Emmy Blotnick

I saw Emmy Blotnick perform a set in the back of a dark, slightly scary warehouse in Brooklyn in 2014 (this itself feels like the setup of an Emmy Blotnick joke), back when the comedian was just getting her start, and was instantly charmed. In the past few years, Blotnick has built an impressive late-night resume—she’s appeared on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CONAN, and on her own half-hour special on Comedy Central; she was also a staff writer on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—but her sets still run on the same endearing nervous energy. Her jokes trawl familiar territory—online dating, anxiety, women’s magazines, the desire to have your Amazon searches make you appear more likable—but her spin on the material has a neurotic, slightly raunchy, and definitely hopeful uptick that doesn’t plunge you into nihilism, the way some comedic acts do. “Have you ever freaked out so hard you made a flow chart?” she asks, in one joke. Well, maybe (okay, yes, absolutely) but I’d never laughed about it until Blotnick framed the question in that genial, quavering way she has, which routinely puts audiences at ease. —Sarah Edwards