Considering the success of the Horror Nerd Comedy Podcast, it’s no surprise that horror aficionado and comedian Samantha Hale launched her own comedy special. Samantha Hale: Horror Nerd is a laugh-out-loud tribute to the genre. Hale also manages to open up and get personal on stage, connecting her love and personal journey with the genre to her relationship with her parents and the profound loss she felt when they passed away. Her special also includes some biting political and social commentary. Overall, it’s a delightfully entertaining hour.
Hale begins by addressing some of the first horror movies that forged her love of the genre. She started watching them before she was ten years old and credits her father especially for fostering and encouraging this new fascination his daughter had for all things spooky. There’s even a great moment where she recounts seeing Scream in the theater and returning again and again, in part, because she had an intense crush on Skeet Ulrich. She also credits The Addams Family as another early love and confesses that she looked up to Morticia Addams.
While sharing her entry into the genre, Hale, of course, peppers the personal narratives with plenty of jokes, both about herself and some of these horror movie staples. Amid the clever quips, however, Hale easily opens up about her relationship with her parents, including her parents’ divorce and how challenging it was for her mom. Yet, she then jokes that after the divorce, she got to move across the street from the house in Poltergeist. This punchline is an example of what Hale does so well. She can be confessional on stage, just before or after a joke. Comedy in general takes a lot of guts. Couple that with sharing some of your most personal details with an audience. Yet, Hale never flinches.
The act takes another very personal turn when Hale addresses the loss of her father in her early 20s and then her mom’s passing in her early 30s. These are pretty gut-wrenching moments and a highlight of Hale’s set. Yet, horror helped her cope, grieve, and overcome such profound loss, and that’s a thread that runs through Hale’s set, be it when addressing her parents’ divorce, or the loss of her parents. Horror was always there for her and helped her survive. That’s something a lot of genre fans will relate to.
Hale’s special isn’t without a few barbs about the current rightward political shift in the United States. At one point, she jokes that she’d love to see Carrie White use her telekinetic powers against the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade a few years ago. Yet, Hale keeps the straight-up political jokes few and far between, so her set never sounds preachy. She knows when to hold her fire and when best to use it.
Samantha Hale: Horror Nerd is a celebration of the genre with lots of laughs. Hale easily blends personal narratives with jokes that land. Horror hounds, go check out her special. It’s available to rent and stream on most major platforms.
