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
Chris Rock shakes the Tamborine for Netflix
Chris Rock’s first comedy special with Netflix, Tamborine, surprised subscribers this week with a sudden release on Valentine’s Day. That Rock would be filming a distributing his next two hours with the streamer wasn’t surprising, as his name (along with many others) was first announced back in October 2016. What was surprising, however, was the fact that Rock and Netflix nearly pulled another The Cloverfield Paradox and didn’t announce Tamborine‘s existence until the day before it went live. Spectacle aside, Rock’s first new hour of comedy since 2008’s Kill the Messenger is quite good. Here’s our review.
The Sklar Brothers think it’s time to have a Poop Talk
In September, Comedy Dynamics announced the acquisition of Poop Talk, a comedy documentary from filmmaker Aaron Feldman and executive producers (and twin brothers) Randy and Jason Sklar. In the words of CEO Brian Volk-Weiss, the film was “going to be an instant comedy classic film like The Aristocrats before it.” Whether or not this prediction comes true remains to be seen, as the film today received a limited theatrical run and availability on VOD. Though as Randy Sklar tells Uproxx in an upcoming interview, “We found that some really interesting stuff came out of it… No pun intended.”
What’s New(s)
Michelle Wolf gets her own late night-style show at Netflix
On Monday, Netflix announced they were giving The Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf her own weekly late night-style show. She will join fellow late-night hosts turned Netflix stars David Letterman and Joel McHale in late 2018. “You can expect the types of jokes my former bosses would tell me we couldn’t do on TV,” she said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix Vice President of Content Bela Bajaria explained the company was “thrilled to be working with Michelle, a gifted writer and performer with a singular voice.”
Marlon Wayans’ new Netflix special Woke-ish gets a trailer
From the Scary Movie parody series to one-offs like White Chicks and Little Man, Marlon Wayans is best known for collaborating with his older brothers. Stints on television with In Living Color and The Wayans Bros. solidified this image throughout the ’90s, but now Wayans is breaking out on his own with his first-ever stand-up special. Titled Woke-ish, the new Netflix special will tackle “the White House feeling like a reality show” to “jokes about rappers aging with their music.” Filmed at MGM National Harbor’s The Theater in Washington D.C., Woke-ish begins streaming Tuesday, February 27th.
Comedy Central’s Clusterfest announces its 2018 lineup
Comedy Central’s Clusterfest is back for a second year from June 1st to June 3rd in San Francisco, and an impressive array of headliners and performers were announced earlier this week. The Saturday Night Live musical trio The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) will perform their first-ever live show at the event, while Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, and Amy Schumer will offer their latest comedic wares. The lineup also includes Tiffany Haddish, Jim Jefferies, David Cross, Michael Che, Roy Wood Jr., Maria Bamford, Salt-N-Pepa, Third Eye Blind, and more. You can purchase tickets here.
The U.K. comedy podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno is coming to the U.S.
Whether your a hardcore fan of the U.K. comedy podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno or a virgin listener, co-hosts Jamie Morton, James Cooper, and Alice Levine are a treat to listen to when they read portions of Morton’s father’s exquisite literature. Earlier this month, they announced their current live tour would be coming to the U.S. in late February and early March. The show will begin in Los Angeles and end in Chicago, with stops in Seattle, New York, and Boston peppered in between. Tickets are now available for purchase online.
What’s Later
2 Dope Queens drops a “Hot Peen” episode on HBO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5mkTRKULgo
Following last week’s “Hair” episode, the third entry in Jessica Williams (The Daily Show) and Phoebe Robinson’s (Broad City) podcast-turned-HBO series 2 Dope Queens airs tonight at 11:30 pm ET. Focusing on “Hot Peen,” the episode features Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) dropping by to riff with the co-hosts about everything from Beyonce to sexual innuendo. After that, stand-up comedians Early, Jackie Kashian, and Kevin Barnett drop by to regale the crowd at the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn.
Joel McHale’s Joel McHale Show is set to debut on Netflix
Joel McHale is back. No, it’s not another crack at Community or a second attempt to fill Chevy Chase’s shoes, but The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale does promise to itch the scratch left untouched ever since The Soup went off the air. The new weekly Netflix series, which premieres Sunday, February 18th and will air new episodes every week after, will endeavor to “make fun of everything.” Or, at least that’s what the titular host told Uproxx‘s Jason Tabrys in a recent interview: ““I hope you like stuff getting made fun of, because we’re going to make fun of everything.”
Jena Friedman adopts a Soft Focus and Eric Andre goes to Paris for Adult Swim
Adult Swim will debut two new quarter-hour specials on Sunday, February 18th. Soft Focus with Jena Friedman and Eric Andre Does Paris will premiere at midnight and 12:15 am ET, respectively. The latter will show what happens when the Adult Swim staple “hits the streets of Paris, France to ponder existential questions with French people.” As Friedman told Uproxx in an interview, however, the former will explore troubling issues like campus rape with the biting yet humane lens of comedy a la The Daily Show-esque field pieces, which she used to produce for the program during the Jon Stewart era.
