Comedian Gary Gulman Shines In One-Man Show ‘Grandiloquent’

Starting in early January, comic Gary Gulman settled in at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York for a month-long residency performing his new one-man show Grandiloquent.

Gulman is known for his stand-up specials, such as In This Economy?, Great Depresh, Boyish Man, It’s About Time and Born On 3rd Base. He was a two-time finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and also co-starred in the Hulu series Life and Beth alongside Amy Schumer. Born On 3rd Base, Gulman’s most recent comedy special released on Max in 2023, saw him depart from his usual sense of humor to delve deeper into his childhood growing up in Massachusetts and his struggles with depression. 

Although critics have assured that Grandiloquent, as a performance, is funny, they note that Gulman delivers a previously unseen – and surprising – poignancy to his work.

In an interview with The New York Post, Gulman explained the one-man show, “It’s [about] my childhood and what it did to me in terms of my personality and certain neuroses, but also a survey of important incidents, both positive and negative. It’s given a theatrical, dramatic presentation by my director [Moritz von Stuelpnagel] so there’s a more elaborate setup than just a stand-up stage.”

The comic, who hails from Boston, noted that this show covered more heavy subjects matters than his previous work, and said, “I hope Grandiloquent is sort of a stand-in or a surrogate for life in some ways in that, yes, life is always going to have a sad ending, but in the middle of it and in spurts, you have great joy and laughter.”

Reflecting on the significance of  the performance’s location at the 299-seat Lucille Lortel Theatre in Manhattan’s West Village, Gulman emphasized, “It’s the right size for intimacy.”

He explained, “I didn’t want it to be too big because I was concerned about having to fill the space for a number of shows, which as any performer knows, you don’t want to be in too big a space for your fan base in terms. That can be very humbling. So it met a lot of requirements in terms of my experience as an audience member, but also my lack of fame.”

Grandiloquent runs from January 7 to February 8. Get tickets here.

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