Stand Up Comedy Thread

[storrsroars]

I'd been debating whether or not to watch Andrew Schulz's "Life" Netflix special. I haven't been impressed with Schulz to date and basically account for whatever success he's had to being one of Rogan's acolytes. Last night I decided to watch it.

As a student of standup comedy, I have to admit, Schulz has talent and mastery of the craft. The material will be tough to take for many - it is aggressively "bro", crossing into misogynistic. Schulz is the 2020's version of Dice Clay. But he has far more material than Clay, and the hour is well constructed with references that indicate Schulz actually has an education and pays attention to timing, delivery, crowd interactions, callbacks, etc. And he ends the show with 10 minutes that actually endears him to the audience, including the surprising number of women in attendance.

I admit to both laughing and groaning. He's still far from a favorite and not someone I'm likely to spend $ on for a ticket. But I have a much better impression of him now as someone who actually does understand the craft and is above average in practicing it.

 

[Deepster]

Watched Bill Burr: The Drop Dead Years this week. Pretty standard Burr. A little more mellow than his younger stuff but he's still an angry ginger. If you like him? Well worth the watch.

Also watched Bert Kreischer: Lucky and did not care for it. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't universally like him and it's only in certain spots I find him really funny. He is a story teller, for one, and I'm not sure I really find his stories all that funny. Second, he'll tell a story and say something that his younger daughter says and I just don't believe she said it, or at least phrased it that way. Said differently, I think he just makes up conversation to fit the story and again, I just don't think it's that funny.

 

[storrsroars]

Watched Bill Burr: The Drop Dead Years this week. Pretty standard Burr. A little more mellow than his younger stuff but he's still an angry ginger. If you like him? Well worth the watch.

Also watched Bert Kreischer: Lucky and did not care for it. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't universally like him and it's only in certain spots I find him really funny. He is a story teller, for one, and I'm not sure I really find his stories all that funny. Second, he'll tell a story and say something that his younger daughter says and I just don't believe she said it, or at least phrased it that way. Said differently, I think he just makes up conversation to fit the story and again, I just don't think it's that funny.

Hate to say it, but I think Billy is now on the downside of his career arc. First half of Drop Dead seemed like a rehash of his greatest hits. The second half, which got into politics, was better, IMHO.

Never cared for Bert, doubtful I ever will.

OTOH, Jeselnik brought it again in his latest special Bones and All. I don't know if there's anyone out there who crafts a joke better that AJ, and he can play his obnoxious character because he's so joyful in delivering truly tasteless material that his audience craves the deprativity of it all. My one complaint is his specials generally only go 45 minutes and there's a lot of dead time in there as he prowls the stage. He probably has the least content per minute of any brand-name comics out there, but every punch hits.

 

[Deepster]

Hate to say it, but I think Billy is now on the downside of his career arc. First half of Drop Dead seemed like a rehash of his greatest hits. The second half, which got into politics, was better, IMHO.

Never cared for Bert, doubtful I ever will.

OTOH, Jeselnik brought it again in his latest special Bones and All. I don't know if there's anyone out there who crafts a joke better that AJ, and he can play his obnoxious character because he's so joyful in delivering truly tasteless material that his audience craves the deprativity of it all. My one complaint is his specials generally only go 45 minutes and there's a lot of dead time in there as he prowls the stage. He probably has the least content per minute of any brand-name comics out there, but every punch hits.

I love Jeselnik and agree on everything you said. I love dark twisted stuff and the way he makes you think "How can he possibly make this one go where I don't see it going?" and then he does every time is genius.

 

[Dove]

In the late 70s, there was a "game show" called "Make Me Laugh." I would not have lasted 2 seconds in the contestant seat.

Stars on the show were Gary Muledeer, Bruce Baum, Gary Shandling, Tom Hanks, Howie Mandel and Richard Belzer.

 

[Deepster]

Watched Mark Normand “Soup to Nuts” (2023) on Netflix. I hadn’t seen more than podcasts and instagram clips of him. Very very impressed with how many jokes he fit in to the hour, how complex some of the short jokes were and how smooth his segues were. He is a real pro technically.

 

[storrsroars]

Saw Louie CK tonight at Heinz Hall. Sold out 2300 seater. Can't recall the opening comic's name, but the middle comic was a surprise - Jim Norton! And Norton absolutely killed. I probably wouldn't have bought a ticket to see Jim at a club as I haven't loved his subject matter over the years, but now that he's married, for some reason I think his writing is better and his routines go more afield than they used to. He had one joke on Queen Elizabeth where I almost lost my breath.

Louie had me in stitches. Wife said she expected more and complained it was too male focused (of course it is!).He did an extended bit on nursing homes and old people that I can't do justice to. I was so tastelessly hilarious I have to imagine it'll make his next special.

So I can check another off my comedian bucket list.

 

[temery]

Saw Louie CK tonight at Heinz Hall. Sold out 2300 seater. Can't recall the opening comic's name, but the middle comic was a surprise - Jim Norton! And Norton absolutely killed. I probably wouldn't have bought a ticket to see Jim at a club as I haven't loved his subject matter over the years, but now that he's married, for some reason I think his writing is better and his routines go more afield than they used to. He had one joke on Queen Elizabeth where I almost lost my breath.

Louie had me in stitches. Wife said she expected more and complained it was too male focused (of course it is!).He did an extended bit on nursing homes and old people that I can't do justice to. I was so tastelessly hilarious I have to imagine it'll make his next special.

So I can check another off my comedian bucket list.

Louis CK was one of my favorite until I heard he tried to get Pete Davidson fired from SNL for smoking pot.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I loved Carlin and Pryor back in the day. Bill Burr was pretty good. Shane Gillis is good. My wife likes Leanne. Nikki Glaser can be funny. Haven't seen anyone mention Robin Williams. I wish I could find the clip but there's one of Pryor talking about a time they were supposed to do something together and he says he just stood on the side of the stage and watched because Williams was so quick and creative, pivoted so fast that nobody could keep up with him.

 

[temery]

I loved Carlin and Pryor back in the day. Bill Burr was pretty good. Shane Gillis is good. My wife likes Leanne. Nikki Glaser can be funny. Haven't seen anyone mention Robin Williams. I wish I could find the clip but there's one of Pryor talking about a time they were supposed to do something together and he says he just stood on the side of the stage and watched because Williams was so quick and creative, pivoted so fast that nobody could keep up with him.

Robin Williams played some really good roles in some really good movies. But I never thought he was even close to funny.

His coming out role was in Mork and Mindy. I couldn't watch five minutes that nonsense.

 

[Deepster]

I loved Carlin and Pryor back in the day. Bill Burr was pretty good. Shane Gillis is good. My wife likes Leanne. Nikki Glaser can be funny. Haven't seen anyone mention Robin Williams. I wish I could find the clip but there's one of Pryor talking about a time they were supposed to do something together and he says he just stood on the side of the stage and watched because Williams was so quick and creative, pivoted so fast that nobody could keep up with him.

I find Robin Williams' standup tough to watch. He's in a coked out frenzy most of the time. That said, Good Will Hunting is probably in my top 5 movies all-time.

 

[Deepster]

Saw Louie CK tonight at Heinz Hall. Sold out 2300 seater. Can't recall the opening comic's name, but the middle comic was a surprise - Jim Norton! And Norton absolutely killed. I probably wouldn't have bought a ticket to see Jim at a club as I haven't loved his subject matter over the years, but now that he's married, for some reason I think his writing is better and his routines go more afield than they used to. He had one joke on Queen Elizabeth where I almost lost my breath.

Louie had me in stitches. Wife said she expected more and complained it was too male focused (of course it is!).He did an extended bit on nursing homes and old people that I can't do justice to. I was so tastelessly hilarious I have to imagine it'll make his next special.

So I can check another off my comedian bucket list.

I saw him at The Bushnell. Had to be 12-13 years ago at this point because I wasn't in my current house. I loved him and would have suggested maybe the Mrs stay home! He's a bitter divorced guy for sure (like me).

His opener that night was Gary Gulman who has since also carved out a nice little niche for himself.

 

[Deepster]

If you like him, the new Sebastian Maniscalco special on Hulu is very, very good. Classic material and delivery.

 

[storrsroars]

I loved Carlin and Pryor back in the day. Bill Burr was pretty good. Shane Gillis is good. My wife likes Leanne. Nikki Glaser can be funny. Haven't seen anyone mention Robin Williams. I wish I could find the clip but there's one of Pryor talking about a time they were supposed to do something together anhe says he just stood on the side of the stage and watched because Williams was so quick and creative, pivoted so fast that nobody could keep up with him.

Pretty much every comic who were in clubs same time as Williams say he was amazing. They hated to follow him. But he also sometimes didn't get off stage when his time was up, and also would show up unannounced resulting in other comics being bounced even after they were assured a spot.

Personally, I often found him hilarious, but there were too many times I found him tiring, especially on talk show appearances. That said, one host who could keep up with him was Craig Ferguson. The following is one of my favorite clips from Ferguson's show: