Pocahontas is about to get a dose of big-city comedy — delivered by a small-town Iowa native who knows the community better than you might expect.
Comedian Matt Banwart is bringing his Hardly Working Comedy Tour to the Rialto Theatre in downtown Pocahontas Thursday, Nov. 19, co-headlining a night of stand-up comedy with fellow comedian Brent Reed. The show begins at 7 p.m. and is part of a Midwest tour that also includes stops in Emmetsburg, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Originally from Mount Vernon, Iowa, Banwart now lives in Austin, Texas, and has spent more than a decade performing stand-up comedy across the country.
But Banwart tells Storm Lake Radio there’s something special about returning to Iowa — particularly when performing in smaller communities where live comedy doesn’t come around as often.
Banwart’s connections to northwest Iowa run deep. He says his family has roots in the Cherokee area, his parents both attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake and Pocahontas has long been a familiar meeting place for family visits. Banwart recalls regularly meeting his grandmother there, giving him a personal connection to the community where he’ll soon perform.
In fact, Banwart says one of his earlier comedy routines about small-town medical facilities was inspired by driving past the hospital in Pocahontas on his way to Ruthven.
His comedy album, Town Kid, reached No. 1 on Amazon and iTunes comedy charts. Banwart also founded and hosted Roast Battle Chicago and has appeared in comedy programming distributed online.
His co-headliner, Reed, is originally from rural Alabama and has performed at Austin’s Comedy Mothership, opened for comedian Ron White and earned a Golden Ticket on the popular comedy podcast Kill Tony.
Banwart says he and Reed became friends through Austin’s comedy scene, toured together in the South and are now roommates. Their different comedic styles are part of what makes the pairing work — but Banwart says the stakes feel especially high when performing in a small town.
Banwart also hosts a podcast called Hardly Working, where he interviews comedians and other entertainers about their early jobs — a subject he knows well after growing up detasseling corn, working at a grocery store and helping out at a local movie theater. He recently revived the podcast and used its name for the comedy tour.
And while social media has made stand-up comedy clips available at the touch of a button, Banwart says there’s no substitute for experiencing a live show with a room full of people.
Banwart hopes to bring that experience to his audience in Pocahontas, with tickets priced at $20 for general admission and $30 for reserved seating in the first three rows. The show is for ages 21 and older.
And he has an ambitious goal for the evening — making it what he hopes will be the greatest Thursday in Pocahontas history.
Tickets and additional information are available at mattbanwart.com.
