Review: Tom Papa, “You’re Doing Great!” on Netflix

Tom Papa and Fortune Feimster co-host a radio show for Netflix’s SiriusXM radio channel, so not long after Feimster’s Netflix special aired, here came Papa in February. Telling us we’re doing great in February is one thing. Reminding …

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Review: Maria Bamford, “Weakness is the Brand” on Comedy Dynamics

Maria Bamford’s new special for 2020 came out everywhere for rental or purchase. As I wrote back in January: Over the end credits, Bamford interviews her parents about their “caring and sharing” routine — apparently she had more interviews with o…

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Review: Vir Das, “For India” on Netflix

Vir Das almost broke through in a broadcast primetime sitcom in America this year, starring in a backdoor pilot spinoff episode of Fresh Off The Boat on ABC. ABC executives said this year they weren’t ready to move forward with his spinoff, but i…

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Review: Fortune Feimster, “Sweet & Salty” on Netflix

What I wrote when Fortune Feimster’s Netflix special dropped in January: The hour is full of memorable anecdotes, as she recounts her slow evolution from tomboy to out lesbian, and how she skipped the closeted part by not understanding her sexual…

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Review: Russell Peters, “Deported” on Amazon Prime Video

Back when he made an original docuseries for Netflix in 2013, Russell Peters Vs. The World, Peters talked in one of the episodes about how he believed happier comedians made for bad comedy. “What the hell are we so happy about? We’re not here to s…

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Review: Rob Delaney, “Jackie” on Amazon Prime Video

Rob Delaney provided an early example of how comedians could become big stars thanks solely to Twitter. But it wasn’t until Delaney left America for Britain that he found success on the telly, thanks to Catastrophe. That brilliant comedy starring…

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Review: Leslie Jones, “Time Machine” on Netflix

Leslie Jones debuted her first Netflix comedy special this January, fresh off a five-year run on Saturday Night Live. And Jones let us know that the spirit of the late Sam Kinison lives on through her, engaging audience members at full volume, and remi…

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Review: Jayde Adams, “Serious Black Jumper” on Amazon Prime Video

Jayde Adams began her career in drag bars in Britain with an uncanny Adele impersonation. Her comedy career has gone big across the pond since her Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2016, and now she joins a group of Brits with specials on Amazon Prime. As I wr…

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Review: Ronny Chieng, “Asian Comedian Destroys America!” on Netflix

Ronny Chieng’s Netflix special gets better with age. Take this already great bit about Amazon Prime and how it encapsulates America, and remember, he wrote and performed this pre-pandemic. As I wrote back in December: Chieng delivers a brilliant …

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Review: Michelle Wolf, “Joke Show” on Netflix

“It seems like, over the past couple of years, we’ve developed this amazing ability to get mad at anyone for any reason.” That’s how Michelle Wolf opens her HBO special. Wolf would know. Last the nation saw her all at once, she was tearing up the…

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