Asperger's Are Us

Asperger's Are Us
From left, Ethan Finlan, Noah Britton, New Michael Ingemi, and Jack Hanke
Comedy career
Years active	2010-2018, 2019-present
Genres	Satire, surreal humor, puns
Members	Tripp Carey (former member) Ethan Finlan Jack Hanke Noah Britton New Michael Ingemi
Website	www.aspergersareus.com

Asperger's Are Us is an American comedy troupe. They are the first comedy troupe consisting entirely of people with Asperger syndrome, ^[1] though their shows do not reference autism at all. ^[2]

Biography

Asperger's Are Us formed on the North Shore of Massachusetts in the summer of 2010 after New Michael Ingemi, Jack Hanke, and Ethan Finlan graduated from a summer camp where Noah Britton was their counselor. ^[3]

They have performed over 150 original sketch comedy shows in ten countries ^{[4] [5]} and have been interviewed many times by press around the world. ^{[6] [7] [8]} . Despite several people incorrectly assuming that Asperger's Are Us formed to "prove that autistic people can be funny," they have always emphatically insisted that they formed solely to be funny, and are offended by the assumption that autistic people would need to prove themselves capable of humor. ^[9] They state that their name reflects their "Aspie style of humor, which focuses on dark absurdism and wordplay, which Aspies seem to enjoy a lot". ^[2]

Examples of their humor include selling death certificates as tour merch "with blank spaces where we filled in the buyer's name, birthday, and cause of death", onstage haircuts from a randomly chosen audience member during several shows, hiring a real CPR demonstration as an opening act at the Kennedy Center, reading all of Dink Johnson's Wikipedia article out loud for a sketch, performing a puppet show explaining complex economic theory, calling Hawaiian hotels (via speakerphone onstage) to ask detailed questions about valet parking options, hiding perennial presidential candidate Vermin Supreme under a tablecloth onstage for 4 minutes before he walked out to silently wave at the audience and exit, and having the audience vote for a specific stranger's artwork in an online children's art competition. ^[10]

A Duplass Brothers Productions documentary about the troupe was released on Netflix in late 2016. ^[11] A follow-up, On Tour with Asperger's Are Us, debuted on HBO on 30 April 2019. ^{[12] [13]}

Asperger's Are Us disbanded in 2018, but reunited and continued to tour in 2019.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Asperger's Are Us". Facebook.com. Asperger’s Are Us. 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
2. "Asperger's Are Us". Facebook.com. Asperger’s Are Us. 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
3. Weintraub, Karen (13 April 2012). "Asperger's Are Us comedy troupe plays off their disability". USA Today. McLean, Va. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
4. "Asperger's Are Us". Asperger’s Are Us. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
5. "Asperger's Are Us". Asperger’s Are Us. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
6. Pfeiffer, Sacha (2011). "'Asperger's Are Us' Adds Laughter To A Serious Condition". All Things Considered. Boston University. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
7. "Asperger's sketch troupe provides an atypical take on comedy". Boston Metro. Echo Media. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
8. Smith, Jada F. (15 July 2016). "Asperger's Are Us Comedy Troupe Jokes About Everything but That". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
9. Miller, Stuart (10 November 2016). "The Asperger's comedy troupe: 'We want people to like us because we're funny'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
10. "Asperger's Are Us". Facebook.com. Asperger’s Are Us. 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
11. Evans, Greg (2016). "Netflix Nabs 'Asperger's Are Us' Documentary At SXSW". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
12. "HBO to Debut ON TOUR WITH ASPERGER'S ARE US". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
13. "Documentary Series "On Tour with Asperger's Are Us", Following a Comedy Troupe of People with Asperger Syndrome on Their First Cross-Country Tour, Debuts April 30 on HBO". The Futon Critic . 9 April 2019.

External links

• Asperger's Are Us at IMDb