The Definitive Guide to Comedy
A year ago this week, Comedy Dynamics filmed six stand-up comedy specials back-to-back over consecutive nights at The Palace Theater in Los Angeles, all of them with the same opening and closing montages. They released them over a period of several months this year, available everywhere but Netflix. Among them: …
Kirk Fox only really looks like That Guy when he’s sporting his mustache. Fox had more of a five o’clock shadow going on when he filmed his Showtime special in Santa Barbara during, and he realized that “that guy” not only refers to memorable character actors in TV and movies, …
It’d be a mistake to stop watching Trevor Moore after the first 10 minutes of his most recent Comedy Central special, The Story of Our Times, which came out on April 20 (cough cough). Moore’s special finds him struggling through an insufferable brunch with his girlfriend (Esther Povitsky) and her friends …
Far too many comedy specials in recent years have either come out too soon, or gone on for too long, to truly benefit the comedians themselves. I imagine that’s an unintended consequence of a comedy boom. Demand spikes, agents and managers want to cash in while the getting’s good, and …
As I wrote in my review for Decider: The word “degenerates” implies immorality. Oakerson, Brad Williams, Yamaneika Saunders, Liza Treyger, Joey Diaz and Christina P. definitely live by morals. The Netflix focus group working committee on series naming must have struggled (or didn’t struggle enough) in this case. Calling them …
I have some problems with Unprotected Sets. Not a big fan of the title. Definitely not a fan of the promotional poster and imaging, which doubles down on the sexual innuendo by giving you the impression that stand-up comedy is best represented by a bunch of attacking sperm. Unless you …
When it comes to comedy, I’ll admit it: I’m politically biased. But it’s not a liberal or conservative bias that drives me crazy so much as it is a realism bias. I love me some surrealism and ridiculousness from my stand-ups, but when a comedian starts talking about a political …
After several one-man shows in which John Leguizamo demonstrated his flexibility in portraying multiple members of his own family and neighborhood growing up in Jackson Heights, the comedian and actor has expanded his horizons with his first Netflix special, Latin History for Morons. Because it’s 2018, and two years into …
For everyone who thought that Adam Sandler had stopped trying. For everyone who wondered if Sandler could ever recapture the essence of his comedy that made so many of us love him in the first place. For all of you and then some, Sandler’s first Netflix comedy special may not …
Here’s one for all the 61-year-old raging alcoholics out there: Ron White has a new hour of stand-up comedy on Netflix. White’s a great storyteller, what with his handy cigar and tequila, and treasure trove of anecdotes. In one of the less hilarious but even more insightful moments for stand-up …
