HE IS READY TO MEET YOU

Stand-up comedian Jeff Arcuri goes from viral crowd work clips to his first Netflix special. The banter informs his written jokes.

- By NATE JACKSON

JASON ARMOND Los Angeles Times "I WANT it to feel like it's a conversation, so why would I shut off the other half of that conversation?" Jeff Arcuri says of chatting with the audience while on stage.

Life is a bit surreal for Jeff Arcuri these days.

Though he’s been a stand-up comedian for over 14 years, most people in the world never knew it until clips of him joking around with audiences at spots like the Comedy Cellar in New York started going viral a few years ago. But while there’s no shortage of comics who’ve cracked the code to instant follows and likes (and plenty of scorn) by posting crowd work, Arcuri’s path in comedy has always been a coping mechanism for ADHD and razor-sharp situational awareness mixed with an overall lack of filter. At heart he’s always been a people person, even if he believes them less and less when they now say they’re fans of his.

“Is this ‘The Truman Show’? I have that thought all the time where everyone’s just being nice and following me because they feel bad for me,” he tells The Times. “It’s crazy, all of it is crazy and I appreciate it every day.”

What he’s referring to, other than the millions upon millions of views online, is how recent internet fame combined with long-term anonymity in the comedy scene has fueled the rocket that’s sending him into a new level of notoriety now that his debut special, “Nice to Meet You,” dropped Tuesday on Netflix.

JASON ARMOND Los Angeles Times JEFF ARCURI'S written work for his debut special, "Nice to Meet You," is recent because his and his wife's lives changed in the last year.