Laughs on the Low
The Tunnel
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Sept/ 12, 2025
The thing about local comedy is that the performers live in the same weird place we do, dealing with the same daily annoyances, local politics and fun quirks of the city. In Baton Rouge, this usually translates to jokes about traffic on I-10 or LSU. When Will Merrill took the stage downtown, he started his crowd work right away.
“Where are my Tiger fans? Where are my LSU fans at?” je asked, and the crowd cheered in response.
“Hell yeah, fucking right y’all,” he said. “I love performing in front of LSU fans, cuz no matter what you say, you end a sentence with a ‘Geaux Tigers,’ and someone’s gonna agree with you.”
He went on to say a bunch of things in quick succession which I would repeat for you, but it was such a bizarre and rapid list, it all feels like a fever dream now — something about 2.99% APR financing. (Mr. Merrill, if you’re reading this, I don’t know what you’re financing, but no one my age is getting that rate on anything, you should go for it.) All of that ended with the phrase “Geaux Tigers”; as he predicted, everyone laughed.
Every comedy show is a window into contemporary society because it shows us what we’re willing to laugh at, sometimes across political lines. In every other setting we might not get along and may never hang out, but for this hour on a random Friday evening, we are strapped in and having this experience together, whatever it may bring. The Tunnel’s “Laughs on the Low” is a show by Gloria McConnell Passman’s Black Dress Productions, part of a broader effort to bring comedy to Baton Rouge. Friday's lineup featured McConnell Passman, JQ Palms, Will Merrill and Brandon Bruffett.
The event was hosted in the Tunnel, a speakeasy themed bar in the basement of the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. The eponymous tunnel is a secret passageway rumored to have been used by former Louisiana governor Huey P. Long to evade the media and sneak over to the hotel across the street to see his mistress. Visitors can walk in, just not all the way through; the other hotel’s side was sealed off years ago. It’s a neat venue that makes you forget you’re in a hotel bar.
The show’s host, JQ Palms, opened brightly with some crowdwork getting everyone acquainted. There were two birthday celebrations in the house and lots of people out on date nights. Throughout the night, Palms quipped about traffic, dating/weddings, and what can be inferred about people with September birthdays. At one point, we all thought she accidentally elicited an unexpected pregnancy announcement. (“What did your husband get you for your birthday this year?” Audience member: “A baby — OH WAIT, no!”)
McConnell Passman did her set on dating after divorce. Will Merrill even ventured into political waters.
“I’m sick and tired of racist white people, he said. “Because I’m tired of having to boycott shit.”
Of course, he said, when it’s stuff he can afford to boycott, it’s fine. Gucci, for example, he’s glad to boycott because he’s a loyal TJ Maxxinista. Or Tesla is fine too. He’ll just drive another car. But when people called for a Papa John’s boycott, after the company's handling of founder John Schnatter's use of the N-word, he had questions.
“Hold on, they have better pizza … and better ingredients,” he said. “Did the sauce call someone the N-word?”
Upon further investigation, the Gucci boycott was in 2019. The Papa John’s one was in 2018. But since then, it seems that there’s not been a time where there’s not a boycott happening. Whether you’re someone trying desperately to make ethical choices when you know there are none under capitalism, or someone who makes fun of those who do, it’s kind of funny to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Then the next comedian in the line up, Brandon Bruffett, came right out the gate with a story about he ended up in Baton Rouge after a suicide attempt and lives in a sober recovery house with people formerly addicted to meth who occassionally relapse and do desperate things. People were not ready to laugh about that. Nor were they ready to laugh at a Charlie Kirk joke. Throughout the beginning of his set, most of the room was quiet. After another 10 minutes, Bruffett made a sarcastic remark about how well the whole thing was going.
In the awkward pause, a lady in the front of the room offered a quiet, “Geaux Tigers,” and the tension broke. Everyone doubled over laughing.
