Tina Friml has had a pretty good few years. In April 2025, the Vermont-born comedian taped her second appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” At the time, it was the capstone of a two-year ascent that had established her as the most successful Vermont comedian ever and an international star.
Since then, the 32-year-old Middlebury native, who has cerebral palsy, has maintained a rigorous national touring schedule. She’s landed high-profile podcast, TV and festival appearances such as “What Now? With Trevor Noah,” Dropout’s “Crowd Control” and Netflix Is a Joke, which have boosted her social media following to more than 1 million across platforms.
She also drew the ire of an entire continent. This summer, Friml toured in Europe, an experience she said “opened up incredible doors.” But it also incited “the rage of my Australian fans,” she said, who have been begging her to bring her offbeat, razor-sharp insights on dating and disability Down Under for years. That mollifying Aussies is even a concern speaks volumes about where her career is.
“It’s pretty metal,” she joked in an interview with Seven Days from her office in Cambridge, Mass., where she lives after moving from New York City last fall. “Who woulda thought?”
All her Vermont fans, to start.
Friml began doing standup 10 years ago after taking classes at Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington. Her talent was obvious. “Tina arrived pretty fully formed,” New York City comedian Kendall Farrell told Seven Days last year. Another Vermont native, he’s one of Friml’s closest friends.
“She kind of burst forth,” Farrell went on. “You know when a baby comes, like, two weeks after its due date and it already has teeth and hair? That’s how Tina came onto the scene.”
I’m so used to being the only person with this particular card, and now I’m certainly not.
Tina Friml
For all her accolades and accomplishments, the one thing Friml has yet to do is record a special. That changes on Friday, October 16, when she’ll tape her debut one-hour special for production company 800 Pound Gorilla at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, the hometown stage where she practically grew up and where her mother still works. (As it happens, Farrell will also return home that weekend to hit a career milestone: his first headlining run at Vermont Comedy Club, Thursday through Saturday, October 15 to 17.)
Friml spoke with Seven Days about why she’s finally recording her special now, her role in increasing the visibility of comedians with disabilities, her pal Farrell’s recent viral success and what she has planned for the next chapter of her career — including penning a memoir.
Years ago, you reached a level where most comics would have recorded a special. But you’ve maintained that you wanted to do it when you were really ready. So why do you feel ready now?
Two main reasons: One was that I’ve been touring this material for about three years now, and it really became obvious that I need to submit this to history, because I’m yearning to write more things. And I feel a hesitation to write anything new, simply because I cannot do a two-hour show.
But also, October is the 10-year anniversary of when I first began comedy. I talk as if this was all completely planned out. It wasn’t. I got a call from my team back in April that 800 Pound Gorilla was wanting to film my special, and they were looking at October. I wish I could take all the credit, but it did just kind of happen.
Don’t knock serendipity. It must be pretty cool to do this at Town Hall Theater.
Oh, gosh, yeah. When I was trying to figure out where I’m filming, I was looking, obviously, at Vermont Comedy Club and also places out here in Cambridge. But then my mom called and was just like, “What about here? What about THT?” It was almost comically obvious, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. Because I’ve had so many significant life events there: I had prom there; I found out I got into college there. So once the idea got planted, it was just like, Yep, OK.
Meanwhile, you’re also writing a memoir.
I am! Essentially, it’s focusing on my time in New York and sort of, you know, navigating that catapult into a whole lot of things, career-wise and personal-wise. And it will obviously dip into my upbringing and the narratives that sort of affected all the above.
So, the weekend of your taping at Town Hall Theater, Kendall Farrell is doing his first headlining run at Vermont Comedy Club, which is a neat coincidence.
It is! Kendall was the first-ever person to book me on a show. So it’s too bad that the shows are exactly lined up. It’s just the way time and weekends work.
I think it also says something cool about Vermont comedy, though. I found myself filled with pride when his gender-spectrum joke went viral last month.
Kendall is one of those people that you never know what’s gonna come out of his mouth. Even just hanging out with him, he has that kind of brain. So I know what you mean — to see him go viral. I was like, “Oh, yes!” And I’m so glad to see him take that as a sign to put out more.
That’s sort of the path I took. I didn’t put anything online for a while, but, for better and for worse, the internet is a fantastic tool to get your comedy out there and also just figure out what works and what doesn’t.
I was definitely among the people who felt cool because we knew about Kendall before he was cool. And guess what? Before he was cool, he was still cool. Now the world’s just catching up.
Speaking of comedy on social media, is it just me and my feed, or are comedians with disabilities really gaining visibility online? I see more and more of them every time I scroll Instagram.
One hundred percent. That’s not just you. And it’s really kind of awesome to see the goals start to be achieved that I had at first, which was to help bring disability into the main discourse with comedy and normalize it, so that someone facing a disabled person [at work or in other settings] is able to think back to this comedian that came across their feed. And it would hopefully change their assumptions about people with disabilities. Like, Oh, actually, I don’t need to be nervous. They probably are really cool.
So my initial reaction is just that I feel like I’m part of something really amazing. I come from comedians like Josh Blue and Geri Jewell, and it’s sort of like a domino. It also gives me, on a personal level, a bit more push and permission to venture past standup comedy into other creative things.
Like the book.
Like the book. And more sketch writing. And I recently executive produced and starred in a short film called “Daffodil” that was shot in LA, and it’s now submitted into the festival circuit next year.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t also mention that it does make me look at what I’m doing and say, OK, well, now I’m not the only person. And what does that allow me to do? You know, I’m so used to being the only person with this particular card, and now I’m certainly not. So it’s a real mixture of inspiration and pride and also, like, a little bit of existential crisis.
So, when you take your final bow at Town Hall Theater next month and the special is done, what do you think you’ll feel? I’d imagine a mix of excitement and accomplishment but also maybe anxiety about what comes next?
I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s exciting, and it’s also terrifying, because basically next year I am going to begin writing and touring a new hour. It will be fewer dates than I have been doing in the last four years; I’m really just hitting my hot spots. But it will kind of feel like I’m stepping back five years. And the anxiety of writing new jokes — I definitely anticipate getting very reacquainted with that. ➆
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Star’s Turn | Vermont-born comedian Tina Friml comes home to record her long-awaited debut standup special”
This article appears in Performing Arts Preview • 2026.
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