No stage? No problem! Stand-up comedy in offices, ferries, prisons, and nursing homes

When you go to a comedy club, you know what you’re there for. But what happens when comedy shows up somewhere else? 

Meredith Dietz describes doing stand-up in a New York City office where employees were told not to laugh, and on a Staten Island Ferry where no one could escape the ride. 

Years after his own incarceration, Ali Siddiq returns to jail to speak with people inside. 

And Pauline Schantzer, aka Polly Wolly, brings suggestive parody songs, dance moves, and deeply silly comedy into nursing homes. 

Suggested episodes:

• Why the world needs comedians with disabilities
• The meteoric rise of comedian Zarna Garg
• Actors Mary Elizabeth Kelly and Dean Edwards on the art of impressions 
• Why the warm-up comic is the most underrated job in show biz 
• D’yan Forest is a 91-year-old Guinness World Record holder for oldest female comedian 

GUESTS: 

• Pauline Schantzer, aka Polly Wolly: Comedian and performer who brings musical comedy into nursing homes and senior-care spaces
• Meredith Dietz: Writer and stand-up comedian who has performed in comedy clubs, offices, and on the Staten Island Ferry
• Ali Siddiq: Comedian, writer, and actor whose work often draws from his own experience of incarceration. He filmed It’s Bigger Than These Bars inside Bell County Jail in 2017, and his 2026 special From Inside is a serious conversation recorded inside a detention center 

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