Strange how the brick wall has become a visual metonym for stand-up comedy. My grandfather was a bricklayer. He’d get up every morning at the crack of dawn, put on a pot of coffee, make his lunch, then go and build skyscrapers all day. Half a century later, I stand in front of brick walls every night telling jokes. My grandfather’s hands were huge and calloused, mine are small and covered in setlists. The only thing we have in common seems to be the bricks themselves. Strang

I was a mess a year ago. My relationship failed, I had to move house three times, and my bank account was frozen by the German Tax Office for reasons I won’t get into. They say it takes a crisis before anything changes: this was my crisis. My first response was to try to ostrich it all away: head in the sand, hands pressed firmly to ears, mouth forming the words “la la la la la”. But then after the umpteenth night of pilsner, shots and Döner-kebab, I looked myself in the clou

​ ​Like usual, I did a lot of shows in 2017, not all of them paid, not all of them good, but all of them worthwhile. Here were some of the weirder ones: 1. Opening for Steve-O (above) Technically this was in 2016 (December), but the Year of Weird Gigs really got kicked off the day after my birthday when I opened for Jackass star Steve-O at YAAM! in Berlin. I was barely coherent, nursing quite the sizeable hangover, and Steve-O didn’t show up until a minute before I went onsta

My father steals the show! Live at Du Beast bar in Berlin-Neukölln. Paul Salamone is a stand-up comedian, writer and designer living in Berlin, Germany. Subscribe to his Newsletter for major announcements including new videos, big gigs, tours, and merch! #frontpage