Please Enjoy Yet Another Great Mark Normand Late Night Set
Mark Normand and his style of comedy are almost tailor made for late night. That’s probably why he keeps getting to do it on a pretty regular basis.
Conan Tries Training Wonder Woman Style with Wonder Woman Herself, Gal Galdot
Clueless Fighter with Conan O’Brien should be the next remote segment series that Team Coco does, right?
This attempt at going through martial arts training with Gal Gadot is just latest example. These other attempts at learning how to fight are pretty swell too.
Seaton Smith’s Beautifully Navigates Race Relations and Police Brutality on Conan
Seaton Smith’s Beautifully Navigates Race Relations and Police Brutality on Conan
Being frank, honest, and vulnerable, Seaton Smith delivered an set that further illustrates the weirdness of the racial tension and the abuse of excessive force by certain police officers.
Also, he closes with one of the best jokes on the subject of police brutality that we’ve heard in a while.
Watch Seaton’s set here.
Conan O’Brien and His Writers Are Going to Trial Over Alleged ‘Lifting of Jokes’ for Monologue
Conan O’Brien and His Writers Are Going to Trial Over Alleged ‘Lifting of Jokes’ for Monologue
In comedy, parallel thought is just an unfortunate occupational hazard. More than once, we’ve seen comedians come up with the same joke, word-for-word, without either of them having the slightest inclination of doing anything coming close to joke theft.
In the more niche world of late night monologue joke writing, the likelihood of parallel thought increases times several over for reasons that were brought up in the hearing that preceded them moving to trial. Basically, there is “limited variation” in how a joke can be made from a day’s news headline, especially for the fact it has to be written as a one-liner joke rather than a longer bit, story, etc.
Therein lies the rub of having to prove intellectual theft or copyright infringement as it relates to joke thievery and why this trial is an important one.
Essentially, one Alex Kaseberg is claiming Conan writers saw his tweets and lifted them to use as monologue jokes on an episode of Conan. There is no “smoking gun” of access to Kaseberg’s feed (as opposed to what happened to Tig Notaro and her short film) where he posted the jokes that were allegedly lifted and yet, this case will be going to trial.
In the hearing, they actually had an “expert” calculate a percentage of how likely it would be that one of Conan’s writers and Kaseberg would come up with the same joke, which is just plain silly. While there is a limit on the angles one can have in a monologue joke based on the same premise, trying to calculate a percentage of a punchline being the same from two different people is a fool’s errand. Someone’s creativity can’t really be quantified to a specific number value and then be compared to someone else’s “creativity number value”.
So, this case has the potential to set a very dangerous precedent if it goes Kaseberg’s way.
If you watch a lot of late night monologues, you’ll notice that dozens and dozens of staff writers do come up with virtually the same punchline quite often. Much larger numbers of folks come up with similar punchlines on Twitter as well. None of those staff writers really hold a grudge to the point of filing a suit because they are well aware of how pervasive parallel thought is in their line of work and they also know that they’ll have to write a bunch of jokes the very next day and the day after that.
Joke thievery does happen, but, from where we’re standing, we see most people in comedy, especially with such a visible position as writing on a TV show, going to great lengths these days to avoid the horrendous scarlet label of “joke thief”.
As Rob Delaney pointed out after having a joke stolen from him, comedians and comedy writers ought to know that their comedy is more than just a few jokes as opposed to the thousands that they’ll write over their career.
Hopefully, this will all be sorted out soon and Conan and his staff can just write a fun, ridiculous sketch about it.
Joe List Shares a Tale of Being Very Protective of His Teeth
Conan is one of the few late night shows that not only features stand-up, but often lets comedians tell a story, which often ends up being a pretty fantastic.
Joe List’s story of him and his teeth is one of those stories. Watch it, from last week’s Conan, here.
Watch Ian Abramson Do Stand Up in a Shock Collar on Conan
When doing stand-up on late night, there is a lot of pressure to deliver your set perfectly just as you’ve rehearsed for dozens and dozens of times over.
Ian Abramson upped the ante by performing his late night set on last night’s Conan with a shock collar designed for dogs and giving the remote control that operates the collar to a random audience member.
It’s one of the more weird and wonderful sets of stand-up that you’ll have seen in your lifetime.
Please Enjoy Joe Pera’s Latest Set on Conan
Joe Pera is a delight of a comedian in a way that you’ve probably never ever imagined a comedian could be.
That’s why we’re excited that he’s getting more and more performances in places for all the world can see.
Without further interruption, please watch Joe’s stand-up set from last night’s Conan.
Adam Pally Provides More Proof That He Might Be the Next Go-To Great Late Night Guest
As we’ve said before, there are a handful of people that get to go on late night talk shows and bring enough of their own spunk to make for several memorable moments that will endure the test of time. Bill Murray, Stephen Wright, and Charlyne Yi come to mind for us in this regard.
With several appearances with ridiculous get ups and entrances, including this most recent one from last night’s Conan, we’ll add Adam Pally to that list of who you should always catch on late night.
Honestly, we wouldn’t be surprised if people started cosplaying with Pally’s various costumes over the years.
Conan Writers Dan Cronin and Andrés du Bouchet Are Doing a Live Q&A About the Nut Spoon Sketch
Conan Writers Dan Cronin and Andrés du Bouchet Are Doing a Live Q&A About the Nut Spoon Sketch
You may say, “Nut spoon? What’s a nut spoon and how can that be fodder for a sketch?” Well, comedy legend Carl Reiner is a big fan of the ‘nut spoon sketch’ that aired on last week’s Conan.
As a result, Conan staffers Dan Cronin and Andrés du Bouchet are doing a Q&A just on that sketch alone with Aaron Bleyaert moderating. No other show would do a whole conversation on camera about a single sketch and that’s part of why we love Conan.
Watch the Q&A that’s live right now here.
For ‘Made in Mexico’, Conan Invited Mexican Stand Up Sofia Niño De Rivera to Perform en Español
From top to bottom, Conan O’Brien really did have an all Mexican crew and set of guests for his Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico episode this week.
That includes a great stand-up set from Mexican comedian Sofia Niño De Rivera done in Spanish. With jokes about Trump and botox, it’s just another really good example of how we have more in common that we don’t.
Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico Premieres Tonight
Really, this is one of the only things that people should be watching on TV tonight.
Conan’s very special episode where he goes to Mexico to do an entire episode made with Mexican labors premieres tonight at 10PM on TBS.
Here’s the cold open for Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico.
Conan O’Brien Sees if Mexicans Are Willing to Give Donations to Build Trump’s Border Wall
For Conan O’Brien’s upcoming “Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico”, one of Conan’s brilliant segments will be going around to see if the people of Mexico are really going to pay for the border wall that Trump promised.
Watch to see how much, if any, money Conan collected for that “big, beautiful” wall. (spoiler alert: he doesn’t get any money, but what Mexicans offer up to Trump is pretty great.)
This very special episode of Conan premieres on Wednesday, March 1st at 10PM on TBS.
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll Start Their Conan Interview Off in “Crisis”
Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, the stars of Oh, Hello and upcoming hosts of The Spirit Awards, went on Conan last night ”in the middle of having a spat”.
This just goes to show that wigs, old person make up, and fake arguments or not, Kroll and Mulaney are one of the great comedy duos of our time.
That’s part of why they have two cockroaches at a zoo named after them.
Conan O’Brien Set to Go to Mexico to Tape an Episode of ‘Conan’ with All Mexican Labor
Conan will actually stepping up from his normal going to a foreign country to visit and taping a bunch of super fun remote segments when visiting Mexico.
As a part of a greater efforts to normalize what are now tense relations between the U.S. and México, he’ll be taping an episode in Mexico City with Mexican labor to make an episode entitled, “Conan Without Borders: Made in México”.
It is without a doubt that Conan O’Brien is now the elder statesman of American late night (and maybe a goodwill ambassador for an even greater scope than that).
O’Brien details the event further here.
This very special episode is set to air on Wednesday, March 1st at 10PM on TBS.
Watch Daniel Sloss Explain How He’s Only Kind of a Sinister Person
Daniel Sloss is hands down one of Scotland’s best comedy exports today. He’s one of Conan’s favorite comedians to have back to perform again and again.
Watch and see for yourself in his latest set where he thoroughly explains his inner darkness lying beneath his good person exterior.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Stopped by Trump’s Inauguration
Few are better at causing puckish mischief with a puppet than Robert Smigel and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. All throughout this last election cycle, he made following the campaign trail a little more tolerable with his Hulu specials.
So, naturally, Triumph went by the Inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States and made this, as expected, amazing remote segment for last night’s Conan.
Please Enjoy Billy Wayne Davis’ Set from Last Week’s Conan
Billy Wayne Davis is a clever, smart delight wrapped in a friendly Southern accent.
His set from Conan this past week is perfect evidence of that.
Also, you should get his Live from Third Man Records album that just came out because it’s even more proof of how great Billy is.
Andrés du Bouchet Plays a Recently Defected Kompromat on Conan
Breaking the fourth wall, rolling with whatever comes along, clever ridiculousness, and Andrés du Bouchet are just some of the reasons why some of best late night sketches are on Conan.
Watch du Bouchet’s latest turn as a recently defected Russian ‘kompromat’ (state sponsored blackmailer) here.
Please Enjoy Emily Heller’s Latest Conan Set
We’d wager that you will probably not ever hear a better joke that includes Trump and Air Bud and you have the brilliant Emily Heller to thank for that.
Watch her whole set from last night’s Conan here.
Chief at Turner Says Conan to Shift from Nightly Format to Weekly Format, UPDATED: Turner’s Kevin Reilly Says ‘Conan’ to Remain Weekly Right Now, Developing ‘Clueless Gamer’ as a Show
There are few specifics on this reveal from Turner CEO John Martin other than Turner is retooling Conan based off of the successes of Conan O’Brien going to different places like South Korea, Cuba, Berlin, Armenia and doing special episodes of the show from there. There’s no word as to when this will happen or what exactly a newly formatted Conan show will be like
So, this could very well mean getting one night of Conan a week, but him going out of the studio much more often, perhaps like an Anthony Bourdain style show.
We love the idea of him being out in “the elements” as that’s where he has every other late night talk show host beat, but we’d be curious to see if and how other parts of his show like the amazing absurdist sketches will figure into whatever this new format ends up being.
UPDATE: Kevin Reilly, Turner’s Entertainment Chief, in speaking to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety cleared up the notion that TBS would be making Conan go weekly. The format switch has been discussed, but Reilly says nothing is changing right now.
That being said, they’re developing Conan’s very popular segment, Clueless Gamer, as a spin-off show. Given the existence of Lip Sync Battle and various spin-offs of segments on Corden, this move could TBS’ show born out of a viral late night segment.
The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016
2016 is officially, finally, thankfully over (as long as you don’t think about time largely being a human construct, a new number of year doesn’t make things automatically better, and Trump becoming POTUS).
So, it’s time for our year end list, The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016.
For reference of how we do our year-end, best of lists, which is a far cry from most other comedy best of lists anywhere else, check out our lists from past years: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Got it? Great.
Here’s 2016′s edition:
1. Jake Weisman’s Send Up of Peter Travers Reviews-Rolling Stone has gone through so much recently, you might have forgot this amazing NSFW parody that Weisman made of Travers movie reviews.
2. Rory Scovel’s set on Conan Where He Went Into the Crowd-Rory Scovel pushes the envelope in stand-up in the best ways imaginable and this latest Conan set is evidence of his juggling of being fearless and silly at the same time.
3. Conan Without Borders-Conan O’Brien’s trips overseas to Berlin and South Korea highlight every single comedy gear that Conan can shift into and proves that he can almost make any situation hilarious.
4. “Killer” by Matt Kazman-Kazman achieves one of the best comedic payoffs on screen in 2016, including film and TV, with this incredibly crafted short film.
5. The Jackie and Laurie Show-Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin found a way to make a podcast where comedians talk comedy and have it be original, damn funny, and crucial.
6 Hebecky Drysbell-Reigning all time UCB Cagematch champions Heather Anne Campbell and Rebecca Drysdale showcase such virtuosity as an improv duo that is as hilarious as it is, when we think about it, beautiful.
7. Chris Estrada-If you’re looking for diamonds in the rough right now, we’d say catch Estrada’s next set and you’ll see how great his jokes are drawing from his life growing up in LA.
8. Cool Sh*t/Weird Sh*t’s Neighborhood Walking Tour-the LA outfit of the experimental comedy show brilliantly took its audience, one night, around the block and staged such moments as a couple fake fighting in a real Food 4 Less, a woman crying trying to explain the plot of a movie in a Walgreens, and running into an adult orphan waiting to be adopted off the street.
9. Womanhood with Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone-Nancherla and Firestone compliment each other so well in being goofy on this show that goes through absurd explanations of “womanhood” that it should be the next web series that gets made into a full fledged TV show.
10. Fleabag-Phoebe Waller Bridge has the UK’s fantastic, epic answer to You’re The Worst.
11. Giulia Rozzi’s True Love-Rozzi’s hour achieves what a good rom com achieves by skewering love and all of its faults as much as it celebrates it.
12. Mike Leffingwell’s 12 Angry Men: The One Man Show-The concept of a single man doing a solo show adaptation of the classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men is funny enough, but Mike Leffingwell then pulled off performing it perfectly.
13. Josh Sharp doing an hour while dipping in and out of singing D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel?) with a live band-Sharp’s stories are wonderfully crafted and told, and then, accentuated by his lovely voice singing D’Angelo’s most well known song like there’s no tomorrow.
14. Not Safe with Nikki Glaser’s Remote Segments–Glaser fed porn stars lines for scenes, visited a foot fetish convention, and highlighted sex in such a fun way that wasn’t attempted by any other TV show.
15. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s Make Donald Drumpf Again-Oliver and company’s take down of Trump was one of the best researched, strategized, written, executed pieces on Trump during this whole election cycle.
16. Disengaged-Jen Tullock and Hannah Utt’s web series following a lesbian couple rushing into marriage was one of the best pieces of romantic comedy we saw in 2016
17. [F*ck This] Late Night Show with David Brown-In a way, David Brown sees Eric Andre’s rebellion against the traditional late night format and raises it some more chaos. He has a separate creative team ruining his talk show as it happens via flashmobs, waterboarding, etc.
18. Baron Vaughn’s Blaxisential Crisis-Baron Vaughn’s latest album oscillates perfectly between deep and crucial issues of race, class, purpose and flights of imaginative fancy putting Vaughn almost in a class by himself.
19. Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill-the odd couple pairing of Goldthwait and Gill is unlike anything comedy has seen before. Because it lives in truth (they really are roommates), it’s one of the best hosting duos in comedy today.
20. Megan Gailey-Gailey, with her stand-up, is simultaneously an undeniable delight and a force to be reckoned with, which only doubles up how delightful she is to watch.
21. Liartown USA-When it comes to parodying covers for books, magazines, Netflix menus, etc., Sean Tejaratchi might just do it better than anyone as you can see above.
22. This Bill Burr joke: “How many Toyota Camrys do you have to see before you realize most people’s dreams don’t come true?”-We usually refrain from transcribing jokes out of context and in print, but we haven’t stopped laughing at this searingly honest joke from Burr since we first saw him work on it several months ago and felt it imperative that it be on this list.
23. Sing Street-The 80s, Ireland, young love, and diegetic musicals get married perfectly in this film by John Carney that spent far too little time in theaters.
24. Derek Sheen’s Tiny Idiot-This album made it clear that Sheen could be an heir apparent to Patton Oswalt, bu very clearly has his own, unique comedic take on the world today.
25. Stephen Colbert’s Close to His Election 2016 Live Special-For once, the world got to see the real Stephen Colbert who is so intelligent, well spoken, caring, and one of the only people that could pull of dealing with immediate aftermath of an impending Trump win on TV.
26. Will Hines’ A Soundly Defeated Man-Hines, in a series of sketch vignettes, takes the comedic self-deprecation to a new level of artistry by showing how defeated one man really can be.
27. The Lobster-Yorgos Lanthimos might have made the best dystopian rom com in recent memory and, possibly, for several years to come.
28. Jena Friedman’s American C*nt-Friedman is unrelenting in her dismantling of the patriarchy amongst other several other controversial issues. She handily deals with them in this special, placing her in a very important position in comedy going forward in 2017.
29. Jamie Loftus-Loftus is that amazing rare breed of comedian that blends dark, absurdist humor with genuine vulnerability and she can do so in her stand-up or through own self-styled animation (ex. doing her own animations for old tapes of how to tell children about someone dying).
30. Chris Duffy’s You Get a Spoon-Duffy’s NYC based, curated variety show is filled with so much positivity from celebrating the favorite things of his favorite performers that you almost can’t leave the show without a smile on your face (or winning a prize).
31. Bear Supply-The quick, music fueled scenes of Mike Castle, Shaun Boylan, Joey Greer, Jordan Bull, Morgan Christensen and James Heaney is impeccable improvisational comedy.
32. The Cooties-Musical comedy is alive and well with the satirical power pop songs of The Cooties.
33. Aparna Nancherla’s Just Putting It Out There-Aparna’s album is proof positive that her wondrous version of self-deprecation can be ultimately uplifting.
34. Hunt for the Wilderpeople-Taika Waititi continues his film streak with a charming-as-can-be film about a troubled youth surviving in the wilds of New Zealand.
35. Don’t Think Twice-Mike Birbiglia gets really close to hitting too close to home for some people in comedy, but that draws out one of the best depictions of life in comedy (or attempting to do so) that has ever been put into a movie.
36. The Opening of The Pack Theater-The DIY, punk rock, spirit that runs in the veins of much of LA comedy got a new, wonderful outlet at The Pack Theater.
37. Jetzo-Chad Damiani and Juzo Yoshida mash-up improv, clowning, kimonos, dramatic live musical accompaniment, and breaking the fourth wall to make the marvelous whirlwind known as Jetzo.
38. DJ Real (Nick Stargu)-SF comedian Nick Stargu’s alias DJ Real mixes an uncanny command of musicianship with an über-clever style of comedy that dazzled and had us doubling over laughing at the same time.
39. Daniel Webb-Hailing from Austin, TX, stand-up comedian Daniel Webb is a splendid rush of charisma that probably has a better Obama story than almost anyone you know.
40. Laurie Kilmartin’s 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad-Kilmartin’s special, born out of jokes she tweeted while her dad was passing away, is so darkly funny and has an unmistakable humanity, which has us rethinking that maxim of comedy equals tragedy plus time.
41. Kristin Rand-LA got a brief glimpse of the unstoppable charm of Rand when she moved here from Denver and was all the better for it.
42. James Fritz’s Still Together-The way Fritz exquisitely channels rage and bleakness into this debut album is magnificent.
43. Roast Battle-What started as two open mic’ers fighting in a parking lot has now earned its way to a March Madness style tournament shown on Comedy Central and we’re betting that Roast Battle still has much more potential ahead of them.
44. Josh Fadem-Fadem made a return to performing more regularly in 2016 and his magnetic positivity and pure, unabashed goofiness (complete with impromptu costumes) definitely got us through the whole of last year.
45. Sam Jay-Jay moved to LA from Boston and took her insightful, brash, unfiltered comedy (that happens to come through the lens of being a newly married lesbian) and has become a the LA scene favorite almost instantly.
46. Dave Waite’s Dead Waite-Dave Waite’s latest hour takes being a goofball to new heights of brilliance.
47. Of Oz The Wizard by Matt Bucy-Absurdity doesn’t get more pure than Bucy’s re-editing the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz and alphabetizing the entire thing, start to finish.
48. This Friday Forty-Most other quiz shows can’t compare to Scott Gimple and Dave Holmes’ This Friday Forty that not only has topical trivia, but fantastic sketch characters to introduce said trivia.
49. Jay Larson’s Human Math-Few comedians so deftly explore the minutia of human nature like Larson does on this album.
50. Josh Gondelman’s Physical Whisper-Gondelman’s craftsmanship in observational humor is exceptional on this album and accentuated nicely by his sunny stage persona.
51. Kyle Mizono right after the election-There was a lot of raw nerves exposed in comedians right after Trump’s win and few did it so purely and well as Mizono. For a whole set, she screamed her jokes with legitimate fury, but without being off-putting (well, if you’re not a Trump supporter that is).
52. Lady Dynamite-Maria Bamford’s truth and Mitch Hurwitz’s wildly imaginative way of making episodic television combine for a comedy series that is blazing its own trail at a time where that gets harder and harder to do in a show about the life of a comedian.
53. Hail, Caesar!-The Coen Brothers’ latest comedy set in Hollywood’s Golden Age is one of their sharpest and most beautiful works that has plenty of scenes that could be amazing short films on their own.
54. Moses Storm’s Sweater-Moses Storm never ceases to amaze us as he, this time, wore a sweater that had several strings attached to it for audience members to grab so they could literally be connected to him while he’s telling a story.
55. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee-Samantha Bee has cemented a legacy in her short time on the air with her take-no-prisoners-and-then-some style of satirical news coverage.
56. Gene Wilder and Fidel Castro’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (in Limbo)-UCB’s Beth Appel and Rose Marziale put a hell of a show to end 2016 with as they used the whole of the UCB Sunset complex to have an immersive comedy show (a la Sleep No More) that included karaoke with dead celebrities, a fake newsroom, and the woods where Hillary Clinton is living.
57. Morris From America-Chad Hartigan’s refreshing coming-of-age story following an American black kid trying to grow up in Germany with his single father hit a very sweet, feel-good note that everyone needs to see (especially since it had a short theatrical run).
58. Britanick’s “The Foul Line”-Though BriTANick had gone a few years without a new video, this absurdist folly makes up for all that time lost.
59. 20th Century Women-Mike Mills’ latest is a great follow up to Beginners and is an award worthy comedy that might actually be able to compete with heavily favored dramas this year.
60. Three Busy Debras-The comedy trio of Three Busy Debras got to play Carnegie Hall through this devilishly fun crowdfunding campaign.
61. Paul F. Tompkins’ on Political Correctness-One of comedy’s best gave one of the best explanations of political correctness’ necessary role in comedy.
62. The Dollop-Shining a light on the dark corners in American history is as important as it has ever been and Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds do so with a devilish laugh and their effortless riffing up comedy gold.
63. Floor Knobs-This AOK sketch from Heather Anne Campbell is one of our absolute favorites and, rather than spoiling anything, we’ll just leave it at that.
64. David Gborie’s Late Night Stand Up Debut-Gborie takes an unexpected move in his opening to this performances that sets up a truly wonderful late night stand-up debut.
65. Cholofit-Frankie Quinones’ cholo exercise guru is done so well that it leaves you wanting it to be a real exercise program.
66. Oh, Hello-John Mulaney and Nick Kroll took two characters from just being a small bit to the heights of Broadway. George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon are just so fully realized and funny that it doesn’t matter if you miss one of their references or not.
67. Chris Garcia’s Laughing and Crying at the Same Time-Garcia meshes deeply personal stories and utter silliness that do the album title justice.
68. Cole Escola-Escola’s solo show follows him playing several outrageous characters (switching wigs and costumes while on stage) allowing for another fun layer in between the cavalcade of delightful, short monologues.
69. Catastrophe season 2-Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney have kept their devastatingly funny look into an unplanned family up to the very high standard they set in season 1.
70. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s Election Watch 2016-Robert Smigel might have not known that having a dog puppet on his hand roasting people to their face for years would be the perfect preparation for covering the 2016 election (on both sides of the aisle), but, as the handful of Hulu specials prove, it really was.
71. Joel Kim Booster’s set on Conan-Just telling the story of being adopted by a Midwestern white family from Korea and being gay is fascinating enough, but Joel Kim Booster made that story blisteringly funny on late night.
72. Angie Tribeca-Physical comedy and sight gags would almost seem out-of-turn in comedy these days, but the proudly silly Angie Tribeca on TBS is thankfully changing all of that.
73. Trump vs. Bernie-While ‘Trump vs. Bernie’ will probably be a presidential candidate match-up that more people will long for than ever, Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian’s Trump vs. Bernie will go down as one of the best bits (that includes the live tour, the Fusion series, and album) of comedy to come out of one of the worst elections in U.S. history.
74. Joe Pera’s Set on Seth Meyers-Pera’s weirdness is one-of-a-kind in comedy as it’s very warm and inviting. He got to share that with the world with his set on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
75. Vice Prinicpals-When Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ diabolical teachers one-up, in the best way, any other teachers in any other comedies that go off-the-deep-end in this HBO series.
76. Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio-Neely’s latest creations seems to offer up bits from the weirdest corners of Neely’s mind and this animated sketch show is all the better for it.
77. Hari Kondabolu’s Mainstream American Comic-Much is deservingly said about Kondabolu’s expertise in talking politics, class, race, etc. in his comedy, but this album also shows that his comedy is stellar no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.
78. Jon Glaser Loves Gear-Glaser does meta comedy better than almost anybody else working right now and his new show on TruTV is proof of that.
79. How to Win at Feminism by Reductress-This whip-smart manifesto about feminism solidifies Reductress’ place in modern satire next to The Onion and Clickhole.
80. Great Minds with Dan Harmon-Harmon getting to spend time with some of history’s most notable figures ended up being one of the best shows that the History Channel has done in years.
81. Derrick Brown-Very few poets can reach the point of being laugh out loud funny and still deeply emotive quite like Brown, both on stage and in his book, Uh-Oh.
82. Natalie Palamides’ solo show Laid-Palamides makes a solo show that’s so absurd and funny, it might almost be in a unique category of its own.
83. W. Kamau Bell’s Semi-Prominent Negro–Bell explores all of today’s hot button issues (racial inequality, transgender identity, gentrification, etc.) comedically, as he is very skilled at doing, but does it in such a jovial way that they don’t seem so controversial anymore.
84. Other People–Chris Kelly’s hilarious and heartbreaking movie based on his own life in dealing with the passing of his mother from cancer is one of Kelly’s finest work, which is even more impressive as his first feature done while being an SNL writer.
85. Emo Philips improvising with Jason Van Glass-Emo’s comedic prowess is so great that he can improvise with Van Glass like they’re a veteran improv duo.
86. Return of MST3K-Of the things from our childhoods that are being brought back, Mystery Science Theater 3000 returning with a sweeping mandate in the form of a record breaking Kickstarter campaign is one that deserves to be revived.
87. Wyatt Cenac’s An Angry Night in November-Cenac’s EP captures lightning in a bottle (it’s his set from his weekly Night Train show) of immediate post-election comedy that is pure, raw, and biting.
88. Justin Sayre’s Gay Agenda-Sayre makes a compilation of his “meetings” as ‘Chairman of the International Order of Sodomites’ that give a hysterical look into the many great, complex layers of LGBTQ life.
89. Ahamed Weinberg-Both as a stand-up and a filmmaker (watch Rasberries), Weinberg is on a path to being another great modern comedy multi-hyphenate.
90. Jon Dore Gets a Bad Backstory-Dore once again shows how to toe the line when entering the darkest territories of comedic material and do so successfully while being utterly absurd.
91. Ron Babcock videos-A dying reel and an ad for his old CRV really showcase the cleverness and ingenuity of comedy’s Ron Babcock.
92. Reggie Watts’ Spatial-Watts’ latest special is his best and most ambitious one yet as it includes his beatboxing, a faux sitcom, tap dancing, and way more.
93. Alex & Jude–Alex Hanpeter and Jude Tedmori have figured out how to give slapstick, physical comedy the proper twist for 2016 audiences, which includes a literal bit of audience participation of making Jude a target.
94. Conner O’Malley-O’Malley takes satirical field pieces to a whole new level as he plays and wholeheartedly commits to dark, fully realized characters inspired by vaping, Alex Jones, and Cubs fans. He interacts with real people at Trump rallies, vape conventions and outside of Wrigley Field and goes along with whatever happens.
95. Doug Stanhope’s No Place Like Home-Stanhope has an amazing take on mental illness in this special and opted to shoot it in his own hometown of Bisbee, AZ. Overall, No Place Like Home ranks high up in Stanhope’s extensive catalog of stand-up.
96. “Tond” by Kelly Hudson-Hudson’s short film is one of our favorite bits of existential absurdity of 2016, a year seemingly saturated in nothing but questioning ‘what it all means’.
97. Brett Gelman’s Dinner in America-Gelman’s last special on Adult Swim is one to remember, especially for how searing the satirical commentary on race relations are in it.
98. Miguel Marquez-Marquez bridges a gap, almost literally, between art and comedy as his wry art installations are way funnier (intentionally that is) than nearly anything you’d see in an art museum.
99. Chris Fleming’s Silver Lining–The week following the election seemed as hopeless can be if you voted for Hillary and Fleming offered up a powerful, albeit one with a bit of tomfoolery, message of hope.
100. Norm MacDonald on Conan-Not only is there the expected long, winding roads of Norm’s jokes and stories in this particular appearance, but Conan does an impression of Norm out of frustration that’s spot on.
Conan Shares Last Trump-Obama Call for 2016 That Has Pretty Spot on Ending
Conan’s great recurring segment of “leaked calls” between President Obama and Trump got in its last round for this year.
As that’s the case, Team Coco made sure to make the ending for this edition a little extra special.
Please Enjoy David Gborie Making a Great Late Night Stand-up Debut on Conan
David Gborie is unequivocally a delight and has been so for the years that we’ve known him and seen him going up around town.
This first late night on last night’s Conan set is a trip to “applause break city” throughout and shows off David’s undeniable charm and how great, insightful, and heartfelt his material is.
You can watch Gborie’s set on Conan here.
Rachel Dratch Has to Run Through a Margot Robbie Themed Obstacle Course on Billy on the Street
This actually sends up media coverage and the rise of A-listers more than it does Margot Robbie specifically. The mix of satire is pure silliness is as done exquisitely as to be expected with Billy on the Street.
Either way, it’s another ridiculous and ultra-clever Billy on the Street obstacle course with Rachel Dratch trying to make her way through, kind of terrified, with Billy Eichner yelling the whole way through.
Watch and enjoy it here (and take note of the more subversive edge that Eichner and company have taken this season).
Conan’s Leaked Obama Trump Calls Are One of the Most Fun Recurring Post-Election Bits Right Now
Conan O’Brien and his staff walk such a great, fine line with these recurring leaked phone calls between Obama and Trump.
The bit, born after the election out of the fact that Obama and Trump do have real life conversations, are very silly and clever, a cornerstone of Conan, but it still sticks it to Trump.
Plenty of roaring fire is being held to feet of Trump and his cronies by John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers and they’ll continue to do so exquisitely over the next four years.
With that angle covered, Conan takes the approach he has always taken where he aims for the comedy, specifically the silly and absurd, before getting too political or partisan.
These recurring leaked phone calls accomplishes that and also steers clear of normalizing the situation of President Elect Trump as all of these faux conversations are about how irregular all of this is.
Also, take note how spot on the Obama impersonator is.
It’s a little bit of the best of both worlds in late night satirizing Trump.