What You Missed With Netflix Stand-Up
We all love a good comedy show, but not all of them are created equal.
Classic Comedy
Sometimes, the old ways are just the best ways. Just because something is old, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Netflix doesn't have a wide selection of classic comedy, but there are a few good shows with a bit of age on them.
- "Leslie Jones: Problem Child"
Before she was on Saturday Night Live and in "Ghostbusters," Leslie Jones was a touring stand-up comic by the name of Big Les. Her show, "Problem Child" is a few years old at this point, but it's fascinating returning to this special so many years after initially watching it, as if you're watching someone who doesn't know that they're going to win the lottery. It's profane and dirty, but it's an absolutely hilarious show nonetheless.
- "Mo'Nique: I Coulda Been Your Cellmate"
This is another show where you're watching it as if you're waiting for this person to win the lottery. Filmed four years before his monumental Oscar win for "Precious," Mo'Nique is still known as Ms. Parker to most people. Here, Mo'Nique does something quite unique by performing her stand-up show at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, one of the biggest female prisons in the country. Not only is the show loud, profane and hilarious, it's also heartfelt too. Before filming, Mo'Nique sat down with many residents of the prison to discuss prison life and their crimes. These are touching interviews that compliment the comedy nicely. Netflix used to have the entire hour-long special of just the interviews, but have since removed it.
Quirky Comedy
Sometimes, weirdness is a good thing.
- "Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale"
This is also an older comedy special, but it's one of the great classics of clean comedy. Jim Gaffigan is a comic for the everyday person, which isn't to say it's dumbed down in the slightest, but his observations on normal, domestic life speak to so many people. Beyond his life of comedy touring, it's clear this is a normal man, with a normal family and a normal life, and this connection to normal life makes his comedy all the more relatable. Best of all? The whole family can enjoy the fun. While this isn't always G-rated material, it's more or less an upper-level PG, which should be praise enough.
- "Chelsea Perretti: One of the Greats"
Want a truly bizarre stand-up special? Chelsea Perretti has you covered. From the strange flashbacks to her childhood, to the weird cutaways to planted audience members who cause trouble, this is a strangely set-up special. Top this with Perretti's dry, odd sense of humor and you have something unlike any comedy special has done before, and as much as you'll initially be taken aback by it, you'll come to love it soon enough.
Female Comedy
While I typically wouldn't reserve a space for this, the gap between men and women in comedy is vast enough to warrant it. For some reason I can only attribute to blind sexism, there's this common theme that women can't be funny, which might be the farthest thing from the truth.
- "Chelsea Handler: Uganda Be Kidding Me"
You probably know her from her former E! Network late-night show "Chelsea Lately," or perhaps her Netflix docu-series "Chelsea Does," or her new Netflix talk-show, "Chelsea," but to see Handler at her most outrageous, her stand-up is the way to go. While many of her jokes piss people off, there's no doubt that this comic is one of the sharpest people in the game today, and while it might not be relatable humor like Gaffigan's is, it's hilarious and unabashedly feminine regardless.
- "Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to be Special"
A musical duo made up of Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, this comedy group has a special talent: making music funny. Much like Bo Burnham and others, this group creates not only hilarious songs on various subjects, but finds ways to make them catchy and addicting. I'll be honest in saying that "Trying to be Special" didn't impress me, if only because it's older material being used, but if you're unfamiliar with the work of Garfunkel and Oates, this is the perfect place to start.
Become a Community Contributor.
