Phil Hanley at Brea Improv

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Most comedians spend a career hiding their weak spot. This one built the act out of his.

He is severely dyslexic, and the centerpiece of the show is watching him read notes the audience wrote — out loud, in real time, with no idea what is coming and no way to skim ahead. It is a high-wire act made entirely out of reading, and it turns a room of strangers into co-conspirators almost immediately. The rest is deadpan and unhurried, the kind of alt-comedy that comics quietly worship and podcast listeners have been evangelizing for years.

The Brea Improv is small enough that crowd work will actually find you, which is either the appeal or the risk depending on your personality. The run gets rowdier as the week goes on, and the late shows are where it comes off the rails.

Go if you like your comedy smart and slightly dangerous — or if you have ever been handed a page you could not read and refused to let it decide who you were.