Nimesh Patel Brings Incisive Standup to Westhampton Beach

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center is welcoming stand-up comedian Nimesh Patel to its stage for one night on Friday, June 27 at 8 p.m. An Emmy nominated talent who wrote for Saturday Night Live, Patel was named among Variety’s vaunted “10 Comics to Watch” in 2023 and was hailed by Vulture as a “Comedian You Should and Will Know.”

The New York City-based stand-up comic is a veteran of the road, touring everywhere from performing at the smallest clubs to selling out large theaters, like WHBPAC. His undeniable jokes play with his culture as an Indian American and take hysterical stabs at the state of the world and the politicians who run it. He’s had multiple specials, including Lucky Lefty about his experience with testicular cancer, Thank You China, Jokes to Get You Through Quarantine and, most recently, the brilliant No Pork Halal Chinese Food. These specials have gained millions of views on YouTube alone, where Patel has half a million followers, and he recently signed to put his next special on Netflix.

In the lead up to his show in Westhampton Beach, Patel spoke with Dan’s Papers about his current tour, new material and getting to know the Hamptons and what makes it so funny.

A Conversation with Nimesh Patel

Have you been out to the Hamptons before?

Ages ago, but not for comedy, just to pretend I was rich.

There’s a lot to make fun of here. Tell me about your show? Do you pull from all your different specials or are you touring with all new material?

No, it’s entirely new. I just became a father about eight months ago. So there’s a heavy amount of that, but also doing that new fatherhood perspective on the world that’s going on. That’s all I’ll say without revealing too much. But yeah, it’ll run the gamut of some social stuff, political stuff, personal stuff. The tone and content will kind of mirror the last things (of mine) you may have seen, but all the jokes will be brand new.

Congratulations, by the way, on having your kid. Is Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center a typical venue for you? Are you doing mostly these sorts of theater shows now?

I’ve done some of the biggest theaters in America and some of the smallest clubs in America as well. So I’m not sure the size of Westhampton Beach theater, but I’m sure it’ll be a fun time.

Do you ever sort of tailor your jokes towards the places you go? Or do you tend to just sort of stick to your act?

Oh definitely. I enjoy getting some local flavor in. I’ll be in the Hamptons a bit earlier than the show, a couple days early, so I’ll be making sure to take as many notes as possible about all the ridiculous things I’m sure to see.

Yeah, you will see ridiculous things, especially in the summer. You’re obviously really successful already, but do you look at this upcoming Netflix special as the next big jump in your career, or is it not a big deal at this point?

I try to not think of it as a big deal. I’m optimistic. I’m hopeful, optimistic that it will be, but right now, my career has operated in a kind of steady upward state, and so hopefully I’ll maintain that trajectory. And this Netflix thing will hopefully be a huge jump, but I can’t rely on it. I’ve just got to make sure that the material is as good as it can be and let the universe handle the rest.

 I read that you sort of broke out because Chris Rock noticed you and ended up asking you to write jokes for the 2016 Academy Awards. Can you tell me about that?

That was probably the first cool industry tap that I got. I wouldn’t call it a breakout moment because I had a day job at the time and was a middling writer and standup for a few years after that. But that was a nice feather in the cap for Chris Rock to acknowledge that I was funny to him.

That’s awesome. Did you start as a writer and then go into standup? Or were you always doing both?

I started in standup, and any writing opportunities that  came my way, I was just grateful to take advantage of them. Then Chris saw me doing standup and he just so happened to have a need for some writers because he was hosting the Oscars that year and he decided to give me a shot. Everything I’ve gotten is because of standup.

How was writing for Saturday Night Live?

Again, from standup. That was a whirlwind experience. I had a great time. I learned a lot. I’m grateful for my time there and I’m hoping to host one day, but we’ll see what happens.

Can you tell me a bit more about what people can expect at the show?

I hope everyone comes with a heavy sense of humor. My tendency is to make fun of anything people don’t make fun of, so we’ll see how it goes. That being said, it’s not like on-purpose edgy material. It’s just my view of the world is, I think, a bit askew, and that’s what people pay to see. Hopefully I can provide that.

Visit whbpac.org for tickets and info.