Chris Knutson is an American stand-up comedian from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is known for his work as half of the comedy-rap duo Valley Meadows. Patrick Strait of City Pages said that "Knutson has established himself as one of the most consistently funny performers" in the Midwest.[2]
Knutson has released three albums on Stand Up! Records, most recently 2021's Rewound.
Knutson began performing improv comedy in 2006,[3][1] and stand-up in 2009.[4] He won Acme Comedy Company's "Funniest Person in the Twin Cities" contest in 2010.[5][6][7] His comedy style is sometimes experimental, veering away from traditional first-person stand-up to blend in sketchwork or perform as a character, often one who does not realize he is bad at stand-up.[8] He has toured nationally[9][10][11] and performed at comedy festivals including 10,000 Laughs[12][13] and Gilda's LaughFest.[14] Vincent Terrace, reviewing the series in his book Internet Comedy Television Series, 1997-2015, felt that "the characterizations are a bit rough" but called the series "an interesting idea about two friends just trying to get by."[15]
Knutson formed Valley Meadows in 2008 with Zach Coulter.[12] The duo perform in character as substitute teacher Gary Shinchenshenzenski and MC Tom Johnson,[16][17] who try to become rap stars in a foolish attempt to earn respect, with songs about unlikely topics such as ice cream, karate, and Paul Reiser.[18] The duo also starred in an online video series, Valley Meadows, in 2014, which Knutson wrote.[15] The syndicated newspaper column In Focus praised the series as "capable of going anywhere".[19][20][21][22] The webseries was nominated for four awards at the 2015 Los Angeles Web Series Festival: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Lead Actor (for Knutson), and Outstanding Guest Actor (for Dan Susmilch).[23][24] In 2012, laughspin.com nominated Valley Meadows for its Readers Choice Award for Best Musical Comedy Act.[25][4] Vincent Terrace, reviewing the series in his book Internet Comedy Television Series, 1997-2015, felt that "the characterizations are a bit rough" but called the series "an interesting idea about two friends just trying to get by."[15]
Knutson was also a founding member of sketch comedy group The Turkeys.[26][3][27]
Knutson and his wife had a son in 2014, and fatherhood quickly become a main topic of his comedy.[28] A stop-motion video Knutson made of his son's teddy bear meeting the baby for the first time went viral, receiving more than 2 million views on YouTube[4] and national coverage on ABC News,[29] the Associated Press, and other news media.[30] Another video series, Baby Cop, followed in 2014–15.[31]
Knutson has released three albums on Stand Up! Records. His solo stand-up album Rewound was recorded at Sisyphus Brewing in Minneapolis in 2015[2][32] and released in 2021. Valley Meadows released a self-titled album in 2012.[16][33] Jake Austen of Roctober magazine called it "white-guy rap absurdity [that's] amusing even if the form is flawed."[34] Knutson was also part of the Stand Up!-released group album Nerd Alert!, a compilation of Minnesota comics riffing on science fiction and other geek-friendly topics.[35] Austen called Nerd Alert! "a product of [Minneapolis'] impressive comedy scene [that] is something that town can be very proud of."[34]
