ADAM WADE: ‘LIVE AT THE MAGNET THEATER’ — Hoboken Humorist/Superstar Storyteller Releases His Second Album

(ABOVE: Craig Wallace Dale photo)

Adam Wade is a very busy man.

Somewhere in between teaching storytelling classes, performing shows, getting his Dunkin’, hanging with his landlady Marie, grabbing dessert at Court Street and hosting his weekly #OnTheBench webcasts on the streets of Hoboken, the 20-time Story Slam Champion at The Moth found the time and the material to produce another album—”Live At The Magnet Theater,” which comes out today, May 1st.

Comedic storytelling is booming across America and one of its undisputed masters is the hilarious, deeply humane Adam Wade.

He is Everyman: the guy on the bus who greets the driver (even if they don’t greet him back), the local whose order is well known to the counter girl at the coffee shop, the underdog pining for the waitress with the slightly green front tooth.

Adam is originally from a small town in New Hampshire, so you know his values have to be solid. But like anyone, he always wants a little more than he can get, which can lead him into situations that are frequently absurd. Audiences love Adam because they see themselves in his yearnings and dilemmas, and because he makes them long to know how everything turns out in the end.

“I always felt as if I connected to audiences,” said Wade, in a 2015 interview with hMAG. “You can’t reach everyone, or make everyone happy, but as long as one person came up at the end of a show and said good job, I was happy. I got better at it—finding my voice, trying to be as comfortable as possible.”

This is Adam’s second comedy album recorded at his home away from home The Magnet Theater.

hMAG was proud to feature Wade on the cover of our Summer 2015 issue, just prior to the release of his first album, “The Human Comedy,” which peaked at #3 on the iTunes Comedy Chart. His comedic storytelling has since been lauded by critics at The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Newsweek and New York Magazine. He has toured North America with his award-winning stories and is a regular performer on the legendary monthly storytelling show “The Nights of Our Lives” at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Time Out New York has featured him on their Best of List. He has also appeared on Season 2 and 3 of Comedy Central’s “Inside Amy Schumer” and HBO’s “GIRLS.”

Craig Wallace Dale photo

And if you’re lucky enough to have tickets, you can catch Wade with a host of others—including Carla Katz (Peoples Improv, Magnet, Caveat), Ed Gavagan (The Moth Radio Hour, Ted Talks), Jim O’Grady (The Moth, “This American Life”), Gastor Almonte (Comedy Central, UCB), and Vicki Eastus (Magnet Theater, Caveat)—as they bring storytelling to Hoboken’s Mile Square Theatre this Friday night.

That show is sold out… no surprise to us here at hMAG.

“With the massive popularity of The Moth Podcast and The Moth Radio Hour on NPR, live storytelling is having an incredible moment in New York and around the country,” says Katz. “Many of these live shows sell out in minutes and there’s a large audience for them right now. We felt that it was high time to bring this hot phenomenon to Hoboken, the people here deserve it! I think people are gravitating to storytelling because they want to break away from their phones and connect to each other on a human level.”

She adds, “Working with Adam Wade, who is a storytelling superstar and a Hobokenite, is always fantastic and makes this show a no-brainer for our town.”

Hearing Wade’s stories, they’re so offbeat, very specific, and intensely introspective. His delivery brings an absence of doubt, which fosters a connectivity that is truly remarkable.

“It’s taken a lot of time to realize that I don’t need a persona,” says Wade. “I can go on stage and I can connect far better than any persona if I just go out as myself.”

Adam Wade: “Live At The Magnet Theater” is available right now.