New York, NY – Acclaimed film director John Waters brings Going to Extremes: A John Waters 80th Birthday Celebration to Adler Hall at New York Society for Ethical Culture on Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 7:30PM. John Waters is back on the road with a whole new radical comedy revival show whose sermon will beg the authorities to drop a net on both himself and his rabidly insane audience. He’s dressed to thrill and ready to rant about everything from pro-punk conversion therapy to right-wing female-female impersonators. Waters has written and directed sixteen movies including Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry Baby, Serial Mom and A Dirty Shame. Tickets to his birthday celebration are $79, $99 and $119 (plus applicable fees) and are available at www.eventbrite.com now.
John Waters is no stranger to the theater. He has performed his one man spoken-word lectures entitled “End of the World,” “This Filthy World,” “False Negative,” “Naked Truth,” or “Make Trouble” and his annual Christmas show, “A John Waters Christmas,” at colleges, museums, film festivals and comedy clubs around the world. Waters has played to sold out audiences at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bonnaroo, Sydney Opera House, Volksbühne Berlin, and both the Southbank Centre and Barbican Hall in London. He has hosted the Mosswood Meltdown punk rock music festival for over a decade. His speaking tours have brought him in front of American MENSA and the American Association of Law Libraries as well as the Tennessee WIlliams New Orleans Literary Festival.