The Funniest Stand-Up Comedy

Stewart Lee: Tornado
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.7 | imdb: 7.6
      

What a surprise and what a treat to see another show by Stewart Lee has come out only months after Snowflake. There's no overlap between the last set and this one, which was thoroughly fun. If Stewart impresses, his releasing two excellent sets within the same year takes things to another level and is a glimmer of hope in a world where everything once good tends to decay without ever bouncing back. Spoken from someone who's recently seen Bill Burr's latest special.

(Last viewed: October 2022)

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Bill Burr: Live at Red Rocks
      2022 | USA | Laughs: 4.0 | imdb: 7.7
      

Another entry in the sequence of sets demonstrating Bill's relentless decay. Not too trashy, some good moments. Fast food. Go watch Stewart Lee.

(Last viewed: October 2022)

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Stewart Lee: Snowflake
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.5
      

Although I've enjoyed much of Stewart's comedy in the past, I was nervous about watching this special as I'd been unable to finish the previous one, Content Provider (by the time you read this, I may have gone back to it.)

For most of the show, Stewart riffs on cancel culture, a topic that is probably far closer to home for him than it is for viewers. Some bits border on the tedious, despite his own meta-commentary acknowledging this very fact. As a proxy for the show's rhythm, the Ricky Gervais bit was hilarious until it got too long, about a quarter of the way through. In the end, he does manages to walk the thin line between tedium and entertainment for an hour without tumbling, leaving me satisfied to have watched the show.

On the one hand, I'm reminded that Stewart's comedy is too special to ignore. On the other hand, I detect a number of cheap jokes that would not have made it into former shows.

(Last viewed: September 2022)

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Ricky Gervais: SuperNature
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 | imdb: 7.7
      

I had low expectations upon starting on Ricky's latest special, but he had no trouble making me grin and chuckle. The second half was a bit weaker.

It's a shame he had to spend so much of the show to make disclaimers about his stance about the issues he makes fun about. Is stand-up comedy on its way out?

(Last viewed: June 2022)

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Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly
      2000 | USA | Laughs: 7.8 | imdb: 8.8
      

Unlike his later awful show entitled For What It's Worth, this is a fine set where Dave showcases his keen intelligence (rather than the far more widespread ability to name reproductive organs) and puts it to the service of making us laugh. To great effect, Dave alternates seamlessly between a casual "black" voice and a straight "white" voice, leaving you to wonder how he sounds when he is just himself. Topics include discovering how leniently police handle a white friend of his driving intoxicated, assessing a politician's character, and differences in male-female approaches to storytelling.

Update (2021, eight years later): this set aged well. I've grown increasingly disappointed with Dave's recent sets and wanted to watch this one to check whether his earlier material still worked for me. It does. And some of the topics are painfully current.

(Last viewed: Oct 2013 October 2021)

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Dave Chappelle: The Closer
      2021 | USA | Laughs: 1.0 | imdb: 8.1
      wikipedia

At the beginning of the show, Dave says it is the last set he will do in a long time. Given the quality of this last entry, I'm not sad about that.

To start with, the show is so full of pregnant pauses that I had to watch it at 130% velocity just to stay awake. Second, the first part of the show is filthy — there's just no need to be that vulgar. Last, it turns out that the main point of the set is for Dave to justify himself to some people he's offended. I can understand the desire to explain oneself, but there are other venues for that — saying what a good guy you actually are is just not good comedy.

My advice: skip this one and watch Killing Them Softly (Dave's set from the year 2000) instead. That's what I plan to do tomorrow in order to erase this insipid blob.

(Last viewed: October 2021)

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Mark Normand: Don't Be Yourself
      2017 | USA | Laughs: 5.0 | imdb: 5.5
      

I watched this set after discovering Mark in his 2020 set, Out To Lunch, which I enjoyed and made me curious about his earlier work.

While this set is also enjoyable, it is not equally so, giving me the impression is that Mark has refined his act since then. This might be good news for things to come. That being said, the new show, though more polished, does rehash much of the same material, which might also suggest that there isn't a whole lot more where that came from.

(Last viewed: January 2021)

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Mark Normand: Out To Lunch
      2020 | USA | Laughs: 7.0 | imdb: 8.1
      

This was my favorite set by a comedian so far unknown to me in a long time.

Mark speaks well-formed English at breakneck speed, a first sign of the intelligence that permeates his comedy. When I started listening, his accent reminded me of my partner's, a Southerner who has lived a long time away from the South: it turns out that he too grew up in Louisiana. For a primer on the Louisiana accents, see this page.

The humor tends to hinge on bringing to light the logical flaws that underlie positions and behaviors often taken for granted in our society, a vein that resonates with my own mental make-up.

I can't say that I laughed hard, but I sure grinned a lot, and, more than anything, savored the show from start to finish, despite the nod to more vulgar themes towards the end.

Truly thrilled to have discovered Mark — all thanks to a reader of this website. Looking forward to seeing more of his material.

(Last viewed: January 2021)

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Sebastian Maniscalco: Why Would You Do That?
      2016 | USA | Laughs: 4.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.4
      

This was my first exposure to Sebastian Manicalco. He is extremely animated on stage, probably a tad too much for my taste. I usually enjoy comedians who make good use of movement and facial expressions, but his often miss the mark for me.

That is a good summary of the show: it often misses the mark for me. It did entertain me, but humor depends very much on which themes matter most to a viewer at a particular point in time — I'm sure that many people would relate to the material more easily than I did.

Still worth a watch. (Last viewed: June 2020)

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Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal
      2020 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.2
      

I was well disposed but had to give up after five minutes. Just awful. (Last viewed: May 2020)

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Louis CK: Sincerely
      2020 | USA | Laughs: 5.5 | imdb: 8.4
      

After two years of absence from the screen following accusations having behaved improperly with several women, Louis C.K. returns stronger. I found this set more raw, more brutal, and generally funnier than the ones immediately preceding his demise.

For my taste there was far too much material relating to bodily functions — as though this theme hadn't yet been beaten to death. On the other hand I enjoyed the handling of themes such as religion, for which Louis's bluntness came close to that more typical of Jim Jefferies.

(Last viewed: April 2020)

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Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America
      2019 | USA | Laughs: 5.0 | imdb: 7.4
      

This tape was my first exposure to Ronny as a stand-up comedian, and I was pleasantly surprised: it seemed to me that Ronny brings something new in his role of recent migrant to America. Of course other comedians have made that move stateside and commented on U.S. culture from that newcomer perspective (Jim Jefferies comes to mind) but I particularly enjoyed the Asian or even specifically Chinese spin that Ronny Chieng (Malaysian-born) brings to his commentary.

My favorite bit was the one about how Asians should be let loose to run the U.S. government.

With all this said, I didn't have any hard laughs. I just enjoyed the show and got the impression that Ronny might have more potential to unleash as he refines his craft.

(Last viewed: March 2020)

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Whoopi: Back to Broadway
      2005 | USA | Laughs: 7.7 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.9
      

Taken as a piece of theatrical performance, as a monologue, that show was enjoyable for me. As stand-up comedy, it was a waste of time.

Incarnating various characters, Whoopi reminisces on some times of her life — some personal, some public, such as the war in Irak — and invents others. It has historical value, it's often touching, but it's not the kind of material that can trigger laughter, at least not for me: in the case of Irak, not that long after the events.

Some of the personal topics include waxing, menopause and depression: maybe some of you all will be curious about Whoopi's experience or find something you can relate to.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Whoopi Goldberg: Fontaine... Why Am I Straight?
      1988 | USA | Laughs: 1.4 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.4
      

First off, a few words to explain the title of this set: Whoopi Goldberg plays the character of her alter-ego Fontaine, a male junkie who, after going off drugs, is flabbergasted by what he sees when looking at America through sober eyes — hence Why Am I Straight? That's the premise of the show.

I was blown away by Whoopi's comic mastery — body language, faces, voices… she had a lot of ingredients. Sadly, what this show doesn't have today is relevance. Most of the material was circumstantial, relating as it did to events few will remember or to people who no longer matter. I smiled at the Reagan impressions, but for me the show had nothing to trigger laughter, and for younger people it will be worse.

A beautiful document for the archives of comedy… but a poor choice if you're just after something to make you laugh today.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Joe Rogan: Rocky Mountain High
      2014 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.5
      

I was surprised at how awful this show was. On previous attempts to watch Joe's shows he'd often managed to make me smile or chuckle, but this was gutter humor almost from start to finish. When this barrage of filth finally let up, Joe closed the show with weak material cashing in on his audience's presumed prejudice against certain alternative groups.

This man really needs to reduce his doses of protein powder or whatever he takes to make his body bigger and his brain smaller. It's a real shame, as he's a bright guy with the potential to apply his intelligence if he ever came across a meaningful fact. I'd be happy to hear his insights if he ever grew up.

One thing that surprised me was the consistent imdb ratings of Joe's shows given their wide discrepancy in quality. I came up with a hypothesis, but it makes me sad. Could it be that Joe is so much smarter than his fans that they can't tell the difference? As long as he keeps dedicating most of his stage time to bodily functions and the female anatomy, they seem to be happy.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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