Two Dudes' Duds

Sebastian Maniscalco is pretty clear when he begins his latest special, Stay Hungry, that he doesn't have much use for more modern understandings of limits on comedy's subject matter or style. He doesn't leave very much off-limits as he questions what seem to him at best silly and at worst bizarre features of life at the end of the second decade of the 21st century.

The mode is middle-aged grump, and you could be forgiven your thought that this material would be right up my alley and aimed directly at me. Perhaps it is, but most of the stories are predictable and lack much punch. Why should an exercise bicycle class would have an impossibly energetic and cheery leader/trainer, he wonders? It's weird. It is weird, but mostly everyone knows that already and Maniscalco's take adds very little texture to either that weird situation or others he explores.

This kind of "Get off my lawn" schtick can be funny even when its familiar, but it comes best in a package that matches the material. Brad Upton's receding hairline, off-the rack suit and bug eyes make him a good teller of "What's wrong with the world these days?" stories, and Jeff Allen's gruff voice and hangdog look back up his riffs on the same subject, but Maniscalco's hipster outfit jars his attempts to make fun of the people who look a lot like he's trying to look even when he's talking about them. Stay Hungry probably feeds his fan base, but not many others.

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Given that Ken Jeong's breakout role was in a Jud Apatow movie, low expectations are built into any viewing of his first Netflix special, You Complete Me, Ho. He easily exceeds them with a brutally unfunny set that would be better categorized as a public appearance than a prepared show. The title comes from a quick riff on his wife's last name, "Ho," one of the few amusing pieces of the show.  The others stem from his interactions with the audience, who are obviously fans and glad to see him. Jeong does have a good rapport with the crowd at the Ice House Comedy Club, but no one who's not already a fan will be convinced by the string of barely amusing anecdotes from his experiences on movie sets and from his first career as a physician.