From Thursday night until her last performance Saturday, L.A.-based comic Alice Wetterlund delivered a solid three nights’ worth of personal anecdotes and punchlines at the Comedy Attic.
Wetterlund — also known as Carla Walton on the HBO sitcom “Silicon Valley” — made her Comedy Attic debut last September.
Originally from Minneapolis and having trained at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater in New York City Wetterlund has since balanced a busy career of acting and stand-up comedy.
At each of her five Comedy Attic performances, no subject was off limits for the comedian: breakups, sobriety, car accidents and college recollections. Wetterlund’s style ranged from casual to astonishingly intimate, as if speaking to a close friend.
“After today, I can proudly say I don’t need to be drunk to get into a car accident,” she joked. “I called my lady at State Farm, like, ‘I got in some fender benders and I wanted to know how much my insurance would be.’ He’s like, ‘They’re called accidents and it’s astronomical.’” The audience erupted.
Wetterlund shared the stage with two others: 21-year-old host Mo Mitchell from Bloomington and opener Georgea Brooks, a friend and fellow comedian from Toronto.
As pub food was quietly delivered to patrons, Brooks finished her routine and Mitchell welcomed Wetterlund onstage.
With Brooks finishing on the subject of ex-boyfriends, Wetterlund skillfully re-opened the topic and laced a painful breakup with humor.
She then transitioned to her college days in an anecdote about an ill-received Cookie Monster costume. Remarking on the character’s addiction, which she subtly held up against her own, she wondered aloud why, when “his life revolves around this one thing, he lets the crumbs fall out of his mouth.”
The audience erupted again.
Between her shows on Friday night, Wetterlund reflected on her experience at the Comedy Attic and why she opted to return.
“This club is a bit different than other clubs — I don’t know if people are aware, but the Comedy Attic creates an experience that’s really best for both the audience and the comedian,” she said.
She said she also likes the club for their no-pressure atmosphere.
“Also, they don’t try to sell expensive drinks and push that on you,” she said. “A lot of comedy clubs throughout the nation have this pressure to get drunk, but Comedy Attic puts the focus back on the comedian.”
Wetterlund will appear in the upcoming comedy film “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” alongside actors Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick.
She also expects to continue her work with “Silicon Valley,” a series in which six young men found a startup company in Silicon Valley and reluctantly hire Wetterlund’s character, a genius hacker named Carla.
Wetterlund has previously appeared in Seth Rogen’s politcal-satire film “The Interview” and MTV’s “Girl Code,” a series exploring the code of conduct between women.
