Iliza: Unveiled

Freezing Hot, War Paint, and Confirmed Kills were awesome. Iliza made some great jokes and they were often layered with her own political/personal views, but it never felt overbearing. I laughed! I rage-quit Elder Millennial and Unveiled because, quite frankly, Iliza has got too big for her boots. She is Ego dressed in tight high-waisted pants. She's not funny any more-she's an angry political stance that doesn't give any air time to jokes, but plenty of time to her own self-indulgent opinions about "a woman's life" in 2019. I'm a feminist and I'm a millennial woman, and somehow Iliza fails to resonate with me at all. Her ego is larger than her ponytail, and-to be honest-her act is getting old.

I watch a lot of Netflix specials and I don't always understand why or how somd names made it to the top. With Iliza it's very easy: She's got it all. She is an observer, she is smart, she nails physical comedy, she works with her voice... She just delivers the full package. Plus, her comments on society may sting a little (as they should), but they're never gross, crass or truly hurtful.

So far I've liked all her specials. Keep em coming.

Iliza is my kind of woman, in so many ways.

If you don't like her other specials, you probably won't be swayed by this. But I love everything she does.

She's getting better with age. Each show a spot check on reality through the years. She's 30 something now. Her facial expressions and agile energetic performance are worth watching with sound off. Let me rephrase, one needs to watch the closely. Her presence amplifies the power of the jokes.

Don't get me wrong it's decent but not her best. It's important that we all be able to laugh at ourselves and this special certainly spends a lot of time pointing out all of the absurd things women tend to do, especially all of the over-the-top wedding related situations we put ourselves and our loved ones through. While I definitely chuckled at some things, I found myself kind of apathetic through most of it.

Finally it hit me why I didn't love it: laughing at ourselves is often the best medicine but in this special the jokes are structured in a way where it seems like Iliza is mostly laughing at "others". Most of her jokes seem to observe other women as the ones behaving absurdly with the implied premise that Iliza herself is an exception to this behavior. It felt a little bit like an hour of her desperately trying to prove what a cool girl she is putting other girls down. Maybe a touch holier-than-thou?

Don't get me wrong, it's a comedy special not a speech to the United Nations. No lasting harm to womanhood is done, no protests will occur and no grudges will be held. It's just a bit one-note and not particularly compelling or nuanced. I found that with topics at hand, I was expecting some more layered, introspective, and self-aware jokes.