A few weeks back, Ben Katzner made the mistake of asking his Instagram followers to describe his standup using three words.
“James Stanely, who is a friend and very funny comedian, commented: ‘Fat. Black. Adopted.’ Which could be an alternate album title,” the local comedy favorite says with a laugh. “But I was kind of like, ‘OK, that’s the lens of how other people see what I’m doing. But how do I see myself?’”
This month, people will have the opportunity to see Katzner in new ways. That includes a new special, Supple Harlot, which you can now watch for free on his YouTube channel, and his second graphic novel, Muddy Waters Too, in partnership with rapper Redman (seriously!), is out today.
Supple Harlot, which he recorded at Sisyphus Brewing back in March, explores the previously mentioned topics of his size, race, and adoption status.
“The weirdest part about being adopted is you know exactly how much money you’re worth. I know for a fact that my parents paid $15,000 for me,” he says onstage. “That’s not house money; that’s garage renovation money.”
While Katzner confronts sensitive subjects like police brutality, he also riffs on slice-of-life oddities, such as having microplastics in his semen (apparently we’ve all got ’em, fellas!). His earnest joy of being onstage shines here, along with his ability to ping pong between the serious and the absurd in an honest, slightly insecure way.
“I can’t in good conscience say I know exactly who I am and what I’m doing all the time,” he admits. “But I know I’m someone who doesn’t like to be boxed in, and I’m learning what it is I don’t want to be.”
Katzner is regularly on the road as a feature act for big names like Chad Daniels and Kelsey Cook, but he’s also a heavy hitter locally.
“I want to bring respect back to Minneapolis comedy for the non-famous,” he says. “Not just people who are like, ‘Oh man, Minneapolis has a good comedy scene? Should I roll through there?’ Like yes, you should, but I’m also talking about people who live here. It's great that you’ll go see a headliner like Chad or Kelsey, but I want you to come out and pay $10 just to see the comics who opened for them, because they’re really good too.”
More than 5,000 people have already watched Harlot since its August 11 release, and Katzner hopes that it can be an introduction to his comedy for the uninitiated, and a snapshot of where he is over a decade into his career.
“It’s a chapter in time, and I’m very proud of it,” he says, reluctantly taking a pause to appreciate the moment. “But as a comedian you’re a shark. You’ve got to keep swimming until you find your next meal.”
Katzner-maniacs won’t have to wait long for that next meal. His collab with Redman, Muddy Waters Too, drops today. The graphic novel follows Doc, a man who has invented MUD, a potent substance that can be used to grow food (and really strong weed).
A partnership between legendary rapper Redman and Katzner, the book is based on the late 2024 sequel to Redman’s legendary 1996 album named—you guessed it!—Muddy Waters.
“It’s through the same publisher who did my first graphic novel [Hello, My Name is Poop],” he explains. “They reached out and were like, ‘Hey, Redman is supposed to drop Muddy Waters Too and wants to do a short story based on that. Would you like to write it?’ Which was incredible.”
While Katzner’s portion of the book was completed in early 2024, nothing goes out until Funk Doctor Spock says it’s ready.
“Shoutout to Redman. He works at his own pace,” Katzner says. “If a thing isn’t ready, he’s not putting it out.”
Despite having never met the Def Squad legend, Katzner says he has had plenty of input into the direction of the story, and might actually prefer having a go-between.
“I’m not sure I could be on a Zoom with Redman like, ‘OK, so on this panel you want to be lusting after a 50-year-old woman’s toes? Is that right?’”
Katzner is headed to New York Comic Con this fall, where he’ll be bombarding people’s senses with his special, his books, and some new comic book-related projects as well.
“I’m a sucker for art forms that will make me hemorrhage money,” he says with the laugh of a man who is not joking AT ALL. “But I really like doing all of this.”
Whether it’s audience members, his fellow comics or legendary rappers, Katzner says he feels like this year is just the beginning.
“To ask me right now how I feel about everything is like asking someone after the first quarter of a football game, ‘How does it feel to win the game?’” he explains. “I’m still very much in the first quarter of this thing. The payoff for me now is that I’m a better comic, and I know who's in my corner. Now I’m just trying to get more people in that corner.”
Take a sneak peek of Muddy Waters Too below:
