Laura Peek

There’s a certain type of comedian who coasts on rhythm, inertia, and persona. They draw analogies — “That’s like if …” — and generate reflexive laughs for jokes that don’t quite hold up under a microscope. Laura Peek writes comedy like she wants to put these comedians out of business. She tells mathematical jokes like ”You ever walk into a Quality Inn and think, Honestly, I would have gone for quantity at this point?” and “I washed myself like a woman in a movie who is trying to forget a memory” that work on paper just as well as they do onstage.

In this way, Peek’s comedy is a throwback. Her work shares DNA with that of Taylor Tomlinson, both in her commitment to strong punchlines and the way she speaks reverentially and critically about her Southern upbringing, similar to how Tomlinson discusses the church. She reaches into this well frequently, not just to ridicule people she believes have regressive beliefs, but to comment on elements of it that have shaped her. It’s the basis of one of her best bits about attempting to quit smoking, a habit she jokes that no one in California has. “One thing I’ve never tried is the stop smoking pill. It’s called Chantix,” she explains. “Three of the actual side-effects of Chantix are hallucinations, delusions, and night terrors … Chantix: You can’t smoke if you’re hiding from demons in your neighbor’s crawl space.”