Matteo Lane

**Matteo Lane** was a stand-up comedian act from FantasyAGT: Once Upon A Time. He was eliminated in the Quarterfinals, but returned as a Wildcard in the Semifinals where he was eliminated again.

## Background

Matthew "Matteo" Lane is an American comedian. Lane was an opera singer and oil painter before pursuing stand-up comedy.

As a singer, Lane performed in bars in Boystown before starting his comedy career circa 2011 at open mics in Chicago. He moved to New York to work as a storyboard artist circa 2012. In an interview, Lane stated that it was "the most boring job in the world." He later quit the position to pursue comedy. After being featured in "New Faces" at the 2014 Just for Laughs festival, MTV invited Lane to appear on Guy Code. He was later in Joking Off and was cast in MTV's Ladylike along with Nicole Byer, Jade Catta-Preta, and Blair Socci. Lane was on a panel for a segment about Kim Davis on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. In 2018, Lane represented Italy at "The Ethnic Show" at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. He is the host of the Snapchat comedy Ghost Hunt.

Lane is an advocate for the gay community. He has been the victim of several homophobic incidents during his shows. On being an openly gay comedian, Lane reports "I think it's slowly getting better but it's all such new territory in so many ways. I'm not saying they are not gay comics that have existed — I know these people exist”. He added that "I'm just saying this is the first time ever that gay, queer, male comedians are sort of on the spotlight that straight comedians are being seen in. So it's all kind of just new. It's all new and discovered and all new territory. I think it's exciting."

His favorite performance venues in New York City are Comedy Cellar, The Stand, and New York Comedy Club. He is a co-star and creator of the IFC series Janice and Jeffrey.

Lane and Emma Willmann are co-hosts of a queer-themed podcast, Inside the Closet. They are both also featured in Netflix's The Comedy Lineup. On May 1, 2018, Lane and Nico Tortorella were featured on a Nancy podcast. [1]

## Judge Cuts

Matteo Lane's Judge Cuts performance in Episode OUT01 consisted of performing a stand-up comedy routine which included jokes about Starbucks and improvising a song about two obnoxious women in the audience. Mikey, Luke, Pennies and Fuz all gave him standing ovations. His performance was strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals instead of Nina Conti.

## Quarterfinals

Matteo Lane's Quarterfinals performance in Episode OUT08 consisted of performing a stand-up comedy routine including jokes about being gay and Disney characters being gay. Mikey and Fuz gave him standing ovations. He placed in 7th or 8th place in the voting. Although Mikey voted for him, Luke, Pennies and Fuz did not, eliminating him from the competition instead of Walk Off The Earth. However, he was later reinstated as a Wildcard.

## Semifinals

Matteo Lane's Semifinals performance in Episode OUT10 consisted of performing a stand-up comedy routine with more jokes related to him being gay, this time incorporating singing. Annoyed and unimpressed by his material, Mikey, Luke and Saf buzzed the act but Fuz gave him a standing ovation. He did not receive enough votes to advance to the Final, eliminating him from the competition along with Kevin Li and Walk Off The Earth.

## Trivia

Matteo Lane is the first act in the history of FantasyAGT to receive exactly three buzzes in a live show episode.