Stream or skip?

In his third Netflix comedy special, Anthony Jeselnik looks back on his two-decade stand-up career to remind us that he’s long reigned as the dark prince of “gallows humor,” mixing it up a bit when it comes to about his coworkers complaining This “cancel culture” somehow affects their ability to tell jokes. To borrow from one of them: Is Jeselnik right, or is he right?

The essentials: Jeselnik initially entered the mainstream thanks to his appearances on Comedy Central roasts of Donald Trump, Charlie Sheen and Roseanne. Jeselnik was a natural thanks to his role on stage as a teller of dark, offensive jokes.

Even if you haven’t seen his previous Netflix specials (Thoughts and prayers; Fire in the maternity ward), you may have seen him hosting a season of NBC Last comic standor in one of his previous Comedy Central series, The Jeselnik Offensiveor Good conversation (where he gently annoyed his friends and fellow comedians in one-on-one conversations).

So you probably think you know what to expect, right? Well, yes and no. This performance, honed over the course of an 18-month tour, shows Jeselnik doing what he does best while offering a glimpse back into his professional career.

What comedy specials will it remind you of?: Netflix comedy fans may see some similarities between Jeselnik and Adrienne Iapalucci’s debut hour earlier this month. But stylistically they are fundamentally different, as Jeselnik’s jokes are based on fictional relatives and relationships that make you realize they don’t correspond to his sincere beliefs, while Iapalucci’s dark perspective feels more personal to them.

It’s also fitting and funny that Jeselnik appears as a guest on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast this week, as both of these comedians have used their platforms to speak out more than most against their hypocritically superficial, transgressive stand-up colleagues.

Speaking of which, whether by accident or design, Jeselnik’s new special was filmed at the same Pabst Theater in Milwaukee as ventriloquist Jeff Dunham’s new Christmas special, now available on Prime Video.

Memorable Jokes: Staying true to his character, Jeselnik explains how an audience member told him at the start of the tour that his final routine was “problematic” and hoped he would change it. He did, making it his opening move. Why? “Make it clear that I am the best.”

What is this part? He brags that it’s a trans joke and jokes that current comedy trends make it his “responsibility to appear in front of a group of strangers and tell you my opinion about the trans community “, adding: “Look, guys, you have to do this. Do it now. It’s in the manual.” But like all of Jeselnik’s jokes, there’s a twist when he plunges his punchline dagger into another target.

It’s perhaps a better opener than his previous installment, which, according to Jeselnik, was so good but also so terrible that “I humiliated Kanye West.”

A barrage of gags about pregnant women and children follow, to the point where even he stops after 18 minutes to comment on the run. “This is the point at which audiences traditionally start complaining,” he explains. “They’ll say: Anthony, why are you making so many jokes about child abuse? And why do you do them all at the beginning?”

Later, he brags that his new degree is “trans-safe,” and in between tells his favorite joke of all time (which previously appeared on his debut album) and takes a dig at the comedians and comedy fans who made Joe Rogan’s podcast is so popular. He jokes to them: “Joe is my friend. He’s a good guy. But if you listen to his podcast, you’re a loser.”

Our opinion: So why listen to Jeselnik?

Even though his stage persona is all about making him a bad guy, someone you’ll boo but also kind of make you laugh at the same time, he’s not actually evil. It’s more that he sometimes sees life as so dark and terrible that you have to laugh at it so you don’t let reality destroy you. “Gallows humor is my thing,” he says.

Part of what makes this special is the fact that from this moment on, Jeselnik finally begins to pull back the curtain to reveal a little of his magic, and that he has candid stories from his 20 years in the business told.

He thinks about what his life was like before fame and fortune, when he still had roommates and a soulless office job. He reveals that he only took on the job of host Last comic stand because he wanted to meet and work with his comedic hero, the late Norm Macdonald (and tells a funny story about how his idol once pranked him). And he lets us know that despite his boastfulness, he once felt very insecure and anxious after telling a certain Comedy Central Roast joke.

It’s a breath of fresh air. Perhaps even more satisfying for comedy fans is watching Jeselnik confront his colleagues who complain about “cancel culture” and constantly force him to answer questions about it, calling them “shitty comedians who “wanting to attack Rogan”.

“Let me be clear: I don’t give a damn about cancel culture. “I’m tired of comedians complaining about cancel culture,” he says. “It’s not that hard. Do your job.”

And Jeselnik still does his job very well.

Our call: STREAM IT. Even if you haven’t seen any clips from Jeselnik, this is a perfect introduction to him. At one point he says, “Comedians are supposed to be unparalleled badasses. I know this because I have a mirror.” It would be great if more comedians were this badass.

Sean L. McCarthy provides the comedy beat. He also provides half-hour episodes on the podcast in which comedians reveal stories about the making of the film: The comic of the comic presents the last things first.