s "pretty proud" of the new special, while describing it as a set that’s about "kind of nothing."
"So I'm excited for people to see that. It's a bunch of nonsense. I'm asked all the time, like, what do you talk about on stage? Kind of nothing."
Aaron Weber has been practicing comedy for 10 years in Nashville.? (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
Hinting at a bit of the nonsensical material covered in "Signature Dish," Weber mentioned how one of the jokes is a riff on everyone’s favorite candy-flavored antacid.
"I talk about Tums for quite a bit on this special, so there's definitely not a lesson that I'm trying to teach anybody. We're just trying to have fun and hopefully people do that."
When asked about the special’s title, the comic said it’s a reference to a bit in there about food, which is a major theme of his standup.
"The special is called ‘Signature Dish,’ which is a line in one of the jokes. I like that. It's food. I like food."
Weber, who was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, before graduating from Notre Dame and then moving to Music City to pursue standup, told Fox just how "excited" he is that he gets to be a comedian, even on "the bad nights."
"But on the whole, like this is a crazy thing to get to do for a living. Standup comedy’s so much fun. It's so much fun to perform for people."
Comedy may appear to have been an abrupt turn for Weber, who majored in marketing and minored in philosophy at his alma mater, but he told Fox that he’s always loved the art form and finally took a chance to really pursue it after college.
"I was a fan of standup comedy for a long time, watched it all the time, had routines memorized. I would perform for the family as a kid, but never thought about doing it until I was in college, and I realized there's no barrier to entry. Anybody can show up."
He mentioned how he started doing open mics "every night when I could" during his post-college job, stating that within a "few months I was taking it pretty seriously."
Eventually, he quit that job and comedy’s "all I’ve been doing since."
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"Special Dish" was filmed at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville, Tennessee.? (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
Despite the obstacles and rejection that fledgling comics often face, Weber told Fox that he was committed to making it in the industry, noting that he understood throughout his journey it might be a long and bumpy road.
"I went into this knowing it's going to take some time. I'm going to make a lot of decisions that make no financial sense. You know, I'm going to leave work early and drive three hours to do a 5-minute spot and make no money. So, you have to do a lot of that before any of this makes sense."
"But the thinking was, ‘I want to do this. I want to get good at this,’" he recalled, mentioning that he "never thought about quitting."
Weber did admit that had he been a bit older and had more responsibilities, he might not have pursued a standup career, stating, "I had no responsibilities at the time, really. So it was a good time to do it."
"I think if I had a daughter like I do now and a family that depends on me, I would have been a little more cautious."
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Aaron Weber told Fox News Digital that comedy is a lot like playing golf.? (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
The comedian spoke to Fox News a bit about the Nashville comedy scene, describing it as a "really good place" for a budding comedian to cut their teeth. "I think there are a lot of opportunities to get quality stage time quickly," he said.
However, he also said it’s become a great place to have a standup career in general, whereas in the past, a comic looking to make it would have to "move to L.A., you had to move to New York. Now Austin's up there, too."
"I really don't think that's the case anymore. I think a lot of guys have proven that, guys like Dusty Slay," Weber said, mentioning the Nashville standup star and his co-host on Nate Bargatze’s podcast. The comic added that his colleague has "basically only been in Nashville for his career and is now a theater act with Netflix specials."
"It is possible to have a good career in comedy out of Nashville, and I remember thinking, ‘Well, if I can do that – I love the city. I got a house here with my wife, I want to raise my daughter here,’" the comic said, adding, "’If I can do comedy out of Nashville, that's the dream.’"
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Aaron Weber was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama before graduating from Notre Dame and then moving to Music City to pursue standup. (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
Part of what has made Nashville so special for the young comic and family man is Zanies comedy club. The venue is low-lit, intimate, and has a modest stage framed by a blue-curtain background and a large "Zanies" sign. The venue seats only around 300 audience members, though Weber told Fox that's a large capacity for a comedy club.
Along its walls are rows upon rows of headshots belonging to each of the comedians who have ever headlined the club – a roster that includes comedy giants like Eddie Murphy, Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, and the late Sam Kinison.
"To me, there's no more prestigious stage in this city than this one," Weber said, referring to Zanies. "Every comedian I've ever cared about, every person I've ever idolized, looked up to, modeled my career and my thinking after, they perform right there on that stage behind me. And I get to touch that stage pretty regularly here, and that's not lost on me at all."
That's high praise coming from someone who maintains that he was the youngest standup comic in history to perform at one of the world’s most renowned stages, the Grand Ole Opry, at the age of 27.
About that, he quipped, "I've done limited research on this, but I think I'm the youngest to ever perform there and nobody's called me out on that yet. So, I'm going to keep saying it till somebody, somebody younger than me does it."
Weber’s other claim to fame is his guest co-host slot on "The Nateland Podcast" – started in 2020 by Bargatze, a standup phenom who had the highest earning comedy tour in 2024, according to Billboard.com.
Weber told Fox that the podcast has been "huge" for his career, saying that much of his standup audience is introduced to him through it.
"The overwhelming majority of people that come to see me live, that's how they first got to know me," he said.
"It's almost like a home base for my career. That's what the podcast feels like, and it's just a ton of fun. I mean, I love all three of those guys," he said, mentioning Bargatze, Slay and co-host Brian Bates. "I have a blast recording it every week, so it's yeah, it's a huge part of my career for sure."
When asked about the standup success of his fellow co-hosts, like Bargatze – who broke the attendance record for Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena during his 2023 tour – or the massive prevalence that other podcasters and comedians now have in media, Weber said it’s evidence of the comedy "boom" that’s being driven by social media.
Weber’s "Signature Dish" on the "Nateland Entertainment" YouTube channel is streaming now. (Fox News Digital/Nikolas Lanum)
Mentioning how simple it is to get content to the masses, he told Fox, "Like, I can tape a set tonight, put it up on TikTok and get a million views. And it used to be you had to wait till a network or somebody would offer you a special, and then that special would air on TV for an hour once, you know, and then you hope somebody saw it."
"Comedy’s never been bigger," Weber declared. He pointed to another superstar comic and his massive success as evidence of the medium's relevance. "They're in the mainstream in a way that they haven’t in a while. Shane Gillis is like an A-list celebrity now. Like, he's everywhere… It’s only a handful of comics that have been like that."
As far as his own vision for success goes, the comedian told Fox that he has more modest ambitions than breaking massive attendance records or being an A-lister.
"Five years from now, if I'm still doing comedy as a full-time job, that'll be a win for sure," he said. "But I've already done more than I set out to do when I started, which is just to be able to only do this. So that's a win."
Weber’s "Signature Dish" on the "Nateland Entertainment" YouTube channel is streaming now.
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