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5 Boston comedians to watch

The soon-to-open club Laugh Boston is the ideal showcase for up-and-coming performers like Wes Hazard, Will Noonan, Bethany Van Delft, Shea Spillane, and Mike Whitman.

WILL NOONAN

30 > MILTON

Rating Boston’s comedy scene It’s like Seattle right before Nirvana came out: filled with amazing talent the world has yet to discover, and great coffee.

Comedy style in three words or less Mostly. In. English.

Comedy hero I love Richard Pryor and Jerry Seinfeld equally. I try to be the pale Irish son they could never conceive for obvious reasons like age.

Punchline I said to my girlfriend recently, “You look so beautiful.” She said, “Aww! When I’m 80 years old, with gray hair and wrinkles, will you still tell me that I’m beautiful?” And I said, “Yes. I’ll call you and I’ll tell you that.”

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WES HAZARD

28 > BOSTON

Day job Library assistant

View on Laugh Boston From what I’ve seen, this club has been developed with an understanding of the needs of live comedy and those that perform it — and that means so much.

Rating Boston’s comedy scene 10 on the Mohs scale, hard but beautiful

Comedy style in three words or less Vigorous, bespectacled, effective

Comedy hero Jaleel White

MIKE WHITMAN

34 > MILTON

Day job Part-time Zumba and mixed martial arts instructor

View on Laugh Boston It’s going to be a home for all working comics run by people who know the business.

Rating Boston’s comedy scene Coming back

Comedy style in three words or less Frustrating, mystical, irrelevant, confusion, warm tuna wraps, distracted, bewildering, feeling you get when you just watched the hit movie Beaches mixed with just getting off the teacup ride at the carnival***MESSAGE TRUNCATED***

Comedy hero Any veteran comic who still continually writes new material

SHEA SPILLANE

26 > SOMERVILLE

Day job Waitress/hostess

Rating Boston’s comedy scene It’s big enough that there’s a good amount of opportunity [to perform], but small enough that you don’t get lost in a sea of comics.

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Comedy style in three words or less Goofy but thoughtful

Comedy hero Lucille Ball. She paved the way for other funny, fire-haired females.

Punchline I can’t stand “Baby on board” signs. If you’re going to put a sign on the back of your car, I want it to be useful information for me to have, like “Single doctor on board.”

BETHANY VAN DELFT

> BOSTON

Day job Minion to a 1-year-old

Rating Boston’s comedy scene The best comedy breeding ground in the country

Comedy style in three words or less Low-key, wry

Comedy hero Oh, gosh, I’m afraid of commitment!

Punchline I’m supposed to respond to my baby’s babbling, but I can’t because I don’t know what she’s saying. She doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak her language, I’m American!

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