Hannah Einbinder’s , which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Tuesday and on Max today, sees the 29-year-old breakout doing exactly as its title suggests: making a case for what belongs in the trash. The staging—the lighting direction, especially—at the El Rey theater in her native Los Angeles is stunning by standup special standards. This, according to Einbinder in a post-premiere Q&A with ’s Sarah Sherman and director Sandy Honig, was intentional.
“Standup comedy is not typically a medium where aesthetics are considered,” she noted. Her inspiration came from a myriad of places, including David Lynch’s repertoire and the Barbra Streisand-starring Frankly, it shows. In fact, the result feels more akin to a one-woman show, theatrically punctuated by .
Einbinder’s list of other considerations includes capitalism, humanity, and, perhaps most notably, male trees. It’s the latter, the basis of an extended bit, that reveals more about its messenger than most else in the 55-minute set. It begins with what one might first suspect is a simple anecdote.
What it becomes by its end—over 10 minutes later—is a delightful tirade about climate change made distinctly, neurotically , thanks to the twists and turns of an O. Henry story and one pitch-perfect impression. The comedian begins with a history lesson.
“In 1949, a man named Alfred Stefferud wrote an article in the USDA Journal of Agriculture and in it, he recommended that city and urban planners only plan.