Elvis and Baby, What You Want Me to Do (First 'stand-up' Show) and Video and Vimeo
The x All-time Stand-Up One-act Specials Of 2021
Photos: NETFLIX, Comedy Central ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps
The pandemic really put a damper on alive stand-up comedy, and past extension, the stand-upwardly comedy special.
Much more than any preconceived notion of "abolish culture," the idea of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds or thousands of strangers to miscarry laughter, while millions died around the earth from an airborne virus, well, that didn't quite sit correct with many in the comedy industry, even with their "the show must go on" because information technology's testify business mentality. While enough comedians had filmed hours by mid-March 2020 to fill much of last twelvemonth's streaming calendar, so many more than specials got postponed or canceled.
And while the end of the 2010s saw an embarrassment of riches when information technology came to consuming streaming stand up-up, at a sure point over the past year or and then, what remained became more than slightly embarrassing.
Netflix had dominated the manufacture. But this yr, not so much? Certain, the big N released both the near daring as well every bit the well-nigh trolling works of comedy, thanks to Bo Burnham and Dave Chappelle, respectively. The rest of the streaming giant's slate left room for some other platform to pick up the slack and make a play for your viewing pleasure.
Could it be Peacock? NBCUniversal got into the game in 2021, starting with Maz Jobrani's Pandemic Warrior, and following up later in the twelvemonth with an eclectic grouping of NYC-based comedians playing with the format of what a special could be. HBO/HBO Max and Start, the old standard-bearers for comedy specials in the 1970s and 1980s, leaned the nearly into diversity. Both cable networks gave more than space to women and performers of color than to straight white guys, while also letting stand-ups explore their sketchy ideas (Ziwe on First; Sam Jay and Michael Che for HBO Max). Meanwhile, One-act Central and Amazon Prime Video both seemed to beat out jerky retreats. Comedy Central and Paramount+ all but forgot almost stand-upwards while rebranding toward movies, or some such? Can anyone even figure them out on the comedy front? Amazon, on the other hand, tried to brand a big splash in 2019 with multiple acquisitions, but to find their biggest headliner, Jim Gaffigan, returning to the Netflix fold with a solid 60 minutes at year'due south end in One-act Monster.
But it turns out anyone tin can film and upload their specials to Prime Video. Or YouTube. Or anywhere else. 2021, infant! On that note, let me at present mention honorably some of the comedians who put out works this yr that might not have made my Peak 10 but even so should entertain you fully should you click their mode. Amongst them: Nicole Byer, Brian Regan and Theo Von on Netflix; Shane Gillis on YouTube; Rosebud Baker on Comedy Central'due south YouTube; and Chris Gethard and Sam Tallent on Prime Video. Aye, nosotros've got an unusual list hither, and so allow's get to it!
10
'David Huntsberger: Big Nothingness'
YouTube
The folks at 800 Pound Gorilla Records did more in 2021 than go far a big ol' fight with Spotify over streaming audio residuals. They also helped produce and release multiple peachy comedy specials for costless this yr to YouTube!
Huntsberger, a onetime co-host of the Professor Blastoff podcast with Tig Notaro and Kyle Dunnigan who now hosts his own podcast called Infinite Cave, delivered a visually striking hour that also manages to fill your pandemic-era need for the biggest questions about life and where we fit in the universe. Why are we here? Are at that place assistant people? Do nosotros end upwards going to Heaven, Hell or the Lobster Void? If you're so committed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe'south idea of the multiverse so much, then this is the comedian and the comedy special for you. MCU superheroes not included.
Watch David Huntsberger: Big Nothingness on YouTube
ix
'Tig Notaro: Drawn'
HBO Max
Speaking of Notaro, she'south back with a new special that animates some of her older routines, and by doing so, casting her in a new light. Or xi new lights, as a variety of animators put their own spin on Tig. All of which makes her stories even more than memorable than they already would exist. From two bloody trips to the infirmary, to a retelling of her cancer treatment and other medical emergencies via a long-running dialogue with comedian and actress Jenny Slate, her fandom of Eddie Van Halen and Dolly Parton, and her wonderment over the backstory of the Kool-Aid Man, who began breaking through walls in TV ads in the mid-1970s. (Read my full review)
Watch Tig Notaro: Drawn on HBO Max
8
'Chad Daniels: 12th Night'
YouTube
This is non a Shakespearean reference. Rather, Chad Daniels, who released a half-hr for Comedy Central back in 2008 and has released several albums since then, decided to record his twelfth night of performing in this agenda year, just considering that'southward how crazy 2021 was. That'southward non to say this isn't a solid hr of textile. In fact, it'due south another demonstration of his superior stand-up skills. Managing to mock toxic masculinity without ever having to utter those two words, Daniels too skewers our political, religious and cultural divides, all while reading the room like the consummate professional he is. After one proclamation, he notes: "I don't need you lot to laugh at that, i just need you to hear it." Y'all volition hear it, and you lot will laugh, indeed.
Spotter Chad Daniels: Twelfth Nighttime on YouTube
7
'Mo Amer: Mohammed In Texas'
Netflix
Netflix announced a deal with Mo Amer to develop a sitcom with him when they put out this special, and that'south i of the smarter decisions the platform made this year. One of Dave Chappelle's frequent opening acts on tour the past two years, Amer is doing a lot more healing and joke-telling in his hour than Chappelle is. Which is the proficient kind of awkward? (Read my full review)
Lookout Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas on Netflix
6
'Jackie Kashian: Stay-Kashian'
YouTube
Jackie Kashian, some other opening human action for a living fable (in her case, Maria Bamford) who'south more than gear up for the spotlight herself, proves information technology with her new hour, filmed at Acme Comedy Co. in Minneapolis. She opens by sharing with us how the pandemic has forced live comedy to adapt to the times, so shifts gears into jokes about how some people and some generations aren't quite so willing to continue upwardly with progress. Her cocky-awareness is charming and refreshing in an era when and then many comedians are making straw-men arguments. And her stories about her elderly father need to exist green-lit by a studio, pronto.
Watch Jackie Kashian: Stay-Kashian on YouTube
five
'James Acaster: Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999'
Vimeo
Even though he filmed this special in 2019 and first released it as an exclusive livestream in 2020, there's no denying James Acaster a place in 2021's discussion of the best comedy. From his opening bombast, which y'all undoubtedly came across via social media, slagging his colleagues for being edgy and challenging. That's merely the outset few minutes of more than two hours of solid storytelling that dissects the trouble with Brexit, losing your girlfriend to Mr. Bean, and becoming a meme already cheers to a disastrous British Bake-Off feel. It'southward all golden.
Watch James Acaster: Cold Lasagne Detest Myself 1999 on Vimeo
4
'Good Timing With Jo Firestone'
Peacock
The feel-proficient special of the year! I could've would've easily binged a six-episode series about Jo Firestone and her elderly students, simply I'chiliad grateful that they cut it downwards to fifty minutes so we just see anybody at their best. It's a great lesson to anyone out there taking life or themselves also seriously. It's healthy and good and downright necessary to have a laugh. (Read my full review)
Watch Practiced Timing with Jo Firestone on Peacock
three
'Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American'
Netflix
Title of his special aside, Nate Bargatze might just exist the greatest amiable American, then adept that he makes the most of moments that could derail lesser comedians during the taping, turning them into ad-libbed conversations with his outdoor audience that endear them even more to him. He also continues to poke fun at himself, with great material about learning as much if not more than his third-grader while helping with homework, about meeting his married woman while working at Applebee's, and reveals an astonishing truthful life-saving story from his youth in Tennessee. Y'all can't help but express mirth and want to hear what comes adjacent. (Read my full review)
Lookout man Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American on Netflix
ii
'Roy Wood Jr.: Imperfect Messenger'
Comedy Central
Joke for joke, Roy Wood Jr. might be the best stand up-upward comedian working today. Information technology'due south a shame he's almost subconscious away from most viewers thanks to the baroque programming decisions at ViacomCBS, Paramount+ and Comedy Key.
When he opens with "I hope you're OK" but refusing to inquire you if you were really are — there's non but a joke in there, but also a discussion to the wise for aspiring comedians not to ask too many unnecessary questions of your audience. Wood takes the renewed focus on Blackness Lives Matter from the by year, and without resorting to lecturing or clapter, frames our race relationships in a much more accessible and funny way for fifty-fifty the about casual viewers to go on paying attention. Wood'southward idol, Chris Rock, might rightly get a lot of the attention for his quarter-century body of work in stand-upwards. But over the by half-dozen years, Wood's work has brought him right up there in the conversation for elite status. Every bit funny every bit he is, Wood's not putting on an act, fifty-fifty if he'southward put so much thought into the writing and construction of his textile. Information technology nevertheless just feels as though he'due south having a conversation with united states, speaking to the commonage audience as if nosotros're all his friend or potential ally, sitting across the table from him. He'southward come up a long way from making prank telephone calls on morning time radio in Birmingham, Ala. (Read my full review)
Lookout Roy Woods Jr.: Imperfect Messenger on One-act Central
1
'Bo Burnham: Within'
Netflix
Not only the all-time artistic piece of work I've seen about the pandemic, but likewise mayhap the all-time commentary on one-act and also on social media, all wrapped up in i. Bo Burnham basically hits the Venn diagram on this one. And of grade, there are Venn diagrams and charts and graphs then many musical bangers in this special that the Grammys didn't know what to exercise with it. The Emmys knew to reward Burnham handsomely. (Read my full review)
Lookout man Bo Burnham: Within on Netflix
Source: https://decider.com/2021/12/31/the-10-best-stand-up-comedy-specials-of-2021/
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