The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Jesus Trejo scored an impressive debut with his first stand-up special, which premiered on Showtime in May. Trejo’s first joke will hit home with people stuck at home in quarantine, as he describes an unusual online purchase. “I ordered an hourglass, and man it came, I was so excited. I …
Mo’Nique sued Netflix for discrimination, then somehow settled for hosting a showcase on Showtime? I still don’t understand it. Each of her friends — Prince T-Dub, Just Nesh, Tone-X, Correy Bell, and Donnell Rawlings — get off some good jokes. But what about Mo’Nique? That’s why you’re tuning in, right? …
Eddie Griffin held down a Las Vegas residency before the pandemic hit, and filmed his most recent stand-up special there for Showtime. The looseness of his late-night shows in Las Vegas shows here, too. As I wrote last year: This feels more like a night out at the comedy club …
Australian actress and comedian Celeste Barber became globally famous for her Instagram challenges, attempting to duplicate glossy celebrity photo spreads to hilarious effect. How does it translate to a stand-up special, though? As I wrote when her special debuted last year on Showtime, she uses Instagram as a prop. But …
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, …
Showtime is giving Mo’Nique the stand-up special she’s been seeking. With a catch. It’s Mo’Nique & Friends. Filmed at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, the hour-long special features a variety of talented newcomers including Prince T-Dub, Just Nesh, Tone-X and Correy Bell alongside veteran comedian Donnell Rawlings, and premieres Feb. …
Abby McEnany stars as a fictionalized version of herself in the new Showtime series Work In Progress. On Showtime, Abby is a 45-year-old overweight queer dyke from Chicago who plans to commit suicide in 180 days if her life doesn’t get any better. Can she become a work in progress …
Celeste Barber had appeared on Australian television as a regular on the hospital soap opera All Saints in the late 2000s, but that wasn’t translating into fans or followers on social media. Then Barber decided she’d have fun re-creating the outrageous photo shoots of celebrities and models, and posted her …
Lavell Crawford, who burst onto the national scene a decade ago thanks to Last Comic Standing, then found himself a role in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, has lost a lot of weight over the past couple of years. And yet, despite already joking about his weight loss …
Showtime has ordered an eight-episode season of the new half-hour comedy series WORK IN PROGRESS, created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason. McEnany stars in the series, expected to premiere later this year. Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix, Sense8) will co-write the first season and executive produce with McEnany and Mason. …
