Stavros Halkias Delivered at His St. Louis Show

Over the weekend I had tickets to see Stavros Halkias do stand up. Let’s discuss.

For people that may not know who Stavros is, he has his own podcast, he is one of the better touring stand ups on the road right now, had a small but memorable role in "Bugonia", and he starred in a movie a few years ago called "Let's Start A Cult". Stavros stays working, and whenever he is a guest on a podcast I listen to, I'm always amped to hear what he has to say. Now, I was almost not able to go to this show. I had two tickets, and my buddy who I was supposed to go with got sick. Luckily my brother was off work Friday night, and he was more than willing to attend. He is a Stavros fan as well. I anticipated a good time because, when I tried to purchase tickets for the 7pm show, I couldn't find two seats together. so, I had to adjust and get two tickets next to one another for the late show, a 9:30pm start. This made me optimistic. That meant he was selling out Saint Louis, which usually means this person will come back to do more shows.

So, as we settled into our seats, I really didn't know what to expect. I prefer earlier shows because I'm old and like to go to bed by 11 every night. But when we got to our seats, the theater was probably about 95 percent full, and a lot of the people in the crowd were my age. The opener was solid. He did about 20 minutes and his stand up was pretty solid. He was also able to improv on the spot, which I always like, and he had some sports centric jokes which I appreciate. His name is Anthony Devito, and I believe he has been Stavros' opening act during this tour.

Then, a little after 10pm, Stavros took the stage and commanded the crowd for about 75 minutes. You could tell early on how much of a pro Stavros is at stand up comedy. His segues were perfect. He was able to bounce from bit to bit with ease. When he would do some kind of contortion with his face or body, it was seamless and added a ton to the bit. He also brought up timely topics and made it funny. We all know that the world is in a horrible place, and while Stavros noted that, he also buttoned it with jokes that had me cackling from my seat. My brother goes to live shows all the time, but for him it is music. He hasn't seen much live stand up comedy, and I was happy to have a little more knowledge than him at a live event. He has always looked out for me at concerts we have gone to together, but Friday night he was in my world. He found the show funny too. He was laughing harder than me at times. What stuck out to me was how well of a job Stavros handled the crowd. He had some planned crowd work in his act, but when it wasn't planned he was at the top of his game. He called out a "Star Wars" fan at the top of the show and that was dynamite. He had a bit about being an in vitro baby, and he used that as another chance to do more crowd work. He used local landmarks and areas for some more great crowd work. Outside of that, Stavros knows how to own a crowd and go with the ebbs and flows. He did a very long bit about being an uncle now and that was perfect. The jokes he made as being the weird uncle had me cracking up. But he was also very sincere when talking about his nephew, and I loved that. He had some great jokes about the horrific administration we unfortunately have to deal with at the moment. But what stood out most to me, what will always stay with me, was his runner about taking Zep Bound. Zep Bound is a weight loss drug. Others may know it by its other names, Ozempic or Wegovy. I personally have been taking Wegovy for a few months now and it is working. But hearing Stavros talk about his journey on this drug was dynamite and I totally related to it. Every joke hit me in a specific spot and I loved it. When he talked about having to literally jab the shot into your stomach, that was the cream of the crop for me. I also really liked it when he explained to the crowd about having to leave the meds in the fridge, which means you have to take the medicine out of a space in your home where you keep all your good food.

I was all in, excited and the show fully delivered. I cannot recommend going to see Stavros Halkias live if you get the chance. He is one of the best in the business and that more than comes across when you see him live. Check out his show. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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