Rewatch-worthy comedy specials
Watch. Keep waiting for vaccine so we can see standup live again. Rinse, repeat.
This week's roundup is People Who Like Things recommendations for standup comedy specials. I think a truly great standup special will make you laugh, maybe make you tear up a little, and capture both the hilarious and strange specificity of living right now along with some grain of universal truth about the human experience. These specials check all the boxes.
The fascinating and delightful thing about hour-long comedy specials is that you are seeing the results of a comedian working hard for years to build up a repertoire of jokes and learn through trial and error to make it look easy. We are truly in luck in the age of streaming because Netflix has been investing in a range of diverse voices, ensuring that 1) there’s a comedic voice for everyone to relate to and 2) standup comedy is a great way to stand in someone else’s shoes.
Sam Jay’s 3 in the Morning comedy special is one of my latest “telling everyone to go watch this now” obsessions. Whether she’s relating self-deprecating observational jokes about her own neurotic tendencies on airplanes or worrying about having a kid that’s obnoxiously smart, Jay doesn’t hold back. I loved this special because I also get very stressed out when people don’t put their phones on “airplane mode” when the pilot says to, but more than that, I loved being reminded about the infinite space in comedy for new voices and representation and joy.
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis
I’ve had my eye on standup comedian Taylor Tomlinson for a while. You might remember her as an up-and-comer who was featured in one of Netflix’s comedy samplers, where comics each got 15 minutes to show their stuff. Quarter-Life Crisis, Tomlinson’s first full-length special, showcases her wry, timely jokes about what a dumpster fire your 20s are and establishes her as a strong new voice in millennial comedy. It’s an hour of observational yet crafted jokes that hints at even greater things to come.
Ronny Chieng Asian Comedian Destroys America
I’m 98 percent sure that my specific set of life experiences primed me to enjoy this Netflix comedy special, but I’m also 100 percent certain that Ronny Chieng’s Asian Comedian Destroys America is funny. Chieng’s comedy about the dangers of the internet; the immigrant experience; and the kindness of New York strangers is relentless and honed (you believe him when he says he does 5-7 shows a night in New York), but it also softens just enough at the right moments. A recent installment to the U.S., Chieng brings an outsider’s perspective to American largesse that is also an inside joke, and isn’t that truly the American Dream?
Netflix’s Middleditch & Schwartz is the welcome distraction from *gestures at everything* that I didn’t know I needed. The brainchild of Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), their long-form improv comedy show is different every single time. The pair start with a situation supplied by a member of their live audience: interviewing for a new job, being part of the bridal party in a friend’s wedding. After getting as many intriguing details as they can, Middleditch and Schwartz improvise a show around the situation, creating characters, dialogue, plot twists and a finale that more-or-less ties everything up neatly. I needed the laughs, but I was also fascinated to see what’s clearly a creative partnership slash trust exercise in action.
Hannah Gadsby gave herself a tough act to follow when she wrote surprise hit standup special Nanette, a wrenching and beautiful look at deconstructing comedy. She acknowledges that challenge up front, laying her cards on the table at the very beginning of her new special, Douglas (also on Netflix). When you’ve “put all your trauma eggs in one basket,” how do you create the next show? Somehow, Douglas feels like the only way Gadsby could have done that. It’s staccato comedy that feels lighter and faster than Nanette, yet still manages to be self-reflective and unafraid to poke at the patriarchy as needed. Only Gadsby could weave self-deprecation about her observational comedy skills (or lack thereof); a rant about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; her discovery that she’s autistic; and bait for the inevitable haters into this frenetic journey through a brilliant comic mind. Don’t invest, but also, invest.
If you’ve been following this newsletter for a while, you may remember that I’ve recommended Aziz Ansari’s Right Now Netflix comedy special before. With everything we’ve lived through since, a 2019 special feels like a time capsule from a bygone era, but Right Now is unique in that it’s both very much a hilarious snapshot of 2019 and a nuanced, timely treatise that has “aged” shockingly well. I rewatched it recently and found it as fresh and insightful, perhaps even more so, than when it debuted on Netflix.
What struck me most this time was Ansari’s funny yet earnest hope that future generations will judge us – all of us – because things by then will be so much better. We will keep realizing that so many beloved pop culture icons and stories are problematic because our perspective will expand and grow, not in a censorious way, but because we’re all learning to treat each other better. We have to hope that our children will learn about what our society looked like and not be able to believe the injustices we lived with, put up with, and too often overlooked because we’re selfish and it’s inconvenient to change. It’s the message we all need right now.
Back in 2017, I was lucky enough to see a live performance of comedian Mike Birbiglia’s The New One, a set that went on to Broadway and was released [in 2019] as a Netflix comedy special. Two years after I saw them live, the jokes more than held up for a wry, delightful, rewatchable special that focuses on Birbiglia’s rocky journey to fatherhood.
We all need a laugh!