‘The Comedy Lineup’ On Netflix: Not The Usual Suspects

Taylor Tomlinson performed on The Tonight Show the other night.

A generation ago, such a gig was the be-all, end-all. Now? Not so much. Sorry, Jimmy.

It’s not Fallon’s fault, btw. In 1978, Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show represented a comedian’s only opportunity to become an overnight success. In 2018, you can watch stand-up comedy on your phone and you’re bombarded with “comedy” on TV, streaming platforms and social media. Nowadays, though, the one place where comedians truly want to be seen is Netflix. And it doesn’t matter how many minutes the streaming giant gives them, either.
Take Tomlinson, for example. If you saw her five minutes on Fallon this month, then you’ve already seen a third of her contribution to Netflix’s latest, greatest addition to this comedy boom: A series of 15-minute stand-up performances called The Comedy Lineup.

In form and format, The Comedy Lineup provides stand-ups with sets three times as long as typical late-night spot on TV. That may not seem like much to you as a fan or as an aspiring comedian. But consider the two comedy clubs where every stand-up hopes to become a paid regular — The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, and The Comedy Cellar in New York City’s West Village. Their nightly showcases offer 15-minute slots.
So unlike most comedy clubs across America, where you’ll pay to see a headliner, an opening act and a host for your two-drink minimum and cover charge, here you’ll see eight different comedians, all of them great in their own ways, with perhaps a surprise or two and a guarantee that you’ll go home laughing. In this sense, The Comedy Lineup provides Netflix viewers with their own “night out” at the best comedy club while staying in.

Filmed in Atlanta, The Comedy Lineup: Part 1 features Michelle Buteau, Phil Wang, Taylor Tomlinson, Ian Karmel, Jak Knight, Sam Jay, Sabrina Jalees and Tim Dillon.
Befitting a showcase spotlighting new faces in comedy, most of these stand-ups previously benefited from selections as “New Faces of Comedy” at Montreal’s prestigious Just For Laughs festival (where Netflix comedy director Robbie Praw worked until 2016): Karmel in 2013; Knight, 2015; Dillon, 2016; Jay and Tomlinson, 2017.

So kicking off the series with 40-year-old Buteau is an inspired choice.

Precisely because Buteau can offer what the others cannot: Life perspective not a new kid on the comedy block. You’ve likely recognized her from multiple appearances in recent years on VH1, MTV and elsewhere around the cable TV dial. She’s at a point in her career where she can make light both of her own opportunities as reflected in the parts she auditions for now, as well as the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements around her.

“It’s been a very interesting year for me, because a lot of my guy friends have just come out…as predators,” she jokes as the audience titters. “Yeah, like I always knew. But it was really like, their journey to figure it out.”

Talk about life transitions: Karmel used to work a day job in Portland, Ore., providing customer service for Netflix. Now he’s a potential star on the service. For him, the mustache looks funny enough for the effort he put into it, even if he jokes it ruined his life offstage in the meantime. This format gives you just enough time to wonder why you haven’t seen more of him onscreen. Truth is, Karmel spends most of his time behind the scenes writing for James Corden’s Late Late Show. Although he did grab a speaking part in Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, too. As Karmel argues while introducing his closing bit: “Weird can be more memorable than good.” Hopefully you’ll see a lot more of his good weirdness.

Tomlinson delivers a strong first impression. You probably don’t remember her from FOX’s weekend late-night series, Laughs, nor from Last Comic Standing. But you will remember Tomlinson. Probably because she’s already developed a strong distaste for women her own age, and ready with references old enough for everyone outside her age to get.

Jay explores the same premise as Tomlinson at one point – using her keys like a talon in her hand for self-defense – although Jay would rather sucker a potential rapist into biting off his manhood instead. That’s Jay in a nutshell. “I don’t even know if this the type of gay I am, but I know it keeps my rape numbers way down,” she jokes. Jay presents a riveting presence, no matter her wardrobe choices.

Wang, on the other hand, knows that his accent and mixed background (Malaysian father, English mother) confuses audiences, and he uses that to his advantage. What kind of act he has after establishing his uniqueness is anyone’s guess, though. That’s the brilliance and drawback of this format. Sometimes leaving you asking for more. Sometimes making you wonder what more there is.

Jalees may check off most of your diversity boxes – Canadian, Pakistani, lesbian, mother – but in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, she chooses to deliver the strongest response to comedians such as Louis CK who got turned out by #MeToo. Jalees has rendered her own verdict for men like him who expose themselves to unsuspecting women, and it’s graphic. But then again, as she adds: “F— it, justice is messy.”

Knight’s opening almost directly responds to Jalees and Jay, explaining he had no idea what other men were up to – although he also openly wonders why lesbians would be the ones to talk to straight guys about it. “You got the cheat codes!” But he not only understands the movement that’s afoot, but also why sexuality is so difficult and why black men of different generations don’t get along either. And he even stops to spend a few minutes of crowd work with a couple in the front row. If you want more of Knight, he just released his first full comedy special over the weekend on Comedy Central.

Did they save the best for last, or is Dillon merely too tough of an act for anyone to follow? A bit of both, it turns out. Dillon is aggressively funny in the best New York City comedy kind of way. But it’s based in his own life experiences, as a former tour bus guide and a former drug addict. Which just makes it even funnier to watch him passionately opine about reality TV shows.

So yes, this first lineup could have been your Saturday night out in New York City or Los Angeles. Hopefully, for live comedy’s sake, this will make you want to go out to your own local comedy club some weekend soon.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch The Comedy Lineup on Netflix