--- description: He's calm and collected—and genuinely funny title: Watch This 89-Year-Old Man Crush His First Standup Set image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch This 89-Year-Old Man Crush His First Standup Set by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2015 3:36 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2015 3:36 PM CUT To fill up their free time, many 89-year-olds would find a hobby like gardening or knitting. But Chuck Esterly, who lives in Cincinnati with his wife, decided to go a different route: standup comedy. Esterly recently took the stage at Go Bananas Comedy Club in Cincinnati, where he performed his very first set. Many comedians flounder during their first public appearance, but Esterly was cool, calm and collected. Oh, and he was actually quite funny. The crowd was _loving him._ Comedian Mark Chalifoux posted the above clip [on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HzIMHAmlek "undefined") a few weeks ago, but it’s gaining popularity after being posted [to Reddit ](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/3rjz8e/89%5Fyearold%5Fman%5Fdoes%5Fstandup%5Ffor%5Fthe%5Ffirst%5Ftime/ "undefined")on Thursday. His jokes mostly revolve around his age and his relationship with his family. Enjoy! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/"},"headline":"Watch This 89-Year-Old Man Crush His First Standup Set","datePublished":"2015-11-06T15:36:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:41.049Z","description":"He's calm and collected—and genuinely funny","url":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Comedy"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/","name":"Watch This 89-Year-Old Man Crush His First Standup Set"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","description":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vgQtqA8c/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-22T13:42:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4102831/89-year-old-chuck-esterly-standup-comedy/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```