From The Comic's Comic

Chris Grace is an actor who grew up in Texas, went to school in North Carolina and started his comedy career in earnest in New York City through The People’s Improv Theater. Grace has appeared on TV in many shows, including This Is Us, Broad City, and he enjoyed a recurring role as Jerry on NBC’s Superstore. He starred as Christian Gray in the off-Broadway touring production of 50 Shades! The Musical: The Original Parody, and is a longtime cast member of heralded musical improv troupe Baby Wants Candy. Grace has joined Baby Wants Candy and its offshoot Shamilton at the Edinburgh Fringe for the past decade, and last year wrote and starred in his own one-man hit show, Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson.

From my review last summer of his show at Edinburgh: ” As Grace is quick to point out, more than once: ‘This is not a hit piece.’ It’s also not exactly a tribute, either. It is, in fact, a multi-layered performance with several starts and stops, interruptions for commentary that spiral into a swirling whirling dervish of self-doubt as Grace eventually wonders about his own identity and motives, retraces his own personal and professional steps, and arrives at some humbling realizations about how his family, acting teachers, and even one commercial director may have made his world a little smaller than he had ever imagined. There’s also some stand-up, costume changes, wigs, and funny movements.”

Grace joined me over Zoom in February 2024 to talk about his comedic superpowers, why he chose The PIT over UCB, how it’s possible to perform six shows in one day and not lose your mind, why AI might actually help make live comedy more valued, and what comes next for Grace as a stand-up comedian and an actor. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to it!

“I think that like the last couple of years, my comedy has been more self-assured probably because of building up stage chops for like 20 years. And I do think there’s a part of that it’s hard to articulate that is separate from whether or not my jokes are better written than they were before, because they’re not.”

Here’s a look at his stand-up from a little over a year ago:

On the difference between success in improv and success in stand-up, Grace told me:

“Like, between Baby Once Candy and a group like TJ and Dave, let’s say, people at the upper echelon of long-form improv. If you added up all of the money that the performers in those shows make annually, I think it would equal maybe what a road comic makes. The top 1 % of long-form improvisers compared to the top 30 % of stand-up comedians, the industries are just like so different in terms of paying your rent.”

As far as translating his comedy to the screen for his character work in TV shows, Grace told me:

“I would say my stuff in This Is Us and Superstore and most of the stuff I’ve done, most of it’s been really dry, which is also like my sense of humor. So it’s like I don’t feel like I’m putting something on.”

Here’s his reel, which also includes scenes from PEN15, Broad City, Mr. Mayor, and Atypical.

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