Tim Dillon: A Real Hero

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.

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 isn't a great stand-up. He's a decent podcaster/commentator. I don't blame Netflix. Good joke-writers can write good jokes even when they're not being vulgar or offensive. If Tim has any good jokes in his portfolio, he left them there for this special. Maybe this was intentionally poor as part of some big long play to get all comedians to self-release like Louis CK and Andrew Schulz...

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 personally love tim, listen to his podcast every week and love his sense of humor. I might have set my expectations a bit high bcuz of how good of a ranter he is, and the fact that's all improvised for the most part. Considering that, i thought with more structure it woulda packed a better punch. Don't get me wrong i still laughed pretty good at some points but i don't think this was at his full potential.