As a high schooler in Long Island, Sarah Sherman was given the nickname “Squirm” because she was “really skinny and gross and squirmy.” The name stuck, but it’s since taken on a different meaning: the comic is now known for her absurdist, gross-out stand-up. She will handle a bag of her own pubes, or chug a can of clam chowder. And her show, Helltrap Nightmare, encourages others to embrace the “squirm” in themselves.
Even though Sherman has been seriously doing stand-up since only November 2015, she’s turned her own nightmarish onstage persona into a distinct point of view that earned her a spot in the Lincoln Lodge’s 2016-2017 cast and the title of “Best stand-up comic” in the Reader‘s Best of Chicago 2016 readers’ poll. But she’s not changing her ways for more mainstream stages. “You will be terrified,” she says. “I will use a larger platform to disgust more people.” v
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