Joe Pera releasing a special

[Tiggles]

He's releasing his first ever standup special on Oct 6 on You Tube and his website.

I saw him in Manchester earlier this spring and definitely wanted to see where he took it; I'm looking forward to this a lot.

Info on his Instagram and YouTube.

[Noodle Lizard]

Wonderful news. I really hope he's able to find another platform for Talks With You. We weren't done with that world.

[The Mollusk]

Will this just be the show he was touring over the last couple years, as mentioned in the video? I hope it's more than that, as the show I saw was good but really hampered by the excessive and tedious crowd work where Pera and the couple of members of the audience appeared to be enjoying the interaction more than anyone else in the room (if my own personal view and the diminished laughter was anything to go by).

[Small Man Big Horse]

Will this just be the show he was touring over the last couple years, as mentioned in the video? I hope it's more than that, as the show I saw was good but really hampered by the excessive and tedious crowd work where Pera and the couple of members of the audience appeared to be enjoying the interaction more than anyone else in the room (if my own personal view and the diminished laughter was anything to go by).

I think it'll be exactly that, but presumably it will use the best examples of audience participation? I mean, I'm only guessing, and perhaps he does have enough material to spread it across just under an hour, but the show was so reliant on the audience I'd be surprised if that aspect was missing. Which is a shame as I wasn't that fond of it either, if anything I'd prefer it if he released a stand up show that was, say, 40 minutes, and then a sort of best of the audience work show separately, but I know that's wishful thinking.

[Misspent Boners]

It's out now!

https://youtu.be/9_97zE4GRZk?si=OVlrqN5zY7RFIFPd

[Tiggles]

Ah that made me cry (and laugh).

He is definitely at his most impactful when reading out his stories. I'd love to see him do a set of long-form story-telling. The set really took off for me from the point he started reading the "article", similar to when I saw him live earlier this year. Just got stronger and stronger from that point.

[Noodle Lizard]

This was delightful, I thought. It could've just been an easy string of Peraisms and callbacks to the show, but it felt like something important in and of itself. I loved the little unique touches, like the occasional captions or cuts to the older security guard/usher. The crowd work felt natural and didn't really detract from anything else. I've never seen him live myself, so I'm curious to hear how similar this was.

[The Mollusk]

Not seen this yet but looking at the list of contents he didn't do the sleep relaxation chat at the London shows and presumably not the other UK shows either.

[Tiggles]

No, he didn't do the drifting off bit in Manchester either. It felt like they edited the show I saw in Manc (or a similar version of it more tailored for US audiences) into the first 35 mins of this special then added the sleep bit. It does mean the first bit up to his "article" feels pacy compared to the live act but that's no bad thing imo.

[The Mollusk]

"cubes for my boys" still cracking me up

[PlanktonSideburns]

"cubes for my boys" still cracking me up

Yea in love how it feels as a sentence

Is it a reference to something? I just took it at face value, and loved it - im not missing anything beyond that am i

[The Mollusk]

Yea in love how it feels as a sentence

Is it a reference to something? I just took it at face value, and loved it - im not missing anything beyond that am i

Nah I don't think so, I took it at face value as well.

Nerdy observation but the intonation if how he says it in the special is different from when I saw him but it's still really funny both ways

[Small Man Big Horse]

I liked this a fair bit more than when I saw him live, the audience participation in the Squirrel section was much shorter, and while I didn't like the New York Times sex bit as I thought it ruined the character, here I just found it really funny. The only bit which didn't work for me was the sleep bit at the end, it was funny at times but I didn't quite connect with it. Ah well, maybe I will if I watch it a second time in the future.

[checkoutgirl]

I'm generally supportive of this Joe Pera character but I could barely get 5 minutes into this special before becoming extremely bored and switching it off. It's interminable. The audience pissing themselves at every utterance. It's better as a character for 5 minute shorts where he does an instructional video or something.

It's a very strange character. He looks young but he contorts his body a bit like an old man. A bit reminiscent of John Shuttleworth or Neil Hamburger but not as good as either of them.

[Noodle Lizard]

Have you watched the Talks With You series, @checkoutgirl?

[checkoutgirl]

Have you watched the Talks With You series, @checkoutgirl?

Yeah it's not bad. I prefer him in that structured scenario rather than a live audience. Connor O'Malley is an interesting guy as well.

[The Mollusk]

O'Malley is a whole different ballgame, I always find it really funny that he and Pera are close friends

[selectivememory]

This was OK. Was quite a way into it and finding it gently amusing in places, but also thinking that maybe his act didn't translate well to a live performance. But it definitely got better as it went on, and the sleep bit was probably my favourite part.

Thought the crowd interactions were largely very sweet and funny. He has a nice way of being able to take the piss out of people without being nasty, and you kind of don't expect it because that's not really how his character comes across most of the time.

[Tiggles]

O'Malley is a whole different ballgame, I always find it really funny that he and Pera are close friends

I find it funny that there's a running link from Joe Pera to Nathan Fielder via Conner O'Malley and John Wilson. I guess they both play games with reality, but with very contrasting spiritual impacts.

[Oh, Nobody]

Yea in love how it feels as a sentence

Is it a reference to something? I just took it at face value, and loved it - im not missing anything beyond that am i

I took it as a Barfly reference but that could be seen as a stretch.

[Thosworth]

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but 'Drifting Off with Joe Pera' is a short podcast series, and personally as a nocturnal catastrophiser it has been really helpful - I never managed to get through more than a couple of minutes per night, which meant the whole thing lasted months.

[perplexingprocrastinator]

I could barely get 5 minutes into this special before becoming extremely bored and switching it off. It's interminable.

Funny, that's what makes me laugh so much.

Saw him in Sheffield. He took long, long, agonisingly long seconds to walk from the wings to the microphone and I was in hysterics at the incongruity before he had said a word.

I really love gentle comedy, and minimal comedy, and Pera does SO much with something as slight as a twinkle in his eye. Excited for the new spesh when I get a minute :)

[Toki]

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but 'Drifting Off with Joe Pera' is a short podcast series, and personally as a nocturnal catastrophiser it has been really helpful - I never managed to get through more than a couple of minutes per night, which meant the whole thing lasted months.

Love the podcast, and also love the special. The swearing part nearly lost me but as soon as he bashfully said 'sorry' I forgave any momentary discomfort I felt. Great recommended his Bin Cake video after, it made me laugh. Bit broader than his later stuff, but still wonderfully odd. I'll link to it when I get to my hotel (on a train atm), although it's easily found.

[Oosp]

Really enjoyed the special. I was gutted to miss him in Dublin so it's great to see it online. The swearing killed me. Some lines made me howl - I must rewatch and jot them down

[Tiggles]

He's put up Joe Pera Helps You Find The Perfect Christmas Tree on his YouTube channel. In his IG post about it he says "let's see what happens", which makes me think that he's expecting Adult Swim to get it taken down.

I love any excuse to rewatch it.