Tim Dillon: A Real Hero

Let me preface this by saying I'm a huge fan of Tim Dillon and his podcast is one of the best things on the internet. Unfortunately however, being funny in one setting doesn't always translate to another and Dillon's stand-up is a good example of this.

Very much like Bill Burr (also much funnier off the cuff than doing scripted shows), Dillon comes across as a bit of a ranting Facebook boomer with the increasingly tiresome anti-woke jokes. And yes wokeness is societal cancer but it seems like every comedian is making the same old jokes about it in a weak attempt to be edgy.

Dillon's humour works best in an intimate setting with a guest or two and his hilarious producer Ben who's background giggling is the perfect complement to the material. Alone on stage he seems a bit lost and it felt like a constant battle to keep the crowd onside. Certainly had it's moments but compared to his podcast this is pretty lame stuff.

Tim is one of the funniest comics ever, yet here he's rambling about the most basic, overdone things - fat people, fast food, "white people are nazis", "texans hate liberals"...

This guy was never so bland and generic until it came time to "clean up" his act for Netflix. The result is... this... Nothing special.

Really disappointing. I'll just assume this is what a comic has to stoop to in order to get a Netflix special at all.

And you can tell this is the selected Netflix audience - they got deathly quiet when he mentioned Joe Rogan, like he dropped an N bomb or something.

Worst of all, just like an Amy Shumer or another hack comedian's special, you can tell there's fake audience laugher and cheers added in post. Sometimes a sample of an audience cheering would play, but at the same time the camera would reveal that the audience is actually sitting still and not reacting whatsoever. It's ridiculous. Netflix keeps doing this, and I get why with its many bad comics, but with Tim?

Covid is a beat up subject. Nothing worse than when comedians talk about Joe Rogan in their own specials. Thats just as beat up. The cruise but was great and original. The rest just seemed to be outdated, easy subject to rant on. I love Tim. I never miss a podcast. He could have done A LOT better than this. 5/10.

I like Tim Dillon a fair amount, his comedy is very energetic and fairly creative at times. This special did not do justice to his standup as much as it should've. Americans fat, liberals are weird, Covid (which really dates the special) and so on. Granted these bits were still delivered with great energy but the crowd was lackluster, you can tell the editing team had to add in fake laughter. I won't say Tim's a hack but some of his jokes could've used some work. I found the experience more positive as there were moments that were genuinely funny which made my rating a 6 rather than a 4 or 5.

I love Tim Dillon but this special just wasn't his best. He does better stand up on his podcast. Maybe he was in his head about the special and it being on Netflix but within about 15 minutes I was scrolling through my phone.

He was just on Rogan again recently and I swear I've already listened to that episode 3 times in a week. He literally had me choking laughing - and of course I get that doing a podcast is totally different energy than being on a stage but Tim never has to try to be funny he just is. He's brilliant. But in this special he seemed to be trying.