Like all good Portlanders, we here at the Mercury love Matt Braunger. The Rose City-born comedian just came through town last month to (visit family, probably, and) do a show at the Aladdin Theater—we even gave away tix for that one, which is why it always pays to follow the Merc on social media. The Aladdin, famously, was a porn theater before it became a music venue.
Today Braunger announced that his new comedy special was shot here in Portland, too! Matt Braunger: Finally Live in Portland was filmed at a different former porn theater: the Paris Theatre in downtown Portland, right around the corner from the Mercury office (and next door to Voodoo Doughnut, if you’re a tourist). The venue hosted two performances by Braunger in May 2017 during the 10th Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and those performances make up Finally Live in Portland (or FLIP).
Braunger says:
“This is my best special yet, and I got to shoot it in my hometown in front of my parents and embarrass them as a bonus. All the stories are true, from the dumb tattoo I got at 19 to the butt surgery to the overindulgence in magic mushrooms with my now-wife. FLIP basically represents two things, 1) 18 years of me doing comedy, and 2) How much I haven’t grown in that time.”
The special comes out February 5 on Comedy Dynamics and can be purchased via iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Vimeo, and all those other places where you buy stuff to watch. Braunger, meanwhile, is host of the very funny podcast Advice from a Dipshit with Matt Braunger, which only makes sense, because his name’s in the title.
Here’s the trailer. (You’ll need to wait a month to see it, of course—but you can comfort yourself, Portland comedy appreciator, with the knowledge that another one-time Portland-based comedian, Ron Funches, has a brand-new comedy special called Giggle Fit, which airs on Comedy Central TONIGHT.)