The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Joe Rogan is probably best known for making people who are desperate for money eat animal parts and jump off buildings. You may also recognize Rogan from his younger days on NewsRadio or more recent days providing commentary at UFC fights. For his stand-up and podcast, however, he is known for …
Who would you include in an exhaustive list of the most iconic stand-up comics and performances? Surely greats like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Bill Hicks would be included. And such a list could not be told without performances like Lenny Bruce’s Carnegie Hall concert. If you are going to …
It is actually quite simple to be offensive. All you have to do is figure out a mainstream value and champion the opposite. People generally like X, therefore you say Y. It is not a complicated process. However, creating an hour’s worth of stand-up that seeks to have every single …
Performing stand-up comedy in front of an audience of two exclusively made up of your parents while cookies bake and pugs run loose sounds like the fever dream of a an eccentric homeless man coming down with influenza. I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a homeless person’s thoughts, though, so such a …
Chris Hardwick is the king of nerds. Well, maybe he’s the president. Is a collection of nerds a monarchy? Maybe he’s some kind of chancellor or prime minister. At any rate, Chris Hardwick is a nerd and a proud one at that. His latest special, Mandroid, thoroughly illustrates his obsessions, …
Stephen Lynch is a gifted musician. On top of having a great singing voice and being an excellent guitarist, Lynch has also consistently shown that he can adapt to a variety of music genres and styles. In the past, Lynch has used such musical talent to create songs about molestation, …
Paul F. Tompkins is the gentleman’s comedian. He speaks with a kind of eloquence that lends itself to a degree of class not present in most of stand-up comedy, almost as though every joke is offered up with Tompkins sporting a top hat, cane, and monocle. I think I just …
Moshe Kasher’s new special, Live in Oakland, (which debuted exclusively this past weekend on Netflix) starts off with what should be an unnecessary warning about the content of his show. Kasher clearly illustrates his apathetic view toward those who might be offended, explaining that, though they have the right to …
Lewis Black hates himself. He also doesn’t think what he says is very funny. Black starts off his show letting everyone know that if they have the sudden urge to leave because the show isn’t funny enough, they better stay in their seats. Not because he’s funnier than they think, …
Being human is generally a miserable and painful experience. You always have to wait in lines for things, nobody answers their cell phones when you call them, and practically nowhere has free parking. Oh, and cancer. Cancer plays a big part in making life unavoidably miserable and painful for way …
