I spoke with Hunter Wright, a New York–based comedian who performed at Skankfest 2025 in New Orleans, where she competed in the festival’s infamous Naked Roast Battle. We talked about what it’s like to be fully nude in front of a room of drunk comedy fans and her experience with other naked shows.
Hunter Wright at Skankfest 2025
How did you first get into comedy?
I started in May 2024. I'd wanted to do it for a long time, but I didn't have the balls. And then finally enough happened that I went to an open mic and forced myself to do it. It's been great.
And then you end up doing the Naked Roast at Skankfest. How did that even happen?
Somebody reached out to me. He saw that I had done roast battles and also that I've done a naked show in New York…I think they looked at who does roast battles and who's willing to get naked in front of a big audience, and were like, alright, let's hit up this girl.
Walk me through a Naked Roast.
[To start], one person had a trench coat and she took it off once she got to the stage, and I was like, okay, I guess I have to do something like that instead of just walking out totally naked. So I went out in underwear, a tank top and cowboy boots, and then I shimmied down my underwear, luckily did not trip taking it off, and then whipped off my shirt as best as I could. I've never really been a striptease type of person in front of 1,000 people…but I figured that might win them over to start.
Were you nervous beforehand?
I was afraid of getting up there and it being total crickets with my pussy out...I was pretty hyper and just excited that I got to be doing something so cool in front of so many of my idols. Once I was speaking into the microphone…then I was kind of like, oh shit, my voice is going out into this audience right now, and also my tits and everything else are out. So I guess that kind of made me a little bit nervous.
How did the crowd react when you got naked?
Luckily I didn't wear my contacts, so I couldn't really see everybody. I figured I'd just let it all be a blur, but I could definitely hear how many people there were and they were very kind about a naked woman on stage. It's also mostly men, it's Skankfest, so a good way to get them on your side if your jokes end up bombing.
What surprised you about performing naked in a roast format?
You would think that you'd feel a breeze, but I think that my whole body was probably in shock, so I felt nothing. I wouldn't want to do every set naked because you would never know if people are cheering for you because you actually did something funny or if they just like seeing tits in real life…I also didn't want to make any jokes about my opponent's body. I didn't want him to come back and say something about my body. I'd rather destroy him for his personality.
Have you done naked comedy shows before?
For naked comedy shows in New York…you go to the stage already naked. You take off your clothes backstage and you run up and you do your comedy set. But the thing about doing a set naked is that you can address it. I don't know how some comics do their regular set for that show because I'm just yelling about the fact that I have everything exposed. For the Naked Roast, you just kind of have to be like, yep, this is normal. Here I am, time to do my roast jokes. You don't get to do a whole set about how your butt is weird.
When you're a woman in comedy, and especially when you're a year and a half in and you're getting booked on things, a lot of people are probably thinking, 'oh, it's just cause she's a girl.' But you don't want to be the person who's just doing naked stuff only. It's a great foot in the door though…I think it does say something about your personality…You live once, who cares.
Were you worried about phones or creepy behavior from the crowd?
[Skankfest was] really good about the phone thing. They had multiple people walking up and down the aisles making sure nobody took out their phones. Nobody was creepy to me either. It's weird. I think people are on pretty good behavior with these things. I would say that when I've done naked shows, people are more respectful than they are when I do clothed shows.
After everything you learned, would you do the Naked Roast again?
I would love to do it again if they would have me back. I think I learned what kind of jokes I would do next time…I really wanted to write precise ones about this guy's personality, and I ended up realizing that just really quick one-liners were better for an audience that is loud and drunk and who just want to hear mean insults.