Nick Kroll: Little Big Boy

This standup on Netflix is... hard to explain. It is sometimes boring, but when it is funny... you laugh so much! I feel like maybe I just wasn't feeling the vibe, so maybe I just didn't absorb it enough. But there were a few bits that cracked me up hard.

My favorite one was the one about how we are always so mean to our moms 😂 There is no one I love more than my mom but, as Nick says, there is no one I have a shorter fuse for than my beloved mom.

Besides that bit, there are a few other ones that are funny like the first boy-girl party and the Italy trip one, and some of them were just plain boring to me like the Karate one.

Look, we all know Nick Kroll is a little off, and it's not just his dimpled chin and strange tiny teeth. The guy is genuinely cringe-worthy, given his physical stature and general willingness to poke fun at himself and all his (probably genuine) personal phobias and insecurities. It is actually his most endearing quality. I think his latest stand up special is quite amusing, even laugh-out-loud funny (and that's not just the wine talking). He could have benefited from a little self-editing, perhaps remove 25% of the poop and fart jokes, for example. But, looking beyond those, the rest of the set was quite solid and well written, his voices hilarious and on point. I loved the self-deprecating Jimimy Cricket, a la Jason Statham, who keeps Kroll from floating away on an inflated ego (buoyed by his suit ensemble in a sensible tawny tan circa 1980, before 80s fashion was actually, you know, cool). The guy has come of age, further evidenced by his wedding band and recently-sprung hipster beard, certainly an improvement. Go, you!!

From the start - you get the biggest red flag when you're watching a comedian on Netflix - fake audience laughter that cuts and loops, clearly edited.

Then he proceeds to suddenly tell the most unfunny, generic, lame "boy girl party" story that ends with a boomer joke that's as bad as something taken out of Jeff Foxworthy's terrible special.

I'm really surprised, because Nick Kroll was pretty funny on, say, roasts. I expected him to have a strong special, but this is the most generic, bland... again, Jeff Foxworthy-like cringey, unfunny special.

"I was pantsed in front of a girl by another girl, what a beta I must be hahahahaha"- this is how the special starts and unfortunately it doesn't get any less cringey as it goes on.

I am not a huge fan of Nick Kroll, although I am not sure why. He just always annoyed me. This is a very honest and self-effacing stand up special where Nick covers his relationship with women, his parents, and himself. He does a number of impressions and voices and tells some personal stories that take us from high school to the present day. I do like his self- awareness as a nebbishy, Jewish comedian with self-esteem issues. There is something endearing about his honesty and his presentation. He is not the funniest, but I would definitely consider watching additional stand up specials featuring him.

He's extremely talented and intelligent, he's brought us a metric ton of content over the years and he produces yet another metric ton of (usually) great films - however, and maybe this is too subjective, but when a 'stand-up' gets up on stage and presents us with anecdotes of thier lives - is it jokes? Is it even funny? To me its scarcely entertaining, and THEN to do so, to open with such a tired troupe of diarrhea jokes and how we all walk with soiled pants - meh! Just meh Nick - for the record, the walk isn't funny and no matter how many times it's portrayed on stage it seems to become less so - go figure?!