Rayna Greenberg has spent nearly a decade sharing a stage and a microphone with her co-host. On Thursday she takes the stage alone.
Greenberg, who co-hosts the Girls Gotta Eat podcast with Ashley Hesseltine, brings her first solo comedy tour, “Honestly, It’s You,” to the Ice House on February 26 at 7 p.m. The Pasadena stop is part of a 20-city national tour — her first time performing without Hesseltine — at a club that has been staging comedy on Mentor Avenue since 1960.
Girls Gotta Eat has accumulated more than 150 million downloads and more than 250 sold-out live dates since its 2018 launch, according to Deadline, which first reported the tour in December. But those shows were a duo act. The solo hour is something different.
“This hour is extremely personal,” Greenberg said in a statement to Deadline. “It’s embarrassing, ridiculous, and full of wild stories — some raunchy, some not. It’s about dating, heartbreak, questioning marriage and kids, and being brutally honest about all of it.”
The material draws from a single year of Greenberg’s life — falling in love, experiencing heartbreak, navigating dating apps and matchmakers, and an unexpected attempt by her ex-fiancé to re-enter her life, according to the Deadline report.
Before podcasting, Greenberg worked in restaurants and attended culinary school, according to Deadline. She built a social media following as a food and lifestyle content creator; she and Hesseltine crossed paths on a press trip, according to the Miami New Times. The two launched Girls Gotta Eat in 2018, and its live show eventually sold out venues including Caroline’s on Broadway in New York.
“I never even did a talent show in high school,” Greenberg told the Miami New Times in a recent interview.
Greenberg has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, The Drew Barrymore Show, and Tamron Hall, according to her promotional materials. She and Hesseltine also co-founded Vibes Only, a sexual wellness brand.
The Ice House, at 24 N Mentor Ave., has operated as a comedy club since 1960 and bills itself as the oldest in the country. Past performers include Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, and Steve Martin.
Doors open at 6 p.m. The show runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $29 plus a $1.50 service fee. A Date Night Package is available for $25. The show is 21 and over with a two-item minimum per seat. Tickets are available at showclix.com. For more information, call (626) 414-2386.
The Pasadena date falls between earlier California stops in San Diego and a March 1 show at the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles. The tour runs through May 14.
“If I never started that food blog, I never would have met Ashley,” Greenberg told the Miami New Times. Food and comedy, she said, share a common quality: “They’re both really positive things to add to the world.”
