Sara Schaefer:
Going Up

In her solo comedy show, Sara Schaefer teaches you how to unlock your potential in this fake(?) seminar about defeating your hecklers, developing your TS (thick skin) and achieving total perfect comedy success. No matter your walk of life, you can make your dreams come true simply by Going Up!

Going Up is, on its surface, a hilarious recruitment into the cult of comedy. But at its heart, the show is a bold confrontation of a toxic system, an examination of what it means to be a creative person in today’s world, and Sara’s own reckoning with the tiny voice in her head that tells her she’s not good enough. Combining sharp joke writing, scathing satire, original music and incredibly detailed handmade miniatures, Sara takes the audience on a wholly original journey through the darkness and into the light. Come see what the New York Times called "a feat of comedy."

In 2023, Sara performed the show in cities all over the world and is excited to bring it to Minneapolis for the first time!

What people are saying about GOING UP

“Spoofing the cult of comedy in the language of Scientology, the wry, incisive stand-up Sara Schaefer adopts the pose, jargon and microphone of a guru in her new solo show about how to make it in the stand-up business. ‘Going Up’ (a riff on the Scientology term ‘Going Clear’), which has been performed a few times but will get a wider hearing in 2023, is ambitious and nimble, sneakily personal with enough inside-baseball jokes to make it a must-see for comedy nerds. The most impressive example of this, and the bit I am most looking forward to revisiting, is when Schaefer illustrates every kind of modern stand-up by doing the same genre of joke, over and over again, in a multitude of styles. It’s a feat of comedy as well as criticism that captures an entire scene in just a few minutes.” - The New York Times

“Having entered comedy over two decades ago, Schaefer’s cynicism, disdain and grievances with the industry are laid bare – be it the rampant misogyny, how the richest comedians are usually the least funny, and the unspoken rules you need to follow to “make it”. It’s a clever, dry and meta work of comedy about comedy.” - The Age

“There is perhaps no comedian alive who is capable of being so effortlessly funny and so fully themselves without being reductive than Sara Schaefer. In her show, Going Up, she manages to dissect stand-up, calling into question its cultishness, exclusivity, lack of creativity, and impact on one's life and self-worth.” - Eric Farwell, comedy critic 

“Schaefer herself has done spectacular work in almost every discipline of comedy and almost on every level, and now, with that wealth of experience and acclaim, is doing a perfectly biting satirical solo show on ‘how to become a comedian’.” - The Comedy Bureau

“Sara Schaefer’s live show is so f-ing funny. She does this whole show about a Scientology/Nexium/Tony Robbins style of comedy school that is hilarious! And cool. Yes, cool. I am dazzled by her as a writer and performer.” - Kathy Griffin

“I saw Going Up last night and it's possibly one of the coolest and funniest shows I've seen in a good long while. If you get a chance to see it anywhere, see it. Fucking incredible.” - Mike Drucker, head writer Full Frontal with Samantha Bee