“My Autism Keeps Upsetting People” - Vittorio Angelone
In a Nutshell
Vittorio Angelone received an adult autism diagnosis at 29 and uses it to explain a pattern of unintentionally upsetting people through social missteps he cannot accurately gauge. He argues that neurological conditions like autism and Tourette's create tension between personal responsibility and public understanding, criticizing inconsistent societal standards for different disabilities. The core message is that he continues performing and pursuing ambition despite constant anxiety about being unlikable, refusing to let diagnosis become an excuse for poor behavior while hoping disclosure leads to more understanding responses.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Vittorio Angelone read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life at age 22 and found it helpful as self-help material that encouraged him to "grow up" and "get your shit together." He is embarrassed about this past enthusiasm and believes some audience members would be surprised or unhappy to learn about it, but he tries to remain honest about personal growth phases.
He describes himself as writing narrative, thoughtful, thematic stand-up shows while still being "a fucking idiot," creating tension between his comedic output and self-perception.
While on tour in Nashville, Angelone was allegedly spiked after a show. He had a few drinks, played pool, and was given a lift back to his hotel where he became extremely intoxicated unusually quickly. He played Mongolian throat singing on Spotify and has patchy memory of the evening, including not remembering entering his hotel room or going to bed.
Upon waking, his phone was in the bathroom unplugged and his belongings were scattered. He initially believed it was an unjust hangover, vomited repeatedly every 30 minutes until checkout, and had to vomit in the hotel lobby. A colleague named Ian offered to take him to an IV clinic, which was closed, leading them to urgent care.
Urgent care was located beside a burger restaurant. Staff initially underestimated the severity of his condition because he was polite during check-in. He listed "persistent vomiting" as his symptom. While waiting, people were called ahead of him. His mother's advice was to "throw up in the lobby" to get escalated care.
He vomited loudly in the bathroom adjacent to reception, drawing attention. Medical staff diagnosed likely drink spiking, noting it is common in certain Nashville areas. He admitted he was not watching his drink while taking photos and walking around.
Angelone played pool and beat local "redneck" players badly after they challenged him for the table. His friend warned him to "cool it on the pool thing." He suspects a player named Jimbo and his "frightening looking wife" may have spiked his drink, though he has no definitive proof. He consumed only one sandwich and three spoons of porridge in the following day and a half.
At urgent care, he received an anti-vomiting injection in his buttocks for $200. He stopped vomiting and caught his delayed flight to Austin. Because he felt he might collapse, he requested wheelchair assistance through Nashville airport by claiming an ankle injury from a month prior, noting that staff do not verify such claims.
This incident occurred during Angelone's first North American tour, with a full month in the States mostly by himself. He decided to stop drinking for the remainder of the month. Prior to the Nashville incident, he had performed in LA (which he described as "roads with occasional things") and New York, where his girlfriend joined him.
In New York, after visiting the 9/11 memorial the day after landing, Angelone had a bowel movement in his pants. He attributes digestive issues to American food, describing bread and turkey at an airport as "not food." He contrasts this with UK meal deals (£3.50 for a main, side, and drink) and Irish deli counters that make fresh sandwiches, particularly chicken fillet rolls in baguettes.
He also misses Soreen malt loaf and notes Ireland's superior sandwich culture compared to the UK.
Angelone received an autism diagnosis at age 29. Unlike some who experience sudden clarity, his process was gradual. Friends had long called him autistic. He frequently had interactions he perceived as positive but later received messages indicating he had upset people, revealing a pattern of social missteps he was unaware of.
He experiences constant anxiety about upsetting others but lacks the ability to accurately gauge social impact, describing it as "swinging punches with a blindfold on" - apologizing unnecessarily while remaining oblivious to actual offenses.
As a child, Angelone was highly anxious with frequent panic attacks at ages 9-11. He ran away from school attempting to go home, required separate lessons in a different room doing worksheets alone, and entered primary school through a different door to avoid crowds. At age 9, he punched his primary school principal while trying to run away; this was characterized as a "barely legal punch" occurring just before the age when such an act would be treated as assault.
He approached his local GP in London, who referred him for NHS assessment with an estimated 4-year waiting list. During his previous tour, autistic audience members and autism practitioners offered free private assessments. He accepted one near London.
The assessment involved four or five appointments, forms completed by himself, his girlfriend, and his mother. Results showed mildly elevated traits across categories but extremely high masking scores - the ability to hide autistic traits.
High masking explains lower trait scores and is compared to patterns observed more frequently in women due to social expectations around group dynamics. Angelone describes himself as having "girl autism" and notes that stand-up comedy itself functions as professional masking - repeatedly delivering rehearsed material as if spontaneous.
He worries about the implications of unmasking, rejecting the idea of using diagnosis as license to behave rudely, but hopes public disclosure might lead others to respond more understandingly to social missteps.
Discussion about personal responsibility when actions upset others, particularly in cases involving neurological conditions. The speaker expresses strong feelings about not wanting to upset people and questions at what point someone becomes culpable for their actions.
Reference to an incident at the BAFTAs involving a man with Tourette's who shouted inappropriate words. The speaker was angry about the public reaction, particularly from American audiences who lacked awareness of the condition. The UK has had greater awareness of Tourette's, partly through documentaries like Reggie Yates' "Super Tourette's."
Super Tourette's is described as an actual medical term where physical tics are so intense that individuals fall down. The speaker notes the name sounds desirable, comparing it to an upgrade option or value meal. The condition involves devastating and debilitating symptoms despite the unfortunate naming.
Hollywood actors suggested the man at the BAFTAs meant his outbursts, questioning why certain words were in his brain. The speaker explains this misunderstands the condition - the worst possible words emerge precisely because they are the most inappropriate. Lewis Capaldi's Tourette's may have emerged or been exacerbated by the pressure of his second album.
The man with Tourette's at the BAFTAs was a school caretaker/janitor who faced public humiliation on the biggest stage of his life. The speaker contrasts this with "Hollywood elite millionaires" who faced only temporary discomfort versus someone dealing with a debilitating neurological condition their entire life.
BAFTAs attendees are supposed to be academy members who have watched all nominated films, including one about someone who shouts inappropriate things. Despite this, many reacted with confusion. The man received death threats online, and no one from the Jamie Foxx side who called him racist came forward to acknowledge it should have been understood as a disability issue.
Society highly values social decorum and saying the right things in appropriate spaces. There's acceptance of disabilities in young children with obvious needs, but socially difficult disabilities like autism and OCD face different challenges. The tension between accessibility and inclusivity creates difficult conversations.
If someone suggested a person in a wheelchair shouldn't attend an awards show without a ramp, the reaction would be different. The speaker uses this analogy to highlight inconsistent standards for different types of disabilities.
The host describes recurring dreams about doing something perceived as normal or fun, only to discover crossing an invisible social line and feeling terrible. A recent dream involved splashing water at Yasmin (who handles guest booking) with a Gatorade bottle during what seemed like playful interaction.
The pattern involves doing something without realizing it would upset someone, then discovering the reaction. This differs from situations where someone knowingly proceeds with an action despite knowing it might cause discomfort.
The host considers whether they might have autism but expresses concern about "wearing your culture as my costume." They acknowledge some traits but distinguish between being an only child versus being autistic - being "an unsocialized boy" who wasn't introduced to other dogs when young.
Autism exists on a spectrum with an infinite number of presentations. Common memes about eye contact, social operation, and stimming don't capture all manifestations. There's also discussion about people's desire for mental pathology as a way to have "a thing."
Autism is described as the "sexy new" mental malady that people like having. Two recommended books by comedians about adult autism diagnosis: Fern Brady's "Strong Female Character" and Pierre Novell's "Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?"
Autism may become defunct as terminology because it's an umbrella term. The Asperger's category was helpful but discontinued because Hans Asperger was a Nazi. Current terminology uses autism levels:
- Level 1: No outside assistance needed (what was formerly Asperger's)
- Level 2: Some help or care needed
- Level 3: Full-time care required, cannot exist independently
The speaker notes it's strange that level 1 and nonverbal individuals who self-harm share the same diagnosis, similar to how cancer has different stages.
The speaker received an ADHD diagnosis alongside autism, describing it as a "package deal." They care less about the ADHD diagnosis, partly because medication exists, raising concerns about overdiagnosis motivated by pharmaceutical profits. Unlike autism, ADHD has "big pharma money" that could motivate diagnoses.
Even with the NHS, pharmaceutical companies profit by selling medications to the health service. The speaker hasn't tried ADHD medication (Ritalin/speed) but notes it supposedly helps with tasks like doing taxes - a litmus test for effectiveness.
There's significant comorbidity between autism and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hypermobility affecting soft tissue in bones and joints). The speaker experiences hypermobility with wrists popping out and frequent dislocations. Discussion about whether this affects brain connective tissue as well, leading to the joke about having a "hyper mobile brain."
An Irish Times article mentioned the speaker alongside Sally Rooney and Nkemdilim, including a review of their show. The reviewer described it as "unapologetically local" and suggested if you don't get the references, that's your problem. The speaker felt this perpetuated stereotypes about Northern Irish comedians being inaccessible.
The speaker wrote the show in London, toured England, performed at Edinburgh Fringe, New York, and America - contradicting the "refuses to explain" characterization. They posted on Instagram about the article, which gained significant attention (40,000 likes) with mixed reactions.
Similar Instagram posts include one about 20 people arriving 30 minutes late to a Belfast show, posted as factual information with corrected timings. The speaker notes this pattern of direct communication may relate to autism traits.
The article's author reached out, leading to a phone conversation where both acknowledged they may have phrased things imperfectly. The speaker kept the journalist's name in screenshots but noted their name appears in the newspaper anyway. Some audience members sent the journalist horrible messages, prompting the speaker to take some responsibility.
Rather than the typical comedian response of "fuck everybody, I don't care," the speaker prefers reaching out directly when they've upset someone. They had a conversation acknowledging mutual fault without formal apologies, reaching a place of understanding each other's perspectives.
Discussion about differences between UK and US comedy cultures, particularly regarding roasts. The speaker has been in the US for four years but maintains connection to British culture through podcasts. The UK roast scene differs from American Netflix productions, with less post-event "press conference" style analysis and cattiness.
America's size creates more factions and contentious dynamics. The UK may have less visible conflict due to smaller size, higher likelihood of bumping into people, or greater decorum. The enforcement mechanism of potentially facing people creates different social dynamics.
Reaction videos have become a massive part of culture, particularly in America, where half of YouTube consists of people watching other videos. The speaker suggests this phenomenon may have started with Two Girls One Cup, noting there are more videos of people watching it than the original video itself. People react by saying things like "Oh, that's fucking disgusting."
The speaker attended the Comedy Store the day after landing in LA on a Sunday night before the Netflix is a Joke Festival started. He went to watch the open mic to see bad stand-up comedy as a confidence boost. The Comedy Store's open mic becomes the proper show. He paid $20 at the door after introducing himself as a comedian in town for the festival, had his phone put in a bag, and was seated in the front row.
The speaker is not a great laugher at comedy shows - he sits quietly and analyzes material. While in the front row, nearly every comedian on the main show referenced that he wasn't laughing, assuming he hated it. In reality, he was enjoying it. Paulie Shore called him gay for his whole set and called him a "gay Nazi."
Security began collecting Apple watches even after phones were already collected, signaling a famous person was arriving. Dave Chappelle was brought on and then brought on Shane Gillis, Louis C.K., Chris Rock, and Kanye West. The speaker saw many roasts and specifically mentions the Shane Gillis joke that got him in trouble: "Kevin Hart is so short they're going to have to lynch him from a bonsai tree." This was the joke the speaker was most excited to see on Netflix.
Chelsea Handler said lynching is worse than rape. The speaker rejects creating a hierarchy of bad things, stating both are bad and it's not a competition. Roasts are viewed by some as a competition where someone wants to win, which the speaker finds very American. He sees roast battles as a double act and dance rather than a fight - an ensemble show where performers try to say funny things about friends and colleagues rather than just be mean.
The speaker avoids the narrative that "everybody's too offended nowadays." He notes there are infinite platforms and incentives to broadcast opinions. He could give a hot take on the Kevin Hart roast for clips, but his take is lukewarm: he liked it, it was a bit long, some people didn't do great but they're actresses not comedians. Comedians are sometimes treated as ammunition to comment on events from a particular perspective.
The speaker discusses a concept heard recently called cringe cancellation - making someone's brand equity so toxic to be associated with that they become "cringe canceled." This is distinct from canceling someone for illegal activity or reprehensible statements. The speaker wonders about examples of people who have been cringe canceled through a joke so funny it made them uncool.
Shetty and Bartlett got close to cringe cancellation through a clip with Mike. The speaker references this as the canonical example of making someone's brand uncool. Russell Brand faced a two-pronged assault: real cancellation plus cringe cancellation. When someone's virtue gets chipped away, it opens opportunities for the cringe cancellation to gain momentum.
The speaker contrasts the positive R-number from the Psychology of Money book by Morgan Housel - for every person who buys the book, another 1.2 people buy it. The book has sold more copies every month for three years. The opposite would be making an R-number where for every person who sees something, fewer people want to be associated with it. Brian Callen is mentioned as someone on the receiving end of this phenomenon.
It's a worry of social isolation - it's cringe to be into something, so people avoid it. The speaker references a Bill Burr joke about roller skating being massive until a homophobic joke in the '90s made everyone throw their roller skates away. The joke was: "What's the hardest thing about roller skating? Telling your dad you're gay." This is called a "roller skating cancellation."
Overexposure affects actors when people get sick of seeing them. Nicolas Cage was probably not far off at one point but went through a full horseshoe without being properly canceled. The Rock is the canonical example of overexposure. He's attempting a rebrand with being edgier, swearing more, and being less family-friendly, including saying "fuck" at the Kevin Hart roast. The Rock is described as the Overton window of culture - the center of what is generally accepted.
The speaker wonders how far back you'd need to go for the Kevin Hart roast to not be allowed on Netflix - maybe three or four years. Don Rickles roasts from the past contained racist jokes that couldn't have been put out in 2020. The speaker tries not to pay much heed to what is allowed or isn't allowed.
The speaker is purposely trying not to come across as an edge lord - not saying things because they're edgy. However, stand-up comedy requires creating tension in the room, and topics people aren't comfortable with can generate laughs. The goal isn't being edgy for its own sake.
After spending time in America, the speaker finds some American comedy embarrassing. If a joke doesn't work, comedians sometimes stick a slur at the end and people clap because they think the comedian is fighting a good fight. This is described as the right-wing equivalent of "we don't like that orange guy" - it's all clatter, boring, pandering nonsense.
The speaker's touring show aims to make nobody comfortable the whole time, but for different reasons. People who lean right or want edgier dark stuff will be uncomfortable with vulnerable and sincere moments. People who like vulnerable narrative content will be uncomfortable with later jokes. The goal is to stretch the audience rather than give them what they want.
There's a performative element to both pushing boundaries and vulnerability. The speaker heard the term speed running relatability - someone hurrying through trauma dumping to prove they're a real person. When authenticity is incentivized, people try to reverse engineer authenticity that looks authentic but doesn't have to be sincere. It just needs to align with whatever brand or stick the person has.
Many comedy audiences, particularly in America, want to know what angle a comedian is coming from from the start. Comedians identify as Italian, Irish, etc., and filter jokes through that lens. The speaker is averse to this, preferring to just say what he thinks without being defined entirely by being Irish, autistic, or Italian.
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The speaker built a show around a clip of a ten-pin bowler. The show is called Who Do You Think You Are? The ten-pin bowler is Pete Weber, known for shouting "Who do you think you are? I am." The speaker thought it was a funny meme title for a show about identity and how people perceive him. Most audiences hadn't seen the clip, so he had to write an explanation at the start of the show.
As the speaker worked on the show, he realized Pete Weber was like him in the show - a professional bowler who became a kind of hero. The connection emerged naturally through talking about coming across as arrogant, pissing people off without realizing it, and trying to refind swagger after putting himself in a box. Pete Weber is the "bad boy of bowling," which the speaker finds funny. Weber lives in Nashville but was away during the show there. He follows the speaker on Instagram and said he'd watch the special but hasn't replied since.
A clip from the speaker's podcast was screen recorded and sent around comedian WhatsApp groups. He was talking about having an unexpectedly good run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and finding it stressful that people were saying "it's my year to be the guy." The clip was cut out of context to just him saying "People keep telling me I'm the fucking guy this year." People came up to him during the festival saying "Oh, it's the fucking guy." He didn't find out about the WhatsApp groups until a month after.
The speaker had what he thought was the best month of his career, proud of his achievement and having fun with comedians. A month later he realized everybody was making fun of him behind his back. If he'd seen that clip of another comedian, he would have ripped into them because it's funny and he understands how it came across. For fear of that happening again, he spent a year and a half to two years trying to put a lid on self-promotion and bravado.
From doing the show and touring it, the speaker built back the part of himself that was ambitious and wanted to do cool stuff. He thinks he can be really good at stand-up comedy and can be one of the best in the world at it. He didn't have that confidence during the period after the clip incident.
Vittorio felt stand-up comedy offered a level of objective achievement that music did not. He believes he can become one of the best in the world at it and has been working to regain his confidence. Promoting a comedy tour authentically on Instagram is difficult without bravado. Many comedians complain about self-promotion online, but it is part of the job. Playing to half-empty rooms is demotivating.
Vittorio is from Stockton-on-Tees, described as having one beautiful theater but otherwise being a difficult place. He saw War Horse at The Arc theater there. In the northeast of the UK, charm is needed to carry off confidence or ego. There is a strong "tall poppy" culture where standing out is discouraged. The term "notions" is used locally to accuse someone of thinking they are somebody or getting above themselves.
As an unpopular, undersocialized child who played cricket at a high level and wore whites, Vittorio learned to aggressively downplay achievements and avoid talking about ambitions. This made him more likable and less threatening to others. It is described as performative humility or "makeness" rather than genuine meekness, driven by fear of judgment. The biblical reference to the meek inheriting the earth is mentioned, along with Jordan Peterson's views.
The film Coach Carter features a scene where a character recites the poem about deepest fears: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. It's that we are powerful beyond measure. It is not our darkness but our light that scares us the most." Vittorio connected this to the idea that shining your light emboldens others. He still downplays success in interviews, such as his High Life magazine and Times features, using self-deprecating framing rooted in his northeast UK background.
Vittorio is currently the eighth biggest podcaster in the world but remains annoyed by the ranking and wants to climb higher. He continues to battle internal resistance against ambition, fearing it will cause him to "have notions" or get too big for his boots. He does things in spite of this mindset rather than because of it. Keeping ego in check is valuable to avoid runaway ego, but ego can be useful when balanced. The distinction between bragging and expressing gratitude for achievements is important.
Vittorio believes his reluctance to display ego stems from a deep fear that he is so unlikable he must compensate by keeping liability low to avoid causing issues. He performs in spite of not believing he should be able to. Examples include appearing at the Apollo, sitting with Matthew McConaughey, or turning down Donald Trump on the podcast. He was the only podcaster offered the Trump interview who declined. He would be more interested in interviewing Trump now that the media landscape has shifted.
Many people in the UK are held back more by lack of confidence than lack of competence. Someone half as skilled with twice the confidence can make ten times the progress by putting themselves in the right rooms. You can achieve things without fully believing in yourself, which serves as a motivational example. It is still necessary to believe in your inherent goodness so you do not become a narcissist when stepping forward confidently.
Vittorio worries about his autism symptoms in a similar way to how people worry they might be psychopaths. People pre-diagnosis sometimes fear they are bad or don't care about others. Authenticity can lead to inaction when you default to wanting to stay home and read. Severe anxiety linked to autism makes trusting gut instincts difficult because his gut is constantly stressed. He still pushes forward despite unreliable instincts.
Many interactions feel prefabricated because Vittorio prepares responses before questions are asked, reducing reliance on unreliable instincts. His natural conversational instinct is to ask very difficult, probing questions about people's thought processes. He stopped himself from interrogating his uncle about job dissatisfaction during a casual chat. He finds it interesting when people have not considered alternative options.
The concept of sliding versus deciding comes from couples counseling but applies broadly. People often slide into the next life stage without actively deciding: situationship to relationship, living together, marriage, children. The same happens in careers where people follow the next logical step without reflection. In comedy, the default path is to tour, write another show, and repeat annually. Vittorio plans to take 2027 off from stand-up to write scripts and a book, live life, and build the podcast, then return if he misses it.
Art requires living a life outside of the industry. Comedians whose material stays within airplanes, dinners, and green rooms lack broader perspective. The podcast name "Mike and Vittorio's Guide to Parenting" was chosen as the stupidest possible title to match the silly tone, not as a jab at parenting podcasts. It is listed in the children and family section on Spotify, leading some new parents to discover it.
The podcast attracts a surprising number of women listeners despite being two men talking playfully and silly. Women are often socially conditioned to be responsible and buttoned-up, while men have more freedom for abstract, fun conversation. The podcast provides a service of light, silly chat that some women do not get from female friend groups. The Basement Yard podcast similarly draws 90% female audiences at live shows, with screams loud enough to trigger Apple Watch noise warnings.
Most comedy podcasts are male-centric and often veer into edginess that reduces female audiences or slide into manosphere-adjacent territory. Vittorio is not considered part of the manosphere and states they hate him. He is described as a low-testosterone, female-obsessed person with an earring who gets called gay online daily. Chris Williamson is positioned as the narrow end of the wedge in the health, fitness, and mindset space, sometimes accused of being a gateway to more extreme figures like Nick Fuentes or Andrew Tate. After the Louis Theroux documentary, both feminists and manosphere voices criticized Theroux's appearance on Chris's podcast.
Vittorio Angelone discussed reactions to having Louis on his podcast. Most people in a related documentary did not tweet about the documentary itself but instead focused criticism on him for platforming Louis. This was viewed as unacceptable. A couple of months prior, after appearing on Bartlett's podcast, he was labeled the "Lux Maxer," which he found somewhat complimentary. Newspaper articles framed that appearance as right-wing and misogynist. However, when he appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast around the same time, he was accused of being "riddled with bluepill thinking" and "infected with feminist lies."
Angelone shared a recent Twitter exchange where he posted a C.S. Lewis quote about homemaking being the ultimate career with other careers supporting it. He found the quote interesting for bridging progressive and traditional views. One reply accused him of spewing "feminist lies" that create problems in the world. He described feeling "ideologically spit roasted" as a result.
TV producers have approached him and Mike about their stand-up audiences, expressing concern that viewers might belong to the manosphere, have incel tendencies, or drift toward Andrew Tate-style content. Angelone's response was that this is the opposite of a worry. If he and Mike reach these young men before Tate does, they can prevent them from becoming misogynist or abusive partners, since their comedy mocks those figures and presents a softer, more open alternative.
Angelone referenced the show Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing as a model of positive male intimacy. He highlighted how the two older men speak kindly to each other, using each other's names in warm ways like "How you going, Bob?" He noted the value of representing this kind of friendship on their podcast. TV producers expressed concern about this approach, but Angelone argued that someone must engage with these young men rather than abandoning them to the very influences that concern people most.
Angelone explained the benefit he found in Jordan Peterson's work: it offered a way to take up a positive space in the world that was neither patronizing nor unethical, and did not frame being a man as inherently problematic. He described the current cultural space as a Venn diagram involving personal development, health and fitness, sex differences, challenges between the sexes, and birth rates. These are important issues, but the internet quickly labels people, sometimes accusing them of being insufficiently masculine or even gay.
Angelone referenced an article about "grind slop" and noted that many of his episodes (around episode 1,110) involve a young man seeking guidance on how to operate in the world, manage emotions, address self-doubt, improve sleep, nutrition, and training. He observed that much of the 80/20 of development topics—sleep optimization, productivity strategies, diet, training, and friendship—has already been covered extensively by himself and others.
In the age of AI, raw information dumping is no longer what people need most. Instead, people are feeling more alone. Angelone wants to listen to casual conversations like those on Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast or with Jacob and Jake—simply "hang" without it feeling like homework. After the episode, the feeling should be "I had a nice time" rather than "Did I learn anything?"
Angelone acknowledged that shifting the show toward more casual male intimacy and hanging out will likely lose a segment of the audience. He has moved past the "work until your eyes bleed" grind slop era and does not believe more of that content is needed.
He expressed hope that AI will increase the value of live experiences such as music gigs and stand-up shows because people will no longer fully trust content on their phones. Even watching the Winter Olympics prompted skepticism about whether events were real. Cat videos, once foundational to the internet, now raise questions about whether they are genuine or AI-generated. This leads to a prediction that being in the real world may come back into fashion.
Nightclubs are declining, with one closing per week in the UK. Flares closing signals a real issue, as it serves as a cultural barometer for nightlife. Most clubs were already struggling.
Angelone described audience members shouting "Trench" (the street his father grew up on in West Belfast) during shows in Newcastle upon Tyne and Nashville. The joke involves naming conventions for Northern Ireland versus "the north of Ireland," reflecting Catholic and Protestant divides. While not an explicit threat, the shout felt intense because it suggested the person knew personal family details in the context of a contentious topic.
He compared this to a passage in Patrick Radden Keefe's book London Falling (author of Say Nothing), where gangsters mention an interviewee's children's names and dog's name as a subtle flex of knowledge and power.
Belfast is described as a small world. Angelone is not from West Belfast but his father is. He noted that nearly everyone from the island of Ireland has family drama or feuds stretching back generations, unlike the experience he observes in England. Alternative names for the British Isles have been proposed, such as "the East Caribbean," to avoid implying British ownership over Ireland.
He suggested rurality and agricultural communities foster deeper embedding and reliance on neighbors, leading to more long-standing conflicts. City living makes community harder to maintain, though he tries to build it in North London.
Angelone described an elderly Italian woman in his apartment block who feeds foxes daily, provides medicine for mange via chicken, and occasionally needs help sending WhatsApps. This creates a real fox problem for the building but also a sense of being needed. He values this integration and believes building community connections is important, even if difficult and scary at first.
Angelone discussed the Italian tradition of La Befana (the witch who delivers gifts to children, originally to cover the possibility of missing the infant Jesus). In Belfast, children would attend a community hall event with a bouncy castle and sandwiches, then an old lady dressed as a witch would distribute presents. He found this non-traumatic.
As a child, he was terrified of the Little Mermaid at Disney World because the actress lacked legs. He also recalled the Tower of Terror ride and an incident where someone's item came loose. He has avoided roller coasters since hearing about leg amputations on Nemesis at Alton Towers (two incidents) and the Smiler crash that injured 16 people.
In a hypothetical discussion about losing a leg, Angelone stated he would keep his right leg to train for the Paralympics as a one-legged footballer, reasoning that kicking would be more useful than jumping. He noted autistic people are disproportionately left-handed. His own left hand is primarily for show due to percussion training focused on improving its quality to match the right hand.
Angelone described experiencing echolalia—repeating words or sounds he likes, such as repeating "indigo" multiple times. His girlfriend reacts with "Fuck" when it happens.
Angelone's Instagram is @vittorioangelone. He is touring stand-up and has two specials on YouTube. He prefers audiences discover his comedy via YouTube before buying tickets.
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