Go Behind the Scenes of 'Just For Us' with Alex Edelman
"I've done three solo shows, but nothing I've ever done has found the sort of people that Just For Us has," Alex Edelman says. "So, we wanted to capture it in a beautiful theater, in its environment, because of the way that it's resonated with people."
That's the short version of how Just For Us, a one-man comedy show starring Edelman, which began life at festivals before it moved off-Broadway, became a word-of-mouth hit, and went to Broadway to become an even bigger one, is ending up on HBO April 6. Edelman filmed one of his performances at the Hudson Theater in the summer of 2023 for television, before he took the show on a national tour, and now his hilarious act—about religion, responsibility, identity, and crashing a white supremacist meeting in Queens—will be beamed into the living rooms of millions of viewers.
Will Edelman, who's performed the show hundreds of times, watch it himself? "I've seen it," he says, "but my friends are trying to convince me to have a little watch party, so I probably will do that. It might be nice to watch the special with people who have helped make it possible. I'm trying to be nonchalant about it, it is really freaking special."
Here, Edelman opens her camera roll to T&C to share a behind-the-scenes look at Just For Us on a tour stop in Chicago, and the moments that didn’t make it on screen.
"[Producer] Rachel Sussman got me this shirt because she knows how much I love Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm obsessed and she had just sent it to me, so I put it on. I love that this dressing room has a lot of character and history. You can see back on the wall all the signatures from people who have been in that room to do shows before. It's a nice thing that connects me to all the other stuff that's come before."
"My favorite restaurants in Chicago are all diners that are elevated, and Dove's Luncheonette in Wicker Park is the best one. It's where I go before my first show on two-show days; you have to eat before the first show and I'm bad about eating. It's a little more expensive than the average diner, but is so, so good. They've got all this art on the walls, photos of sports stuff and custom illustrations, so I was like, yep, I'm getting a picture of that."
"My friend Jimmy Mango, which is his real name, owns a gym in Chicago called Franklin Street Boxing Gym. I go there sometimes to box, and I'm sore for four days afterwards. But it's the best workout you can possibly get."
"This is my wardrobe. I have the same shirt in a bunch of different colors; they from AllSaints and they're all the same, button-downs that get buttoned all the way up to the top. You can also see my black jeans, and my green pants are hanging up because I was wearing the other pair of black jeans when I took this. This is the entire wardrobe of Just For Us. We do laundry once a week like college kids."
"Here, I'm walking away from Franklin Street back towards my theater in between shows. Chicago is a beautiful city and we kind of lucked out because we were there in some pretty cold months, but it did that thing where it was fake spring for a second and so we had a good time. In so many places we visited, I was like, I want to live here, and then I realized I think that in every city I visit and then I remember I'm an itinerant comedian."
"That's LaSalle Flowers, and it's beautiful. I don't even like flowers; why would you buy something just to watch it slowly die on your dining room table? But I love this shop so much. It's across the street from the Poetry Foundation, which is where I spent a lot of time before and in between shows. This is a perfect sign."
"This is my crew. Maday, at the end, does lighting, Gregor does sound, and Kathleen and JC are the stage management team. I love these people; they're fantastic. When I have great people, no one's happier than I am. I'm a really, really pleased little camper when I have good folks. It's not always the case, but it was here!"
"Au Cheval is a classic Chicago burger place and it's great late at night. My friend Coco had a burger with bacon, which I can't eat, and I myself had a root beer float and a veggie burger, which I can eat, and it was spectacular. But that's classic. I started the day at Dove's and ended it at Au Cheval."
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