Review: Judah Friedlander, “America is the Greatest Country in the United States” on Netflix

If you remember Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock, you likely remember his customized joke hats.

For his onstage character in stand-up comedy, Friedlander’s always dressed in the same uniform: Yellow T-shirt, black windbreaker jacket over it, with a red-white-and-blue hat, all of which emblazoned with the words WORLD CHAMPION. Recently, he’s switched out the cap for ones that say the same thing in braille or sign language, just to keep you guessing. But he stays in that character.

Judah Friedlander and I had a wonderful conversation earlier this month about how he developed the “World Champion” character over the years in Episode #180 of my podcast series, Last Things First.

In the past few years, Friedlander decided to shift his onstage material from kicking butt as the ultimate karate master and everything else to the idea of running for president. Why not elect the World Champion in the White House?

His first Netflix special, America is the Greatest Country in the United States, stitches together his shorter performances (mostly at the Comedy Cellar’s three rooms in Greenwich Village) to put his talents on best display. In black and white. As I wrote in my review for Decider:

It takes a lot of worldly knowledge to do crowd work with anyone anywhere and compare them to America, accurately AND humorously.

Behind the big glasses, under the hat, behind the beard and free-flowing salt-and-pepper hair, Friedlander has an answer for all of today’s hot-button issues. Even the relatively new idea of fake news. To which he counters: “What about the horoscope section in the newspaper?”

So why not follow his destiny and have the World Champion run for president of the United States? Friedlander will challenge Trump, but not in 2020. He’d rather have the showdown right here, right now. If not onstage, then out in the parking lot. And he’ll take questions from any audience about his campaign platform.

Read my full review of Freidlander’s Netflix special, only on Decider.

 

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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3 thoughts on “Review: Judah Friedlander, “America is the Greatest Country in the United States” on Netflix

  1. I thought at first glance lousy production. Cheap .
    How Mr Friedlander is a smart funny comic. I enjoyed it immensely once I got used to the way the show was presented. However I could not help thinking about why he doesn’t have a “ proper “ special?

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