From Asheville Mics to Somnium Mayhem: D-Silly’s Dark Comedy Revolution in VR

Few figures embody the raw, unfiltered spirit of stand-up comedy quite like D-Silly, the founder and creative force behind After Hours Comedy. This exclusive interview arrives fresh on the heels After Hours Comedy’s performance at the Somnium Space Festival in December 2025. This three-day extravaganza in Somnium Space capped off the year with music, cutting-edge VR experiences, and boundary-pushing entertainment. D-Silly’s crew delivered exactly what the festival curators sought: masterful dark, raunchy, and wildly unpredictable humor that dances right up to the edge without tumbling over.

We sat down with D-Silly for a candid, laugh-filled conversation about his wild ride through stand-up.

Somnium Times: You’ve done stand-up in real life for years, starting in Asheville, North Carolina. What was that very first experience like for you, and how has your comedy evolved since then?

D-Silly: The first experience was a little surreal. I actually got introduced to the stage at 27 Club in Asheville, NC by a comic who already had their own comedy special on a well known streaming platform. Funny thing, I didn’t even know that at the time.

Honestly, I still had fun on my first set and even to this day, I am not ashamed of my first mic, as far as first mics went, could have been way worse. I got laughs.

But, has my comedy evolved since then? Absolutely. My delivery, premises, all of that have gotten much better and my abilities as a comic are astronomically higher. The big thing is I know when to switch gears as a comic and I have done things like develop feeler jokes.

I can use my first few jokes in a set to fish for what kind of crowd I have. I never would have been able to feel out a crowd’s energy like that as a new comic.

D-Silly on stage in Somnium Space (image by Meloz)

Somnium Times: How would you describe your style?

D-Silly: So I am kind of proud of that tbh. I have multiple styles I can draw from. I tend to make my specialty dark humor, like, really dark. However, I also flex in a lot of other styles like anecdotal, observational, and definitely some self-deprecating humor as well.

I admit, I will throw in some racial jokes at times, but there is a major difference in racial humor and racist humor. Another thing you may learn over a course of years in comedy is if you are really good, you know how to tap dance on the line of what is acceptable, without going over it.

Expect the unexpected, because we are going to say some wild things and it’s going to be funny.

Somnium Times: You joined VRChat, discovering stand-up comedy worlds by chance. What surprised you most about jumping into VR comedy after having real-life stage experience?

D-Silly: The fact that it existed at all to be honest. I guess I sort of discovered VR comedy by chance. So, I was both taken aback and thrilled it existed in such an available form. See, I have some physical limitations in real life and it had affected my ability to go out to mics very often like I used to as well. I took my time and found where i really wanted to perform before getting up there

These days I have really felt out the comedy scene and my recommended comedy spots have changed with that experience. I would now be much more keen to recommend my club if you like a free speech stage, which carries the kind of risks you might think, but the audience is always the end judge of the comic. If you like something a little more enforced to the clean, but not too clean to be good, Failed to Render (FTR) is a good club and so is LafVR, owned by Slixton.

Laughter and fun (image by Meloz)

Somnium Times: You started After Hours Comedy. What made you take that leap, and how has running your own club changed the way you approach performing or writing jokes?

D-Silly: So, honestly, it was about wanting to give the opportunity for more mics during the week to established and new comics in VR more than anything, but now, it’s kind of hard to imagine not doing it.

Running my own club forced my hand in performing, in all reality. I had to quickly swap from just a comic, to a host, club owner, etc. I had no idea how big of a change it would be, just that it would be and I went in with the mentality of understanding I would run into things I would have to adapt quickly to.

I can say this, hosting is a different animal from performing, you have to have fine tuned your skills to be able to bring the energy in a room back to laughter. Even after a performance went terribly.

As far as changing how I write jokes, I can’t say it had much impact on that, to be honest. That is mostly influenced by my experiences outside of the club, though sometimes club life does write a joke or two. One of my darkest jokes of all time came from a club experience in a way, but come to a show sometime and I will tell you the joke.

Somnium Times: What’s one big advantage VR comedy has over real life for you, and one thing you miss from traditional stages?

D-Silly: Well, I still perform in both real life and VR, but there are definitely distinct differences. In real life stages the pressure is a little higher because you risk more to be there. Gas, money, more time investment just to leave the house, etc. also, there’s (currently) more reputation stake on the line, things like that. However, you can use a lot of the same material over and over because the audiences are usually different people every time.

In VR, the pressure to write new material at sonic speeds is much higher, you don’t risk as much, but your material will not stay fresh very long, you have to write more and cycle it faster. You ultimately never want to be telling the same jokes more than about a week without cycling them.

Somnium Times: Your group brought After Hours Comedy to Somnium Space during the Somnium Space festival. How did this opportunity come about, and what can attendees of your performances experience?

D-Silly: We have a reputation of being heavy in the dark, raunchy style humor, and we have fun with that brand. Our audiences know what to expect from After Hours, and it’s generally, on any curated show, expect the unexpected, because we are going to say some wild things and it’s going to be funny.

That’s why Somnuim picked us up as the choice group. They are appreciative of the mastery it takes to tap dance those lines of what’s funny and they have trusted us to know where that is without going over. If we ever did, it would certainly be on us.

A huge thank you to D-Silly for taking the time to sit down with us in early 2026 and share such an honest and insightful look into his world. We hope to see him and his crew soon again in Somnium!