Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Theoretically, an insane year should have been great for stand-up comedy. Just not this insane year.
The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered theaters in March, and made comedy clubs dangerously unsuitable for performing or recording in during the past nine months. Netflix had planned to film 11 comedy specials in one week alone at its very first comedy special in Los Angeles at the end of April. Whoops. Many of the stand-up hours that we did see in 2020 joked about a time and a place that only exists nostalgically for us now; that is, if any of us remain nostalgic for the end of the Trump years.
Lewis Black managed to capture the unique uneasiness by filming his final tour performance on March 13, and later released it as a special, Thanks For Risking Your Life.
Kevin Hart turned his part of his mansion into a studio to perform in a custom-tailored pajama suit for Netflix. Chelsea Handler, and later Colin Quinn and friends, filmed specials outside this summer on the waterfront for HBO Max.
As we look forward to 2021 with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, perhaps the classic formula of tragedy plus time equals comedy will bring forth a bounty of fun times ahead.
Until then, let’s look back at the best stand-ups had to offer this year.
Honorable mention goes out to Natalie Palamides’s NATE, Sketchy Times with Lilly Singh, and Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun for delivering big laughs, even if they don’t qualify for this particular list. Likewise, Middleditch and Schwartz finally managed to capture the magic of long-form improv on film.
I also want to applaud Hannah Gadsby for the audaciousness of announcing all of her intentions at the outset of her new hour, Douglas, and still surprising her audience anyhow; Eric Andre for his sheer audaciousness; and Eddie Pepitone for releasing the best and funniest stand-up special that I did not get to review for Decider (Eddie Pepitone: For the Masses is hilarious and available on Amazon Prime Video).
For anyone else you believe I left off the list, know that they tied for 12th, with a Metacritic score of 80 from me: Maria Bamford, Vir Das, Rose Matafeo, Michael McIntyre, Patton Oswalt, Yvonne Orji, Tom Segura, Jerry Seinfeld, and Larry the Cable Guy.
'Jesus Trejo: Stay At Home Son'
Showtime
An impressive debut from this Southern Californian who isn’t exactly hopeless, although he always finds himself quite helpless. And in tears. Sad for him. Funny for us. Trejo found himself becoming a caregiver to both of his immigrant parents for a while, for a time even giving up comedy to take over his father’s landscaping business. “I felt like I lived the American Dream backwards,” he realizes, having graduated from college and pursued his comedy dreams, only to wind up mowing lawns. Fortunately, this story not only has a happy ending, but also portends a great future for his comedy, too. (Read my full review)
'Michelle Buteau: Welcome To Buteaupia'
Netflix
From the opening introduction by Cardi B, all the way through to the end, wherein Buteau gives thanks for her 18-plus years in comedy, this is an hour of exuberance and joy that’s infectious. When Buteau jumps up and down with joy afterward, you’ll be filled with joy, too. And unlike hearing Ellen or Melania tell you to be kind, you really feel that Buteau backs that s— up. (Read my full review)
(tie) 'Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis' and 'Leslie Jones: Time Machine'
Netflix
At year’s end, I think of these two specials as co-existing as call and response, and would love to see Taylor Tomlinson and Leslie Jones touring together in 2021 whenever that’s safe to schedule. Tomlinson joking about why life in her 20s isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, followed by Jones and her time machine response about her 20s and what life is like now in her 50s.
Tomlinson: “What you miss is a time in your life where you didn’t have a lot of responsibilities because nobody expected anything from you.” (Read my full review)
Jones: “I wish I had a time machine, like you know, to go back and tell the 20-year-old self, ‘Hey, it’s gonna be OK.’” (Read my full review)
'Jim Jefferies: Intolerant'
Netflix
While many stand-up comedians bemoaned a culture that frankly doesn’t exist and certainly doesn’t apply to any of them since they’re still getting paid to make any jokes they want, Jim Jefferies somehow managed to offer a perspective on comedy and ideas allows for progressives and stubborn old-fashioned types to see and understand each other a little better, while also acknowledging that no real comedian actually wants to fall out of favor with the masses, no matter how much they may gamble by pushing the envelope onstage. (Read my full review)
'Dave Chappelle: 8:46'
YouTube
Talk about meeting the moment. Dave Chappelle not only created his own COVID-free safe space to perform stand-up outdoors in his town in rural Ohio, attracting big-name comedians throughout the summer, but also delivered a riveting response to America in the wake of the George Floyd killing. Yeah. It’s not packed with laughs.
As Chappelle himself asks: “Why would anyone care what their favorite comedian thinks after they saw a police officer kneel on a man’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds?!” He then answers with almost a half-hour of truth bombs about race relations in America, and his own place within that. No matter what blind spots Chappelle may have, this is not one of them. “I don’t mean to get heavy, but we gotta say something!” He proved once more why he’s just the man and the comedian to say it. (Read my full review)
'Hannibal Buress: Miami Nights'
YouTube
I keep coming back to an early throwaway joke of Buress’s, in which he responds to a potential career pivot by announcing: “The prophecy will be revealed, but not now.” Not only does Buress somehow always appear to be ahead of his time, but also this moment is the first of many in which post-production serves to enhance the joke. Comedy purists may think any enhancement is unnecessary, but once you see how Buress employs auto-tuning and displays on the screen behind him, it all serves to heighten the experience. (Read my full review)
'Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty'
Netflix
Fortune Feimster realized the truth about herself while watching a Lifetime movie? It’s our good fortune that she did, in a delightful hour that finds her reminiscing about family outings to Hooters and more, all retold with her mom in the audience. (Read my full review)
'Marc Maron: End Times Fun'
Netflix
This is Marc Maron at his best, becoming perhaps the George Carlin for our generation. He’s calm, cool, collected, a comedic leader for this crazy time in our lives. You’ll be able to come back to clips of this special years from now and still marvel at him. That he filmed this hour before “end times” became even more political and scientific, only makes Maron more prescient, as he asked: “I don’t know what it’s gonna take to get everybody, you know, to…you would think at this point that we’d…haven’t we been entertained enough? Weird thing for me to say, but Jesus. Like, isn’t there something that could bring everyone together and just realize, like, we’ve got to put a stop too, like, almost everything. Right? Oh my God! What would it take? Something terrible. That’s what brings people together. Nothing good. Occasionally a concert outdoors. But that never really goes anywhere. It’s gotta be something bad and big. Get everyone to snap out of this, fuck, whatever it is, trance…” (Read my full review)
'Sam Jay: 3 In The Morning'
Netflix
A voice we’ve been missing for a decade since the passing of Patrice O’Neal, his mantle has been picked up b Sam Jay. Addressing the elephants in the room with pluck and candor. Unlike some of her more famous and more successful elders in comedy, when Jay touches on the #MeToo movement or imagines her reactions to transgender people in specific situations, she’s clearly thought them through and sincere about her beliefs. She’s not trying to get a rise out of you or trolling the audience. There’s more points to be made, punchlines to land. About gender roles, British colonialism and cultural theft, what the Trump presidency says about America, the specific feminism of white women, and societal pressures on both having kids and also trying to be good parents to them. (Read my full review)
'Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy'
HBO Max
What does it mean to be a woman in America in 2020, and perform stand-up comedy, to boot? Beth Stelling describes this experience so fully, so full of jokes and punchlines and tags, that you might not even realize how blistering her critique of our culture has been. She balances that out with stories about her sister’s marriages and the separate but equally entertaining lives of her divorced parents. The best and funniest comedy special of the year. Period. (Read my full review)
