Welcome to Comedy Now, a weekly column cataloging what comedy fans should know about what’s available in the streaming world. Whether it’s a brand new special, an old classic, or the oddball show that defies categorization, we’ll list as many as we can for your enjoyment right here. Who knows? We may even throw in a few non-streamable bits on occasion, like tour announcements from our favorite comics. You can check out the previous column here.
What’s Now
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj just might work
Last Sunday saw the premiere of the first two episodes of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, the former Daily Show correspondent and stand-up comedian’s new Netflix series. When we spoke with Minhaj ahead of Sunday’s debut, he declared that he “[wants] things to always feel urgent and timeless,” and that doing a show like Patriot Act on a streaming platform works perfectly for this since “the medium is the message.” Judging by the critical reaction so far, Minhaj is right and Netflix subscribers seem to agree.
What’s New(s)
Jon Stewart and Dave Chappelle open up about Louis C.K.
In a series of CNN interviews conducted during their recent tour, comedians and friends Jon Stewart and Dave Chappelle opened up about, well, a lot. The former’s regrets about not taking now-President Donald Trump’s 2015 campaign announcement seriously received lots of attention, but so too did the pair’s comments about Louis C.K. “I think the question itself is somewhat unanswerable,” said Stewart of whether now’s the right time for Louis’s comeback. “When you talk about the ‘right way’ in society to rehabilitate.”
Speaking of Louis C.K., Padma Lakshmi hosted a comedy show
Ever since Louis first appeared in New York’s Comedy Cellar unannounced in August, critics and fans alike have been debating whether or not the comeback is too early. Many have made their opinions of the matter well-known, especially the protesters who picketed outside the Comedy Cellar on Monday during Louis’s first announced appearances at the club. Celebrity chef and television presenter Padma Lakshmi, a self-described “comedy groupie,” instead decided to host a comedy show with comics she believes “are actually funny” and more deserving of the limelight Louis is seeking to regain.
People just can’t stop talking about Adam Sandler’s comedy special
Adam Sandler’s Netflix special 100% Fresh hasn’t been out for two weeks and it’s already one of the comedian and actor’s most popular new works in recent memory. Its actual content isn’t all that different from what his longtime fans have seen before, but as Uproxx’s Vince Mancini noted in his review, it’s “a weird time for Adam Sandler to be funny again” but here we are. Given the Saturday Night Live alum’s track record as of late (not to mention everything else in the world), it is weird, but here we are.
Bob Saget is doing an adult version of America’s Funniest Home Videos
From the content of his comedy routines to his highly quotable cameo in Half Baked, Bob Saget’s sense of humor was never quite the same as Danny Tanner’s. Nor, for that matter, was it ever allowed on America’s Funniest Home Videos, the clip show that Saget hosted before ABC rebranded it as AFV and enlisted Tom Bergeron. But now ABC is bringing Saget back to host Videos After Dark, a clip show that “will be decidedly more adult-oriented than the family-friendly tone” of AFV.
What’s Later
John Leguizamo is here to teach us all a lesson
Best known as a comedy actor, John Leguizamo has had a hugely successful career as a writer and performer of comedic, semi-autobiographical one-person shows, both on and off-Broadway. Many of these, like Freak and Ghetto Klown, have been taped for HBO. His most recent, Latin History for Morons, is instead coming to Netflix next Monday. Nominated for a 2018 Tony for Best Play, Leguizamo’s latest examines 3,000 years of Latino history with a satirical recap of Aztec and Incan history, stories of Latin patriots in the American Civil War, and more.
