Oh, you want some laughs this year? Maybe a big bag of chuckles for 2025? Well we got your lolz right here. (You know, in the article you just clicked on.)
Once more it’s time to figure out which standup comedians in our local scene are the ones to watch out for this year.
Whether dipping into heavier topics like rage and sadness (both pretty funny!) or laughing about having a big butt (even funnier!), this year’s comics are showing other parts of the world (like Wisconsin and the Dakotas) why the Twin Cities comedy scene remains GOATed.
Abenezer Merdassa: “I’m doing a Dr. Who convention in February.”
When Merdassa first started doing comedy, he’d go to Sisyphus every Thursday for open mic. In 2021, he won Sisyphus’s Funniest Person in Minneapolis contest. This year, he and the brewery took their relationship to the next level.
“When they called and asked me if I would headline a whole weekend, I felt like I was being proposed to,” he says. “I was just like, ‘Oh my God!’ and running from room to room.”
It felt inevitable that Merdassa would make the leap to local headliner status at places like Sisyphus and Comedy Corner Underground. He is a pro at connecting with his audience and plumbing his own psyche for new material.
“I’m taking one-liners and expanding on them into three- or four-minute jokes,” he says. “When I first started I would just be like, ‘Oh, I have a big butt.’ And that was the whole joke. Now I can explore like, do I have body issues? It’s fun to do less one-punch kind of stuff and go for more refined bits.”
Originally from Ethiopia, Merdassa has been a strong part of the Twin Cities comedy scene for the past six years, effortlessly bouncing between cultural observations of things like working with other immigrants in his day job, to wild-ass tales of smashing a raccoon with his car.
“I want to travel to other scenes and see what’s going on,” he says of his 2025 aspirations. “I want to refine my hour. I like being good at something, so I want to refine what I have to a point where I can look at it and be like, ‘You cannot touch this.’”
While he’s still putting in time at open mics and grinding towards bigger goals, Merdassa also sees 2025 as a year to appreciate where he’s at–even if where he’s at is nerdy as hell (respectfully).
“I’m doing a Dr. Who convention in February,” he says, clearly very excited. “I was talking to [fellow comic] Matt Dooyema at a show, and he told me that he does comedy at these conventions with Miss Shannan Paul. I said, ‘I will do anything to be on that show. I love Dr. Who so much.’ And he let me in.”
Even though being the belle of the WHOniverse ball doesn’t necessarily hit the same way for every comic, Merdassa says the opportunity to do something he loves is a major feather in his cap (or fez, depending on your favorite Doctor).
“Opportunities to do cool stuff like this are something I never thought would be a thing,” he says. “So if I get those chances, I’m going to do it.”
Lily Meyer: “You have to have a following now.”
“I used to be anorexic,” goes one of Lily Meyer’s jokes. “Anyone else here used to be hot?”
Needless to say, Meyer isn’t afraid to split a room.
Touching on her own history with body issues and relationship challenges with a one-two punch of darkness and snarkiness, Meyer’s comedy can crush with both Gen Zers and wine moms.
Meyer has built up a steady arsenal of material onstage as a regular feature at Laugh Camp in St. Paul, Comedy Corner Underground, and Sisyphus. But this year she also became a killer on social media, tapping into her non-comic life as a server.
If you swing by Meyer’s Instagram, you’ll see a buffet of videos reenacting some of the most cringeworthy–and accurate–server scenarios that could trigger major PTSD in any front-of-house restaurant veteran.
“The one thing that’s been nice about making my server videos is that if I’m stalled in my writing and need a new idea, I can always go back to those and see which ones did really well and resonated with people,” she says. “Then I can look at how to maybe work those into standup bits.”
Those jokes have allowed Meyer to hit the road this past year, performing in Boston, Chicago, and North Dakota, and a spot in the annual 10,000 Laughs Festival locally.
“I’m trying to get out more and be seen,” she says of her 2025 goals. “I really want to try going to new cities and booking shows and meeting new people.”
But fear not, hometowners! You’ll still be able to catch Meyer at the monthly comedy night she co-produces over at Indeed Brewing, and, of course, on your phone.
“You have to have a following now,” she says of her focus on creating #content. “I don’t always love doing it, but a big part of getting booked is having a good social media presence.”
Sam Schedler: “I had to sit there for five minutes and watch my jokes bomb, even though I wasn’t the one doing them.”
Yes, this is supposed to be a list of comics you might not be familiar with who you should check out before they hit it big. And yes, we know that Sam Schedler is someone you probably already know from his massive TikTok following and baking videos. But this is your official wakeup call to put the phone down and go see him live on stage in 2025. And that’s a threat (as Schedler lovingly uses in his videos and on his merch).
Despite being extremely popular online, Schedler really only took to the stage a little over a year ago. While he certainly was able to carry some of his fans from the algorithm into the clubs, he admits that there was definitely a learning curve.
“One audience will think that a joke is the funniest thing in the whole world. And then another audience, in the same venue, won’t give you anything at all,” he reflects. “I think I needed to understand what happened, or just accept that they weren’t feeling a certain joke on that particular night.”
Onstage, Schedler shares tales of dating an aspiring karate sensei and not-to-be-named weathermen via tongue-in-cheek dialogues with his audience. While he packs plenty of surprise twists on the way to big punchlines, Schedler learned this year that his jokes don’t always translate to other performers.
“I did the Fish Bowl show at Sisyphus,” he says of his toughest comedy moment this year, where comics perform the material of the person they pick from a bowl. “I was so excited to see someone else do my jokes. No one laughed the entire time. I had to sit there for five minutes and watch my jokes bomb. I think that was worse than actually bombing myself.”
This year, Schedler’s biggest goal is to figure out where he fits in the landscape of local comedy.
“I haven’t featured for a straight person yet,” he says, laughing. “Maybe that’s something I’ll do in 2025: Reach out to the straight community and build some bridges.”
Aron Woldeslassie: “Now I’ve got five minutes on lasagna.”
When he started performing comedy, Aron Woldeslassie wanted to do material that was meaningful–and he’s done that! But he’s also learned that sometimes it’s OK to be silly.
“I always said I didn’t want to live on material that didn’t speak to a greater ideology,” Woldeslassie explains. “But I’ve been able to do some shows this year that have helped me relive parts of my life and develop material about it. Now I’ve got five minutes on lasagna. And I’ve got other concepts that don’t really speak to anything great, but being able to jump back and forth makes for better comedy all around.”
Woldeslassie has been in the comedy scene since the ‘10s, when he was a writer for the local news satire comedy show Minnesota Tonight. But when Trump took office in ‘17, it kind of killed the vibe of the show. So Woldeslassie decided to step out from behind the scenes and start performing.
His initial motivation? Flexing for the ‘gram, naturally.
“I’d do the thing that a lot of comics do and post my shows on Instagram every month,” he says. “I decided this past year I wanted to see what it would look like with seven or eight shows a month, so I really started pushing to get out and do more.”
Doing more included regular guest spots on TPT Almanac and his first-ever festival gig in Missouri, plus longer sets in places like Eau Claire and Bismark. He also might be the first comic in history to do an Eclipse Day show at the Science Museum.
“I just want to be able to entertain Midwesterners a lot more,” he says.
Alexa Kocinski: “The most uncomfortable and unrelatable comedian.”
“I was doing a show and the promoter asked me what they should say for my intro,” recalls Alexa Kocinski. “I told my friend I was going to have them introduce me as, ‘The most uncomfortable and unrelatable comedian.’ She told me ‘Don’t do that.’”
With her deadpan delivery, intelligent punchlines, and just a hint of darkness, Kocinski is neither uncomfortable nor unrelatable when she’s onstage. She’s also nice.
“I read somewhere that you shouldn’t say anything onstage that you wouldn’t say offstage. My first thought when I heard that was that the shit I say offstage is way worse than what I say onstage,” she says. “Is it because I’m a woman? Being a woman in comedy is still hard, because you’re seen as a woman first and then a comic. So I think I try to undercut people’s assumptions about women comics. I try to be more likeable onstage. More accommodating. Otherwise, I feel like I’m going to scare everyone.”
This year, Kocinski plans to use her social media, albeit a little differently than her fellow peers.
“I want to start posting videos of my bombs,” she laughs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do that.”
One of those bombs happened just two weeks into her comedy career, following a string of successful open mics.
“It was outdoors and I got literal crickets,” she says. “I did a five-minute bit on the Amish and they gave me nothing. I was actually kind of excited. I was like, ‘I’m going to bomb and then I’ll be a real comic!’ And then it happened and I immediately wanted to get back up again because I didn’t like that feeling.”
