You don’t trust Buby’s opinion?

That was also my favorite joke / biggest laugh from the set. Lolololololol!

I mean, I wouldn't either.

Spoiler: show

Watched Chappelle and Gervais back to back over the past two nights.

Chappelle. He’s got what the kids call rizz. I will always tune in for him, but his sets are increasingly becoming Ted Talks. This set wasn’t funny at all no matter how many times he slapped the mic on his thigh or said, “This nigga.” The trans stuff is starting to make me sad in the way James Cameron continuing to do Avatar movies makes me sad. So much talent, and this is what you’re going to do with it for a decade?

Gervais. He’s never been an elite standup. He’s great at the little acting bits where he’s playing multiple characters and having conversations in jokes. This set is much funnier than Chappelle’s because Ricky remembers that people are paying to laugh. That said, I saw this exact set in Montreal in August. He mentioned multiples times to “leave it with me” about jokes that weren’t completely fleshed out. To see zero change 4 months later is disappointing. He’s resting on his laurels too much. Like Chappelle, he’s not covering new ground. He’s pandering to his biggest supporters.

2023 was won my two comedians.
Bargatze reached God tier status, selling out arenas and providing an instant classic sketch (George Washington) on SNL. He’s very close to oversaturating the market with himself. That said, it’s a real thrill to see someone I was a fan of and had seen in clubs break through like this. He joins Louis for me in that regard, and he did it much quicker.

Shane Gillis’ Beautiful Dogs was the best hour of the year I saw by a mile. He’s put out 2 incredible hours in his young career. I’m dying to see him live. His third hour is going to be tricky. So many callbacks in hour 2 to hour 1. Will he be able to do an hour without Down syndrome and Trump stuff? I can hardly wait to see.

And fuck, I miss Norm.

I agree with your criticisms of Chapelle and Gervais and generally with your appreciation for Bargatze and Gillis.

Are you into Birbiglia at all? He’s the best one going right now, IMO. Seeing him tomorrow night!

Don’t know him. Where can I see him? I’m always up for good stand up.

All his recent ones are on Netflix. His newest “The Old Man and the Pool” is great, but “The New One” is probably his crowning achievement.

Birbiglia is unbelievable. Just start from the beginning with My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and go in order.

afcaacoc

But what do I know, Ricky won the first ever Golden Globe for stand up.

Birbiglia last night was amazing. Tiny room in Big Sky, just 300 people (4th row!). He was on stage for almost two hours.

Fairly different from his specials in that there was no narrative through line, once he got through the initial 20 minutes of material that was centered on the differences in parenting today vs when he was a kid. As he said at the top, he’s at the beginning stages of building a new special and is trying all sorts of stuff out. Would talk for 20 minutes then refer to some note cards before pivoting to 20 minutes on something totally different; would say stuff like “I haven’t figured out how to connect those two pieces yet.” He was also considerably louder and more animated than his specials, with really none of the quiet contemplative stuff that has become his hallmark.

He did five minutes on marital dishwasher battles that crushed. He also had a bit about pedophelia that wasn’t quite Louis CK dark, but fairly dark for Birbiglia. “I don’t get the attraction, follow my train of thought here…Who wants to spend any unnecessary time with an 8-year old?”

Other topics included keeping score with his wife, trampoline injuries, his kid sucks at ballet, pancakes, the injury that led to his sleepwalking diagnosis, and potentially welcoming a third person into his marriage so somebody knew how to deal with the household appliance maintenance.

None of that probably sounds amazing in print, but it was so awesome to see him in a totally loose and playful mode. Might be the best set I’ve seen in person, and I’ve seen Cosby, CK, Oswalt, Maron, Papa, Gethardt, Notaro, Brennan, Che, Patrice, Quinn, Jeff Ross…

Tell me about your Cosby experience. I’m not baiting you. Genuinely interested.

When I saw Cosby, it was absolutely incredible. He had nothing really prepared and made everything right there on the spot. Until the very end when he did his Dentists bit. 1 1/2 hours of ad libbing. He noticed a lady had an empty seat beside her so went out into the crowd and started talking to her and had her call the person who didn’t get to attend with her. They were a doctor that was on call and he’d been called in to work. The whole show was like that.

Afterwards I was in the restroom and overheard two guys that had apparently been to our show and the one previous saying they were amazed that he did two shows back-to-back and never repeated anything.

This sums it up. I saw it yesterday and booooooooooooooring. It's a ted talk.

That’s awesome wease. Total opposite of the show i saw in ‘99 or maybe 2000: Very rehearsed, but very casual. He was seated most of the time. It was his typical family oriented stuff. Entirely clean and it killed, but very controlled.

Watched Chapelle's new one. Wasn't his best but I still laugh at his delivery alone. The part about him and his wife unlocking each other's phones was very funny.

Yeah, I get the TED Talk vs Stand-up comments... I do.
His pacing and topics can definitely swing his set towards a more conversational, anecdotal, or even preachy tone.
He still makes me laugh though, like a lot.

Can't believe Trag got to see Patrice. What a flex.

I saw him at comedy club in NY circa 2001-2003. Had no idea who he was. Thought he was incredible. Just kept going and going, all crowd work. I didn't know till many years later who he was.