Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

The newly engaged Whitney Cummings gets set for the Comedy Cellar

Whitney Cummings

Courtesy of E!

Whitney Cummings

Everything is different now for Whitney Cummings. The comedian has always used being single, dating and the misadventures of her romantic life as fodder for her standup act and writing. But earlier this month she got engaged. Now what?

“I got a little nervous. Should I quit comedy now?” she says. “But then not even 48 hours later I already had so many ideas for new jokes, I thought, this is great for stand-up. I should have done this earlier.”

You probably won’t catch many engagement jokes if you see Cummings make her debut at the Comedy Cellar Las Vegas this week because she likes to home in on her writing before she tests new comedy concepts on a live audience. But they’re coming. The real question: Is her fiancé ready?

“I think he knows what he signed up for,” she says. “The craziest thing is he’s never seen me do stand-up live before. I figured I’d get the ring first and then let him come. He saw my last HBO special but never live. I have a couple of jokes about him and yeah, he’s going to feel it. But the people who know me know I don’t hide anything and I’m certainly not going to stop just because I’m getting married.”

Cummings is touring now in preparation for a new TV special, her first for Netflix, which is scheduled for filming in November. The Comedy Cellar shows are significant because she appreciates the diverse audience a performer can find only in Las Vegas, and because the original Comedy Cellar in New York is her favorite club.

“When they said they were opening in Vegas I thought, what a cool thing to do. I normally play at the Venetian or at bigger venues so I’m really excited to actually see people in the audience,” she says. “And since I’m working on the special and changing the order of things every night, people will get to see a work in progress and a smaller space is better for that. Plus I get to see everyone’s puke on their shirts and how miserable everyone will be having lost a bunch of money. There’s nothing better than a closeup on someone who just lost their life savings.”

She’s kidding. But she’s serious about the material, which doesn’t involve any political jokes or Trump talk.

“I’m proud to say this is an hour with absolutely no politics in it. No one is going to get triggered so you can feel safe coming to this show,” Cumming says. “It’s just so hard to escape right now, so I tell people if nothing else, you’ll get a rest from that for a while. Especially when you’re in Las Vegas, you don’t want to have to think about the apocalypse. It’s a safe place where you can LOL and get drunk.”

Whitney Cummings will perform at 7 and 9 p.m. September 17 and 18 at the Comedy Cellar at the Rio (3700 W. Flamingo Road, 702-777-2782) and more info can be found at comedycellar.com.