Funny Stuff?

In 2018 Dave Chappelle did a pair of comedy specials in which he commented -- not particularly sensitively -- on some of the allegations against comedian Louis C.K., as well as the way that transgender people confused him. He was immediately targeted by people who thought he went too far. Many folks so targeted apologized profusely for their transgressions, but Chappelle chose a different path.

The end result of that path was Sticks and Stones, his 2019 special in which he doubles down on some of the same kinds of jokes that got him in trouble before as well as some commentary on what that kind of mindset can do to stand-up comedy. Chappelle weaves his usual observations about race and class in and around the, but in many cases is clearly targeting "wokeness" and some of its weirder ramifications.

Sticks and Stones is a hit and miss outing compared to some of Chappelle's earlier material, although the hits are some of the funnier bits he's ever done. His take on the Jussie Smollett matter from earlier this year and recounting some of the "discussions" he had with the Standards and Practices department while doing his early Aughts Chappelle's Show stand out. One of the things that has helped him since his earliest days are the times when he gets tickled enough at his own jokes that he has to stop and crack up. It doesn't really rise to the level of "breaking character," since at this point Chappelle does his routines pretty much as is, but it helps him show that he can laugh at himself just as much as he can anyone else. That willingness to stand in front of the target, so to speak, helps push most of his material over the finish line to get what a comic most wants: A room of people laughing together at the weird stuff that makes us all pretty funny when you think about it.

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Whitney Cummings took a little time off after her most recent full-time gig -- a lead writer on the revivial of Roseanne in 2018. When the star tweeted racially offensive jokes, Cummings quit the show, which was later retooled without namesake Roseanne Barr. Cummings came back to the stage with a tour and a 2019 Netflix comedy special, Can I Touch It?

She opens with a funny take on how recent discussions and highlighting of sexual harassment may not have fully gotten through to men -- who seem to better understand how to not bother a working service dog than a co-worker -- and continues through some of the more interesting minefields that lie in the land of relationships between the sexes. Now in her late '30s, Cummings has developed a maturity that lets her take aim at the immaturity she sometimes finds among men in the same age range -- she's a grown woman and has little patience for ungrown men who ought to be, well, grown.

Cummings devotes a major chunk of the show to a routine about the development of "sex robots," or animatronic characters that can include a large number of randomized responses in conversation and other activity. The highlight is her debut of a robot modeled on her as she describes the process by which it was created -- and made into an exact likeness. The segment is funny but not quite as funny as she might have wanted it to be and could probably do with about five fewer minutes in order to weed out some of the more "meh" material. Overall, though, the show is a better than average outing and a nice return for a comedienne who may have felt more than a little blindsided by the hurricane of crazy called "Roseanne Barr."

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The high volume of comedy specials from Netflix -- because they're generally inexpensive and don't take too many resources to produce and release -- has led some people to suggest that the quality level of the product is going to suffer.

Appearing for the "pro" side of that argument is Nikki Glaser. Glaser has hosted a number of podcasts and cable shows and thanks to the folks in Los Gatos now has her first comedy special, Bangin'. Glaser's appearances on the late night shows have been moderately amusing but they're light-years ahead of the four-smiles-per-hour barrage of unfunny crassness of Bangin'. Skip it.