Beth Stelling new comedy special and tour: Where to buy tickets

A couple years ago, Beth Stelling got off on the wrong foot with her landlady.

Almost immediately after moving into her new apartment building, the celebrated Los Angeles-based stand-up — who has also written for “Crashing,” “The Last O.G” and “Rick and Morty” and a number of other series — constantly clashed with the woman in charge of her rent.

Yet, rather than just let their interactions bother her, she opted to turn her grievances into comedy and ended up developing her airtight, whip-smart special “The Landlord” all about this fraught relationship [Editor’s Note: Stelling has since moved out of her place].

“I spent a lot of time wondering if they were messing with me so I would write something about them,” Stelling told The Post in an exclusive interview. “…but no. They messed with so many people. One guy told me his wife avoids her because she made her cry.”

While stories like this may not sound like subject matter ripe for comedy, Stelling’s laugh-out-loud 30-minute special defies all expectations, surprising at every turn. Her razor-sharp observations, trademark exasperated deadpan and exaggerated nose-rumpling impressions make for one of the year’s most inspired, under-the-radar half hours.

“Every conversation is like falling in a prickle bush” she joked a few minutes into “The Landlord,” before effortlessly rattling off hundreds more precise punchlines like “…I have a ton of money in my checking account because I don’t come from money and feel safer looking at a lump sum watching it depreciate” and “when I was writing for a show I was going to appear on, I would have makeup put on so I didn’t have to field questions about my mental health…that’s just something I wanted to complain about briefly.”

One month after the release of “The Landlord,” the special is now streaming on YouTube and Stelling is back on the road with a brand new hour of material. She’ll be at Brooklyn’s Bell House on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22.

Ahead of those gigs, we chatted with her about her hilarious “Landlady”-centric half hour, favorite lines she’s written for sitcoms and movies she’s worked on and the upcoming tour.

Enjoy. Just make sure you don’t read this story with your landlord in the vicinity.

Beth Stelling tour schedule 2025

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets for all upcoming Beth Stelling stand-up shows can be found below.

Beth Stelling tour dates
Aug. 21 at the Dead Crow Comedy Room in Wilmington, NC
Aug. 22 at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC
Aug. 23 at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC
Sept. 11 at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, MN
Sept. 12 at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, MN 7 p.m. show
Sept. 12 at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, MN 9:30 p.m. show
Sept. 13 at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, MN 7 p.m. show
Sept. 13 at the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, MN 9:30 p.m. show
Sept. 18 at Magooby’s Joke House in Lutherville-Timonium, MD
Sept. 19 at Magooby’s Joke House in Lutherville-Timonium, MD 7 p.m. show
Sept. 19 at Magooby’s Joke House in Lutherville-Timonium, MD 9:30 p.m. show
Sept. 20 at Magooby’s Joke House in Lutherville-Timonium, MD 7 p.m. show
Sept. 20 at Magooby’s Joke House in Lutherville-Timonium, MD 9:30 p.m. show
Oct. 1 at Zanie’s Comedy Club in Nashville, TN
Oct. 2 at the Louisville Comedy Club in Louisville, KY
Oct. 9 at the Punch Line in Houston, TX
Oct. 10 at the Punch Line in Houston, TX 7:30 p.m. show
Oct. 10 at the Punch Line in Houston, TX 9:45 p.m. show
Oct. 11 at the Punch Line in Houston, TX 7 p.m. show
Oct. 11 at the Punch Line in Houston, TX 9:15 p.m. show
Oct. 24 at The Wilbur in Boston, MA
Oct. 25 at the Miracle Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Nov. 16 at The Blue Note in Columbia, MO
Nov. 21 at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY
Nov. 22 at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY

Beth Stelling stand-up specials

Want to dig into the archives and catch all of Beth’s primo material ASAP? Below, you’ll find where you can stream all four of her excellent specials.

“Simply The Beth” (2015) is streaming on Spotify

“Girl Daddy” (2020) is streaming on HBO Max

“If You Didn’t Want Me Then” (2023) is streaming on Netflix

“The Landlord” (2025) is streaming on YouTube

Beth Stelling interview

How did “The Landlord” special come to be?

The story came to fruition after so many years of frustration with my landlady. It’s based in deep feelings of anger, helplessness and shock. In some cases, I’d go ‘it’s not that bad’ because the truth is I wasn’t living with drips in the roof and a lot of my basic needs were met but it was an insane experience every time I came across that woman. In fact, it got to the point where sometimes it would take me hours to come down from our interaction because it was so charged.

She screamed in my face and I would hear every argument she’d have with her daughter. There really were so many stories that I had to pick and choose which ones I’d tell onstage.

At the beginning of the special you tease the audience with material about skydiving at the mall instead of jumping into the landlady story. Was that intentional from the outset of your writing process?

Yes. Plenty of people asked ‘why did you start with that’ but I lived differently when I was renting.

Back then, I would spend $180 on an ‘I Fly’ because rent was so much cheaper. It was a different mindset. So, the first few minutes of the special are a commentary on how you can spend all your money doing ridiculous things when you don’t own property.

I finally saved up and bought a house before I finished this special and realized “those were my renting days when I would spend $180 to get shot into a tube with a friend.” Now, I’m frugal. I get when people say you’re “house poor.” I don’t know what’s better.

I never thought when I moved to Los Angeles 14 years ago in my mom’s ’02 Mercury Sable with $1,200, which was every ounce of money I’d saved from babysitting and waitressing at cafes, that I’d own a home.

Did the landlord material start out as a bit or a chunk and develop into a full special?

I was at Sarah Silverman’s house and we were swimming and I told her a joke about my landlady that made her laugh. Then, when I was on vacation with my mom and sister, I was venting about the situation and they were cracking up. So, I built the story up over a long period of time onstage, which was tough because if audiences aren’t on board, it can be a slog. It takes a long time to hone a story to get people with you the whole time.

I funded the special myself. My boyfriend, Adam Newacheck, was the director and we only had two other crew members (Lincoln Rzonca and Maya Ortega) manning cameras. We shot it at Denver’s Comedy Works and had one of the best colorists in town, Jay Cody Baker, work on the special, as well as Joanna Katcher who did the sound mixing.

You have 25 shows over these next few months. Will the landlady story be built into your upcoming tour? Will you be revisiting material from past specials or are you going to be doing all new stuff on the road?

Last May, I’d amassed an hour that was made up of my landlady material, another chunk that ended up on Don’t Tell Comedy’s YouTube and some other stuff. I tried to shop all that as a special but everybody said it was too soon since I’d just put out “If You Didn’t Want Me Then” on HBO in 2023. Hulu told me ‘we already have our slot for this year…maybe in 2026?’ which left me sitting on all this material.

So, I put “The Landlord” online, my “starting my own religion” story on Don’t Tell and still have 55 minutes of material left. I’ve been honing and touring that since last May. None of those jokes are available unless you’ve seen me on the road recently.

Is there any particular subject matter you’re covering onstage these days?

The theme to my current show is aging. I turned 40 this year and I’m aging naturally, which I proclaimed in my 2023 special. So I’m expanding on that concept with material that wasn’t ready for that special. There’s stuff about having my eggs frozen and meeting a guy that has kids and stepping into the step-parent role. I come from a divorced family and had step-parents that were pretty bad blueprints, so it’s tapping back into what I had as a stepdaughter. That’s in development. I recorded a version of that material in June as a proof of concept.

I would love to be able to have someone produce my special when I’m at the Wilbur in Boston this October.

How has your stand up evolved over the past few years?

I have become a little sillier and started deploying more voices and facial movements. Mo Welch is one of my best friends (as well as Stelling’s “Sweethearts Podcast” co-host), and she told me she loved when I do act outs. So I’ve listened to her and I am more physical than I have been in the past. I’ve gotten a little bit bigger because my default is a very calm, deadpan.

What would you say to someone that’s never seen you live to get them to come to your shows?

Please!

Please come. I have to pay my mortgage. The feedback I’ve liked lately is when dudes come up to me after a show and tell me how much they loved my set and wish they had brought a woman in their lives that could relate. A lot of women in their early forties say similar things. A few have told me “I feel very seen.”

It’s going to be a fun night, I promise. I won’t bother you either. I won’t ask you what you do for a living. I would never make fun of you or how you look. I’m there to entertain and make you feel less alone.

What line are you most proud of to have gotten on the air from all the shows you’ve worked on over the years?

There are two.

In an episode of “Crashing,” there’s a scene where Pete’s getting a massage and when he moves his face, the masseuse goes “there you are Peter.” I like that because I loved “Hook” growing up.

Then, there was a line I wrote for the movie “Good Boys,” where the boys are talking about girls at the pool and one of them says “she’s a total nympho” and one of the others says “what does that mean?” and he says “she has sex on land and sea.”

You are at the Bell House in November for two nights.

That’s true.

What do you love about that space?

It’s a great New York venue, and I am always glad people come out and see me. I normally do one night, so hopefully it creates opportunities for more people to come.

Who are your favorite working comics right now?

Maria Bamford always makes me laugh.

Sarah Silverman. I liked doing road dates with her while she was working on ‘Postpartum.’ She’s one of the greats.

Zainab Johnson. We did a fun festival together in Seattle. She’s just so smooth, funny and smart.

Marc Maron. I like watching him. Although sometimes when I’m on a show with him, he’ll blow the light.

Mo Welch. of course.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change

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