Chris White

chris@dcstandup.com / www.chriswhitesucks.com / MySpace page

Chris White is all that and a bag of chips. But it’s not that simple. Are you ready to have your mind blown? Go take a minute and brace yourself. We’ll wait here. (Twiddling thumbs … whistling “Theme From ‘A Summer Place’ ”) You’re back and braced? You’re sitting down in a chair with good lumbar support? Then here it is: The chips are sour cream n’ onion – with ridges. And we’re talking about a 12-ounce bag with no broken chips, buddy. Believe it.

Sometimes goofy, sometimes twisted and always original, Chris’ stories are filled with right angles, making for one of the most surprising and fresh shows around. He talks mostly about his family and hot dogs. It’s dark humor with a light touch – and the Boston Globe almost won the Pulitzer for criticism by calling him a “hidden gem.” It was really close voting, we swear. "I like Chris' act because it's so original," says Chris White, but we assure you, a completely different Chris White. "He sets you up to expect a regular punchline, then he completely surprises you. Like his joke about his new diet -- letting hatred eat away at him from the inside. I laughed so hard it made me forget the stunning cruelty of man's inhumanity to man, sort of. Excuse me, I have to go sit in a dark room and cry."

Chris is a crowd favorite in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, and he now travels to perform at clubs across the country. He has participated in the Boston and Washington comedy festivals; in May 2005 he won the Carnival Comedy Challenge in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and he has worked with many fine comedians, all of whom secretly wished they were Chris. He operates the Web site dcstandup.com, and in August 2004 he released his first full-length comedy CD, "Forbidden Style." You can hear him regularly on XM Satellite Radio (150), according to the truck drivers he often meets at comedy clubs.

Chris was born and raised outside of Philadelphia and is one of three brothers. His parents are a lawyer, which is funny, and a nuclear physicist, which is a lie. He is a life-long fan of the Phillies, which requires both an excellent sense of humor and the ability to swing a bar stool. After studying history and journalism at the University of Richmond, Chris edited opinion columns at The Washington Post for five years before becoming a full-time comedian. He currently lives on Capitol Hill, if you can call that living.

To see some of Chris' comedy writing, check out the Reading Room. Also, he did an interview with dcstandup.com.

Comedy CDs

You can hear Chris on two separate albums. His solo release, "Forbidden Style," runs 43 minutes and contains the greatest hits from his first two years of standup. And "Dcstandup vs. Earth" includes 10 minutes of "Forbidden Style," along with four other great DC-area comics. For ordering information, check out the Dcstandup CD Store.