Addison Morris
Arts and Entertainment Editor
At the No Indoor Voices (NIV) show last Saturday night, comics Steve Young, Sarah Hyland, and Ian Harvie took the mic to deliver incendiary stand-up routines at the Brasil Arts Cafe on State Street. The three performers did their best to fulfill NIV’s founding vision of “Daring…Diverse…Different.”
Though NIV schedules shows on the regular, their content is anything but. In an interview with TBL, director, founder, and stand-up comic Kimmie Lee said that NIV stands out because it focuses on “diversity and different people’s voices — almost an ‘fuck you, Jerry Lewis show.’” She was forced to create this platform for diverse comedians to speak their minds in response to “the tone-deafness in the world.”
For the second show in their Fall 2018 series, NIV hosted Young, Hyland, and Harvie, who are the embodiment of diverse and refreshing voices. Young and Hyland are both gay comics, while Harvie is a transgender man.
First to hit the stage, Young took on the challenge of going against popular opinion and forgetting about conventional politeness. Despite his SoCal audience, Young made the brave choice to bash on vegans, speaking his mind with witty aphorisms like, “I don’t like you enough to endure tofurkey.” He also made the unorthodox choice to call out people on the mental disorder bandwagon, saying “PTSD really stands for Please Talk about Something Different.”
Young is a performer and writer who has appeared on “The Hollywood Improv” and “The Laugh Factory,” among other shows, and written for TBS and Joan Rivers on E! Entertainment. In an interview with TBL, Young advised aspiring comics to “get up and do it as much as possible,” adding an enthusiastic “Go Gauchos!”
Second, Hyland, a trained improv comedian and actress who has made appearances on MTV’s “Punk’d“ and “Mad TV,” delivered an unforgettable set, engaging with an audience member in some playful banter. However, this repartee bordered on uncomfortable when the male crowd-member finally said, “Maybe if you were entertaining [I wouldn’t have to help you out].” At the end, she did acknowledge proudly that “we all went through a shitstorm together,” making it a night to remember.
Hyland, in an interview with TBL, admitted that she thinks “that sort of thing [the remark from the male audience member] happens more to [her] because [she’s] a woman.” It was true that, at least at this show, nobody from the crowd heckled the two male performers.
Lastly, the headliner, Harvie, took to the stage. Harvie is a widely accomplished comic and actor as he has performed at world comedy festivals like “Just for Laughs” in Canada and Australia’s “Melbourne International Comedy Festival,” as well as played the character Dale on “Transparent” and Chris on “Young and Hungry.“
Harvie, having lived as both a man and a woman and identifying in the LBGTQ+ community, told jokes that everyone found relatable. He acknowledged feeling “10 percent dumber on testosterone,” which would also make him the perfect partner for Donald Trump “who hates women but loves pussy.” He even, at one point, pulled out his packer for the whole audience to see and said, “Sorry, not trying to Weinstein you.”
In an interview with TBL, Harvie expressed his love for Santa Barbara and reminded readers that he had actually performed at UCSB before in April 2016. He said he loves the people here because he draws “inspiration from incredibly brave people — people who are making their own way.”
Lee also addressed UCSB students, saying, “If you’re a college student and want to hear from people who look like you,” check out an NIV show. This community-oriented, local comedy event is perfect for UCSB students and faculty alike to engage with other smart, talented, and diverse people who just want to speak their minds.
For more information, visit https://www.noindoorvoices.com. Shows coming up include comics Monique Marvez, Jann Karam, Cathy Ladman, and Julie Goldman, among many others.