Chris Fleming, Devon Walker, and others say Bottlerocket is an ideal comedy testing ground

“I come up with good shit in Pittsburgh,” internet-favorite comedian Chris Fleming says Saturday night on stage at Bottlerocket Social Hall, after an uproarious crowd reaction to a bit about The Shining that he hadn’t used the night before.  The friend sitting next to me in the second row, a fellow longtime Bottlerocket member, laughs so loudly and quickly that she snorts, while I wipe tears of laughter from my eyes. No spoilers, but the punchline is instantly recognizable to any queer creative person who spends time on the internet. My friend and I got the early-bird member email about Fleming’s show when his Pittsburgh performances were announced on relatively short notice. Later that night, we watch Devon Walker, who recently left NBC’s Saturday Night Live after three seasons, on the same stage, casually riffing on his religious family, heartbreak, and the specific weirdness of fame as a Black man. Walker’s style is cool and conversational, and he gets raucous laughs that burst through the calm — he’s a master at crowd work who disarms an audience while directing us toward the uncomfortable truth. He kicks things off with a survey of the show’s attendees, a flattened palm held above his eyes as he peers at our faces and confirms his suspicions. A whole lot of white people. Welcome to Pittsburgh. Chris Fleming and Devon Walker’s Bottlerocket posters Credit: Courtesy of Bottlerocket Social Hall On June 26 and 27, Fleming and Walker co-headlined two talent-packed nights of live comedy at the bar and event space in Allentown, which included strong opening sets by Tamar Rubin from Atlanta, Second City-trained Dan Bazaldua and Pittsburgh comedian Blair Grillz. It was the first time Bottlerocket had booked two different comedy shows in the same night and, owner Chris Copen says, it was all a product of happenstance. As a member of his core demographic of “women who brought a knife to prom” (not really, but I