You could say actor Paul Reiser is “mad about” his return to stand-up comedy. After 25 years, the Stranger Things actor is returning to the stage and will be appearing at the Irvine Improv on Thursday, Aug. 25.

“There’s no way to get better at it quickly. There’s no app, no program, no shortcut. You just have to do it, night after night after night. Old school elbow grease,” Reiser said. “The experience of performing in front of a live audience is a thrill and your reward is instantaneous. People laugh, and you’ve won.”

Reiser’s career has witnessed an interesting paradigm shift through the decades. Appearing on television shows and in films, like Alien (1986), Rieser rose to fame in an era where television became a primary focus of pop culture.

In the early 1990s Reiser, starring alongside the well-known Helen Hunt in NBC’s Mad About You became part of the weekly “Must See TV” package, which held the legendary sitcoms Friends and Seinfeld.

Today, Reiser is still keeping fans on the edge of their seats through a new kind of must-see entertainment — streaming.

In 2022, Stranger Things Season 4 was estimated to have been viewed by audiences for a total of 1.4 billion hours. Despite the astronomical figures, the 1980s-themed show finished second to Squid Games, which drew in audiences for 1.7 billion hours, according to Variety.

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