Los Angeles comedian Lara Beitz has performed her unique brand of dry, accessible and smart stand-up comedy since 2011. Beitz has appeared on Showtime, Comedy Central and The Late Late Show with James Corden. And the best part is that Beitz will perform at Spats in Berkeley on Saturday, March 14.
It’s no secret that modern-day stand-up comics struggle to make a living wage—with no healthcare—by subjecting themselves to the toils of being on the road all the time. Compound that with comics also having to become social media wizards and rudimentary filmmakers, just to get gigs.
“I resisted it a lot, for a long time. But now it’s just part of the job description,” Beitz said from somewhere on her never-ending tour.
“Social media is such a huge part, and an important tool, for comics,” she added. “Bookers look at your social media numbers; they want to know if you’ll sell tickets. So comedians need more crowd work clips, because you can come up with that on the spot. Whereas it’s harder to come up with that much polished material. And that way you’re not burning all your material that you would be using on the road.”
Traditional stand-up comedy, by its nature, is incredibly lo-fi. No instruments, extensive backline or sound check. So in 2026, having to navigate the technological abyss to sell seats and to tell jokes is a twist.
Beitz’s clips are growing and producing bigger numbers. And her interactions with audience members display a comic that is well seasoned, road-tested and always thinking a few steps ahead. Also, it really helps that she is hilarious.
Within the marathon run of stand-up comedy, Lara Beitz has found her pace. Having started within the bars and rooms of Wisconsin, Beitz worked her way up to touring with Pete Holmes, and then the worldwide shutdown happened.
“I was such a baby headliner before Covid,” Beitz said. “After Covid was when I really started building up my hour. I think my pre-Covid road work and opening for Pete helped.”
Since then, Beitz has toured with comics as disparate as Joe Rogan and Marc Maron. And now she travels every week to headline clubs around the country. Yet she still has to keep her social media numbers up, and that means making digital content.
“I have someone who cuts my clips for me,” Beitz said. “I give him the footage of my full sets, and then he cuts the clips. And then I post every day and do the captions and reply to the comments. I do three standup clips a week, and then four days a week is something else. It’s usually, like, funny little videos that I make. And that mixed in with promoting shows? It’s a lot. That’s a huge part of the job right now.”
She’s not complaining.
“I’m OK with not being OK with it,” she said. “I used to hate it, and now I just have to accept that. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that what I see is not what other people see. In my head, it’s all funhouse mirrors. Everyone I talk to who watches themselves hates the way they look for the most part, which is why it’s really nice to have someone else cutting the clip because my vanity doesn’t then get in the way of my content.
“I used to hit my guy up and be like, ‘Hey, I hate the way I look in this outfit. Please don’t cut any more clips from this set.’ And then finally I told him, ‘I need you to not listen to anything I say. Just do your thing, and I’ll post it.’ So that’s my policy now,” she added.
Beitz knows what she’s doing, and she’s rising through the ranks. This is a chance to see her in a small venue before she inevitably starts selling out the bigger theaters around the world.
Lara Beitz will perform at Spats Berkeley, 1974 Shattuck Ave., on Saturday, March 14, at 8pm. Tickets are $23. IG: @spatsbar
