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☆ Netflix Gives Comedy the Live Treatment. The Results Are Chaotic.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Friday night, in the premiere of his appealingly chaotic livestreaming variety show “Everybody’s in L.A.,” which runs every night this week, John Mulaney delivered a monologue about his adopted city next to a map that broke it down into a crooked jigsaw puzzle of neighborhoods. It’s the biggest comedy showcase of the year (with more than 500 offerings, a 40 percent increase from the festival’s already mammoth debut event in 2022) but also something of a corporate flex. Who else could get Hannah Gadsby and Shane Gillis in the same festival or draw the talk-show titans Jon Stewart and David Letterman to host events? The most newsworthy shift this year was the aggressive move into livestreaming events, following the blockbuster success of Chris Rock’s 2023 special, “Selective Outrage,” about being slapped at the Oscars. (One of that ceremony’s hosts, Wanda Sykes, returned to the place it happened, the Dolby Theater, for a festival show and began by saying this time no one would get assaulted).

Persons: John Mulaney, Hannah Gadsby, Shane Gillis, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Chris Rock, Billy Crystal, “, Harry Met Sally, ”, Tracee Ellis Ross, Meg Ryan’s, Chris Rock’s, Wanda Sykes Organizations: Netflix, Dolby Locations: L.A, Los Angeles

☆ On This Saturday Night, Colin Jost’s Jokes Fell Flat
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

People in the media have long worried about the impact of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on journalism. Colin Jost’s set this year does not belong in that pantheon. With long pauses between jokes, eyes darting side to side, he occasionally took a drink of water and at least once acknowledged the lack of laughter in the room. His jokes leaned on wordplay more than a specific or novel perspective. “Some incredible news organizations here,” began one of his pricklier jokes, finished by: “Also, some credible ones.”

Persons: Trevor Noah, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Conan O’Brien, Wanda Sykes, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Larry Wilmore, Michelle Wolf, Colin Jost’s, Michael Che, ” Organizations: White, ’

☆ The O.J. Joke: How the Simpson Case Changed Comedy’s Boundaries
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Simpson not guilty of murder, the comedian Norm Macdonald opened Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live” at his desk next to a photo of the defendant. “Murder is legal in the state of California.”The 1995 trial of Simpson, who died Wednesday at 76, didn’t just dominate and revolutionize the media. The details of the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman were daily fodder for punchlines on talk shows, sitcoms and stand-up stages. In his 1996 breakthrough special, “Bring the Pain,” Chris Rock’s button-pushing analysis of the dynamics of the O.J. joke was so pervasive in the 1990s that not telling one could make you stand out.

Persons: O.J, Simpson, Norm Macdonald, ”, didn’t, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald L, Goldman, Macdonald, Chris Rock’s, “, Howard Stern, David Letterman ”, ” Letterman Locations: California

☆ Wanted: Writers for Awards Show Jokes. Must Be Skilled at Diplomacy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the middle of struggling through the opening monologue of the Golden Globes in January, the comic Jo Koy did something unusual, if not unprecedented, for the host of a major awards show: He blamed the writers. “I wrote some of these — and they’re the ones you’re laughing at,” he said of his jokes, prompting writers across the country to grind their teeth. Koy, who later apologized, endured some light mockery a week after the show, when his ex-girlfriend Chelsea Handler followed up a successful joke in her monologue at the Critics Choice Awards by saying, “Thank you for laughing at that. My writers wrote it.”If something positive came from this episode, it’s that a spotlight was put on a corner of the showbiz work force that tends to remain in the shadows: the joke writers for awards shows like the Oscars on Sunday.

Persons: Jo Koy, “, ”, Chelsea Handler Organizations: Golden Globes

☆ With Richard Lewis, Kvetching Was Charismatic
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There were broadcasters (Howard Cosell) and the occasional talk show host (Joan Rivers), but no Jews leading a cast on prime time. Then in the final year of the decade, that changed, and a glut of anxious men arrived, kvetching, quipping and dating shiksas. For those who know him as the cranky friend of Larry David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” it may be a surprise that Richard Lewis, who died at 76 this week, cut a seductive figure: clever, cool, darkly morose. (Second place: “Family Ties.”) But Lewis brought a nervy energy that pushed against the saccharine instincts of network sitcoms. He once told David Letterman, “The woman I’m with now insisted on having intercourse only with a raven on her shoulder.”

Persons: Howard Cosell, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Jerry Seinfeld, Rob Morrow, Richard Lewis, ”, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Myers, Lewis bellyached, Larry David, Seinfeld, Lewis, David Letterman, “ Locations: Alaska, Chicago

☆ Beefs Are All the Rage in Comedy. As Mike Epps Knows, They’re Nothing New.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mike Epps may be the only stand-up comic alive who’s upset that Katt Williams didn’t insult him. In a now notorious, wildly viral three-hour interview with Shannon Sharpe (59 million views and counting) last month, the comic Katt Williams fired salvos at a festival’s worth of comics including Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer. Epps, unmentioned by Williams, said he was jealous. Hailing from Indianapolis, Epps is quick to tell you that he dropped out of high school and spent time in jail. “When I be doing coke,” he says, then slightly stammers and starts again: “When I used to do coke.” Then his eyebrows dance.

Persons: Mike Epps, Katt Williams, Shannon Sharpe, salvos, Kevin Hart, Steve Harvey, Cedric, Epps, unmentioned, Williams, ”, “ Organizations: Netflix Locations: Arizona, ”, Indianapolis

☆ How Taylor Tomlinson Nailed Her Closing Joke
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

How Taylor Tomlinson Nailed Her Closing JokeWatch the comic as she workshops the final punchlines for her new Netflix special.

Persons: Taylor Tomlinson Organizations: Netflix

☆ ‘Izzard Hamlet New York’ Review: A Solo Show That’s More Noble Than Wise
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Or at least one you may consider early in Eddie Izzard’s “Hamlet,” in which the comic portrays all the roles herself. Strangelove.” And solo sword fights have possibilities that a brilliant comedian like Izzard might exploit. A wildly witty ad-libber, Izzard can make two-hour monologues feel like a stream-of-conscious eruption. If you don’t know “Hamlet,” there is no chance you are going to follow the play within a play. If you do, you might wonder why Izzard doesn’t spend more time playing the characters watching, not talking.

Persons: Eddie Izzard’s “, Peter, Dr, Strangelove, ”, Izzard, Selina Cadell, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Tom Piper Locations: ”

☆ The Tyranny of Hotness
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Lauren Jackson | More About Lauren Jackson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A beautiful person is so often a confrontation. Why would an attractive person toil for a reaction if they don’t have to? Stand-up stages are crawling with beautiful men. Jimmy Fallon smiles boyishly on late night. One annoyed late night writer complained to his peers: “You’ve let the popular kids appropriate the very art form that helped you deal.”

Persons: Jason Zinoman, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, boyishly, Trevor Noah, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Newhart, Jim Gaffigan —, “ You’ve, ” Organizations: charmers

☆ Chiseled Cheekbones and Comic Chops: Why We Don’t Like Our Stand-Ups Hunky
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Comedy has been the rare field where square jaws and chiseled features can count against you. Bob Odenkirk once said that it was impossible for men to be funny and sexy. Attractiveness has entered the maw of the culture war because the stigma against beautiful men has been fading. But you now see handsome men everywhere, even at small Brooklyn shows like the one where a comic introduced the endearingly cute Lucas O’Neil by citing not his credits but his cheekbones. Kumail Nanjiani most famously, but Chris Rock showing off his abs in The Hollywood Reporter took me more by surprise.

Persons: Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, Anthony Jeselnik, Pete Davidson, “, Jimmy Fallon, Lucas, Trevor Noah, Colin Jost —, “ You’ve, Nanjiani, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld Organizations: Twitter, ”, Hollywood, Daily Beast Locations: Brooklyn

☆ 4 Shows to Catch at the New York Comedy Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An absolute legend of stand-up, Margaret Cho is a touchstone for many performers. They have worked on both coasts and accumulated many television credits, but they will operate out of a leading house of improvisation. Alex EnglishNov. 12, Chelsea Music HallA seasoned sketch television writer, Alex English is a reliable killer in stand-up sets. His new show, “Alex English Prays the Gay Away,” finds him at longer form, and there should be a bounty of hard-hitting punchlines. For more details on the shows, go to nycomedyfestival.com.

Persons: Margaret Cho, ”, Tami Sagher, Chris Gethard, Alex English, “ Alex English Organizations: UCB, Chelsea Music Hall Locations: nycomedyfestival.com

☆ With a Chuckle and a Cool-Girl Smirk, Beth Stelling Moves Up a Comic Class
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The stand-up Beth Stelling reminds me so much of my best friend from high school. Stelling belongs to a different tradition: Her comedy emerges from an onstage character as rich and resonant as a great movie protagonist. Even if you don’t know someone like Stelling, her fully realized performance makes you feel as if you do. She once again uses him as a comic target, telling scathingly deadpan stories about his eccentricities, centering one bit on his raccoon collection. But watching her roast him you can’t help but think that some of his performance chops rubbed off on her.

Persons: Beth Stelling, Stelling, “, Beavis, ”, Max, didn’t Organizations: Netflix Locations: Orlando , Florida

Horror, Hysteria and a SpinningHeadReconsidering‘The Exorcist’ at 50Essays by Jason Zinoman , Manohla Dargis and Erik PiepenburgCould a movie about a girl possessed by the devil really have caused audience members to faint and lose their lunch at theaters? The vehement reaction to “The Exorcist” when it premiered in late 1973 helped create a special place for it in pop culture, as evidenced by the media frenzy at the time. We asked three of our critics for new perspectives on the film: what it accomplished then and what it represents to us now.

Persons: Jason Zinoman, Manohla Dargis, Erik Piepenburg

☆ Lying in Comedy Isn’t Always Wrong, but Hasan Minhaj Crossed a Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

All artists teach their audience how to view them, by the way they tell jokes, their style, the level of absurdity. What makes Hasan Minhaj such a troubling example is that his style, onstage and often off in interviews, suggested we should believe him. Lying in comedy isn’t necessarily wrong. The problem with only considering the standard of emotional truth is that it can blind you to the impact on the actual world outside your emotions. You could say that the emotional truth behind the Patriot Act was that the terrorism of Sept. 11 required extreme tactics to feel safe, but that doesn’t make the legislation right.

Persons: Taylor Tomlinson, Kate Berlant, Hasan, Minhaj, didn’t, ”, It’s Organizations: Patriot

☆ How Shane Gillis Both Plays to and Mocks Red Staters
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It’s no accident that two prime-time hosts on Fox (Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld) cut their teeth doing comedy, of sorts. Part of the reason Gillis is such a phenomenon is clearly political. (The title of the special is a Trump quote.) The Spectator called his success a major turning point in the resurgence of comedy. He compares the pull of it to that of a person turning into a werewolf.

Persons: Trump, It’s, Jesse Watters, Greg Gutfeld, Gillis, MAGA, Jackie Robinson, ”, “, “ I’m Organizations: Fox, Spectator, Trump, Fox News, Republican

☆ 5 Stand-Up Specials to Stream for the Labor Day Weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Todd Barry, ‘Domestic Shorthair’Stream it on YouTubeTodd Barry speaks fluent sarcasm. Ever since David Letterman retired from late night, sarcasm has no better champion. Barry starts waving its flag as soon as the applause settles down on his very funny new special. And some of his most unexpected laughs are in his own mixing up of mountains and molehills. “My printer broke recently,” he said, gently shifting gears to a parody of concern.

Persons: Todd Barry, YouTube Todd Barry, David Letterman, Barry, ”, he’s, ” Tracy Morgan, ‘, Max Organizations: YouTube

☆ Opinion | Artists Have Little to Fear From A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Farhad Manjoo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I’ve got 99 problems with A.I., but intellectual property ain’t one. Media and entertainment industries have lately been consumed with questions about how content generated by artificial intelligence systems should be considered under intellectual property law. And major news companies — including The Times — are weighing steps to guard the intellectual property that flows from their journalism. tools, the more I suspect that many of the intellectual property questions they prompt will ultimately prove less significant than we sometimes assume. Indeed, I’d bet that artists and creative industries will ultimately find A.I.

Persons: I’ve, I’d, Jason Zinoman, ” Organizations: Media, Hollywood, Times, A.I

☆ In Pee-wee Herman, Joy and Fun Got Flat-Out Weird
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of all the great flesh-and-blood cartoons of 1980s popular culture — Hulk Hogan, Madonna, Mr. T — the one easiest for small children to relate to was Pee-wee Herman. In reality, Pee-wee Herman was nothing like us at all, a dreamy man-child in a red bow tie whose sugary smile could curl into a punky scowl. A singular piece of comic performance art for a mass audience, Pee-wee Herman stood out in every form he appeared in, from improv theaters to late-night talk shows to the movies to Saturday morning television. His appearances on that most ironic of late-night shows were like invasions from Candy Land. You laughed not because the jokes were funny, but because they were told with such commitment to the fun of it all.

Persons: Hulk Hogan, Madonna, Herman, wee Herman, Paul Reubens, David Letterman, ”, Brother Theodore, Harvey Pekar, Andy Kaufman Locations: Candy

☆ Jim Gaffigan’s Quintessentially American Comedy Gets Darker and Better
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

This set the course for a career of food jokes, with so many of them about how the cheap pleasures of eating fast food overpower our knowledge that it’s bad for us. His new special starts with a moody nighttime landscape that pans back to reveal itself as being inside a picture frame. What he doesn’t do is organize them into a thematic, coherent hour, as if he’s making a grand statement. Gaffigan’s old-school act is allergic to anything that might seem pretentious, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t challenge himself. His new work reveals his move into more storytelling, elaborate act-outs and jokes built on deceptions (“My parents aren’t vaccinated.

Persons: Gaffigan, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, “, Jesus, They’ve, He’s, Trump, ” Organizations: Trump

☆ ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ Review: The Ghost of Jump Scares Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Jason Zinoman | More About Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Insidious,” whose fifth installment opened Friday, is a second-tier horror franchise — it’s not even the best James Wan franchise starring Patrick Wilson, which would be “The Conjuring” — with a few elite jump scares, including one of the best in the genre. In the original in 2010, Lorraine Lambert (Barbara Hershey) is telling her son, Josh (Wilson), about a horrible dream when a red-faced demon suddenly appears behind his head. It’s a magnificent shock because of the askew blocking, the patient misdirection of the editing and Hershey’s committed performance. In “Insidious: The Red Door,” a grim, workmanlike effort that collapses into woo-woo nonsense, Wilson makes his directorial debut, and demonstrates he grasps the importance of that jump scare, which is sketched in charcoal on paper next to his name in the opening credits. This prickly relationship is at the center of the movie, as dad drives his son to college.

Persons: it’s, James Wan, Patrick Wilson, Lorraine Lambert, Barbara Hershey, Josh, Wilson, askew, Hershey’s, Lorraine, Wilson doesn’t, Dalton, Ty Simpkins

☆ John Early Brings a Deliriously Over-the-Top Sensibility to Stand-Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The key to his persona, I think, can be found in the joke he tells about the always-be-selling vanity of his generation, presenting himself as its avatar. “I don’t know how to do my taxes, but I do know how to be a badass.” Then he clarifies, “A shell of a badass.”That’s the role Early plays here. “If we’re honest,” he says, “Donald Trump is not a sensual person.” It’s the way he says “If we’re honest” that cracks me up. The grainy film stock and chunky red font of this special remind me of a Tarantino movie. In one revealing nostalgic riff, Early yearns for the days of Bob Fosse, when louche choreographers were on talk shows and dance could be “kinky and mysterious.”

Persons: ”, “, Trump, “ Donald Trump, Apple, There’s, Bob Fosse

☆ Is Originality Even a Worthy Ambition Anymore?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The amount of derivative work makes you wonder if the demand for the new is in decline. Ever since Penn and Teller burst on the scene, every magician seemed to be deconstructing illusions while doing them. But this peek behind the curtain is something new, while, as its title suggests, not being original at all. We only hear Hnath, on a recording played by Cuiffo, the sole one onstage. Hnath asks Cuiffo to show him a trick, and after he does, multiple times, artistic tension between collaborators emerges.

Persons: TikTok virality, Teller, Steve Cuiffo, Lucas Hnath, Hnath, Cuiffo Organizations: Penn, Cuiffo

☆ Review: A Jew and 16 ‘Nerf Nazis’ Meet Cute in ‘Just for Us’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Jesse Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It may be too much to ask a human hummingbird like Alex Edelman to try to stick to the subject. In “Just for Us,” his three-jokes-per-minute one-man show, he zooms from punchline to punchline almost as fast as he caroms around the stage of the Hudson Theater. (At 34, he’s part of what he calls the overmedicated ADHD generation.) And even though he’s telling a story about white supremacy, you are. Growing up a “proudly and emphatically” Orthodox Jew in “this really racist part of Boston called Boston,” he clocked the wariness between races but also within them.

Persons: Alex Edelman, ”, Ibsen, —, it’s, Edelman, Jason Zinoman, Jackie Mason, he’d Organizations: Hudson Theater, Broadway, Twitter Locations: London, Edinburgh, Washington, Boston, Queens

☆ A Comic With Many Questions About Jews and Whiteness
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

(He has had long-term romantic relationships with the female comics Katherine Ryan and more recently, Hannah Einbinder, though they broke up a month ago.) They talked comedy and Brace later asked him if he could give him notes. Brace was especially alert to the dramaturgy of a show, insisting on cutting jokes that worked if they weren’t worth the lost momentum. If Edelman riffed too much, Brace told him: You’re on the jazz tonight. The previous month, when in Boston, he knocked on the door of the 94-year-old comedy legend Tom Lehrer, whom he did not know, just to talk.

Persons: Edelman, Katherine Ryan, Hannah Einbinder, “, Josie Long, it’s, Brace, Phoebe Waller, Billy Crystal, Eric Bogosian, Susan Stroman, Robin Wagner, Edelman deadpanned, ”, Tom Lehrer, ” Edelman Organizations: New York Public Library, Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Locations: Boston, London, British

☆ A ‘Crown Jewel of Comedy’: The Joan Rivers Card Catalog of Jokes Finds a Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jason Zinoman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Joan Rivers died in 2014, ending one of the greatest careers in modern comedy, several groups were interested in acquiring her archives, which included a meticulously organized collection of 65,000 typewritten jokes. Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, recalled a conversation with a representative from the Smithsonian Institution who wanted the catalog of jokes but said it would not be on permanent display. Her mind instantly went to the final tracking shot of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in which the golden Ark of the Covenant is locked inside a crate and placed in a vast warehouse with hundreds of other crates. “I couldn’t do that because so much of who she was is in those files,” Melissa Rivers told me on a video call from Los Angeles. The fact that the jokes will be accessible is only one of the reasons for Melissa Rivers’s decision.

Persons: Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Rivers, George Carlin, Carl Reiner, Melissa Rivers’s Organizations: Smithsonian Institution, “ Raiders, National Comedy Center Locations: Los Angeles, Jamestown, N.Y

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