Couples who joke together stay together. Avoid the schmaltz in Valentine's Day this year and celebrate by checking out these five local comedian couples who share in each other's shticks.
Rhea Butcher & Cameron Esposito
This recently married duo of stand-ups hosts a showcase together every week. One of the most popular tickets in town, Put Your Hands Together, regularly sells out, and we'd bet Butcher and Esposito's charming, almost vaudevillian banter is part of the reason why. "We're sort of like Burns and Allen," Butcher says. "But with two Allens." The two even have their own self-styled menswear pin-up calendar, Butch Up.
See them every Tuesday at 8pm at UCB Franklin, and listen to their weekly podcast.
Matt Hobby & Mary Grill
While onstage, Hobby and Grill are usually pretending to be other people. They cohost (along with Cass Bugge) the character showcase American Town Hall. But in their intimate, stripped-down web series, Matt and Mary Forever, you'll get the real deal on their marriage—or at least the funny parts.
See them perform once a month at the Copper Still, and listen to their web series.
Kurt Braunohler & Lauren Cook
Although Cook is an actor and storyteller and Braunohler is a stand-up, the two have found several ways to collaborate. Both are bracingly honest, and you can learn more than you're comfortable with about their marriage by listening to their funny and insightful podcast, Wedlock. They have also conceived of and designed an upcoming stunt that is simultaneously the best and worst idea ever: tubing down the LA River after a rainfall. If you go, there's a chance you'll get hurt; if you don't go, there's a chance you'll die of heartbreaking FOMO.
Listen to their podcast, and sign up to receive updates about their L.A.zy river event.
Chris Smith & Rebecca Delgado Smith
The Smiths met in college, which is also when they founded the now successful and always hilarious sketch group Harvard Sailing Team with a few of their friends. Also, if you were one of the 112 million people who watched this year's Super Bowl, you saw them starring as a couple in a BMW commercial (she scrolls through the numbers he has on speed dial in the car), which is strangely the second car commercial they've shot together.
Check out their sketch comedy group.
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
If you're married to a rising stand-up and TV star, and living in Los Angeles, you'll likely fall into the entertainment industry yourself—especially when you're also intelligent and witty with plenty to say. Gordon, who's also an author, often appears onstage at the Meltdown, one of LA's most successful stand-up showcases, which she co-produces. She and her husband, Nanjiani, also host the wildly popular podcast The Indoor Kids, which they occasionally do live.
See them perform at Nerdmelt (or watch episodes of the TV version) and listen to their podcast.
