The Grandel was the place to be one perfect summer night in late August, when hundreds of fans lined up to see comedy history in the making: comedian Chris Redd’s return to St. Louis to tape his first-ever stand-up special before a hometown audience.
The recorded segments from the two back-to-back St. Louis shows on Aug. 27 have been produced into a one-hour stand-up comedy special titled “Why Am I Like This?” which debuts Thursday, Nov. 3, on HBO Max.
Written and performed by Redd, the show’s executive producers are Conan O’Brien, Redd, Jeff Ross, JP Buck, John Irwin and Brooke Shoemaker.
In it, Redd highlights pivotal parts of his life that make him into the person he is today, from recalling his days of living like Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin” music video, to realizing he’d been chasing someone else’s dreams, to how his therapist taught him that even if he’ll never be tall enough to dunk, he can still grow as a person.
In a previous interview with Gazelle, Redd got candid about prioritizing mental health and how regular therapy led him to self-discovery.
“It’s a journey of me working on myself, going through therapy and looking back – that’s the thesis for my show,” he said. “This is the first look at the real, raw me.”
The comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum was born in St. Louis in 1985 and lived here for seven years until his family moved to the Chicago area.
“I’ve always been a person who could love a place from afar, and I always knew I wanted to come back and do something for St. Louis,” he told Gazelle.
Redd, who also starred alongside “Saturday Night Live” castmate Kenan Thompson in the NBC sitcom, “Kenan,” recently announced his departure from SNL after five seasons. Redd won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2018 for the SNL parody video, “Come Back Barack.” He has also impersonated celebrities like Kanye West and Will Smith, and political figures such as Sen. Cory Booker and New York Mayor Eric Adams on the show.
Redd’s “Why Am I Like This?” special premieres Thursday, Nov. 3, on HBO Max.
