September 2025: Jonathan van Halem Headlines Sesh Comedy on October 4th at 7pm
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled." - Jonathan van Halem
Hey friends,
First off, I’d like to welcome to the fold my seven (7!) new subscribers. The JVH-hive grows by the day. Some found me through my comedy on Instagram, some found me from guest writing in the State of Comedy newsletter, and some found me from knowing me personally for over twenty years. Regardless, I value you all equally.
The older I get, the more I appreciate September. As a child, I really didn’t like back-to-school. I hated both the cold weather and the end of the baseball season. But now as an adult, I see the beauty in September. Not only have I gained an appreciation for the crisp air, but I now welcome the end of another dog shit baseball season.
Comedy-wise, this September has been the busiest month of my stand-up career. I booked as many shows as I could in the lead-up to my headlining set at Sesh Comedy on Saturday October 4th. I’ve staked a lot on this show go well, and after all of the work I’ve put in, I’m pretty sure it will.
Longtime readers of the newsletter (AKA people who read last month’s post) know my goal is to get a bank of around 100 social media posts to begin a posting cadence, so I can grow my online following, sell more tickets out of town, quit my day job, and become a full-time comedian. Right now my bank has about 10 clips. I’m believe with a 95% degree of certainty that from this show alone, I’ll get about 20 clips, which is a great launching point. More on the below.
Anyways, before I delve deeper into the comedy stuff, here’s my month in photos.
(I was a groomsman for my friend Langston with my friends Ash, Tom, and Michael. Classic Indian wedding.)
(I headlined the Rockwell Theater in Somerville, MA, with my friend Nora Jefferies opening.)
(I bought these guacamole packets in bulk because I was sick of the grocery store not having them.)
(I went to the Poconos with my friends and my one friend called an ice cream truck to our driveway.)
(I headlined Boonton Coffee in Boonton, NJ with my friend Michael Good opening.)
(It’s true. None of this will matter when we’re famous singers.)
What I Listened To This Month
“Chateau” - Audrey Hobert - Audrey Hobert has officially entered JVH permanent rotation. Last month I mentioned her song “Sue Me”, but now I’m really jonesing to “Thirst Trap”, “Bowling Alley”, and “Chateau”. I heard a juicy rumor about which celebrity “Chateau” is about, but I’m not allowed to share.
“House Tour” - Sabrina Carpenter - Sabrina Carpenter is a perpetual inspiration to me, for many reasons. First off, her music was pretty bad for a while then all of a sudden got really good. This should serve as a motivator for all people who’ve made bad art. Second, she’s doing an old trope (“sexy lady”) and doing it in a fresh way (“sexy lady”… for women). And while I will be first to admit that my “thing” isn’t 5’0” sexy lady, I am inspired that she has been able to pump new energy into a tried and true archetype. Anyways, “House Tour” is a great song, and has what I consider to be the lyric of the year, “my house is on pretty girl avenue.”
“Jelabi Baby” - Tesher - I had never heard “Jelabi Baby” before, then I had to learn a choreographed dance for my friends’ Langston and Abhiti’s wedding. Then I heard Jelabi Baby a million times. May we all live such rich lives that we one day have to learn a choreographed dance to “Jelabi Baby”.
“Wristwatch” - MJ Lenderman - File this under “Songs JVH Was One Year Behind On”. It’s like it was made in a lab to be featured on a Pitchfork end-of-year list. And sometimes things things made in a lab are good, like One Direction, or Nacho Cheese Doritos.
Comedy Updates/Upcoming Shows
I performed on 18 shows in September of 2025. I was on stage for a total of 324 minutes, and made $1,186. My 2025 cumulative stage time total is 1,735 minutes. My 2025 cumulative earnings are $9,083. I have performed on 104 shows total shows.
A note: My 2025 goal (as laid out in 2024 JVH Unwrapped) was to perform on 100 shows. Goal achieved! 🥳
Some of my favorite shows this month included:
9/6 Sup Bro @ Union Hall - Sup Bro is a stand-up show hosted by Alison Leiby and Josh Gondelman, two pillars of the Brooklyn comedy scene. They run a fantastic show and cultivate a very kind crowd. They also gave each of the comedians a meaty fifteen minute set - oo baby!
9/18 Bomb Shelter @ The Gaf West - I love this show because whatever laughs you get, you have to earn. The show takes place in the basement of a bar on 44th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan, with a crowd that’s almost entirely barked in (aka, solicited off of the street). I do this show about once and a year and it always forces me to take an honest assessment of my material, which I really enjoy.
9/18 Paid Protest @ QED - Great QED show. It takes me fucking forever to get their from my apartment, but that’s my problem, not theirs. I did a few new bits on this show that did well, which gave me the confidence to enter them into the main rotation (particularly bits I have about McDonalds and Subway).
9/19 Don’t Tell Boston - Boston is one of the best Don’t Tell chapters in the country. In my experience, the shows are always well attended, with audiences that are eager to laugh. I had a merely fine set, but am always grateful for the stage time they give me. Plus, it made my trip to Boston a bit more financially viable.
9/19 Rockwell Theater (Headlining!) - The Rockwell Theater in Somerville, MA is a great space that hosts comedians of my style and notability-level. The audience was small but mighty (maybe 35 people?), but they were down from the beginning to have a good time. I did a long piece of crowd work with a woman about how she got cheated on (she offered up this information). It went fine - I’m still working out this muscle. Crowd work can be electric when it goes well, but when it goes poorly, it can really suck air out of the room. Regardless, it was great to do a 60 minute set, and a relief that it was at such a performer-friendly venue.
9/20 Boonton Coffee Presents (Headlining!) - I knew this show would sell out easily, and it did. Not only was it only a 40 seat capacity, but the venue is also about 20 minutes from where my parents live/where I grew up, so it was a bit of an audience stacked with people I knew personally. I was actually pretty nervous for this one (who wants to fail in front of their friends and family?) but it ended up going extremely well. I got to do this bit about my hometown newspaper writing an article about me, and I closed with a story about a nearby store I worked at, which went over well. It pumped some confidence into both of those bits, which now might enter my main rotation.
9/26 Hot Gossip @ Union Hall - I was asked on four days notice if I would put up a last minute Hot Gossip at Union Hall. For those who are unfamiliar, Union Hall is the best venue for comedy in Brooklyn. It has a built in audience of young, pop-culture knowledgable people, and they have an excellent pay-out for their show producers. I feel like if I say no, I will fall out of their rotation. So I threw together a line-up last minute, and through sheer will was able to sell 88 tickets in their 100 seat capacity venue. I also had it film, in hopes I could get 3-4 usable clips out of it. I haven’t watched that footage yet, but I assume some of it is good enough for prime time.
9/28 Steve Martin Presents @ Union Hall - Now THIS is a set I wish I had taped. I don’t know what was in the air that day, but this crowd was just eating up everyone’s sets. I did a handful of new jokes, plus my most reliable material, and it was all hitting. Honestly, it was one of the rare moments in stand-up where I felt like I was levitating. It was just the confidence boost I needed ahead of my Sesh show.
I’ve begun contributing to the State of Comedy newsletter. If you found me from there, welcome to the fold!
I’ve been selected to perform at a 2025 National Association of Campus Activities conference this October in Hartford, CT. This has the potential to be a huge financial boon for me if I’m able to secure bookings at a bunch of colleges. Whatever money I make on the college circuit I’m just gonna reinvest in my comedy, via either a publicist, a social media editor, or purchasing camera equipment. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it all goes well.
My Sesh show is this Saturday. At present moment, 41 tickets have sold (pretty good, I think?) I’d love to hit at least 80. I’ve arranged for a sponsored post for it to be featured in The Skint. I’ve submitted to Time Out New York, Nonsense, The New York Times, and a bunch of other places. Will I hit 80 tickets sold? Who knows. But if I don’t, it won’t be because I didn’t try.
I have headlining dates in the following cities. I’m gonna book more once I have higher quality videos/entered my posting cadence.
1/2 Beverly, MA
1/3 Springfield, MA
2/19 Seattle, WA
2/20 Portland, OR
3/12 Chattanooga, TN
That’s it for now
I will be back next month with more stand-up updates/pop culture recommendations and all of that good stuff. I also hope to write a longer form piece in next month’s newsletter, as well. Thank you so much for reading.
Love,
JVH