‘D.L. Hughley: Contrarian’ on Netflix Is Filled With Appeal For Nostalgic Generations

Maybe it’s my age talking, but D.L. Hughley doesn’t sound much like a Contrarian in his first Netflix comedy special.

Unless by contrarian, you mean someone who thinks Michael Sam is a topical reference for stand-up comedy in 2018.

In which case, let me borrow Ivanka Trump’s dictionary.

Zings! So many zings!

Speaking of which, Hughley, an OG “King of Comedy” and Peabody Award winner for his 2012 Comedy Central special, The Endangered List, packs a lot of jokes into the first half-hour of Contrarian.

Not all of them work. Not all of them should. His take on #MeToo is particularly naive, deciding to abdicate responsibility by joking: “You gotta be careful. You can’t just say anything.” As if you could before? “If I worked in corporate America, I wouldn’t speak at all.” It’s funny unless you actually stop to think about it for more than a second. Same goes for his mockery of self-identification, as he jokingly claims “I’m a white man trapped in a n—er’s body…my name is Chad,” only that won’t help him during a police stop.

Thankfully for Hughley, he keeps the premises and jokes coming fast enough for you not to dwell too much on the not-so-hot takes on mediocre airlines, Mexicans building the border wall, or #MeToo, as he wonders how the movement can jail the biggest black celebrity “in the big house” Bill Cosby, while the biggest white celebrity gets into the White House. He questions Trump’s judgment for having unprotected sex with a porn star, while questioning the judgment of his voters for choosing Trump over their own self-interest.

His live shows are usually much stronger than this first 30 minutes of Contrarian, because on the road in clubs and theaters, he really can stop to take on the headlines of the day. For Netflix, some of his off-the-cuff observations show signs of age.

Hughley’s social commentary takes on greater satirical significance when he turns his attention squarely back on race.

He has always had things both humorous and insightful to say about race relations, from his ABC sitcom The Hughleys through The Original Kings of Comedy concert film, a weekly CNN series, and his syndicated radio program. That Peabody Award was no fluke.

So listen up when Hughley presents his observations on just why black people might be responsible numerically for more crimes against black people, why parents have to teach their children not to respect the police but to fear them, the power of the word “n—er,” and why football players are perhaps best-suited to tackle protests against police brutality and injustice.

Hughley also is a husband and father of three grown children. At 55, he’s also at the upper ages for Generation X, so he views parental discipline from a different, contrary perspective to today’s conventional wisdom on how to properly raise your kids. His audience laughs along nostalgically, nodding at mothers who might hit them with switches and would never lose their kids in a grocery store or a shopping mall.

Hughley acts the part of loyal devoted husband, so long as his wife never gets her hands on his cell phone.

And he’s left wondering how his success paid for his wife and children to all go to college and enjoy care-free lives. “I got a GED but I’m the only one working,” he jokes. As long as he has someone to keep refilling his wine glass, he’ll keep those jokes coming.

Now if I can just get a tarot card expert to explain the significance of the five of hearts stuck in Hughley’s fedora.

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 D.L. Hughley: Contrarian on Netflix