A Lot of Netflix Stand Up Comedy Is Jot Funny
Illustration by Lebassis
What to Watch
19 Stand-up Comedy Specials You Haven't Seen Yet
Maybe you have, we don't know your life.
By Ashwin Rodrigues Dec 20, 2021
Starting in 2017, Netflix started releasing one comedy special every week. If you count the years, do some multiplication, carry the 1, and—just trust us, there's a lot. We've also added classic comedy specials to our library, including bangers from Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Sinbad. And there's no possible way you've watched them all. (If you did, don't worry. There are more coming soon.) Putting on a comedy special is a great way to start a conversation-slash-argument with your roommate about the state of humor today. A comedy special can also be a nice balm to soothe you from all the dystopian and gory shows you've been watching.
We're here to humbly recommend some comedy specials—we'd like to think it's a wide buffet of specials that will offer some laughs, spark some thoughts, and maybe even inspire some of your own jokes.
Ali Wong - Hard Knock Wife (2018)
The San Francisco native absolutely ripped it in her first Netflix special in 2016 with Baby Cobra, where she performed while pregnant. In case you thought she was a one-hit wonder, she killed again in Hard Knock Wife—and this time, she's even more pregnant? She returns to reflect on her life since Baby Cobra and tells a story about the most romantic thing she's ever heard (you won't be able to guess what it is.) Wong's comedy is raunchy and wholesome at once, and you can also check her out in her 2019 rom-com debut, Always Be My Maybe.
Aziz Ansari - RIGHT NOW (2019)
Aziz Ansari - RIGHT NOW (2019)
After a hiatus following sexual misconduct allegations in 2018, Ansari returned to the stage a year later in this special, directed by Spike Jonze. The North Carolina-raised comedian is a bit more serious in this than in his previous specials—and trades his usual black-tie getups for a Metallica t-shirt and jeans. In one standout moment of the special, Ansari gets the audience to acknowledge a made-up controversy about pizza. Says a lot about our society.
Chris Rock Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut (2021)
Chris Rock Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut (2021)
One of the comedy GOATs re-edited AND re-released his 2018 special, Tamborine, shot in the Brooklyn Academy of Music. While Bo Burnham directed the original, Rock takes the helm on this version—adding almost 40 minutes to the original, with new camera angles and longer joke setups. Both specials are Rock at his most intimate—he dives into his divorce, his own infidelity, the cops, and proposes an innovative and elegant mortgage-based gun control law.
Felipe Esparza - Bad Decisions (2020)
Felipe Esparza - Bad Decisions (2020)
Esparza dropped Bad Decisions and Males Decisiones as a set of English and Spanish comedy specials—so you have two options for how you want to hear the Los Angeles-via-Tijuana comic perform. He covers a wide swath of material, from rescue dogs to a frightening retelling of an incidence of domestic violence from his childhood. Esparza's boisterous stage presence and his intensely personal stories make him difficult to ignore. And we're not sure why you'd want to!
Hannah Gadsby - Nanette (2018)
Hannah Gadsby - Nanette (2018)
Filmed in the Sydney Opera House, here's a comedy special that makes a strong case against the traditional comedy special. Gadsby's set contains classic setup-punchline bars but also longer reflections on comedy as an artform (she also pulls from her art history major.) Spoiler alert: Gadsby did not quit comedy for good. Her lighter 2020 follow-up special, Douglas, is also streaming on Netflix.
Hasan Minhaj - Homecoming King (2017)
Hasan Minhaj - Homecoming King (2017)
Minhaj's deeply personal special covers many of the critical moments in his life: from landing a gig at the Daily Show in 2014 to a less-than-ideal high school prom. The highly biographical special is sometimes infuriating, as the comedian details times he w as confronted with different flavors and intensities of racism. Watch this special and learn a little bit more about the Indian American experience. It's good for you. It's also extremely funny.
Jerry Seinfeld - Jerry Before Seinfeld (2017)
Jerry Seinfeld - Jerry Before Seinfeld (2017)
Seinfeld fans (and anyone else who has wondered what exactly is the deal with things) will enjoy this special, which takes on a unique format: stand-up spliced with biographical documentary bits about Seinfeld's childhood ("we grew up like wild dogs!") and footage from his early years as a comedian, before Seinfeld (the TV show). Performed at the Comic Strip in New York City, the comedian delivers his classic style of observational comedy that you can show your grandmother.
Maria Bamford - Old Baby (2017)
Maria Bamford - Old Baby (2017)
The inimitable Bamford delivers a special in a way only a highly experimental comedian can: in a series of locales ranging from a bowling alley to a living room to a more conventional stage. This won't surprise her fans, who know she will also sporadically meet up with people 1:1 (or on Zoom) to test out material. In Old Baby, you get to see the evolution of a joke across these varied settings, from the park bench to the theater.
Michelle Wolf - Joke Show (2019)
Michelle Wolf - Joke Show (2019)
The Daily Show alum really delivers on the title here. There's no denying this is a show of jokes. Wolf is one of the best comedy writers working—check out her White House Correspondents Dinner set for proof—and this special is one to show how prescient she is. She saw the Karen phenomenon coming from a mile away. You should also check out her 2018 variety sketch show The Break with Michelle Wolf.
Nate Bargatze - The Greatest Average American (2021)
Nate Bargatze - The Greatest Average American (2021)
You will really have to stretch to find anything offensive from Bargatze. His laid-back style and slight drawl—which you may recall from his previous special from 2018, The Tennesee Kid—is on display mid-pandemic here, in a socially-distanced outdoor audience. Despite the conditions, the Nashville comedian is calm and focused on relatively small matters (like his kid's math homework), which is a nice change of pace from the chaos and doom that surround us.
Norm Macdonald - Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery (2017)
The late legend, who died in September 2021, is arguably the best joke writer in the history of comedy (see his infamous moth joke, any of his late night sets, Weekend Update segments, or read his memoir-slash-novel for proof.) In this special, Macdonald's dark and deadpan style continues to impress his audience with his vocabulary as well as his ability to appear to be a stupid guy (don't let him fool you). Not even Abraham Lincoln is safe in Macdonald's special, earning a roast for his word choice in the Gettysburg Address. If you liked this special, you'll also enjoy Norm MacDonald Has a Show from 2018, Norm's loose and casual talk show, which features guests ranging from Judge Judy to M. Night Shyamalan.
Phil Wang - Philly Philly Wang Wang (2021)
Phil Wang - Philly Philly Wang Wang (2021)
The British-Malaysian standup planned to shoot this special in 2020. But then the pandemic happened. Wang, out loud, hopes that his jokes are still relevant. (Some, very intentionally, are not.) Wang's background provides him with a unique perspective on the world and its current happenings, and his background as an engineer informs his clinical approach to comedy. A taste: he meditates on the human body (specifically his own) being the intersection of goals and reality. "I want a better body. But this is how much I want that body."
Richard Pryor - Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979)
This classic concert film, shot in Long Beach, California, shows the comedian from Peoria, Illinois, making hilarity from some of the bleakest sources: police violence, racism and his own heart attack. Watch one of the best to ever do it, and sigh when you realize how much of his material is still relevant today.
Ryan Hamilton - Happy Face (2017)
Ryan Hamilton - Happy Face (2017)
Do not sleep on Happy Face. In this special, Hamilton brings his observant Idahoan perspective to New York, and makes lots of extremely relatable observations about dating and cancelling gym memberships, as well as some extremely un-relatable stories (unless you've also insulted hot air balloon enthusiasts before.) He's an extremely sharp writer and very self-aware that you might be asking why he looks so... happy. He addresses that up front and in the title of his special.
Sam Jay - 3 in the Morning (2020)
Sam Jay - 3 in the Morning (2020)
The Saturday Night Live writer makes a strong entrance to the stand-up world with her first hour-long special for Netflix. The smooth cinematography contrasts with Jay's material, which is often intentionally provocative — not for the sake of being contrarian but to make an earnest point on the topics of gender, race, #MeToo and more. If you know Jay through her writing on SNL, this is an entirely new and personal side of her: She's now performing for herself, instead of others, talking about her own life, traveling with her girlfriend, and a beef with Greta Thunberg. For more Sam Jay, you can find her on the 2018 series, The Comedy Lineup.
Taylor Tomlinson - Quarter-Life Crisis (2020)
Taylor Tomlinson - Quarter-Life Crisis (2020)
Though she's only 26 years old in this special, Tomlinson is already fed up with her twenties. (Remember those?) Though she says she's never been the life of the party ("more of a faint pulse at a potluck"), we beg to disagree. Whether you're in your twenties, or you're annoyed by people in their twenties, she's got you covered. Her observations seem years ahead of her own age, somehow. You can also catch another Tomlinson set on the 2018 series, The Comedy Lineup.
Tig Notaro - Happy to Be Here (2018)
Tig Notaro - Happy to Be Here (2018)
In this intimate special, the 46-year-old Notaro performs in The Heights theater in Houston, Texas. She touches on her recent marriage, the joys and pains of becoming a new parent (plus one weird trick you've gotta try if you have a baby!) and what happens when you meow at a cat. Even those familiar with Notaro won't be able to anticipate the ending to this special. For a very different side of Notaro, you can see her in the 2021 zombie action movie Army of the Dead.
Wanda Sykes - Not Normal (2019)
Wanda Sykes - Not Normal (2019)
Before she recorded this special, Sykes upset several fans when she opened up a New Jersey show with some jokes about former President Trump in 2018. She addresses this story up top—those fans "f*cked up" twice when they came to see Sykes perform. Aside from the president, there are many other things that Sykes finds are not normal, both on TV and in her own life. She also has a medical explanation as to why it would actually kill her to be more ladylike.
Source: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/best-stand-up-comedy-specials-netflix
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