Reggie Watts Credit: © Hutchinsphoto | Dreamstime

As first reported by Rolling Stone last month, comedian and musician Reggie Watts is facing disturbing allegations regarding several past partners, including his ex-girlfriend Katherine McCollough, who died by suicide earlier this year. The public fallout against the comic and former bandleader of “The Late Late Show With James Corden” has been swift, resulting in multiple show cancellations, including in Vermont.

In the Rolling Stone story, multiple people, including former partners of Watts, accuse him of pushing ketamine use on McCollough. An anonymous source called Watts “incredibly reckless” with his own use of the drug, for which he’s been an outspoken advocate, and for how he administered dosages to others.

Watts is also accused of psychological and emotional abuse; withholding payment to McCollough, who was a producer on Watts’ talk show “Watch Watts Happen Live”; and knowingly exposing partners to sexually transmitted diseases.

While Watts declined to speak to Rolling Stone, his lawyer, Andrew Brettler, issued a strong denial, defending his client. Brettler called the accusations “dangerously false” and cited McCollough’s past drug use, predating her relationship with Watts.

In response to the controversy, the podcast “Comedy Bang! Bang!” removed its Watts-composed theme song, and the comedian has been removed from multiple festivals, including the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, the Shambala and Greenbelt fests in the UK, and Electric Picnic in Ireland.

Watts does still list a handful of active club dates on his website, but those don’t include his planned five-show run from November 5 to 7 at Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington, which has been canceled — though whether by Watts or the venue is unclear. Vermont Comedy Club confirmed the shows were off but declined to comment on the matter.

As of press time, the comedy club hasn’t filled Watts’ now-vacant November dates. However, the following weekend, November 12 to 14, totally not-canceled comedian and TV and podcast host Adam Conover returns to the club. Which is really just a reminder that Vermont Comedy Club always has something great in the pipeline. Or maybe that’s two pipelines: Its new performance space, Vermont Comedy Arts, opens across the street this month.

It’s a good week for fresh music from Vermont artists. First up is a relatively new outfit composed of scene stalwarts: the Volcanos. The band is a local supergroup of sorts, featuring vocalist and guitarist Rob Voland, Wren Kitz on drums, Noah Crowther on bass, and Tyler George-Minetti on guitar and lap steel.

The Volcanos recently issued their debut single, “Curious.” A hushed mix of folk and psych rock, the slow-burning track has an accompanying music video directed by Kitz. The band’s self-titled debut LP drops on October 2, but if you want to see what the band is all about, catch its upcoming South End Art Hop gig at Sterling Furniture Works in Burlington on Saturday, September 12. “Curious” is streaming on Spotify, and you can see the music video on YouTube.

Upper Valley singer-songwriter Allison Fay has released “Infatuation,” the third single from an upcoming EP. The tune finds Fay singing with fellow Vermont singer-songwriters Jes Raymond and Lisa Piccirillo, crafting gorgeous harmonies over a jaunty, uplifting folk song. “Infatuation” follows the release of “Trust the Process” and “Blessing in Disguise” and, like those earlier singles, was recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Matt Appleton and mastered by veteran Vermont producer Lane Gibson. Stream “Infatuation” on Spotify.

Experimental musician and percussionist Jabe Ledoux is back with a new three-track collection titled Total Refusal (Preparation VIII). Inspired by the book Soundtrack to the Revolution: Free Jazz and Leftist Nationalism in Québec, 1967-1975 by Eric Fillion, Ledoux’s latest work is “a meditation on the current state of the world and what we can do about it,” he said.

With an average run time of about 20 minutes per track, Total Refusal is a long, percussive journey with Ledoux and his unconventional kit, which includes a whiskey-barrel drum, gongs, cowbells, temple blocks and beads. Check it out at fluxovtime.bandcamp.com.

R.A. the Rugged Man Credit: Courtesy

Finally, Waitsfield’s Afterthoughts has hosted several big-name hip-hop shows recently, including the Pharcyde and Talib Kweli. We love to see it.

There’s another rager planned for this Thursday, September 3, when the club welcomes veteran rapper and producer R.A. the Rugged Man. The MC has collaborated with the likes of Ghostface Killah and Ice-T, but he’s almost as well known for his music journalism as his records. He’s written for a host of hip-hop and culture magazines, including the Source and Complex. For any doubters of his credentials, this is the same rapper about whom the Notorious B.I.G. once said, “I thought I was the illest.”

7 Shows to Watch Out For

Kronos Quartet Credit: Courtesy
  1. Lukas Nelson & Molly Tuttle at Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green at Shelburne Museum, September 10
  2. UB40 at MTELUS in Montréal, September 19
  3. Turnstile at Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, September 26
  4. Oliver Wood at Zenbarn in Waterbury Center, September 27
  5. DaBaby & G Herbo at the MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y., October 3
  6. The Disco Biscuits at Paramount Theatre in Rutland, October 8
  7. Kronos Quartet at Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hanover, N.H., October 23

This article appears in September 2 • 2026.

Music editor Chris Farnsworth has written countless albums reviews and features on Vermont's best musicians, and has seen more shows than is medically advisable. He's played in multiple bands over decades in the local scene and is a recording artist in his own right. He can often be found searching for the perfect soft pretzel or listening to a podcast about the X-Men.