Politixia
Comedian, actor and writer Dana Gould will perform back-to-back stand-up shows at 6 and 9 p.m. Sept. 26 at The Arts Campus at Willits — part of the venue’s five-year birthday celebration.
“Five years? This happened fast,” Executive Director Ryan Honey told The Aspen Times. “I’m thrilled to celebrate five years of artistry, laughter, connection and collaboration during our birthday weekend at TACAW. The days-long birthday celebration showcases the diversity of TACAW’s year-round programming, and I will be at every show.”
He added, “I’m especially excited to laugh with Dana Gould, who’s responsible for some of my favorite lines from ‘The Simpsons.’ Nothing like ringing in the next five years at TACAW with a comedy legend.”
The show will be an observational and storytelling set, largely about the future, also with material from his most recent stand-up special, “Perfectly Normal” (January 2025), taped in Los Angeles and released through 800 Pound Gorilla Media.
“This is a really great time to be doing stand-up,” Gould said. “We’re at the point in the world when we can ask our car questions and our car will answer us, and we have robots going down the street delivering potato chips. We’re in the future; it’s just the crappiest version of everything.”
Although Gould said he is a huge fan of Colorado, it will be his first appearance in Basalt. He has a multidecade history with the state, performing time and time again in Denver and Boulder and previously appearring in the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
Gould, who was born Aug. 24, 1964, in Hopedale, Mass., started doing stand-up at 17.
“The Comedy Works was one of the first places I headlined,” he said. “I also remember working at the Denver Comedy Works the night the first Gulf War broke out.”
After a year of studying communications at Framingham State College, he left for San Francisco, where he helped launch the San Francisco Comedy Condo in 1986 with comedian Alex Reid.
He’s known for writing and producing “The Simpsons” (2001-07), work that garnered Emmy recognition. He was a co-executive producer on the series when it received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program.
“I’m proud to have been a part of ‘The Simpsons’ because, long after I’m gone, people will still be watching episodes of ‘The Simpsons,’ and I think that’s really great,” he said.
He also created the horror-comedy series “Stan Against Evil” (2016-18), about a retired sheriff battling demons in a haunted New England town.
“It was my own idea. I thought it up in my kitchen, and it became a show,” he said.
His other credits include “The Ben Stiller Show” and “Seinfeld.” He’s worked as a voice artist and was a regular contributor to “The Adam Carolla Show.” He hosts the podcast “The Dana Gould Hour” that he launched in 2012 and is a writer on “Stewie,” an upcoming “Family Guy” spinoff created by Seth MacFarlane and Kirker Butler for Fox, aimed at the 2027-28 season.
He joked, “I don’t have any hobbies. I just really like to make stuff up … I always like to go towards things that are a little more off to the center, often a little more weird. I think it’s more important than ever with the homogenization of culture, because of social media, for weirdos to have a voice.”
Gould brings his “Planet of the Apes”-inspired live show, “Hanging with Doctor Z Live in NYC,” to Terminal 5 in Manhattan Sept. 16. The project grew out of an unfilmed sketch on “The Ben Stiller Show,” on which he was a writer.
With his favorite holiday, Halloween, around the corner, he has picked out his costume.
“I go for comfort, so I’m going to try and go as Harry Dean Stanton from the movie ‘Alien,’” he said.
For more information and tickets, visit tacaw.org.
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