Before The Drugs Kick In at Caveat

A 62-year-old woman in an insane asylum closes her eyes and becomes a 28-year-old stand-up comedian. But not just any stand-up comedian, a comedian who had the potential to become the greatest of all time.

Lynn T. Walsh: Before The Drugs Kick In is a rare, intimate blend of stand-up comedy and theatre giving the audience access to a voice that could have provided the world with decades of laughs, if we never locked her away.

Before The Drugs Kick In uses the magical elements of stand-up comedy, theatre plus nostalgia to rewrite history in hopes of creating a little closure and comfort before the lights go out. Inspired by personal experience, the delivery of Dave Chappelle, Netflix’s Russian Doll and HBO's Hacks, the show is a tribute to anyone, especially young mothers of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, who society wrote off as crazy instead of giving them an opportunity to live. The show contains distressing themes with strong language.

NYC comedian and actress Maria DeCotis will bring comedian Lynn T. Walsh to life at Caveat before leaving the country less than 24 hours later to premiere the show at the Barons Court Theatre in London and then the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.

DeCotis recently made her Broadway debut as Mike Birbiglia’s understudy for The New One. She is a New York City based comedian, actress, and writer featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Guardian, Vogue, plus many more. Her work has been shared by Ben Stiller, Stephen Colbert, Natasha Lyonne and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Recent credits include Comedy Central, HBO's Women in Comedy Festival, the New York Comedy Festival.

Lynn T. Walsh: Before The Drugs Kick In is written and directed by NYC comedian and playwright Mike Lemme, who made his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2022 with his play Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker (‘enthralling … a raw outpouring of comedy and drama’ 5 Stars, The Wee Review). Lemme started performing stand-up at the appropriate age of 14. He has spent nearly 20 years making his unique experiences relatable by revealing everything about himself through his material and characters to sold out, and nowhere near sold out, crowds whenever, wherever he can.