ALL OUT: COMEDY ABOUT AMBITION Reviews

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/11/25 at 12:00am

Some of the biggest names in comedy are gathering at a new headquarters.

Following last season’s All In: Comedy About Love, the stage sequel All Out: Comedy About Ambition opens at the Nederlander Theatre tomorrow (December 12), bypassing a preview period. Like its predecessor, All Out will feature a rotating cast of four reading through a new set of short stories by Simon Rich, this time involving astronauts, sea captains, Paul Revere’s horse, and others. The lineup throughout the run includes Ike Barinholtz, Mike Birbiglia, Jim Gaffigan, Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, Eric Andre, Beck Bennett, Wayne Brady, Nicholas Braun, Heidi Gardner, Abbi Jacobson, Jason Mantzoukas, Ashley Park, Craig Robinson, Ben Schwartz, Jenny Slate, Jon Stewart, and Cecily Strong. Live musical interludes will be provided by the soul-pop group Lawrence (fronted by Gracie and Clyde Lawrence). All Out, directed by Alex Timbers, runs through March 8.

“Here’s how it works: a group of the funniest people on earth gather on Broadway (four at a time) to read hilarious stories by Simon Rich about ego, envy, greed, and basically just New Yorkers in general.”

Who here is visiting the office?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/11/25 at 8:29am

Tickets sales don't look good after December. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 10:41am

Looks like Lawrence is doing a pop-up concert at 4 PM outside the Nederlander.

There will also be a special ticket offer for those in attendance.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 10:44am

This feels like much less of an event than All In. Maybe a feeling of “fool me once…” has pervaded. I’m sure it’ll still be printing money, however. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 11:48am

We've had podcast pop-ups on and off Broadway before, and I'm going to extend that to the wider world of scripted spoken-word content like The Moth.

But that's still what this is: a podcast live show (that just happens not to have a podcast per se, just an audiobook). I'm not saying that with any derision or condescension; it's just a new subgenre that we haven't really codified as such. And this is an undoubtedly star-studded one, but there's still probably a barrier on how much people will pay to see it.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 11:58am

I don't have any qualms about a show like this being on Broadway. However, the issue with All In was that Simon Rich's writing was simply not very good and also clearly never really intended to be performed in this way. 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 12:05pm

I wasn't a fan of All In and will be skipping this since it looks like more of the same (albeit with a bigger band).

Also, Ike Barinholtz was on Seth Meyers last night "joking" that he hadn't read the play.  I guess if you're just "reading stories" (a phrase Jon Stewart also used to promote it on the Daily Show) you don't need to know it ahead of time. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 4:00pm

Rush and lottery will be $45 for this.

The show's website says approximate 85-minute running time, no intermission. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 4:12pm

Also, tonight's lineup of storytellers consists of Ike Barinholtz, Eric Andre, Abbi Jacobson, and Jon Stewart. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 4:53pm

Fordham2015 said: "I wasn't a fan of All In and will be skipping this since it looks like more of the same (albeit with a bigger band).

Also, Ike Barinholtz was on Seth Meyers last night "joking" that he hadn't read the play. I guess if you're just "reading stories" (a phrase Jon Stewart also used to promote it on the Daily Show) you don't need to know it ahead of time."

Yeah, this is a total holiday cash grab but I think patrons are very aware of that, and they simply want to sit in the same room with celebrities. It works for all parties, it seems.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 6:37pm

this is def not selling the way the first one did, after the holidays the sales goes off a cliff

getting ads that tickets START at $70 are not the discount they think it is

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/12/25 at 10:15pm

So what did we think?

What’s with the office theme, and could someone please provide us with a Lawrence setlist under the spoiler box?

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/13/25 at 9:55pm

I was there tonight. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

This was one of the most comedically inert nights of theatre I have ever had and it’s a damn shame considering the comedic talent on board. I laughed exactly twice - once at an extended joke about an unfortunate math teacher by Jon Stewart, and an extended story about Paul Revere’s horse done by Eric Andre. Everything else felt like a bunch of children’s stories sometimes given a PG-13 kick and no real substantive comedy about ambition. I can’t imagine any group of comics or actors they have lined up making this material any more entertaining and Simon Rich should be barred from doing this crap again. At least Jeff Ross was heartwarming and relatable.

The ONLY saving grace, or should I say Gracie, was the interstitial music by Lawrence. It was most new material I think (I don’t know their discography other than “Don’t Lose Sight” which was the finale). JUST IN TIME did not do justice. If someone can make her an original rock musical (or wrote one herself) where she can just shred it up, that girl would have a Tony or two.

The marquee over the box office cynically says “For Anyone Who’s Ever Dared To Dream Of Seeing People They Know From TV on Broadway”…which pretty much sums up this zero-calorie and fizzled out affair. Worth nothing I saw about 8 people walk out at different moments about an hour in

Updated On: 12/13/25 at 09:55 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/14/25 at 12:02am

I feel bad for the employees at the Nederlander who had to deal with this, Jeff Ross AND Redwood all in one year

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 12/15/25 at 1:35pm

Anyone else see this and have thoughts? (Besides Lawrence being great!) 

My parents are wanting to see this, but I'm trying to push them towards something cheaper and more engaging.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/18/25 at 4:11pm

Looks like their "gala performance" is this evening... I haven't heard anything about a review embargo lift yet.

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 12/18/25 at 4:41pm

Is a "gala" what you do when you haven't raised all your money?

EDSOSLO858 said: "Looks like their "gala performance" is this evening... I haven't heard anything about a review embargo lift yet."

 

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/18/25 at 5:48pm

On Facebook, Sean Nyberg announced he was a co-producer as of December 9. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 12/18/25 at 6:02pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Looks like their "gala performance" is this evening... I haven't heard anything about a review embargo lift yet."

Their “gala performance” is on TKTS. 

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/18/25 at 9:00pm

ggersten said: "On Facebook, Sean Nyberg announced he was a co-producer as of December 9."

 

gag, he is so obnoxious. He was planting positive comments for JOY on reddit repeatedly which he was also a co-pro on 

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 12/20/25 at 10:15pm

For what it's worth, here's a review

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 5:01pm

I skipped All In because of the price issue, and saw All Out last night in the context of getting a ticket where I couldn't complain about the price. The cast was Jim Gaffigan, Eric Andre, Abbi Jacobson, and Ben Schwartz.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I'm never going to be onboard with the decision to do this reading instead of staged performance. While that's mostly about getting in big names in for a week or two, without them having to learn the lines, I don't think it's the only reason. They want you to focus on New Yorker like cartoons projected in the background. 

The best segment was a closing monologue read by Abbi Jacobson from the perspective of the city of New York City, and why it hates young people. It's one really funny joke hammered over and over, but ultimately also really moving. A story about a wise fox that maybe is just privileged also really worked. On the other hand, a segment interpreting how "the world's oldest profession" means at one point literally everyone was a prostitute went absolutely nowhere. 

The most consistent highlight was Lawrence. You're interstitially getting a high energy concert from them, as they take over the entire stage. Even Gracie Lawrence wasn't already a more qualified Broadway performer than most of the rotating cast, structurally the band is going to overshadow the cast performance, just by not sitting in a chair and reading off a script. 

I looked it up on Spotify, and most, if not all, of what Lawrence is performing is from the 2024 album Family Business.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 9:58pm

I saw this tonight. I really hated it last year but my OCD need to see every Broadway show in a season (and a free ticket) got me to the Nederlander tonight. And I thought the stories were even worse than last year. There seem to be a lot less stories and more music though, which I suppose is the saving grace for the show because the musicians were pretty good. I mean, they have absolutely nothing to do with the show that people are paying to see, but at least we weren’t listening to those inane stories for that little while. 

Leaving the theater, i heard two 30-somethings say how it was the greatest thing they’ve ever seen so at least some people are enjoying it. 

[dearalanaaaa]

Posted: 12/24/25 at 12:26am

The best part of this show was the stage door after. I understood why some of the jokes were funny. I even smiled a bit. the Laurence music was amazing. But not a single joke landed. The audience felt tepid the entire time for the matinee. I can't imagine being one of these amazing comedic talents onstage reading this slop, and probably knowing it's slop. But good for everybody for farming the check, I can't even blame them. Also, I could tell there was some deeper messages (ie nepotism & the clever fox, being overshadowed & Paul revere's horse, sustaining in the city & the final monologue), but it's a slog to sit through. I nearly fell asleep despite sneaking in an entire coffee. don't waste your time on this.

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 12/24/25 at 8:02am

I do find it interesting that most of the press for All In was about the performers (Lin, Mulaney, etc) and yet for this one Lawrence is getting most of the buzz. Maybe a combination of Gracie's Just in Time fame, the poor reception for All In, and (as a result) the lower star wattage this time.