Sometimes it’s easy to forget the little things you missed during the pandemic. Or not even realize them at all.

During the very first shoot for this film, some hit me. It was a musty bar smell, foggy lighting in a dim room and a creaky sound of an overused stage. It was all the little things about comedy clubs I had totally forgotten in a year being separated from them.

In a grueling year, it was a nice reminder why we took on this project to begin with.

I had ideas brewing for a while about how to present comedy – and stand-up in particular – in new, innovative ways. But when COVID-19 hit, live comedy – like the rest of the entire world – came to a screeching halt. Those ideas were, presumably, ruined.

But comedy found a way to adapt. Comedians jumped out of the musty, dim rooms and into outdoor shows and the digital space. My idea for capturing the evolutions in comedy changed with it – not because of any genius realization on my part, but because when presented with a challenge like this, the only option is to adapt.

The world showed this past year that even a deadly obstacle like COVID-19 is no match for an entrepreneurial, creative spirit. In this film, we showed how the comedy landscape might be changed forever because comedians had to figure out a way to keep creating in the face of adversity.

And after months of filming in comedy clubs I can say with confidence that those little things – the sights, the sounds, the smells – will stick around, now with my renewed appreciation