5 great stand-up shows to watch on Netflix

Laugh out loud with this comics

And they are all women!

While I've been trying to restrain myself from doing lists in this newsletter, I just couldn't help myself after watching the new Netflix comedy special from Taylor Tomlinson.

Watching it made me laugh out loud, and it got me thinking about other great stand-up specials on the platform. If you aren't someone who typically watches them, the algorithm won't show them to you. So, a list can always come in handy, so you can find those ladies out.

They are not in any particular order or ranking. I'm just writing them as they pop into my head. So, without further ado, here they are:

• Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You

It has been a while since I laughed almost nonstop at a comedy act. Onstage with a mic in her hand, Taylor Tomlinson is shameless. She jokes confidently about her sexual life, mental illness, and her mother’s death from cancer when she was 8.

This innocent-looking Christian girl just says the darkest things in her most recent special, and I'm all in for it.

• Wanda Sykes: Not normal

Wanda Sykes has always cracked me up on The New Adventures of Old Christine. She even managed to constantly sideline the funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus in this series.

Her Netflix special Not Normal explores race, Trump, and raising a family with her white French wife.

• Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

Nanette, which debuted in 2017, is a live comedy written and performed by Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby. Though it is not as funny as the others, it contains interesting social commentary (especially about LGBTQ and women's perspectives). It is an evocative speech punctuated by comedy and an emotive narration of Gadsby's life. It even got her an Emmy. 

• Ali Wong: Baby Cobra

Ali Wong is completely shameless, which makes her extremely funny. I could recommend any of her specials, they are all worth watching. However, it's better to start with the first one, right?

If you haven't watched anything with Ali Wong, you won't regret it. I'm quite sure. So click on this 2018 Netflix special, sit down, and have some laughs at the end of a working day. It will certainly help you decompress.

• Tiffany Hadish: Black Mitzvah

Despite not being able to say for certain that this is the most hilarious comedy special on the list, Tiffany Hadish is without a doubt the funniest person in it.

Her sense of humor is hilarious, and she thinks quickly. Every time she performs, be it on her specials, acting, voice acting, or even interviews, she just surprises everyone. 

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It's not so easy finding good comedy specials, which usually make people skip them on Netflix. But, with this list, I'm pretty sure you will have at least an hour of uncompromising fun. So grab your popcorn and go for it.

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What to watch?

Bo Burnham: Inside. This is quite a different comedy show. Bo Burnham got famous for doing funny music videos on YouTube. He moved on to doing stand-up comedy shows but had to stop because he was having severe panic attacks before and during the shows.

He was finally going to get back to the stage when the pandemic hit. His solution? He can make a comedy show inside by himself, and it's great.

What to read?

So, Anyway…In this autobiography, one of the world's most famous comedians tells the story of his life. Before joining Monty Python, he was a teacher of English, geography, history, and Latin. He joined a comedy group in Cambridge while studying to be a lawyer, and it changed his life.

All it shows is how strange life can be, and just how intelligent the Monty Python crew and comedians generally are. 

What to binge?

Tuca and Bertie. This show combines two of the comics cited before, as two bird-women. One is a carefree toucan named Tuca (Tiffany Hadish), and the other is an anxious songbird, Bertie (Ali Wong). They live in the same apartment building and share their lives in this animated comedy.

It is somewhat reminiscent of Bo Jack the Horseman's weird animal-human combinations. They constantly use animals (and even plants) for jokes. But this show is far more lighthearted than Bo Jack.