This Comedian Wants To Help You Escape — And Maybe Even Forget About Trump For An Hour
“The Al Dente Special,” now streaming on Hulu, finds Lane dropping timely zingers about Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and queer culture.
After 17 years on the stand-up circuit, Matteo Lane is slinging jokes to his biggest audience to date ― with a boost from Hulu.
Lane released his first major comedy special, “The Al Dente Special,” on Hulu last week. Filmed before a live audience in Los Angeles, the special captures the Chicago-born comedian in delightfully irreverent form, dropping zingers about his Italian and Mexican family members and his encounters with Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey and Katy Perry. Along the way, he takes on the present-day pratfalls of navigating the world as a gay man with self-effacing wit.
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The release of “The Al Dente Special” caps off a prolific spring for Lane, who concluded a two-year comedy tour with a show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in April. That same month, he unveiled “Your Pasta Sucks,” a playful cookbook in which he serves up Italian recipes with snark and sass. In March, he made a well-received guest appearance on “Abbott Elementary.”
As to what he’d like audiences to take away from his latest work, Lane replied, “Escapism.”
Comedian Matteo Lane's "The Al Dente Special" debuted on Hulu on May 16.Christopher Willard, Disney
“I’ve always felt like my stand-up is like I’m catching up with a friend at brunch, going over what’s happened the past year in my life,” Lane said in an interview with HuffPost. “That’s how I tell stories with my family and friends. Anything that feels genuine and organic to me is more important than making some giant statement.”
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He went on to note: “OK, so I’m not curing all the world’s problems. But you know what? I’ve had a lot of people message me saying, ‘You’re the first person to make me laugh since my dad died. You’re the first person to make me laugh since my divorce ... For one hour, I can forget work, I can forget the ex, I can forget the president.’ And that’s the goal. I’m trying my best to add something to the world so people can forget a bit of stress.”
Despite his flair for comedy, Lane studied opera performance and, later, worked as a storyboard artist and fashion illustrator before pursuing stand-up.
“I watched Margaret Cho, Joan Rivers ― that’s the kind of comedy I loved,” he explained. “That’s what was available to gay men at the time. I didn’t have access to Mario Cantone or Jim David. I didn’t see a gay person do stand-up until I was 23.”
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These days, he added, “I feel more connected to the comedy community than any other community. I’m with people who think weird.”
By all accounts, Lane enjoys success on multiple platforms these days. Since 2023, he and his pal Nick Smith have co-hosted a podcast, “I Never Liked You,” in which the pair swap barbs on beloved movies they hated and which fictional characters they think are gay, among other buzzy topics.
“I feel more connected to the comedy community than any other community in my life,” Lane said. “I’m with people who think weird.”Cindy Ord via Getty Images
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Of course, Lane understands he’s not everybody’s cup of tea, too. Last month, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King was hit with criticism online when she quoted one of Lane’s jokes containing an anti-gay slur verbatim on-air.
Lane has since defended King and publicly laughed off the backlash. “People are trying to find drama. Who gives a shit?” he told Variety last week. “Gayle King said ‘faggotry’ — she’s wearing a wig for God’s sakes. Who cares? She can say it.”
Following “The Al Dente Special,” Lane is looking forward to a laid-back summer, with only a handful of performances slated for the coming weeks. He expects to use his time off to travel abroad and craft new jokes: “If I’m not living a life, I’ll have nothing to talk about on-stage.”
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And while “The Al Dente Special” is poised to lift Lane’s profile in Hollywood, fans shouldn’t expect him to divert too much from his current path moving forward.
“It’s finally reached a point where I feel like I’m able to have an idea for a project, follow through with it and have less people say no. That’s a great feeling,” he said. “At the core of it, though, all I ever want to do is stand-up until I die. That’s it for me. Whether one day it’s a movie or a TV show, I just want to do stand-up.”
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Watch the trailer for “The Al Dente Special” below.
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