Comedians baring their most humiliating true stories to a room full of strangers, then fielding live audience questions about them, is coming back to Brooklyn. Bad Trip, the storytelling comedy show that built a cult following before going quiet, returns Thursday, Nov. 12 at Secret Pour, nearly two years after its creators put it on hold.
The show was dreamed up by comedians Joey Rinaldi and Sam Wolff, according to Brooklyn Paper, which reports that Rinaldi got the idea from his own stand-up, where he found that traditional sets did not always leave enough room to tell a longer story. Unlike storytelling shows that chase a tidy moral or larger meaning, Rinaldi has described Bad Trip's stories as absurd, ridiculous and embarrassing, with no message attached, per the same report. He launched an open mic built around those kinds of stories just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced venues to close, the outlet notes.
That open mic didn't disappear when the city shut down — it just moved online. Bad Trip continued through Zoom and Twitch sets before transitioning to in-person shows in 2021, a shift that lines up with earlier reporting from BroadwayWorld, which documented Rinaldi starting the show on Twitch and Zoom at the start of the pandemic before making it a live, in-person event that June. A listing from that period, cataloged by events.com, placed one of those early live shows at the Tiny Cupboard on Cooper Street in Brooklyn in July 2021, billing it as the fourth-ever live performance of the series.
From a Dorm-Kitchen Spy Camera to a Citywide Run
Rinaldi eventually teamed up with Sam Wolff, a longtime friend and musician familiar with Brooklyn's live-event scene, per Brooklyn Paper's report. Between 2021 and 2024, the show grew well beyond its original rooms, holding residencies at the Tiny Cupboard, East Lover, Hart Bar and the Bushwick Public House, and eventually expanding to more than 20 venues in the city and beyond, according to the outlet. Separate reporting from Medium described Rinaldi's monthly show running across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Jersey City, with pop-ups spreading across the tri-state area. Brooklyn Paper also reports the show held events as far afield as Jersey City, California, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Boston.
One story that stuck with audiences, per Brooklyn Paper, involved a comedian who planted a spy camera to confront someone repeatedly stealing food from a communal college dorm kitchen. After the telling, audience members reportedly pressed the comedian on which stolen item was most upsetting and whether secretly filming the thief crossed an ethical line — exactly the kind of exchange that sets Bad Trip apart from a typical stand-up set, since audience members can ask about the details of a story rather than just laugh and move on, the outlet notes.
Why the Show Went Dark, and Why It's Coming Back
Rinaldi and Wolff put Bad Trip on hold at the end of 2024, as Rinaldi pursued road comedy opportunities and Wolff's band toured more, according to Brooklyn Paper. Now that both have more time in New York, the pair decided to bring it back, the outlet reports. Rinaldi has said that audience engagement, paired with the show's refusal to moralize its stories, is what helped Bad Trip find an audience in Brooklyn in the first place.
The format itself leans heavily on that engagement. Historical listings from Brooklyn Comedy Collective describe a show where comedians share their most vulnerable and wildest true stories, followed by a brief audience Q&A after each one — a structure Rinaldi has said lets the crowd get its questions answered in real time. Those same listings note the show has previously required attendees to be 21 or older, though current age-restriction details for the Nov. 12 date were not confirmed. A separate Brooklyn Comedy Collective listing for a past anniversary show similarly described Bad Trip as the only comedy show that forces comedians to share their most personal and embarrassing stories.
New Format Tweaks and a Revamped Trivia Finale
The Nov. 12 show will take place in the Zelda Room inside Secret Pour, a space Rinaldi has said suits the show's personal stories and interactive format because of its intimate setting, per Brooklyn Paper. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., and the 90-minute show starts at 9 p.m., according to the outlet.
Beyond the stories themselves, attendees will be invited to anonymously submit brief accounts of their own embarrassing or cringeworthy experiences before the show, Brooklyn Paper reports. A host will read selected submissions aloud, and may invite willing submitters onstage to answer questions about what happened. The night will close with a revamped trivia round, with the toughest questions saved for a finale, and prizes on offer for anyone whose memory of the stories holds up, according to the same report.
Past iterations of the show have featured similar trivia elements, with Brooklyn Comedy Collective noting that audience members have historically been rewarded for paying close attention to the stories during that portion of the evening, and that some shows have even featured variety acts like improv teams, musicians and magicians, according to The Comedy Bureau.
Tickets and What to Expect
Tickets for the Nov. 12 show cost $9 and are available through Secret Pour's ticketing page, Brooklyn Paper reports. Brooklyn Paper readers can use the promo code 3TRIP for $3 off admission, according to the outlet.
For Rinaldi, the goal hasn't changed since the show's earliest Zoom-and-Twitch days: he has said Bad Trip reassures people, through laughter, that their most embarrassing experiences are not unusual, and he hopes attendees leave with new stories of their own to tell friends at future gatherings, per Brooklyn Paper's reporting.
