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 last week’s column here.
What’s New
Joe Mande’s Award-Winning Comedy Special (Netflix)
https://twitter.com/JoeMande/status/870296348536393728
Joe Mande is one of those comedians whose work you are definitely familiar with, and whose likeness you have definitely seen, but you’re not sure how and where. That’s because you’ve probably seen the Parks and Recreation writer on the show, where he occasionally popped up as internet champion Morris Lerpiss. (He also voiced a demon in the finale of Mike Schur’s followup series, The Good Place.) Or maybe you saw him make his stand-up television debut on Conan in 2011. In any case, everyone will get to see Mande’s Award-Winning Comedy Special when it premieres July 25th on Netflix.
Double Negative: Children and Double Negative: Adulthood (Netflix)
https://twitter.com/AriShaffir/status/870802213878153217
The week before Mande’s new special hits, Ari Shaffir — the controversial former host of Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening, which The Daily Show‘s Roy Wood Jr. is hosting — will drop two back-to-back hours on Netflix. Titled Double Negative: Children and Double Negative: Adulthood, Shaffir boasts his “double special” has two sides — much like a vinyl record or a cassette tape. The first “is all about kids and breeding,” he explains in his tweet, while the second “is all about a life you necessarily cannot have if you get married and have kids.”
Jordan Klepper Solves Guns (Comedy Central)
If Trevor Noah was the hand-picked heir to Jon Stewart, then Jordan Klepper — a popular Daily Show correspondent who has served both hosts — is the heir apparent to The Colbert Report‘s Stephen Colbert self-parody. (No, this isn’t shade for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which Comedy Central canceled.) Hence why the network announced in April it was giving Klepper his own half-hour program following Noah’s time slot. As this won’t be happening until later this year, Comedy Central will appease Klepper’s fans with an hour-long special, Jordan Klepper Solves Guns, which airs Sunday, June 11th at 10pm ET/PT.
Oh, Hello On Broadway (Netflix)
The Netflix comedy boom these past few years has typically featured an increasingly famous grouping of stand-ups. However, the streaming giant has given more leeway to comedic, albeit creative departures from the norm — like Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Adventure, which was co-directed by Akiva Schaffer and Scott Aukerman. And with next week’s Oh, Hello On Broadway — featuring Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s popular Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland elderly characters — they’re about to expand their comedy offerings again. The first trailer for the Netflix special, which drops Tuesday, June 13th, is online.
What’s Live
Bob’s Burgers Live! (Show)
Bob’s Burgers is a popular animated TV show on FOX. Yet much like its cousin program, Archer, the program’s cast and crew occasionally perform live readings of episodes, and that’s exactly what will happen Father’s Day weekend at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. Cast members H. Jon Benjamin (Bob Belcher), Kristen Schaal (Louise Belcher), Eugene Mirman (Gene Belcher), Dan Mintz (Tina Belcher), John Roberts (Linda Belcher) and Larry Murphy (Uncle Teddy) will perform — as will creator Loren Bouchard, composers John Dylan Keith and Tim Dacey, and several “surprise celebrity guests.” You can purchase tickets here.
Just For Laughs (Festival)
From Jerry Seinfeld to the cast and crew of Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, the 42nd Annual Just For Laughs Festival in Toronto already boasts quite the lineup. With official passes to the September comedy festival now on sale here, organizers have released the full lineup for the week-and-a-half-long event. Performers scheduled to appear on stage, or at other functions happening at the festival, include Bill Burr, John Mulaney, Ali Wong, Tim and Eric, Jay Pharoah, Janeane Garofalo, Rhys Darby, Brian Posehn, Kyle Kinane, Jen Kirkman, Rory Scovel, Roy Wood Jr., Michelle Wolf, The Lucas Brothers, Gina Yashere, and loads more.
