From Chicago to Amsterdam: Comedian Matt Castellvi revels in international audiences
Amsterdam comedy-goers likely know the name Matt Castellvi. The Chicago native got his start performing at legendary institutions including the Second City, iO Theater, and CSz Theater. When he is not touring the world doing stand-up, Castellvi is based in Amsterdam as a cast member at the world-renowned Boom Chicago.
Castellvi, 39, has been living in Amsterdam for nearly six years working full-time as a comedian. He sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, for an interview about Covid as a performer, his tips on Amsterdam, and tribalism in the Chicago comedy scene.
DY: How is it that you wound up in Amsterdam in the first place?
MC: Boom Chicago asked my partner and I if we would like to join the cast. And we said yeah! Fucking windmills are great. Let's do this. We signed a contract for about a year in January of 2020. We did about a month of shows and then Covid hit. At which point we decided we're not going back and stayed here to continue doing shows. But after Covid kind of killed the relationship I fell into a deep depression, truth be told, I was really despondent.
I don't know if anyone remembers that time, but the world was coming to an end. They were saying that we couldn't gather as a species anymore. And since I kind of devoted my entire life to gathering as a species together, that was a little bit rough for me.
DY: What a weird time to join Boom Chicago. That was the run-up right up right to their big anniversary year.
MC: It was great. That was a good year. The 30th anniversary had incredible shows. That's partially the reason I wanted to continue on, because I knew that the 30th show was down the line and it was going to be amazing. It was incredibly stressful, as I recall, because there was a lot of pressure to make it really, really good. Seth Meyers was there. I opened for Brendan Hunt as well. Fortunately, it went so well. The best festival that we had was the 30th anniversary. It was super great and I'm still here now.
DY: Tell me about Matt’s Amsterdam. When your parents come out here, what do you take them to do?
MC: I take them to all the fucking places, man. I'm the resident tour guide here for everyone from America. And so when they come here, I take them to all the spots. I walk them through the Red Light District. I take them to the Vondelpark, to the Van Gogh Museum. I take them around the Nine Streets. We get some bread. We get some bitterballen shit. We go to the windmill bar. Whatever they want. Or go to a rave. Everyone wants to go to a rave.
DY: What's the non-cliche Amsterdam stuff that you show people?
MC: I don't know if there is a non-cliche Amsterdam thing. I usually will just be walking by places and say I slept over at this guy's house. It's like autobiographical tours. I take them to Noord to the Straat Museum. I like the Straat Museum. We also just eat.
DY: What would you say is the difference between the Chicago and Amsterdam comedy scenes?
MC: God, well it's a lot different in Europe versus America for sure. In America it's a lot more saturated with comedians. Boston is the worst. There are so many comedians and it's such a small city. It's just so difficult for these poor guys to do comedy. It's a lot more brutal. Chicago is brutally competitive. People are mean and tribal for shows. Sometimes you get a minute or two to do a show and there'd be 40 people on the lineup. It's just so dystopian. In Amsterdam, there are not as many shows. You can do maybe one show a night or two on a Friday or Saturday. But the shows are little.
They're better in the sense that there's more audience members, and people are well behaved. It's an actual show. It's not just comedians in the audience waiting for their time to shine. It's actual people wanting to watch. But with that, it's people's second language. So it's not as rowdy. People aren't super crazy. They're not cheering or anything. Their laughs are a little bit lessened. The appreciation is still there.
Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube. Castellvi goes on to break down the anatomy of stand-up and pulls back the curtain on growing up in Chicago as a latch-key kid. Check out his schedule to catch one of his shows for yourself in the Netherlands or on tour.
