Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward

I'd never heard of Anthony Jeselnik before and I decided to watch this special just for the sake of it, and I haven't laughed so hard on ages, that being said, the jokes became quite predictable throughout the show as the same premise was used a lot but, this guy is going up there with my favourite comedians now.

All jokes are about sensitive social values. So this is unusual and often surprising

Can't get past how perfect his delivery is. I've watched this 7 times already, love it. Up there with Thoughts & Prayers.

His one fail, he lost it and laughed during the murder suicide bit. He would've hated that he stumbled there.

If you like dark comedy, definitely give this a look. If you're sensitive.....do not watch this performance!

It's not as much a special as it is a dance between both sides of the line that defines the limits that we should never cross in comedy: It crosses it brilliantly and shamelessly and in this day and age, it is refreshing eventhough Mr. Jeselnik has been doing this kind of comedy for a long time. It is delivered flawlessly to a point where it feels unrehearsed and maybe even off the cuffs.

It is also refreshing to get such a great jaw-dropping, eye-popping, one punch combo, misdirection-filled comedy-laced hour in this, yet again, day and age where anyone can get their specials on TV and bore us to death. This is not it.

This is comedy.

I like Jeselnik's comedy a lot. This special however, was a disappointment for me. For the major part of the show, he's repeating this trope becoming idea of short jokes that consist of a short setup and then an ending that turns the expected context around. While most of these were smart and funny, you come to expect the turnaround. So he starts with something, and as a viewer you already know, 'ok, he's going to end it with something to change it.....and.....there is is'. Funny at first, but then nothing more than simply 'cute'. The shock effect runs out if you repeat these kinds of jokes and Jeselnik does this over and over in 'Fire in the Maternity Ward'. In three cases I was even able to predict the complete joke.

His baby/abortion jokes are just ok. It didn't make me laugh. I guess the shock-effect has to be a big thing here as well, but it's nothing I haven't seen others do. Also, maybe for Americans, since in the US abortion is still a delicate issue, these jokes might have a bigger effect; to me however, they didn't do much.

All in all, for the most part these jokes seem suitable for these little books that are released as toilet-reads. Smart quick jokes that hold up over time and are funny to most people and don't require a lot of time to set up.

I wonder if 'Fire in the Maternity Ward' is a better watch when you do it in two or three stages or something; so that the 'setup-context changing turnaround'-effect holds up.