I’m expected to write a paragraph introducing the topic, but I really think the title says it all. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the best comedians of 2021!
3. Ricky Gervais
Let me start by saying that I guarantee it takes skill to make Hitler funny. Not many people can do it. They’ve tried. People have lost careers over it. Now watch what happens when Gervais does it.
The style and poise of the man are undefeatable. I am sure that some small minority of his watchers were seething, but the manner in which the whole joke plays out with the back and forth between Hitler and Nietzche, their apparent friendship and the overhanging awkwardness of committing the most murderous faux pas in history is just one example of why Ricky Gervais is a king of comedy.
2. Bill Burr
Insults. People hate insults especially nowadays. They hate perceived insults, they hate real insults, they actively try to find things to be insulted about. So let me say that the balls that it takes to go out on stage and just rip into everyone over and over again . . . those balls have got to be made of steel. That’s Bill Burr in a nutshell. He is that guy — and people love him for it. Watch him tell everyone about how he wants to kill most of the population, including a bunch of them, and see what happens.
You tell me that wasn’t masterfully done. The way he just twists common sense into the morbid and makes fun of everyone, himself included, is just genius.
1. Jim Gaffigan
There are a lot of tropes in comedy. The most basic are to complain about the wife, the airport, something about culture yadda yadda rinse and repeat. At higher levels comedians play with the absurd, quite masterfully, and keep people on their seats. But very few people are able to take the most mundane aspects of life, like the weather, and turn them into gut wrenching hilarity.
Tell me that wasn’t entertaining. Tell me that the King of Clean Comedy does not deserve his throne. And that’s the thing, his genius, unlike most comedians on the road today he doesn’t swear, he doesn’t use political outrage, he doesn’t use family members as targets of faux rage. He just goes out on stage like some sort of funny uncle at a kids party and makes noises, gestures, and voices. And he knocks it out of the park!
I hope you enjoyed my comedy picks. Got any others? Let me know in the comments. Otherwise this is Damien Hanson signing out 🙂
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