Where are people finding good comedians and stand up specials
Even before the pandemic I've been struggling to keep up with stand-up comedy. Feels like there was a real sweet spot in the 2010s where you'd constantly find new and interesting acts on YouTube, comedy central, late shows and even a few American panel shows. But it's only gotten harder as most shows and streaming services only really push big or topical names.
It feels like in the States, the mainstream comedy is getting very one-note with the tone of rich people problems and call backs to older material; while the more up and coming stuff is needlessly provocative and vulgar. And there's a underlying obsession with the idea of cancel culture, almost like they're trying to bait themselves into the press.
I love British stuff too but big names are focusing on other projects. At least there's panel shows where they can showcase new material and comics.
And the global comedy space is interesting but a lot is lost in language and cultural translation.
Maybe theres a vibrant underground scene of weird, surrealist comedy and I'm just held back by the big streaming platforms? Or I've just become picky old man now?
So suggestions for interesting or new comedy that's worth a watch?
The official Just for Laughs YouTube channel is a great place for a mix of new and established talent. Obviously it's one of the bigger comedy festivals, so to even get a slot at one of their events requires a certain amount of fame, but there are plenty of people I've discovered through their YouTube channel.
They even have a playlist called "New Faces" featuring up and coming comedians.
Thanks for the recommendation. Found quite a few good names already. I didn't think festivals allowed recording or published sets but will keep my eye out on JfL.
TikTok is one venue. I know many people are opposed to the platform for various reasons, but it's become very popular for comedians. The short form nature of it is great for stand up. They can put out a single joke as a video and it'll help drive engagement to their sites.
Beyond that, I think you're correct. There was kind of a golden era for stand-up about a decade ago, and now it's petering out. I think the two main causes are streaming, and podcasts.
As a teen in the late 2000s-early 2010s I usually went to bed watching Comedy Central on TV. Usually SouthPark or Futurama reruns and the like. I loved waking up at 6AM as that was when Comedy Central would come back on from the late night infomercials. They usually either played B-rate comedies or Stand Up in that time slot, and I found a lot of gems in both categories watching for the hour or so while I got ready for school.
This experience is gone for many people. Who has cable anymore?
Secondly is podcasting. It feels like every comedian has a podcast(or several) now. I regularly listen to Time Suck by Dan Cummins. He still does stand up and advertises his specials and touring dates through the pod and this makes so much sense.
Firstly, it's it's own revenue stream, and probably more lucrative than stand up. The host has complete control over their advertisements, merch, and usually even avenues for direct compensation through patreon or their own subscription service.
Secondly it probably makes their stand up more lucrative to. They are able to advertise themselves to their own captive audience on a weekly basis. "Hey, you like my podcast? Well guess what. I'm going to be in your town on this date!" is a pretty strong sell.
+1 on TikTok. I don't use it anymore but found a lot of comedians through it. Just scrolling through my feed, I'd get a handful of clips of comedians dealing with hecklers and being quick to clap back at anyone being rude.
Reddit is another place that I used to find comedians on. Again mainly just clips posted by the comedians themselves promoting a new set or just showing themselves dealing with hecklers. Found a few funny people that way.
I find them on Instagram mainly, I've made my reel feed algorithm pretty much only comedians. Jordan Jensen was a new discovery for me from IG, as was Joe List, Theo Von, Mark Normand, Sam Morrill, Ian Fidance, and many more. Another method is going to shows, most headliners have at least one, sometimes many openers so that's one way to be exposed to it. Local open mic nights are also really fun, check out your local bar scene for any.
I don't want to start a debate but the top comment thinks stand up is dying and I feel like it's never been more alive. Comedy has gotten so much better since people like Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia for instance; were the most popular comics of the time.
Jeff Acuri is a good one I discovered on Reddit and follow on Instagram. He does great crowd work.
Yea it's like any other art form nowadays. There's a lot of quality, but also quantity. Individual content creation has made it hard for artists to rise to global status unlike before. Getting a TV show or a spot on a late night talk show isn't enough to make you a big name in standup
I'm seeing YouTube pick up that I'm looking for comedy and I'm starting to see a lot more sets and even a few full shows in my feed. Appreciate pointing out Jordan Jensen, that's some amazing chaos energy.
And I really should be checking out the local club scene but lately the best nights involve having 9 uninterrupted hours of sleep. (Kids are great!)
I don't watch standup specials anymore (laziness, and change of habit I suppose) but keep up through podcasts. Every comedian has a podcast, some of them are good, and they tend to have other comedians as guests often.
The downside of that approach is that you have to listen to several weekly 1 to 2 hour long podcasts (or at least parts of them), but I enjoy them so it works out for me.
If you pick up a few guest-heavy ones, like Tigerbelly (new guest each week), Bad Friends (new guests sometimes), Comedy Bang Bang (one guest plus 2 guest improvisers each week), etc., you start learning all these names and faces along the way. When a comedian puts out a new special or has a new project, they tend to make the rounds to all the different podcasts to promote it.
Plus, podcasts these days also tend to have editors who split it up in to clips and post it to every video site known to man (Youtube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, etc.), so if the algorithms catch a whiff that you like this content, they recommend it more and more.
I marginally keep up with stand up. The two big avenues I see currently are podcasts, and TikTok. The podcast thing obviously has been going on for some time. A solid percentage of comics each have their own podcast, and if nothing else, you are nearly guaranteed that xyz comic has been on a podcast. Podcasts have evolved to where there seems to be a bunch of interlocking podcast universes, where the same set of comics all guest on podcasts from each other. So the good news here is that if you find a comic you like, that can usually lead you down a rabbit hole for discovering similar comics by way of who guests on what.
TikTok seems to be the main promo tool currently for a lot of comics. There are a decent number now whose careers have entirely been made on TikTok. That holds the place now that Netflix did maybe 5 years ago.
Vulture does a podcast called "Good One" that is about dissecting a certain bit or joke with the comic who wrote it. At least twice a year, they also do their Best Specials of the Year episodes, which has introduced me to a fair number of really good comics. I would highly suggest checking out those episodes to see if anything strikes your fancy.
What are some comics that you have really enjoyed in the past?
Look into alt scene comics. There was a show on CC called the Meltdown a few years ago that featured a lot of young alt comics that I enjoyed. A few I enjoy are Sam Morrill, Jo Firestone, Aparna Nancherla. Sam Morrill actually has a couple specials now and I think he’s hilarious. I’ve also randomly discovered people just by watching a bunch of CC shorts on YouTube. I think they post new content weekly, little five minute sets by people you’ve never heard of.
Also highly recommended, Kate Berlant and John Early. I discovered them by watching I Think You Should Leave and they’re both hilarious. Both have specials (Kate’s was on FX, I think) and John’s most recent HBO special is just so surprisingly good. Definitely very different from the norm, as he frames the whole special as a music concert. Super unexpected jokes, and a refreshing voice in a sea of exactly what you’re complaining about.
Support your local comedy club! There are lots of talented comics in your area that are all trying to build an audience and make it in the comedy business and seeing a show live is a great way to support them, the club, and the community. You don’t even need to know who is playing because tickets are usually pretty cheap, so just go in blind and see what happens, you might find your new favorite comic. I’ve made it a habit to see at least one stand up show a month and I’ve had so much fun. For some reason being there in person and laughing along with the audience enhances the experience and makes the jokes feel even funnier than when I watch a comic online.
BBC Radio has programmes about the Machynlleth comedy festival which is a good source of info about new comedians.
They also have stand up specials and that sometimes turns up people new to me.
They have an audio comedy section in their streaming offer, and that has a standup subsection, but that's established and new comedians.
I've only been to a couple of stand-up shows and seen maybe a dozen specials, so I'm not really a comedy person. But I saw this thread and just wanted to share somebody that kept popping up on reddit. He puts a lot of clips online of his audience work which is hilarious almost every time - Jeff Arcuri!
Podcasts make this very very easy nowadays.
Find a comedian you like who has a podcast - someone who is involved in a scene you like. For example if you like alternative comedy, find someone in that scene. If you like long-form improv, find someone involved in that scene. Then look through episodes and look at the guests -- and listen/watch their episodes, or search them on YouTube and watch their stuff to see if they click.
As an example, I listened to Comedy Bang Bang for years and even when I didn't discover comedians through it, a lot of the ones I liked ended up guesting on the show - so if I didn't know them I would have been exposed to them that way.
u/Wolf_359 recommended Stavros Halkias ("Stavvy"), his comedy isn't going to be for everybody but personally I enjoy it too -- but I'll point him out because he also has a podcast with a lot of alt comedy folks on it and is a good example of a podcast that would serve well for this.
I'll also throw Joe Pera out there as an example of a slightly-lesser-known comedian I think is hilarious. He had 3 seasons of a TV show on Adult Swim (which was cancelled last year). This video condenses a lot of what I love about him.
There is a channel on YouTube called don't tell comedy It's got a whole slew of super funny people I've never heard of.
I was going to recommend for anyone in the US who wants to attend a live show to look if there are any Don't Tell Comedy shows near them (they are in a ton of US cities). I've gone to about ten shows over the past few years and they've consistently been very funny. There's a huge diversity in the style and life experiences of the comedians they feature which makes for an interesting show. Sometimes they're also hosted in weird, makeshift venues (ex. gyms, suburban backyards) which adds to the experience. It's also BYOB and the ticket prices are very reasonable- so they're not nickel-and-diming you like a lot of comedy clubs.
Kill Tony (YouTube) is a great podcast in my opinion. It has an America's Got Talent kind of feel to it whereby novice (and some seasoned) comedians perform a minute in front of an audience, a panel of professional guest comedians, and the hosts Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban.
They will provide feedback to the performer as well as interview them (which usually is hilarious as there's either revealed comedy material or some back and forth roasting).
It took me a while to appreciate Tony's humour as he comes across as a bit of a douche...but I have to admit he can be razor sharp with his wit and timing. There are some regular comedians which get to perform every week (currently Hans Kim and William Montgomery).
I suggest starting with the early episodes (around the 200th) as the it's great to watch the show evolve from its early iteration to what it is now.
YouTube. YouTube shorts. Eventually the algorithm gets what you're after and starts to serve it regularly.
Check out Stavros Halkias. He releases so much 10/10 material that I wonder if he's actually a machine. Nobody can possibly be this consistently funny and keep it up, but he does. And his crowd work is unmatched, perhaps throughout all of comedy history.
Nick Mullen probably has him beat there
When I was a teenager, pre-TikTok, I'd just watch a lot of YouTube videos of comedians. Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, once you start watching that stuff they'll recommend you more and more. Now comedians mostly post TikToks of their material (you can also watch them on YouTube shorts which has a less sensitive algorithm so you won't get inundated with a bunch of stuff you don't want just because you watched a minute of something).
YouTube though is how I found John Mulaney, Bo Burnham, Taylor Tomlinson, and Tig Notaro.
I have a feeling you're not gonna like a couple of those, but there's also old-school style comics like Sebastian Maniscalco still around who focus on observational humor.
One of my favorites lately, both for some standup as well as single-person panel-style videos, is Ben Brainard, whose "Table" series of various states and news items is both informative and funny. As others have said, I usually come across clips in YouTube Shorts, then go to the main channel from there if I like the material.
As mentioned by others just for laughs is a good shout, Gotham comedy club is also a good one too.
I don't know where to find up and coming comedians but I heard about Matteo Lane on Metafilter. He may be my favorite new-to-me stand up comic.
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCHtaXqDklDTydmwgLj5siMg
ETA: Edited a confusing typo
This set by Chris Locke from this year was wonderful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt3VUKcGpRo