Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All

My ratings for his previous stand ups :

Caligula : 9,1/10

Thoughts and Prayers : 8,6/10.

Fire in the Maternity Ward : 7,8/10.

Jeselnik is one of my favorite stand up comedians, as it shows from my ratings. I think he's brilliant and hilarious, although i admit his shows are not for everyone. Too macabre and dark and twisted. So, if you are not aware of his particular style of humor, and you like your stand up a bit sanitized and conventional, attention : He doesn't fool around. He's dark and nihilistic as it can get.

This is my least favorite stand up of his. Truth be told, his shows are getting gradually less good. But they're still good, actually, very good. More than 50% of his jokes here are hilarious, i laughed hard and had a good time, overall. Still, BONES AND ALL is better than the average stand up tv show. It should have been longer, the jokes are not too many and the last 10-15 minutes are not as funny as the previous ones. But, he still got it.

For instance, the person who posted a review and said Anthony's comedy was "too political." Definitely not for that guy. Because that guy doesn't know that for something to be "political," it actually needs to reference politicians or you know....politics. Poking fun at transphobic people, Joe Rogan and conspiracy theorists doesn't make something political. They are easy targets outside of politics.

I think Anthony is a genius at joke structure and character creation - the irony and depth. Even when I know the whole point is misdirection, I'm still often surprised with where he goes. He's trying to be thought-provoking. I can see by the reviews, he's been successful.

As Norm said Jeselnik is one of the greats. He is his own and there is no one like him. But... If you know his material it doesn't really evolve or move. This time he told some stories from his own life which is rather unusual for him but the rest stays in the same structure based mostly on shock value and surprise. Many of the jokes were losing that just because it is his base line and you know where it is going. When you take look at Louis CK for example and look at his 90s stand up and then some more current specials it is such a difference in style and material it seems almost like a different comedian. For me Jeselnik needs to move a bit otherwise this might get old one day. But overall good stuff.

Haha jk Jeselnek, I know you paid someone to write that (winky face) - nah but for real, I apologize in advance, cause I touted your special before I had even seen it and.. yaaa - don't get me wrong, it's funny albeit a tad predictable and monotonous but that's owing to the deadpan, deliberate delivery - however the spec is less than 45 min long and let's be fair, alot of that time is eaten up with his slow paced slow talking with alot of pregnant pauses (ooops I said pregnant, I meant trans pauses). So ultimately I'm giving it a seven cause I did laugh and I did enjoy myself but 18 months? That's a lengthy time to perfect this particular 45m set - considering his sparse heretofore specials over the 20 years of entertaining.

It's efficient. He shows you the equation and you solve for x. I listened to this while playing Steam. Perfect audio companion. If you see any of his interviews, you know he loves a good album. Pacing is steady and you'll finish before an hour. He does a great job of limiting the scope of his face, he's not saturated in the podcast world where it's just a fire hose of gotcha's and a-ha's. It's the knife in the stomach and you watched it from across the room and let it happen anyways. The blood's warm. Yeah, he does mention the anniversary a few times, I think he really wants to flex the resume, and also that he's not attached to a posse, but I let it slide. There aren't any wasted moments.