Adam Ray Live

My introduction to comedian and actor Adam Ray was many years ago as a guest on other comedy podcasts—that’s what makes his success now so inspiring to watch. He’s been working for so long and finally got the break he deserved. With his “Dr. Phil” character going viral, he was able to showcase his acting, improv, crowd work, and stand-up skills, delivering hilarious and memorable performances that reached a massive audience. His riffs on stage while in character with celebrities and stand-ups are laugh-out-loud. He even breaks character which makes the whole thing even funnier. He’s taken his characters like “Dr. Phil” and “President Joe Biden” to the popular Kill Tony podcast, garnering millions of views on YouTube. It wasn’t a shock when he got a deal with Netflix for a comedy special, Adam Ray is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED, transforming into his “Dr. Phil” character for a global audience and bringing along the real Dr. Phil to the stage with him. Adam Ray’s skills, honed after two decades of working in the entertainment industry, are truly an experience to behold.

My husband had bought tickets for Adam Ray’s tour stop in Philadelphia last year but the show got pushed back to March. “Dr. Phil” started getting big on Kill Tony, and he was doing YouTube videos with the character as well, that it seemed like the Dr. Phil Live show Adam was touring replaced our show date. We held onto our tickets because we were interested in seeing Adam Ray as himself after watching him kill so many times as “Dr. Phil”. We saw his show last weekend where he performed at the Punch Line Philly comedy club for just one out of six sold-out shows that weekend at the club. As I walked into the venue that night, I glanced around at the people getting through security and hanging out at the bar because I’m always curious to know if there are other Hispanics, but it was pretty much all white people. It wasn’t until the comedy show started when one of the openers asked if there were any Latinas that I learned there were three of us there representing, so that was pretty cool. The three openers were great and kept the night rolling with laughter but when the headliner arrived the excitement erupted.

One thing about stand-up is that you can tell how long someone has been performing by how they act on stage. They’ll stalk the stage, covering every inch of space, or use the mic stand as a prop, or even bring a notebook out with them because they’re working out material. They’re just comfortable being there. Adam Ray was no different. He came out to loud applause, grabbed the mic, and walked to the edge of the stage fearlessly searching our faces. He zeroed in on a man sitting close to the stage at the end of the front row. The chair next to him was vacant so, of course, Adam struck up a conversation with him, asking him where his companion was. “He’s in the bathroom…he has the runs,” the man said. My husband whispered to me that Adam would go back to that guy when he returned from the bathroom. Until then, Adam seamlessly dove into poop stories. It was impressive to watch him go into his comedy bag of poop jokes after just one conversation with an audience member. Sure enough, the outed man came back from the bathroom and I winced when I saw his dazed expression. Not Adam. He asked him exactly what we were all thinking: “Were you in the bathroom doing drugs?” The two friends looked more like Beavis and Butt-Head, which was probably what led Adam to say, “I don't know what you’d be doing, but I would watch six seasons of you guys.”

Adam’s set was a perfect mix of what he does best. Midway through we were even treated to the popular Adam Ray as “Dr. Phil” catchphrase: “We’ll be right back!” Adam shared a story from the time he did Jelly Roll’s birthday roast. Kid Rock was in attendance and Adam was told not to make any jokes about him, so, of course, he made jokes about Kid Rock only to be confronted by his hero afterward. There were jokes about Elon Musk and Trump (“I think we can all agree seventy-eight is too old to run a country”), and then he spent the last fifteen minutes doing his impressions of Dr. Phil, Joe Biden, and Jeremy, a new character he had debuted on Kill Tony. He closed the show with a brand new impression of the audience member who had been in the bathroom with the runs. But that wasn’t the real closer.

Before Adam left he surprised us by offering a free meet and greet. I was stunned because one, out of all the comedy shows I’ve been to throughout the years I’ve only seen that generosity once when Bryan Callen came to the Helium Comedy Club in Philly; second, we were the early show at 7:30 p.m., which meant he still had a second show right after ours. I looked around at the packed room and wondered how he would fit us all in. Sure, some people walked off to the exit but a majority of us chose to meet him. On our way to the meet and greet line outside my husband and I chatted about how lucky we were to get this opportunity. This was Adam’s way of showing his appreciation. This wasn’t something he had to do; it was just something he wanted to do. Outside, the line circled through the patio where there was a side door to the club. Adam stood against the black wall just a few inches from the door talking to fans. The line moved slowly as we talked with a couple behind us who drove from Baltimore to see the show. By the time we approached the head of the line, people were already inside waiting to enter the club for the 9:30 p.m. show. Again, I was struck by how kind Adam was to take the time to meet all of us instead of giving himself a break before he had to perform again.

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March 22, 2024

Meeting Adam was such a fun experience that perfectly capped off our night of laughs, drinks, and good food. I thought the meet and greet would just be getting a picture (and that would’ve been plenty) but he really took the time to have a conversation. He grinned, shook my hand, and asked what my name was. He then asked us how we found him. We told him we’d been following the comedy podcast circuit for years and had saved our tickets from his show last year that got postponed. We told him how great the show was. “This was one of the best shows,” he said, “because of the energy. You can get some people in the crowd,” and he leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and looked serious, “and I’m like come on!” I thanked him for the meet and greet acknowledging he must’ve been tired after performing for us, but he smiled and kindly brushed it off. We got our photo and I walked away thinking about energy and the symbiotic relationship between the performer and the audience. Adam gave us a great show but we also gave him that back. He couldn’t be more grateful.