2023 brought a slew of highly anticipated returns and splashy specials from some of comedy’s biggest names as well as a healthy injection of fresh voices to a form that can grow stale when it feels like an assembly line of the same old same. Whether you’re looking for personal storytelling that’ll make you feel while making you laugh, pointed political comedy that’ll make you think, absurdist riffs, or relatable observations, there is literally something for everyone in this list (presented in alphabetical order) of what we feel represents the 15 best comedy specials from this year. Enjoy… or take to Twitter to tell us we’re idiots for leaving out your favorite special. Whichever!
Baby J – John Mulaney (Netflix)
Near the start of Baby J, John Mulaney warns that his stand-up has a different vibe now. And while that’s a little true as he delivers a blow-by-blow of his intervention, stay in rehab, and efforts to scam pills and drug money, his supreme talent is the same as it ever was. The meticulously layered jokes within hyper-compelling stories powered by pops of self-deprecation? Check! Those knowing winks that made him our comedy boyfriend before Bo Burnham was anything more than a YouTube twerp? Double-check!
While the darkness of Mulaney’s semi-recent past is the headline, Mulaney performs through those stories with a kind of detachment no doubt established by where he is in his life as a husband and father with some miles between him and the (“obnoxious, wasteful, and unlikable”) stories he’s willing to share. The only ones he’s willing to share because Mulaney refuses to be completely remade, as a performer, by the events of the last few years. He couldn’t control the headlines before, but he can control this. He can allow himself to control this.
As he sings during the special, “Likeability is a jail,” but with Baby J, Mulaney is going over the wall, at one point saying in one of the special’s only truly serious moments, “All I cared about was what other people thought of me. And I don’t anymore.” Good for him and for us. – Jason Tabrys
Bag Of Tricks – Django Gold (YouTube)
I first found this special after being trapped in a car for half a day and it amazingly held my interest, kept me awake, and caused me to laugh my ass off. A rewatch confirmed that exhaustion played NO PART in my enjoyment. Django Gold is a comedic voice that demands attention.
With his glasses on, he sort of looks like a young David Letterman. The commitment to jokes with hyper-specific language and phrasing recalls Norm Macdonald a little bit too. But Gold, who has also written for Colbert, is his own thing with a bemused vibe and a bunch of well-crafted material on the parallels between adult unemployment and teenage slacker-hood, the shifting definition of nerds, and how AI can’t “channel the clumsy grace of the human soul.” – Jason Tabrys
From Bleak To Dark – Marc Maron (MAX)
There are some subjects that seem too grim to ever joke about, but comedian Marc Maron blows through most of them in his HBO comedy special, which runs the gambit from jokes about the Holocaust to a carefully crafted joke about the death of his late girlfriend, director Lynn Shelton. Maron’s self-effacing grumpy-old-man schtick works perfectly as he describes the unique situation of grieving during the pandemic, wringing laughs from the most brutal of situations. The special starts with the idea that “things aren’t going to get any better,” so this isn’t the kind of stand-up show meant to coddle the audience or offer hope. Instead, it’s a deeply cathartic hour that gives Maron a chance to work through some of his demons and allows anyone with a twisted sense of humor to feel a little less alone. – Danielle Ryan
God Loves Me – Marlon Wayans (MAX)
Few events grew as immediately annoying to think about as “the slap,” when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, which makes the idea of an entire hour of stand-up about it seem positively unbearable. Somehow, against those odds, Marlon Wayans managed to make one of the best specials of the year, centered entirely around his personal relationship to Smith, Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Rock. Instead of making hackneyed, misogynistic jokes at Jada’s expense or airing the Pinkett-Smith family’s dirty laundry for uncomfortable laughs, Wayans mostly makes fun of situations and the bizarre ironies of life. (There are a few friendly jabs at both Smith and Rock, but they clearly come from a place of love and respect.) God Loves Me is shockingly hilarious given its central conceit, but let’s have Wayans special be the final word on the subject, okay? – Danielle Ryan
Hijabs Off – Zainab Johnson (Amazon Prime)
Comedian Zainab Johnson has only recently burst onto the scene, and her first stand-up special, Hijabs Off, is a laugh-riot done in the round, with the audience on all sides. That might seem intimidating for a newer comic, but Johnson is seasoned in life, as she explains throughout her set. As a Black Muslim with twelve siblings, Johnson has her fair share of wild experiences both funny and tragic, and she knows how to mine them both equally for laughs. Johnson’s style of comedy is bold, often softening the audience up with a funny anecdote only to punch them in the gut with the harsh reality of living as a Black Muslim woman in America. Her delivery is assured, her command of the room better than some comedians with decades under their belt. Johnson is going to be a comedian to watch, and Hijabs Off is a brilliant entry point. – Danielle Ryan
I Am Not For Everyone – Pete Holmes (Netflix)
One of 2023’s best and most consistently laugh-out-loud funny specials has, probably, its most esoteric joke, told in the most delightfully unhinged way.
“I WOULD LIKE TO BUY A DILDO!” Pete Holmes screams repeatedly, mid-set, barely constraining his glee at the naughtiness of the phrasing and the confusion of an audience that takes a second to get the point of what he’s doing. That’s Holmes, clever, inventive, a little naughty, and exuberant in the comedy that he is sharing with us. My interview with him is one of my favorites from the year. In it, we discuss, at length, his penchant for laughing at his own material during the special and he offered this thought, which makes a lot of sense.
“It’s a powerful thing as a theatrical device to remember that I’m not trying to make you laugh. I’m inviting you to laugh at what I like to laugh at and how better to do that in the quickest and most efficient way than to just let myself laugh?”
In letting off a little giggle or otherwise letting us in on the joy and fun of the moment, Holmes is recreating the nirvana of being in a friend’s basement, laughing ourselves silly while goofing off. That’s pure comedy goodness, right there. – Jason Tabrys
I’m An Entertainer – Wanda Sykes (Netflix)
The greatness of Wanda Sykes is on full display with I’m An Entertainer, her first special since 2019 and a tour de force that connects the personal to the political in powerful ways. Moving from stories about menopause to stories about living through the Summer 2020 wave of racist violence in the US, pandemic lockdown with her family, and the issues of the day, Sykes is commanding and clear. This is especially true when it comes to double standards on the left and the right.
She’s not hearing “when they go low, we go high.” She wants to have fun and not be bound by facts and rules of civility, comparing Democrats to PBS and Republicans to TLC. Politicians who say they’re trying to “protect the children” by banning books and speaking out against drag performers while being silent on gun violence take the biggest hit, with Sykes saying, “Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird I think you’re focusing on the wrong sh*t.”
To be sure, if you’re on the same side of the ideological divide as Sykes (or open to the idea of breaking out of a political box), this is first pump-level comedy. If you’re not, I don’t know, go watch a Rob Schneider special, I guess. – Jason Tabrys
Now More Than Ever – John Early (MAX)
There is no other stand-up special like John Early’s Now More Than Ever. The alt-comedian mixes musical numbers, cringe comedy, and pop-culture commentary to create his first hour-long HBO special, and it’s a doozy. The special, directed by Emily Allan and Leah Hennessey, is done in the style of a 1970s rock documentary and makes it feel like This Is Spinal Tap mixed with being trapped at a karaoke bar during a rather rambunctious gay birthday party. It’s weird! But it’s also full of scathing commentary on society and some pretty funny bits, though each viewer is likely to laugh at something different because there are so many different kinds of humor sprinkled throughout. It will be interesting to see where Early goes next, because Now More Than Ever will be difficult to top. – Danielle Ryan
SAP – Mae Martin (Netflix)
Canadian comedian Mae Martin’s first hour-long standup for Netflix, SAP, is a warm and quirky look at life that weaves in funny observations alongside heartfelt confessions about gender and identity. Directed by Abbi Jacobson of Broad City fame, the special feels more like you’re joining Martin for a campfire chat than watching a stand-up special, with fake trees and a starry sky behind them that makes the whole thing especially atmospheric. SAP deals heavily with gender, dysphoria, and transphobia stemming from Martin’s life as a non-binary person without pointing fingers and getting angry, instead asking for empathy and understanding. Audiences looking for hard punchlines or standard joke formulas might feel a bit lost in Martin’s storytelling, but there are plenty of laughs to be had, they’re just a bit more sly. SAP is full of humor and heart, and promises great things to come for Martin’s future in comedy. – Danielle Ryan
Shocks And Struts – Kyle Kinane (YouTube)
The gravel-voiced stand-up veteran has a grab-a-beer-after-a-show vibe and a penchant for putting out high laugh-per-minute no-bullshit specials that eschew bigger settings and more show-y visuals.
Make no mistake, Shocks And Struts is on here because it’s flat-out funny. Its also on here because it feels pure and transportive making it seem as though you’re in the room watching Kinane own the stage and kill with his brand of well-honed and twinkle-eyed observational storytelling around topics like jam bands and drinking on a cruise ship. – Jason Tabrys
Slow & Steady – Joe Pera (YouTube)
Joe Pera went and filmed his first-ever full-length standup special and then he went ahead and released it for free on YouTube. That’s cool. As is the special itself. Pera has a style unlike anyone else, slow enough to lull you to sleep and then punctuated with outrageous twists. There’s a bit in here about a squirrel with a pita chip that I’ve been thinking about for months. It’s all just entirely nice and fun and strange and silly and everything you could ever want out of a standup special to watch a bedtime. This, to be clear, is one of the highest compliments I know how to give. – Brian Grubb
Someone You Love – Sarah Silverman (MAX)
I’m actively working to break a bad habit where I sometimes put on stand-up special that I’m not writing about as though it’s a podcast, letting them play in the background while I cook or ride a bike. Multi-tasking is death for anything with nuance, though, and I didn’t sufficiently feel Someone You Love until I watched with full focus while preparing for an interview, charting the goodness of Silverman’s run through everything from religion to life coaches, dried fruit, abortion, language, and obscure porn genres in an hour that’s fun, often silly, and meticulously crafted for maximum comedic effect. We discussed that craft with Silverman in that interview and it’s fascinating to learn about not just how she builds material, but moments where she reckons with a change in approach from the hardcore to the more earnest. – Jason Tabrys
The First Woman – Sasheer Zamata (YouTube)
Sasheer Zamata spent years as an ensemble player on SNL, lending her comedic talents to live sketches and musical parodies without ever reaping the fanfare awarded to peers like Vanessa Bayer and Leslie Jones. Just why Zamata was so underutilized on the long-running comedy series is the top-of-mind question her latest special will leave you pondering. Casually charismatic with an effortless sense of comedic timing, her hour-long stand-up, The First Woman, feels more like a breezy, intimate sit-down than most specials we’ve seen as Zamata engages the crowd on the most ridiculous of subjects before sharing anecdotes so personal, it almost feels wrong to laugh. She switches between silly – a segment in which the audience is asked to share which household items they first masturbated with is a stand-out – and serious, diving into taboo topics like mental health, how the healthcare system fails black women, and femvertising in a way that’s hilarious and fascinating, but never didactic or dull. – Jessica Toomer
The Old Man And The Pool – Mike Birbiglia (Netflix)
The 40s and 50s comedy guys sure seem to be talking about death and dying a LOT in their specials, but no one can impact the heart and head like Birbiglia, comedy’s resident master storyteller. Here, Birbiglia visits heavy topics around sickness and health, stubbornness, family, and finding something to live for. The subject matter isn’t for everyone (specifically those of us still pretending that we’re going to live forever), but it will be, eventually, so if you can get there, get there. – Jason Tabrys
Where Was I – Trevor Noah (Netflix)
In this time of overexposure and content overload we rarely get to actually miss a comedian, but goddamn did we miss Trevor Noah. The now-former Daily Show host left that gig in December of 2022 and hit the road, touring the globe and building material while keeping off our screens. Now he’s back with this just-released Netlfix special, demonstrating his unique way of cutting through the noise to make clearheaded points about how our outrage is weaponized against us while also riffing on sexified National Anthem performances, being roasted while shopping for clothes in Paris, and his five favorite things about white people.
With that last bit, Noah trades cliches for undeniably fresh and funny observations that get big laughs. In particular, the physical comedy at the heart of the Olympic swimming joke and the payoff for his take about white people loving the song “Sweet Caroline” allow the whole thing to build into an utterly memorable and epic closer. As good as Noah was behind the Daily Show desk, Where Was I reminds us that he’s one of the best in the game as a comic. – Jason Tabrys
