Chris D'Elia: No Pain

Another "comic" from Papa Joe Rohan's 'mUrdeRAzz row" of the LA comedy scene. The title is no joke, Chris is laughing the loudest at his own material. Chris is so clearly trying so so hard and it comes off desperate. He takes the approach of the louder he shouts something, the funnier it is going to be. This is the guy who will ban anyone from his Instagram or YouTube if you say anything remotely negative so instead of taking criticism and improving his craft - he chooses to bury his head in the sand and tell himself it's perfect. No matter who you are, it's a horrible way to live. Maybe one or two jokes land, the rest is just awkward.

Maybe Chris should drink some alcohol and do some drugs to get to the next level.

I never really write reviews but had to warn people not to waste an hour of time on this. I barely made it half way through as neither my wife or I cracked a single smile and just kept looking at each other Like, like, like, like (hes says that every other sentence) is this going to get better? Better luck next time big guy.

The way Chris presents himself on podcasts is so dissimilar to how he acts during his stand up it's nauseating. If you took the video away and just played the audio from a random episode of his podcast then played No Pain, you would have a hard time believe they are the same person. Every bit fell flat, either because the material itself was juvenile or because he is constantly laughing at his own jokes. He can sometimes barely get out punch lines because he's already giggling, which is odd given the material isn't even laughable to the normal person. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that the theater was empty and they were just playing a laugh track the entire time. He dragged the growling at a baby bit for almost ten minutes and the dolphin thing had to be 15 mins long, 15 mins of torture to my ears. I'll keep watching Congratulations but I've given up on checking out this dudes standup, hope his acting career pans out because this standup thing just isn't his game.

I want to say first that I believe D'elia may be one of the funniest people alive in off the cuff, conversational comedy. As a podcast guest and on Instagram, he is probably in my top five comedians. This is why it pains me to write this review, but I think he needs to hear this criticism in order to level up in the stand up game. The reality is that the podcasting circle of comedians will always attract an audience at shows, because they have become personalities. Therefore, the true and honest feedback they will get about the art and craft of stand up will be limited.

Chris' special is unwatchable. D'elia is using the same strange, frat boy voice in his latest special than he did in his first. There has been no evolution. No relaxing into it. It sounds very forced, and honestly the jokes are pretty hacky. I can't for the life of me understand why he doesn't try to bring his real life persona onto the stage. It seems like he is actively targeting the teenage market, which is fine, but he has the potential to be so much more. Do yourself a favour, get off Netflix and download Louis CK's latest special or find an old copy of Colin Quinn's stuff. Or go check out the comics coming out of the UK and Ireland, who seem to be on a much higher level than the LA comedy scene.