By Margaret Carroll-Bergman — Correspondent
During the pandemic, when nightclubs were shuttered and performance prospects bleak, comedian Andrew Della Volpe improvised.
“I started performing for friends,” he said. “I told them, ‘I’m going to come over and will be outside in your driveway, do 15 minutes of jokes, and then I’ll leave.’”
Concordian Kate Merrill, then an anchor on WBZ-TV’s morning show, attended one of Della Volpe’s driveway shows. “She asked, ‘Would you ever want to do this on the news?’ and I said, ‘Do you know somebody?’” he said.
After Della Volpe appeared on WBZ, he found his inbox flooded with requests to perform. He gave 50 or more backyard performances around the state.
On the circuit
Post-pandemic, Della Volpe sharpened his act at nightclubs and bars. He recently returned from his first national tour, where he opened for comedian Bob Marley.
“All of his crowds sold out. A bit of an adjustment for me,” Della Volpe said. “I never opened for someone — consistently — where that crowd is so excited.”
The schedule was tough — he sometimes performed seven or even 10 times in a week — but he learned a lot.
“It is easier to work out new jokes in a bar. The difference between 30 people laughing and no people laughing is not as clear as 1,500 people laughing and 1,500 people not laughing,” he said.
A circuitous route
Della Volpe, 30, grew up in Concord, the son of political analysts John and Linda Della Volpe.
At Concord-Carlisle High School, he wasn’t class clown; he was president of the class of 2013, and went on to graduate from Colby College with a degree in government.
An internship with Sacha Baron Cohen and his production company, Four by Two Films, changed Della Volpe’s career trajectory.
He went to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a writer. “One of the interviews I went on, the TV producer said, ‘Go try stand-up, and let’s see how tough you are, and get back to me,’” he said.
“After I graduated, I started and never stopped.”
Della Volpe hadn’t previously considered stand-up as a profession, “but as I look back there were kind of these signs. In high school, I found this Daniel Tosh comedy special, and I watched it probably over 10 times,” he said.
“I would bring my friends home with me after school, one at a time, to watch it. I asked my friend Jack if he had seen it, and he said, ‘Other than the three times I watched it with you? No. I have not watched it.’”
Drawing inspiration
Della Volpe derives his comedy from real life. “I start with something that happened to me and expand on that,” he said. “I have fun writing personal things about my family, my fiancée, and myself.
“I try to write a joke that I think anyone could laugh at,” he continued. “I used to have a joke about a T-shirt that said, ‘If this flag offends you, I’ll help you pack.’ Come on, that guy wouldn’t help you pack.”
Della Volpe performs at the Elks Lodge, 34 Powder Mill Road, Maynard, on November 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets, $20 in advance and $25 at the door, are available at tinyurl.com/yhu9fmp3.
