Adam Cayton-Holland apologizes, but only a little, for his son’s interruption during a Zoom interview. Like dozens of comics before him, he’s broken into parenthood with his new jokes. The chaos of being the father of two young sons is not just part of the deal, it’s material for his act.
“Fatherhood jokes just sound lame,” the Denver stand-up said with a laugh. “There’s no edge to that. It’s like, ‘It’s dad time!’ But you can maintain your voice and your sensibility through all of it. I’d rather do that than lie about what’s going on in my life.”
With his new album and comedy special hitting Vimeo for free on Jan. 18, Cayton-Holland is attempting to pull off a familiar but risky move: making parenthood not just funny, but relatable to audiences who don’t have kids. That includes the Saturday, Jan. 27 Grawlix show at the Bug Theatre, the monthly comedy showcase where Cayton-Holland has tested many of his jokes over the years.
“Defund Paw Patrol,” he asserts on “Wallpaper” (also recorded at the Bug), mashing George Floyd-prompted calls to defund police with an absurd jab at the popular kid’s show. He relates a conversation with his 3-year-old about not getting trapped by the “toxic masculinity podcast circle …” that’s taken over dude-bro stand-up. It was “a very real conversation that definitely happened,” he joked in press materials.
“If my (act) was full of canned sitcom moments it would suck,” said the 42-year-old. “But if I suddenly turned into that guy there’d be much larger problems going on. I ran the hour (special) two weeks before we taped it, in Raleigh, N.C., and I remember vividly all these TikTok kids in front row who were dying. I talked to them afterward. They were 22 and loving it.”
TikTok is where many comics have seen their biggest audience growth, with crowd-work videos and clips reaching new followers via endless links. Cayton-Holland’s November 2022 post about messing with his 9-year-old nephew Henry has been viewed, for example, .
But when Cayton-Holland eyes his 2024 calendar, he doesn’t see social media. He sees multiple projects in various states of completion — a revived one-man show about this sister’s suicide (“Happy Place,” running in February at Buntport Theater), a screenplay, new U.S. headlining dates, a looming festival, and new episodes of his podcast — with Grawlix comedy-trio members and Ben Roy. The monthly show recently notched 100 episodes over four years of ridiculous, good-hearted stunts, and will start churning out weekly episodes in 2024.
Cayton-Holland, who makes up one-third of The Grawlix, has seemingly gotten as big as any Colorado stand-up can. He’s played Carnegie Hall, won spots on late-night TV, sold out club dates, written an acclaimed nonfiction book (“Tragedy Plus Time”), and even co-created and co-starred in the sitcom “Those Who Can’t,” which ran on truTV for three seasons before jumping to streaming platforms (more on that below).
Still, not living in Los Angeles makes it harder to climb the TV and movies ladder, especially since the Denver native has wedded himself to his hometown.
“I’m at an interesting inflection point in comedy where I’m watching people I know become massive, massive draws,” said Cayton-Holland, who this year marks two decades in stand-up. “I feel like I’m a record store snob comic. If you go to talk to the cool guy at the record store who knows comedy, they’re like ‘Check out Adam Cayton-Holland.’ But I’m not a household name, and I’m OK with that. I’m a cool little indie rocker, like Spoon.”
Like that acclaimed, Austin, Texas band, Cayton-Holland has reached mainstream stages without all the fuss of pop-star collaborations or stylistic U-turns. The High Plains Comedy Festival, which he created, remains one of the most exciting showcases for new comedy in the U.S., held every fall in Denver at hip venues along South Broadway and the Paramount Theatre.
The Mile High City’s reputation as a national comedy destination, whether to record albums or headline the well-known Comedy Works clubs, is monthly reinforced with The Grawlix’s showcase at the Bug. That event has lately been sold out, as is typical, with Cayton-Holland and Grawlix members Orvedahl and Roy having welcomed buzzy names such as Kate Berlant, Kumail Nanjiani, Ron Funches, Kyle Kinane, Mo Welch and Cameron Esposito.
As with many comics at his level, Cayton-Holland is mum about his celebrity shoulder-rubbing, such as having drinks with Jimmy Fallon at Denver Forest Room Five, or constantly flogging past projects, such as his hard-won and highly coveted half-hour special on Comedy Central. Despite releasing six albums since 2007, he’d never done a taped special before that one.
Or since, until “Wallpaper” came together.
He was opening for alt-comic Kurt Braunholer during Braunholder’s taping at Englewood’s Gothic Theatre, where he met up with 800 Pound Gorilla reps. After they encouraged him to record a new special, he reached out to the Nix Bros., a former Denver directing duo that he and the Grawlix had collaborated with over the years.
“It’s not the biggest budget ever and they just made it look beautiful,” Cayton-Holland said. “It was like, ‘Don’t try to make this look glitzy. Make it look like the Bug, which is this 100-year-old disheveled theater in Denver, warts and all.’ I hate when productions look too slick.”
That may help explain why Cayton-Holland begins the special laying face-down on the floor backstage at the Bug. Self-deprecation is never far from his act.
Despite his successes, one of the most vexing parts of Cayton-Holland’s career is the ongoing absence of “Those Who Can’t,” which cannot be purchased or streamed anywhere at the moment, having been pulled from its second-wind spot on the HBO Max (now just Max) streaming service. Like Roy and Orvedahl, people approach Cayton-Holland after their shows to talk about their love for the sitcom, which featured guest stars such as Patton Oswalt, Sarah Michelle-Gellar, Mark Hoppus (Blink-182) and Michael Madsen at the fictional, Denver-based Smoot High School (the Grawlix members played inept teachers).
Whatever happens with that cult-hit project, Cayton-Holland is hewing to his roots. Despite playing rooms around the country, he’ll soon perform a pair of shows at the tiny punk-rock haven The Lion’s Lair on East Colfax Avenue to celebrate his comedy beginnings there.
“On ‘Those Who Can’t’ that was the bar where the teachers drank,” he said. “For me, in April, it will be where I started comedy 20 years ago. That’s where I met (the Grawlix members). I have love for other venues, but that’s where it all started.”
