Bad Trip, Brooklyn’s Cringe Comedy Night, Returns Nov. 12

The most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you may finally have a stage. “Bad Trip,” a storytelling comedy show built entirely around life’s cringiest moments, is returning to Bushwick on Thursday, Nov. 12, after a hiatus that began at the end of 2024.

The show, created by comedians Joey Rinaldi and Sam Wolff, will take over the Zelda Room, an intimate space inside Secret Pour, at 9 p.m. According to Brooklyn Paper, which first reported the return, the 90-minute show costs $9, with tickets available through Secret Pour’s ticketing page. Brooklyn Paper readers can use the promo code “3trip” for $3 off.

The premise is simple. Comics tell true stories that are absurd, ridiculous or mortifying, with no lesson attached. Rinaldi, a comedian who often weaves storytelling into his sets, told Brooklyn Paper the idea came from a gap he saw between formats. Stand-up sets rarely leave room for longer stories, he explained, while some storytelling shows push performers to find a moral or larger meaning. “I thought, ‘Wait, there are a ton of stories out there that have no moral, no meaning, no message — that are just absurd, ridiculous, embarrassing,'” he said.

Rinaldi first launched an open mic for such stories just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down venues. The concept moved to Zoom and Twitch, then to in-person shows in 2021, when he teamed up with Wolff, a longtime friend and musician familiar with Brooklyn’s live-event scene. From 2021 to 2024, the show built a following through residencies at Tiny Cupboard, East Lover, Hart Bar and Bushwick Public House. It has since appeared at more than 20 venues in the city and beyond, with stops in Jersey City, California, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Boston.

What sets the night apart is the audience’s role. After each comedian finishes a story, Rinaldi and Wolff join the performer onstage for a question-and-answer session. “How many times are you at a comedy show where you feel like you have burning questions that are not getting answered?” Rinaldi told Brooklyn Paper. Rinaldi recalled one past performance in which a comic described catching a food thief in his college dorm’s communal kitchen with a planted spy camera. The audience wanted to know which stolen item stung the most, and whether secretly filming someone crossed an ethical line.

The comeback adds new wrinkles. Before the show starts, attendees will get slips of paper to anonymously jot down their own most embarrassing experiences. The host will read selected submissions aloud, and anyone comfortable sharing more may be invited to field questions from the stage. The trivia segment has been reworked, too: instead of quizzing the crowd on each comic’s story throughout the night, the questions will be saved for a larger finale, with prizes for those who remember the details.

Rinaldi and Wolff paused the show as Rinaldi pursued comedy opportunities on the road and Wolff’s band took on more touring. With both back in New York with more time, they decided to revive it. Rinaldi sees Brooklyn as a natural home for the format, citing an appetite for alternative entertainment that doesn’t follow a traditional template.

For first-timers wary of airing their worst moments, Rinaldi offered reassurance. The show, he said, is “almost like a big hug” for anyone who thinks their life is weird. His goal is modest: that attendees leave with a few new stories to tell friends the next time they get together.