Stand-up comedy: Meet the ‘Ernest Hemingway of sexting,’ Che Durena

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“I am the Ernest Hemingway of sexting,” comic Che Durena tells a small yet animated audience at the St. Marks Comedy Club on Halloween night. Unlike the six opening comics, he skipped a costume and wears a pink sweatshirt and dark-wash jeans. He stands with one foot propped against the brick wall behind him, the mic stand in one hand.

Durena’s set centers mostly around sex, befitting his self-proclaimed identity: “f*** boy.” While the openers’ sets received a sprinkle of laughter, Durena sparks a deluge, even if some particularly raunchy jokes make some audience members eye their dates awkwardly.

Two hours before Durena’s set, the smell of weed and light, jovial Halloween music wafted through the low-ceiling club. “You’re here to talk to Che?” the bartender says excitedly. “He’s such a cool dude!”

Durena is a really cool dude, though his comedy career path is atypical. He started in high school in Vancouver, writing jokes for his older brother, who was trying his hand at stand-up. Soon, it became clear to the pair that Che had the talent. He moved to Toronto after trying out comedy in Mexico, where he also worked as a bartender and scuba instructor. His big break came during COVID, when he turned to TikTok to replace live performances. His social media propelled him from a run-of-the-mill comedian to a headliner, and he moved to New York earlier this year.

Today, Durena has almost eight million TikTok followers. The second part of his “Raw Dog Tour” wrapped last month in Madison, Wisconsin.

He frequents many comedy clubs around New York, in particular the Brooklyn Comedy Club. “He’s different. He’s got something special about him. I think he’s probably one of my favorite comics I’ve seen in New York,” says Mike…