Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All

Anthony Jeselink is so freaking hilarious. He does what he describes as Gallow comedy. He explains up front that Gallow comedy is a form of comedy where you take Subject matter that is horrifying to the point you want to cry about it, and instead make jokes with it. He does this brilliantly. He takes on every sensitive subject he can squeeze within the allotted time. His delivery method is somewhat deadpan, like Stephen Wright, but way more rude than Stephen Wright ever considered. The Netflix special is touted as being geared towards celebrating his 20 years of comedy. Twenty years? How have I missed this guy? He's brilliant.

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.

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.

Anthony has some heavy-duty comedic chops! This act is as real as it gets. He set the tone with his "closer" opener, kept the sticky tissue hilarious, and delivered the punches perfectly. He is unapologetically genuine, and his intelligence comes through as he lets his audience in on just enough bites of information to bake their own pie. He is one of the best I've seen.

For me, stand-up is a way to digest unsavory parts of the human condition in a palatable and sometimes decadent manner. Gallows humor hits all the right sweet spots! It is refreshing, especially after the boring, lazy acts of gimmicky comics like Gervais, Ellen, Burr, Wong, Chapelle, Rogan, etc., trying so hard to be funny but staying in the superficial layer of most issues. They can't seem to get over themselves. In contrast, Anthony got down and dirty about the subjects and not himself. He knows where the nerves are and hits them in the best, most uncomfortably delightful way. I finished this stand-up special with a feeling of solidarity and not the usual bitterness that has become the norm.

As another reviewer mentioned, I wish I'd found him earlier. He might have made the last two decades a lot sweeter. I look forward to discovering more of his work.