by ⭐⭐⭐½
This is one of those 3½-star shows that’ll earn more stars as Torres gets deeper into Fringe.
It’s not not a dead parents show.
But Torres, a stand-up whose TV credits include performances on both Conan and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, does take us back to his youth and early adulthood in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was the good son compared to his two brothers who sold and smoked weed. Shane was 14 when their parents got divorced, and he was expected both to be the man of the house to his night-nurse mother, as well as help his father move into (and then later out of) a homeless shelter. His parents have both died since, and he somehow finds the dark, sardonic humor in their completely different circumstances at the end.
Only one of his parents got to see Torres succeed as a comedian. All of us, though, still get to see Torres continue his upward comedy trajectory.
Shane Torres plays Downstairs at Assembly Roxy during the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe.
