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The digital comedy boom keeps ballooning, just as improbably as Too Much TV, so just when you think 2016’s record-setting year of 80 new televised comedy specials seemed excessive, here came 2017 with 88 more.
What’s more, this year’s crop of stand-ups with new specials included just about every big name in comedy you could think of, although many of them didn’t produce the best nor funniest hours of jokes. Not that the famous comedians you know and love had lost their senses of humors; rather, this comedy boom has allowed more voices into our collective consciousness, and they sometimes have hungrier, fresher, hotter and just plain funnier takes in this crazy, mixed-up year.
Decider gave me 16 slots to reward comedians in 2016, with more love to spread around, so I drew distinctions at the top for those hours that put the special in comedy special.
At the end of a tumultuous 2017 — no matter whom you voted for — we all felt the need for funny. That’s without debate. Of course, what’s funny is highly debatable. While we may have individual preferences or tastes in music, film or art, our subconscious subjectively reveals our sense for what’s truly funny. Only comedy produces an immediate visceral response. For me, I still go back to my four essential questions to determine a comedy special’s importance and strength: 1) Does this need to be said? 2) Does this need to be said out loud? 3) Does this need to be said out loud right now? 4) Does this need to be said out loud right now by this comedian? For 2017, I focused, too, on how well that comedian spoke to this year.
So some comedy specials, while great, don’t make my top 10.
Hasan Minhaj put on the best one-man show in Homecoming King. Nick Kroll and John Mulaney performed the best staged play with Oh Hello! on Broadway. Amy Schumer paid it forward best by presenting Mark Normand: Don’t Be Yourself. Louis C.K. released his best, most cohesive stand-up special in years, although you can’t watch 2017 or him the same way again. Chris Gethard was our best sad clown who reminded us it’s not only OK to be sad, but that we don’t have to commit Career Suicide. Neal Brennan was a revelation on one of his 3 Mics. Brent Weinbach put out the best comedy hour you cannot see again until 2018 because Seeso folded up shop. And Beth Stelling delivered the funniest half-hour of the year.
Here are the best and funniest hours (plus) of 2017.
'Marc Maron: Too Real'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
In his early 50s, Marc Maron is happier, nimbler, and stronger as a comedian. Whether he’s talking about our political turmoil, or breaking down his experience at a Rolling Stones arena concert, complete with full Mick Jagger impersonation, Maron has you in the fold. “Some people think that comedy takes courage. I don’t know if that’s true,” he says. “I don’t even know if what I’m doing is comedy anymore, but I certainly don’t have a lot of fear.” That’s for certain. A fearless Maron is a great Maron.
'Jim Norton: Mouthful of Shame'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
In a year defined by our societal reckoning of sexual transgressions, how refreshing to look back on 2017 and find someone so refreshingly honest and vulnerable as Jim Norton. Yes, the same comedian you’re used to associating with radio shock jocks, also has made the best use of Netflix this year to reintroduce himself to the world. Norton has no problems telling you exactly what his sexual kinks are, without worrying what you may think about him, because a) he’s not a pervert, and b) he has nothing to hide. Refreshing, indeed.
'Jen Kirkman: Just Keep Livin''
RELEASED BY: Netflix
Onstage, Jen Kirkman speaks for women of Generation X who have the strength to defy conventional wisdom or societal pressures about living as a childless single woman in America. She hilariously mocks and exposes whatever gender norms we still have through multiple set-pieces, allowing us to laugh at rape, abortion, menstruation and cat-calling by turning the tables and putting men in their place.
'Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady'
RELEASED BY: HBO
When Michelle Wolf opened her stand-up comedy special’s taping in August by proclaiming: “What a time to be alive, huh?” she likely didn’t know how we’d be living in December, and definitely wouldn’t have predicted the #MeToo movement that’s provided a social reckoning for men abusing their powerful positions over women. So HBO couldn’t have picked a better time to debut Wolf’s first solo hour: Nice Lady. This is the moment audiences (particularly the men out there) are ready and willing to hear her message, and to hear it from her. Timing really is everything. If we gave out a Best New Artist award in comedy, Wolf would win it this year.
'Mike Birbiglia: Thank God For Jokes'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
“Jokes have been ruined by people who aren’t good at telling jokes. A joke should never end with ‘I’m joking.’ Or ‘Git-R-Done.’” Zing! Mike Birbiglia makes a passionate case for the defense of jokes and comedians telling them now, all while recounting the low points in his own stand-up career, by presenting evidence time and again that jokes have to mean something. Even if it’s an impersonation of Woody Allen as Jesus Bernie Sanders.
'Al Madrigal: Shrimpin' Ain't Easy'
RELEASED BY: Showtime
The character we’re least encouraged to root for in Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here put out the best comedic hour of anyone in the cast. No matter how many times I hear Al Madrigal’s 22-minute story that produces the title of his Showtime special, I laugh out loud. For someone who has seen more comedy than you have or probably ever will, that almost guaranteed laugh equals high praise.
'Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin' and 'Dave Chappelle: Equanimity'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
Dave Chappelle did what nobody ever could have expected, releasing not one, not two, not three but FOUR stand-up specials for Netflix in 2017. The first of these previously recorded hours had sat in a vault for a couple of years and felt stale because of it. But his second one, The Age of Spin, was a carefully constructed delight, as Chappelle spun tales around each of the times he has encountered O.J. Simpson, while also offering his measured takes on legends old (Bill Cosby) and new (Kevin Hart). Chappelle was the best as well as only thing worth watching the Def Comedy Jam 25 tribute for, and if this trailer is any indication, his two brand-new specials recorded this fall and out on New Year’s Eve may make me and everyone else want to rethink putting Chappelle down as low as No. 4.
(Read my full review of “The Age of Spin.”)
WATCH DAVE CHAPPELLE: THE AGE OF SPIN ON NETFLIX
WATCH DAVE CHAPPELLE: EQUANIMITY and DAVE CHAPPELLE: THE BIRD REVELATION ON NETFLIX 12/31/17
'Maria Bamford: Old Baby'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
Maria Bamford, a sheer surreal delight in her own series, Lady Dynamite, also proved that she can be funny anywhere, anytime, in any situation with Old Baby. Literally. That’s a daring conceit, and accomplishing the feat is a major testament to her charisma and her comedy skills. If she’s not more popular or widely known yet, that’s our fault; not hers.
'Ryan Hamilton: Happy Face'
RELEASED BY: Netflix
In this media-crazed era, when everyone has become both fan and critic, sharing and spreading both information and opinions around the world wide web, it’s rather astonishing and refreshing to see a stand-up comedian blossom fully-formed in his or her debut on the world’s electronic stage. Ryan Hamilton is the Idaho native who lives in New York City and can bridge the gap from red state to blue. He’s also the comedian you stumble upon at a comedy club for the first time, and come out afterward as a big fan waiting to see when and where you can check him out next. Jokes upon jokes upon jokes.
'Roy Wood Jr.: Father Figure'
RELEASED BY: Comedy Central
Roy Wood Jr. opens his first stand-up special delivering rules to his newborn son backstage. Number one: Treat women with respect. Onstage, Wood launches his hour with a defense of the Confederate flag, if only to identify the ugliest white Americans among us. And, hailing from Birmingham, Wood also gives us an eye into the New South and who knew hearing from an Alabama comedian would be so important in 2017! Wood also demonstrates why the Black Lives Matter movement would be better served learning from gay activists, reveals why black Americans insist on showing their receipts even outside of Twitter and Facebook, uses music to explain our longstanding racial tensions, and even has perhaps the freshest take on the movie Titanic now that you’re thinking about it 20 years later. Wood always has jokes and premises that play to everybody (here, it’s about fast-food joints charging for sauce), and yet also has produced the funniest and most woke comedy special of the year. Even though Comedy Central premiered it way back in February. Wood says on camera that Father Figure is a video time capsule for his son. Both father and son will be proud of this one for years to come.
