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EXCLUSIVE: Comedian and classical musician Isabel Hagen is set to unveil her first hour-long special, Isabel Hagen at the Bitter End, on the streaming platform Veeps on January 28th.
Isabel Hagen at the Bitter End features Hagen’s sharp joke writing and off-beat point of view mixed with classical viola playing and original songs. Drawing from her life as a working classical musician with anxiety, she blends existential humor and raunchy anecdotes with Bach and Mozart.
Hagen filmed the special at the Bitter End in New York City in May. In addition to writing, directing, and performing it, she produced alongside Torrance Shepherd, with Will Canzoneri and Zac James Nicholson serving as co-producers.
“Isabel is a singular talent who perfectly embodies the intersection of world-class comedy and live music,” said Veeps Head of Comedy Bart Coleman. “At Veeps, we are always looking for specials that feel at home alongside our concert programming, and the way Isabel weaves her viola mastery into her stand-up is both seamless and incredibly fresh. We are excited to give ‘Isabel Hagen at The Bitter End’ a global stage, as it represents exactly the kind of cross-genre performance our audience loves.”
A NYC-based performer recently profiled on Deadline’s Comedy Means Business podcast, Hagen started stand-up comedy immediately after earning her Bachelors and Masters degrees in viola performance from The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, she dealt with a repetitive stress injury in her wrist which forced her to take time off from playing, which sparked her desire to try stand-up comedy.
Now, Hagen has two performances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon under her belt and just premiered her debut feature On a String (which she wrote, directed, and starred in) at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it won Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature. She has also been named a New Face of Comedy at Just For Laughs Montreal and has performed sets for both Don’t Tell Comedy and Dry Bar Comedy.
Hagen still maintains a career as a musician, most recently as a touring member of the band Vampire Weekend for their Only God Was Above Us tour. She is represented by Omnipop Talent Group and Reliant Talent Agency.
English (US) ·