www.montereycountynow.com FEBRUARY 6-12, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 29 ONSTAGE Comic Whitney Cummings has dates for her Big Baby tour confirmed through September 2025. We are in the first week of February. Why commit to so many live performances? Cummings sums it up in her usual straightforward manner. “I love debunking what I believe is the myth that we are all so divided,” she says. “You get into a room with 2,000 people that don’t know each other and we’re all laughing about the same stuff. We’re all seeing reality the same.” Cummings, 42, adds that stand-up has always been her number-one thing: “All the other stuff came from that.” By all the other stuff, Cummings is referring to two hit TV shows she simultaneously produced in the early 2010s—Whitney on NBC and Two Broke Girls on CBS—being the premiere roast comic of her time (including a roast of our current president), writing, starring in and directing movies, publishing books, performing multiple comedy specials and most recently hosting her own podcast, “Good For You,” which is up to episode 275. Superseding any other of those achievements, however, one role stands alone. In 2023, she became a mother. “I’m just excited to sort of catch up to all the women who are like, ‘Yeah, we had kids at 30, weirdo.’” In addition to her household size, Cummings acknowledges that her outlook on stand-up comedy has also grown. “I think the value of making someone laugh when I started was more superficial,” she explains. “Now we’ve entered the time where making people laugh is harder to do—which is a good thing. I think pressure on comics adds to the bar being higher quality. That’s positive evolution.” Cummings still seems to know, almost instinctively, when to veer off for the laugh and how to bring it back to poignant material. She does not seem at all to have lost her focus. More than ever, she views her role as a comic as a necessary one. “I think that as comics we represent the in-between,” she says. “We represent the no-loyalty-to-anyone. We’re going to make fun of both sides. We are going to defend the indefensible even if it’s just a thought exercise to remind everybody that we don’t all have to think the same way.” Whitney Cummings Big Baby Tour 8pm Friday, Feb. 7. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $53-$100. 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com. MICHAEL STARRANTINO Laugh Track Whitney Cummings’ view of comedy has changed over time, but not her sense of humor. By Jesse Herwitz According to Whitney Cummings, people of all thoughts can come together through comedy to a place where the reaction is a common “Oh my god, yes.” VALENTINES DAY JACKSATPORTOLA.COM 4 COURSES PRE-FIXE MENU FEBRUARY 14 4PM TO 10PM $89.95++ per person +$40 per person to include suggested wine pairings* price excludes tax & 20% gratuity complimentary self or valet parking reservations recommended jacks@portolahotel.com | (831) 649-7830 Locals’ Favorite: Weekly Specials & Patio Dining Tapas Happy Hour, 4:30–6pm | Dinner starting at 4:30pm Brunch Saturday & Sunday 9am–1:30pm | Open for Breakfast daily Reservations recommended 831-375-0176. estebanrestaurant.com Adjacent to Casa Munras Garden Hotel & Spa | 700 Munras Ave., Monterey
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