The stand-up specials that get the most attention tend to be made by celebrities, but as dedicated comedy fans know, the funniest ones are much more likely to emerge from midcareer workhorses, like the artists who recently put out these new hours.
Theo Von: "Regular People" (Netflix)
One of the most magnetic storytellers in comedy today is Theo Von, and he plays with hot-button cultural issues, but not for cheap shock. The title refers to the people from his Louisiana hometown.
There's not only sincerity to his act, but an eccentricity that takes you by surprise. He opens by mocking his appearance — "I look like somebody who might have matches on them" — before a series of yarns about kids he grew up with, like a boy named Tot, who had "a lick of autism, a pretty good lick of it." There's affection and even innocence in these tales, which sound like a white-guy/red-state version of the "Fat Albert" gang.
Roy Wood Jr.: "Imperfect Messenger" (Comedy Central)
Roy Wood Jr. hopes you are OK but won't ask. "You ask somebody how they're doing now, you'd better be careful, because they might tell you," he says, enunciating consonants like a boxer following through on uppercuts. A correspondent for "The Daily Show," Wood is one of the best political comics today, and this special, a tight hour of provocative jokes told with a deep well of empathy, feels perfectly pitched to the moment.
He pulls off the feat of finding fresh takes on well-worn subjects like the relationship between Black people and the police, but his overarching theme here is the hard work needed to find any scrap of happiness in a cruel world. He is clear about outrages but also admirably willing to explore nuance, even if it makes him look bad.
Ricky Velez: "Here's Everything" (HBO Max)
At his best, Ricky Velez has the swagger of a con man on a hot streak. He's nervy, side-eyeing everyone. Velez talks about anxiety and insecurities rooted in a hardscrabble childhood, but he doesn't wallow in this. If anything, unlike so many of the wealthy boldface-name stand-ups, he speaks of being poor with a refreshing urgency and irreverence.
There's not enough of this in prominent stand-up specials. His bits on the difference between rich and poor are some of his smartest, but the mockery of the old and very young is his funniest. He's sick of people lying about babies on social media. They're not all cute. A new dad, he establishes his cred: "I'm in the parks. Kids are ugly out there." Then he draws a line with defiance: He won't like a baby photo on Instagram. Sure, he might leave a comment: "Better luck next time."
Jo Firestone: "Good Timing With Jo Firestone" (Peacock)
A beloved staple of New York comedy, Jo Firestone has always exuded warmth and good cheer in a scene awash in bitterness and cynicism. As anyone who has seen her co-host the weekly Brooklyn show "Butter Boy" can tell you, she's also an excellent foil. Teaching the workshop in the special, she gooses jokes out of her students by digging into their lives. The most surprising moments, which also happen to be the funniest, are not the jokes, but hearing her students talk about them — how punch lines helped them fall in love, cheer up, make sense of things.
