Austin’s comedy scene is different from when a then-17-year-old Vanessa Gonzalez did her first tight five at Fallout Theater. At the time, Gonzalez had been sticking to sketch and improv because, as she puts it, “stand-up was the most intimidating one to get the guts to do.” Thankfully, her friend Lisa Friedrich saw the comic’s potential and wrangled Gonzalez into doing a set in a variety lineup.
“She kind of just threw me in the deep end of the pool,” Gonzalez recalls. “And she was like, ‘You’re funny. You’ll figure it out. Just tell a story, talk about your mom or whatever.’ And that’s what I did.”
Three Best of Austin awards, a spot in Variety’s 2022 “Top 10 Comics to Watch” list, and a comedy album (My Birthday’s Tomorrow) later, the stand-up stalwart returns to Austin’s ever-shifting comedy landscape to record her first-ever hour set – a massive career goal accomplished and totally self-financed. On the Creek and the Cave stage this Friday and Saturday (Dec. 12-13), she’ll be cracking into topical subjects with the personal touch that’s always marked her comedy style, from what life’s like in 2025 as a 40-year-old woman to her childhood and upbringing in Laredo, Texas…