Painfully unfunny


Someone made me watch this tonight, and it bothered me so much. So much I need to write about how much it bothered me.

So, why? First off, I do love stand-up. But there is hardly anything original here at all. Zero subtlety. Nearly every joke goes in the most obvious direction, and is shouted at you equally loudly and quickly. Very little cohesion. Just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

Even at his breakneck pace, I finished many of John's "jokes" in my head before he did.

It was occurring to me more and more as this went on, "this wouldn't be funny at all if he weren't saying it in that voice. There is no actual joke to be found here." I wish I could remember some of them, because it was so egregiously lazy, but I for the life of me cannot.

tl;dr: By-the-book comedy for noobs. Humor to me (and really, by definition) is supposed to have an element of surprise, or move in some unexpected direction. That happened all of about 3 times in this show.

Sorry if you really liked this. Different tastes and all. But as someone who deeply loves and appreciates comedy -- this was *beep* awful.

Thank you for reading, that is all.

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Different tastes indeed. Some quotes from youtube.

Two young black women, judging from their photos:

"Deanna C 1 week ago

LMAO. That Def-Jam joke though.wipes my eyes (5 thumbs up)

Ashley Pruitt 1 week ago

I AM CRYING AT THAT PART. 'YA SIMPLE BITCH'" (5 thumbs up)

And another:

"stephanie tyson 2 years ago

he be too funny"

"Tyesha Wallace 6 months ago

11 up and 1 over ya simple bitch!!!!" (42 thumbs up)

"Braxton Myers 7 months ago

I love this guy"

"Cassidy Jankowski 7 months ago

I love this guy"

"Charlottexoxo 3 months ago

Eleven up and one over ya simple bitch 😂😂😂😂😂#bestlineever" (3 thumbs up)

"Abuwami Wilson 1 week ago

I had to pause this special twice because I needed to stop laughing and let the muscles in my face rest for a second. This guy slays." (7 thumbs up)

"KuroiHato69 1 week ago

OMG! He is hilarious!!! I haven't laughed this much in a long time!!" (2 thumbs up)

"dellybelly12345 2 weeks ago

'immma PUSH him' omfg this guy is hilarious" (2 thumbs up)

"SatchaKastnit 2 weeks ago

'Mm. Gross!'
I died." (3 thumbs up)

"jennyfinnell35 1 year ago

Very funny lol wow. I,m lovin it."

"Marc-Étienne Bernier 2 weeks ago

This guy is a genius! Damn hilarious! Never heard of him before!" (3 thumbs up)

"CaptJosmy 4 months ago (edited)

1:23 the 'trying his best' killed me

I just discovered that guy thanks to tumblr he's hilarious" (5 thumbs up)

"LakersRock24171 3 years ago

Best stand up comic ever"

"pteraptosaurus 1 week ago

...brilliant man" (10 thumbs up)

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I'm in the same exact boat. I watched this special based on the strength of his reviews and his overall popularity on sites such as reddit and youtube. Disappointment didn't really describe my reaction as much as bewilderment. I even forced myself to watch his other special "The Comeback Kid" on the assumption that I must be missing something. Nope, just as bad, if not worse.

Like you said, his jokes are unoriginal, not to mention plain boring. He makes stale jokes about airlines, prostate exams, and Ice-T. It must be the voice that does it for most of his fans because I don't really see the wit there.

In addition to your criticisms, I think his entire routine is too scripted and over-polished. The stories are completely unbelievable and/or difficult to relate to. A bunch of "Wouldn't it be funny if..." scenarios concocted with no regards to authenticity.

By the way, the other response to your post by josephnatescott is unintentionally hilarious. Why did he feel the need to point out that at least two of Mulaney's fans from youtube are young black women? LOL

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I have a deep love and appreciation for comedy as well. And I enjoyed this special.

Was it ground-breaking? Of course not. And the Comeback Kid was worse.
His jokes are overly polished, but it works for many of them. My only complaint is many of his endings to individual jokes are clumsy.
The airport story was great; the ending was corny.
The high school party was funny; the ending was underwhelming.
I don't care for the Law and Order obsession, but I appreciate his dissection of their overused tropes and archetypes.

His style is fast-paced, but that's less problematic than the inability he's displayed at highlighting the funniest parts of his jokes. His mid-joke observations are almost always funnier than his punchlines, which is a problem.

I'm hoping the Comeback Kid isn't an indication of his current momentum.
I believe he could turn it around, but he needs to really analyze his jokes.

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