There are a lot of comedy specials on Netflix and I do my best to watch them all, as I have a voracious appetite for seeing professional comedians perform their craft.
Now, I don't normally do this but I feel compelled to share the one I watched last night with you. It's called Gad Elmaleh: American Dream and it's showing on Netflix right now.
This is the first special the Moroccan-born comedian has done in English, though apparently it's rehashed material from his 2016 French language Gad Gone Wild. It doesn't matter. He's gone ahead and created something wonderfully funny for us to enjoy without having to read subtitles.
His unique insight on everyday American culture and the quirks of our language really had me laughing. His observational humor is Seinfeld-esque (though distinctly his own) and, in fact, he's been described many times as "the Jerry Seinfeld of France."
Amazingly, Elmaleh's debut appearance on American television was just two years ago. He recounted on Seth Meyers' show the first time he met Seinfeld in person, on his then-home turf of Paris:
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The Kids in the Hall are Canada's greatest national export.
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Finnish comedian Ismo Leikola makes a compelling case that "ass" is the most complicated word in the English language. Read the rest
Comedian Jena Friedman killed it in her recent standup set on Conan. I somehow missed this a couple of weeks ago when it came out. Glad it landed in my feed today.
If you liked this, she's got a new special on Adult Swim called "Soft Focus with Jena Friedman" that's hilarious too. Her segment with Gilberto Valle (the "Cannibal Cop") is simultaneously subversive and awkward. Win-win! Read the rest
In this fascinating new video, Slate breaks down the basic formula for late-night talk show jokes, which writers fall back on when they need to churn out dozens of gags four nights a week.
[via The A.V. Club] Read the rest
Our Cartoon President takes jabs at Trump and his rag-tag band of misfits. Showtime released the premiere episode for free:
State of the Union. The President tries to revive his low approval ratings by delivering the greatest State of the Union speech in history and to strengthen his relationship with First Lady Melania by naming her the national bird.
• Our Cartoon President | Series Premiere (YouTube / Showtime) Read the rest
It's a Southern Thing created this funny video about a version of Alexa that not only understands Southern accents, but how Southern folk talk: " The future is here, y'all. And it's available in burlap and reclaimed barn wood."
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Looking incredibly hip and youthful in a bright blue hoodie, comedian Jim Gaffigan had way too much fun swiping right and trolling potential suitors through someone else's Tinder account. Watch in the video as he hijacks the Tinder of Blair, a brave female Vanity Fair staffer. It starts off a little slow but gets much funnier when the guys start responding to Gaffigan's oddball messages.
Gaffigan is starting a worldwide tour on February 8.
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Over the past couple of weeks, I ran two unusual episodes of the After On Podcast, both of them connected to … After On!
The novel, that is. The podcast began as a DVD-extras-like supplement to it -- eight episodes diving deep into science, tech, and sociological issues that I could only explore so much without completely derailing the book’s storyline (I’ll make no claims about partial derailments). I later decided to continue making the podcast because it’s too much fun to give up.
Most of my episodes are based upon in-depth interviews with world-class experts. But these last two are built around excerpts from the audiobook. This may sound like a lazy man’s response to the holidays (because of course it is). Still, I rank them among my finest episodes, as they feature magnificent performances from seven brilliant people -- some of whom will be familiar to a decent chunk of Boing Boing readers.
Both episodes are designed to be spoiler-free, and also perfectly standalone -- in that you don’t have to know anything about the novel to fully parse and enjoy them. You may want to start with the second episode, as it includes the most voices (six of the seven):
Although most of the novel is in a traditional narrative form, about a quarter of it is built from unusual media types. For instance, part of the story unfolds via 20 Amazon reviews. Part is told via excerpts from a mysterious second novel (a truly dreadful one. Read the rest
Sean Tejaratchi's amazing
Liartown, USA (
previously) is a bottomless well of astoundingly good photoshops from a parallel universe of bitter, ha-ha-only-serious sight gags, minutely detailed, lovingly crafted and often NSFW; Tejaratchi's new 248-page color, 8.5"x11" anthology,
LiarTown: The First Four Years 2013-2017 is a powerful dose of creepypasta in its purest form.
Every year, Jesse Thorn dedicates the final episode of his Bullseye podcast to a compendium of the year's best standup comedy albums (here's last year's); this year's installment is just out (MP3), and it's a must-listen tonic for difficult times.
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Hey Santa, 1983 called. Eddie Murphy wants his tight red leather suit back.
This Team Coco bit imagines Santa Claus telling off-color jokes for a stand-up comedy special on Netflix called, "Sack Up! Santa Live!" It's so wrong.
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Since Gordon Ramsay got 25 million views showing how to scramble eggs, there's been a sharp uptick in inane cooking videos. Enter The Onion with the perfect response. Read the rest
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I’ve watched a lot of British TV in my day, but never have I seen anything like Mrs. Brown’s Boys. I’ve about pissed me self laughin’! This award-winning situation comedy is about an Irish family and stars Brendan O’Carroll, a gent, cross-dressing as the rude and rowdy old lady Mrs. Agnes Brown. The show is noted for its unrelenting crude humor and is hugely popular in the United Kingdom. I’m not going to tell you anything else except to watch these clips (be prepared to laugh heartily, unless you’re a prude or burdened with good taste, in which case you should most definitely not watch them at all).
And the whole series is available on DVD at amazon. Read the rest
Matt Shirley (better known via Instagram as mattsurelee) tries to make a whiteboard chart every day, with oft-delightful results. Read the rest
Last night's Saturday Night Live once again took aim at Donald Trump, with Alec Baldwin reprising his eerily good Trump impression, while Kate McKinnon stole the show with her racist elf Jeff Sessions (Alex Moffat is also a body-double for Chuck Schumer, but regrettably wasn't very funny).
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