In August , at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, the stars of Bugonia —the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos—posed for a photo on the red carpet. A-listers Emma Stone and Alicia Silverstone looked resplendent in slinky evening gowns, but standing between them, with two big arms clasped around their waists, was Stavros Halkias, a stand-up comedian most famous for a mythically profane podcast called Cum Town .

This was a watershed moment for a contingency of extremely online comedy nerds. Stav, as he’s affectionately known, had amassed himself a cultlike fandom on the fringes of the stand-up ecosystem throughout the 2010s. His style—fratty, self-effacing, and joyfully unencumbered by political prudence—made him a star among young, disaffected men, who especially savo

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