Notes from a Successful Failure

As many of you who have been following along know, I made a movie! It’s a feature-length comedy that I wrote, directed, and starred in about a freelance violist called On a String. As I get ready for the film to finally be released theatrically in the US, I’ve been reflecting on the whole, incredibly long process of making a film, and I thought I’d ask myself some questions and then answer them. I guess this is me sort of self-moderating a Q&A.

Please enjoy this little essay on boredom, or if that bores you, scroll down to “A few other things!!!” for updates on a new podcast I started, paid subscriptions, and more. And now… On Boredom About a month ago, I started experiencing chest pains and wondered if I should go to the ER.

Hello! A quick note to say that my hour special, ‘Isabel Hagen at The Bitter End’ will be available to stream on YouTube starting TONIGHT at 8pm ET.

Hi! If you don’t want to suffer through me plugging all my upcoming road dates, scroll down to where it says “Second” for some thoughts about my artistic intentions! I have upcoming shows! Am I performing in a city near you? BOSTON at Elephant & Castle March 6 + 7 (tomorrow and Saturday!) - these shows are in a small room, one Friday and one Saturday so it’s going to be intimate and fun and I’m working on a lot of new material.

Get more from Isabel Hagen in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android

Please enjoy this piece of writing about developing new stand-up material after taking a break. OR, if you want to skip straight to the news about my new special that’s coming out January 28th and my upcoming tour dates, scroll down to where it says “Some News!” For about six months, I did a lot less stand-up comedy than I typically do.

Hi! I’ll be performing stand-up comedy in the following places on the following dates: Kingston, NY on Jan 10 at Assembly Brooklyn, NY on Jan 21 at Littlefield Chicago, IL on Feb 5 at City Winery Indianapolis, IN on Feb 6 at Clowes Memorial Hall (the Krannert Room) Mahomet, IL on Feb 7 at Yellow and Co. Columbus, OH on May 8 + 9 at The Attic Comedy Club All tickets can be found HERE AND if you don’t live near these places, still hit that link and “join the guest list” to put in your email and...

But first! I’m performing stand-up in SEATTLE, WA on August 31st at Here-After. The show will be an hour of comedy, viola, and comedy/viola. You can buy tickets here. If you want to come to a show, I strongly encourage you to get tickets now before they sell out! (Or in case not enough tickets sell and the venue cancels the shows. One or the other.) Okay thank you, I love you.

TLDR: My debut feature film ON A STRING is playing at Tribeca Festival in June and having its world premiere there, I’m taping my first hour long comedy special in NYC on May 23rd at The Bitter End (promo code SEVEN for $7 tickets, or pay the full $20 if you feel compelled since 100% of ticket sales go to me and I’m producing the special independently), and I’m doing one show (running the special) in Los Angeles on May 7th at Lyric Hyperion.

It is with great excitement (and even greater anxiety) that I announce the taping of my first HOUR LONG COMEDY SPECIAL! I've been pursuing stand-up comedy in earnest for almost ten years now, and I see this taping as a goodbye to a lot of material I've been honing over the past decade. It’ll be like a joke funeral! (God I’m terrible at marketing.) The taping is on MAY 23rd at 7pm in NYC at THE BITTER END.