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America’s Sweetheart, Ari Shaffir’s new Netflix stand-up special, bears a title that flies in the face of the hilariously edgy jokes you’ll hear during the comic’s latest hour. “I’m a big troll,” Shaffir laughed as he explained the special’s ironic name. “I like to rile people up. I’m a habitual shit-starter.”

What to expect from the new special? “I’m trying to take every single thing that people say, ‘This is too serious,’ and I’m gonna be like, ‘Let me show you how to find some joy out of that,’” he says. The message of America’s Sweetheart? “Guys, chill the fuck out.”

I recently spoke with Shaffir about the state of comedy in 2025, the legend of working the door at the Comedy Store and how the advent of podcasting permitted provocative comics to be themselves.

“You see it everywhere in America,...

Pablo Francisco has an unrivalled vocal talent when it comes to sound effects and impersonations. Put him alone in a room and he could be a one-man sound effects studio, a Foley artist of great skill. He can replicate the sounds of a techno club on a Saturday night just as easily as he can pretend to be Gary Busey ordering a sandwich in Subway. After spending the ‘90s on “MADtv” and touring as one of the “Three Amigos” with Carlos Mencia and Freddy Soto, he has become a very successful solo touring comedian, relying mostly on his ability to replicate nearly any sound or voice you can think of in order to poke fun at people and pop culture.

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Comedians Jackie Guerra and Freddy Soto have teamed up to star in a sibling comedy for CBS. The two have inked a one-year development deal with the network for a half-hour based on their idea, which is targeted for fall 2004. The as-yet-untitled project will star Guerra as an outspoken, socially conscious woman and Soto as her happy-go-lucky brother.