The Definitive Guide to Comedy
After more than 40 years of performing ventriloquism on TV, Jeff Dunham not only remained popular heading into the pandemic, but commanded arena-sized audiences around the world. We can and have debated the philosophy of using a puppet to say things the human holding the puppet would never say. As …
My gut instinct was to write a review based on his title: This is what he does. But Gary Owen’s 2019 special, which premiered on Showtime in September, isn’t about what he does, as much about what other comedians have done, and how he not only hasn’t done those things, …
As I wrote for Decider when this special came out last fall: Don’t let the trailer fool you. The rat-a-tat-tat of hot-button words rattled off by Bill Burr in the trailer for Paper Tiger, his fourth Netflix special (and sixth stand-up special, in all), makes him sound like just another middle-aged comedian disgruntled …
Producers/directors Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stanton enjoyed so much access to so many comedians over the last several years to make their documentary, This Is Stand-Up, which premiered Easter Sunday on Comedy Central. So much as, that to only have 82 minutes of footage to share, even in the longer uncensored …
About that title. Ilana Glazer means it literally, telling the audience early in her first stand-up comedy special that The Planet Is Burning, adding: “and the mean dinosaurs in office just don’t seem to mind.” But that’s not the central message, nor the main focus of her solo hour. As …
How poetically full circle must Kevin McDonald feel this week, performing a new solo show across the street from the Hell’s Kitchen venue where Kids in the Hall first introduced themselves to live American audiences 32 years ago. McDonald’s career remains alive and kicking, taken even more literally when he’s …
Some 15 years ago, Dave Chappelle cared so much about what people thought of him and his comedy that he up and quit his successful Comedy Central series and left $50 million on the table. Now, not so much. In fact, after more than making that up with his Netflix …
As I wrote in Decider: Whether or not you already know who Simon Amstell is, you can figure out rather quickly just by looking at and listening to him that the idea of Amstell attending a sex party is fodder for high comedy. But that’s just one story of several …
Tiffany Haddish used her leverage in show business, circa 2019, to get some of her friends on Netflix, too. Who’d she pick and why? Let’s let Haddish explain in her own words why each of the six comedians in They Ready were ready for their own half-hours. Tracey Ashley “Here’s …
Joel McHale’s first ever full-length comedy special, Live From Pyongyang, which actually was filmed at the San Jose Improv, is out now on the Comedy Dynamics Network via iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play, xBox, and other platforms. Here’s the thing about McHale, the stand-up comedian. If all you know about him …
