_{Photo: Sela Shiloni}

The Hardest Working Man in Comedy

by Mia Phillips

To describe Matteo Lane as busy would be an understatement. The stand-up comedian is booked to perform in cities all over the world on his latest We Gotta Catch Up tour, which makes a two-night stop in Provincetown. Earlier this summer, during a six-week break from tour, he traded in his stand-up material for a script. In June, he made his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in Chicago. 

“I had a month and a half off because that was supposed to be my vacation—I only have time to vacation once a year—so I decided to use that vacation time to do Broadway,” says Lane. 

A career in comedy is nothing short of demanding in its own right. Either you are on tour, or you’re preparing to go back on tour. So when the intensive commitment of Broadway’s schedule took effect, Lane was ready. “The schedule wasn’t so hard because as a comic that is your life, you do shows every single night, especially when you’re writing the material,” says Lane. “Instead of hanging out with comics, you’re hanging out with incredible dancers and singers.”

Lane learned the discipline required for his career early in life. An opera singer in his youth, he later earned a degree in fine art. He spent five months studying in Italy as an oil painter and opera singer, a birthright trip for the Italian American. “Understanding the artistic process of putting in the work, I think, is really important, and I think it serves you really well in any aspect of your life,” says Lane. “When you work as an artist, that’s a really big thing that you have to get accustomed to, and I think it translates well in terms of work ethic for stand-up.” 

Lane worked as a storyboard artist after college, and pursued stand-up on the side. But when his comedy schedule began to eclipse that of his full-time job, Lane decided to commit fully to the former.

Months of preparation went into Lane’s current tour. During that process, most nights of the week Lane could be found at the Comedy Cellar in New York testing new material. “It’s the best club in the world,” says Lane. “It’s my home club; it’s the dream club for every comic.” There, he performed four to six 15-minute sets a night, honing his punchlines and reworking his delivery. Sometimes a joke works on the first try; other times it can take six months of telling and retelling before it’s tour-ready. 

Performing live is integral to Lane’s process. “You need the audience in front of you to dictate what’s funny,” says Lane. “You can’t really know what’s going to work until you work it out with an audience.”

Working towards a tour doesn’t stop when Lane steps off stage. Coming up with new material is an around-the-clock effort. His inner monologue becomes overrun with brainstorming sessions. “All day I’m thinking about jokes,” says Lane. During daily interactions, Lane finds inspiration for his show, “I look at my stand-up like catching up with an old friend at brunch,” says Lane. 

After around 25 performances a week for six to eight months, Lane takes his perfected punchlines to larger and larger audiences until he’s ready for a theater tour. But that doesn’t mean the set is etched in stone— or rather recorded for at-home audiences—yet. “A theater has a different energy than a club,” says Lane. “Comedy is all about adapting.” Lane will tour his hour for a year before it’s ready for film. 

This past June, when Lane spent his summer vacation on Broadway, the preparation required was a stark contrast from his time-consuming stand-up process—Lane had two weeks of rehearsals before his Broadway debut. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and it was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” says Lane. “It was a wonderful, wonderful experience and I’ll definitely do it again.” 

Despite the familiarities Lane found within the intense schedule requirements of Broadway, Lane’s relationship to the audience played a distinctly different role. “Broadway you rehearse, and then you present. Stand-up is different; you have an idea and work it out with an audience,” says Lane. 

In Chicago, Lane portrayed Billy Flynn—a criminal defense lawyer who is known for representing women who have murdered their husbands. The musical celebrated its 50th anniversary a couple of years ago, which means Lane’s character, Flynn, has been portrayed by countless actors in countless productions. Lane’s interpretation, however, was unique to him. “Billy’s got a particularly funny character in the sense that he’s got like all these punchlines,” says Lane. “There’s a way to infuse your sensibility as a comedian.”

Using his experience in stand-up, Lane honed his scene delivery to elicit certain emotions from the audience. “If I say this line this way, or if I emphasize this line this way, or if I react this way, that will garner a laugh,” says Lane. “Long way of saying I made him pretty gay.” 

His comedy background wasn’t the only experience that assisted him during his Broadway run. “Thank god I sing opera because it helped me learn the music quickly,” says Lane. 

For Lane, Provincetown represents the closest he’s gotten to a vacation in months. And after the year he’s had no one can deny he deserves one. “It’s going to be fun,” says Lane. “I’m overly excited for it.”

Matteo Lane is presented by Payomet Performing Arts Center at Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial St., on Friday and Saturday, August 7 & 8, at 7 p.m. For tickets ($53 – $95) and information call 508.487.5400  or visit payomet.org.