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Anthony Jeselnik New Special

Started by cliggg, May 02, 2019, 09:02:59 AM

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cliggg

Has anybody watched this yet? I watched about 30 minutes of it last night but gave up on it. His jokes are way too predictable for me. With his slow delivery and the gap he leaves between the setup and the punchline he just leaves time for me to say the punchline before he does. I also think his shtick of only joking about "dark" topics wears thin quickly. The whole point according to him is that when people hear about rape, abortion etc.. it creates tension so when they laugh at the joke the laugh is bigger as the tension releases but I think if every single joke is about similar topics then tension goes away quickly if it was ever there at all.

samadriel

Hannah Gadsby was open about 'releasing tension' in 2017, didn't make a prat of herself either.

Bennett Brauer

Saw it last night and almost came on here to post the same thing, particularly the bit about his overly languid delivery giving you time to predict a few of the punchlines. Fortunately for him his fans are even slower. Far too many self-referential asides too.

EOLAN

Watched and listened to some of his other specials a while ago. Loved them, especially 'Thoughts and Prayers' and the Eric Clapton segment. Although it was enhanced by me finding it amusing that my friends had this song played during the wedding ceremony with the themes inspiring it. Watching 'Fire in the Maternity Ward' I still enjoyed it. But it did seem to feel a lot safer and probably a lot more static. No interaction with the crowd and no real sense the crowd was ever likely to be truly shocked.

Puce Moment

He has that Jimmy Carr incredibly smug look when he says something that is oh so shocking. It's truly tedious.

Dr Rock

Is it on Netflix? I just cancelled. What's the name of the special?

samadriel

It's called... *sigh*... 'Fire in the Maternity Ward'

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: samadriel on May 02, 2019, 10:37:51 AM
It's called... *sigh*... 'Fire in the Maternity Ward'

That's a great name for a special. It's no 'Nanette', sure, but it's something.

EOLAN

For a while I did think that Hannah Gadsby Nanette was the performers full name and admired how she got to such a point of success with such a difficult name to promote. 

Do think Jeselnik's performance is a bit too smooth and polished now. The interaction with the crowd added some charm to Thoughts and Prayers, and the shark story added a slightly more believable personal dimension. Still will probably give it a second watch and do enjoy his podcast (Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project) with a friend and NFL journalist where he is half-in-character but get see more of  his actual character. Think up_the_hampipe may be another fan.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: EOLAN on May 02, 2019, 10:51:51 AM
For a while I did think that Hannah Gadsby Nanette was the performers full name and admired how she got to such a point of success with such a difficult name to promote. 

Do think Jeselnik's performance is a bit too smooth and polished now. The interaction with the crowd added some charm to Thoughts and Prayers, and the shark story added a slightly more believable personal dimension. Still will probably give it a second watch and do enjoy his podcast (Jeselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project) with a friend and NFL journalist where he is half-in-character but get see more of  his actual character. Think up_the_hampipe may be another fan.

Touchdown! Air bud!

phantom_power

Quote from: Puce Moment on May 02, 2019, 10:28:00 AM
He has that Jimmy Carr incredibly smug look when he says something that is oh so shocking. It's truly tedious.

I think he has created the perfect smug arsehole stand-up persona. He takes it to Jimmy Carr levels and then doubles it, therefore making it ridiculous


JCR

Started watching it but realized it's the same show I saw him do at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer.

But yeah, I enjoyed it live.

Bennett Brauer

He's said several times that he think it's his best work, but to me it was a step down from Thoughts and Prayers. To be fair he does still have some good lines, but he might as well be reading out his own tweets - nothing seems to go anywhere. The dropping babies segment was barely comedy at all.

dallasman

Quote from: Bennett Brauer on May 02, 2019, 09:18:15 AM
Saw it last night and almost came on here to post the same thing, particularly the bit about his overly languid delivery giving you time to predict a few of the punchlines. Fortunately for him his fans are even slower. Far too many self-referential asides too.

Same here, pretty much. I thought he had some excellent jokes in there, though. Even some of the really obvious turns were very good. Example: "I never ever, not once, saw my Dad hit my Mom". Even if it wasn't Jeselnik, you can see the setup there. But his punchline delivery was still good enough to elicit the first of about five audible snorts from me.

I've had the same experience with each of his specials from "Caligula" on, really. It's never quite as good as when he was a new, undiscovered voice. I didn't notice any real dropoff in quality from the last one, but there was a dip in the second half, and the long, Birbigliesque story at the end didn't really pay off. I also thought I could see him "acting" a bit more than he used to, and seeming a tad self-conscious about it once or twice. Still, he's a bright, funny man with wonderful hair and teeth.


Dusty Substance

Quote from: Puce Moment on May 02, 2019, 10:28:00 AM
He has that Jimmy Carr incredibly smug look when he says something that is oh so shocking. It's truly tedious.

Like almost all the stand up I consume online I listened to Fire In The Maternity Ward rather than watching it and, when "alt/tabbing" between windows, I saw his face delivering lines it did actually spoil the jokes a little for this very reason.

As pointed out, his smugness kind of suits this character (more so than Carr), but I found it much much funnier via audio.

The first 20 minutes was terrific, then it got a little samey, predictable but the abortion waiting room story at the end was a great way to finish.


Pseudopath

Quite enjoyed this chat between Jeselnik and Colin Quinn:
https://www.pscp.tv/92Y/1yNGavknMnrJj?t=2m52s

Nice to see Jeselnik drop a lot of his stage persona as the interview goes on, but there are still some hilarious stories in there. Great Gadsby dig near the beginning too.

up_the_hampipe

Interesting story about Louis CK in there. Sounds very similar to Louis' story about Denis Leary.