Ha-ha!

Note to the reader and/or viewer: Both of these comedy specials make extensive use of a free-range vocabulary, so those who do not appreciate such language should consider themselves warned.

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Since winning Last Comic Standing in 2008, Iliza Shlesinger has not lacked for work, appearing in several different cable shows, hosting a podcast, writing a book and releasing four comedy specials. Her 2018 entry, one of Netflix's myriad comic releases, is called Elder Millennial and finds herself looking at how things have changed for her as she has matured and gotten engaged. (After the special filmed, she was married in May 2018).

Much of Shlesinger's material comes from considering the ways that women live and work in modern society, dealing with their expectations of themselves and each other as well as the ones society puts on them. Elder Millennial still works that vein heavily, but Shlesinger adds observation on what life is like in her mid-30s and how differently things were for her as a young person than they would be for someone today. Yes, she is a member of the "Millennial Generation," but as an older one she remembers things like landlines and other quaint devices that may mystify modern teens and twenty-somethings.

Elder Millennial ranks with Freezing Hot as her best work: There are some lags and a few soft spots, but both shows are solid stem to stern. Shlesinger relies on a very sharp eye, a lot of smarts and a quirky view of the world that lets her find the funniest angle for things that most people wouldn't necessarily think to make jokes about. But once she's made the joke, the humor in whatever she's observed is obvious, and viewers can see the funny angles for themselves.

Her likeability helps her sell the material, as well as her willingness to make a little fun of herself while she makes fun of everything and everyone else. In an interview Shlesinger says she steers clear of political humor, which can get outdated easily and which can too easily come off as preaching to her audience. She obviously has a point of view, and you don't have to watch very long before you figure out what a lot of her beliefs about society, men, women and the world are, but her expression of that point of view is carried through a desire to build people up rather than knock others down.

And of course, in the end Elder Millennial works because Shlesinger is funny. There's a weird little wave in comedy that for some reason celebrates comedians who come out and tell stories about themselves that aren't funny. So far, Iliza Shelsinger will have none of that, and comedy fans are the better for it.

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Before Joe Rogan had a popular podcast, before he was a commentator for UFC and some other mixed martial arts shows, before he was the host of Fear Factor, before he was on a sitcom, he was a standup comic.

Having not listened to his podcast or watched much MMA, having taken a pass on Fear Factor because, well, neurons, and having not had a TV when he was on Newsradio, I have no idea whether or not Joe Rogan is actually stupid. Given his success, I'm inclined to believe he's not.

But boy oh boy, there's no reason to equivocate about his new Netflix special Strange Times. It's most definitely stupid. I've no idea what Rogan's original comedy career was like before he had the other gigs, but I can't believe he got the level of fame and fortune that he has if this Dice-Lite by way of Pseudo-Kinison is what he had to offer.

One of the special's biggest problems is the way Rogan can't seem to get his delivery and his punchline to hit the right notes at the same time. Strange Times seems to follow the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of comedy: When Rogan has a good punchline, he somehow muffs the delivery; off just enough to sap the material of the laugh it ought to get. And when he nails the delivery, it's with a punchline that doesn't make enough sense to make the trip to get there worth the time.

The handful of times he gets both together it's on a joke that you think you've probably heard before. Not because Rogan stole it -- he famously called out Carlos Mencia for joke theft a few years ago in a very public spat, so joke theft is most definitely not his thing. But because it's the kind of joke your really funny friend said that time at that party somewhere, which a lot of funny friends around the world happened upon and told their groups of friends. In fact, most of Strange Times gives the impression that Rogan is that funny friend, who manages to keep everyone at the party or the office or wherever in stitches by riffing off stuff that people around him said but who's out of his depth when it comes to crafting material out of whole cloth.

Although Rogan himself is probably not dumb -- after all, Netflix paid him for this -- he manages to hit "ignorant" more than once. Early in the show he suggests that Thomas Jefferson, if brought into modern-day America, would be aghast that we had not rewritten the Constitution to keep up with modern times. Yeah, because whatever comes out of Twitter is better than the Bill of Rights. At one point he riffs a little on theology and religion, proving that as a theological thinker he's an excellent water-cooler funny guy.