I’m the type of person who, when going to a comedy club, tries to wedge myself into the least conspicuous corner of the room possible so as to avoid being noticed and made fun of by the comedian. And thus, I did just that when I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade this Wednesday to see Nick Ross’ Cool Your J.

But I didn’t know that it wasn’t that kind of show, so when Ross came out in his first character—a screechingly obnoxious faux-gangsta in a tracksuit wanting to party on though club is closing—I was thoroughly annoyed. But it suddenly became much less annoying when I realized that he was supposed to be annoying. From then on, Cool Your J became quite enjoyable.

As UCB”s website described it: “Nick Ross embodies a dizzying array of idiosyncratic, fully realized characters, each radically different from the last, but all sharing a certain desperation, a blistering need to Cool Their J’s. Cool Your J, a one man character comedy with music and lights…cool.”

The thread that tied his (very different) characters together was indeed a kind earnestness manifested in different ways, from the desperate clubber asking whether anyone wanted to get breakfast (“Blueberry pancakes y’alllllll!”) and a bawling high school boy who just found out that he won’t be going to his homecoming dance because his date didn’t finish her homework (“You just pick yourself up and keep soaring,” he told himself through his tears.)

One of the great (if not more conventional) scenes was Ross as a man talking on the phone about bumps on his penis to his doctor. “Maybe they’re the size of the cells of raspberries, but not in clusters…like, more spread out,” he says. We found out later when he orders an Venti iced drink that he’s in a Starbucks, ho ho!

While Cool Your J wasn’t gut-rippingly hilarious, its humor was more on the quieter, more poignant side. The moments that stood out were the unexpected ones, such as the almost absurd image of Ross kneeling and slowly rotating sparkling, three-foot long clippers as dramatic music played in the background. At thirty minutes, the show was short and sweet, and just enough time to appreciate Ross’s talent.

Update: The Show is running Fridays, Dec 12th and 19th at 8PM. Get tickets at the door.