Jim Jefferies: This Is Me Now

Jim Jeffries is still a very funny fellow. In a way he reminds me of Norm Macdonald in that he doesn't get straight to the punch line. First comes a seemingly unrelated statement. He is a tease; and you either enjoy the teasing, or you don't.

His other Netflix specials are amazing, by comparison this one is just boring and his delivery feels like he knows it's average and just going through the motions.

I really liked the first couple of Jim Jefferies stand-up specials, he was a fresh, edgy and rambunctious new voice when he first appeared, but living in LA and hosting that awful chat-show seems to have tamed him and given him no time to come up with any quality material. He really doesn't have anything new to say and what he does have to say isn't all that funny. There are no great set-pieces or even any lines you'd want to remember to pass on to anyone else.

I laughed precisely twice. Some of the bit about Trump was moderately amusing but so safe and predictable, and nothing that the average man in the street couldn't have easily come up with himself. The Al Pacino story was nice but didn't lead anywhere, or add up to anything, it was just some stuff that happened.

Unless it was simply a contractual obligation, I can't actually see why Jefferies wanted to put this show out at all. Really just a disappointment.

Sooo the good thing is Jim still does specials.. I thought he would pursue TV/film career more by now but he is still true to his roots. Or at least he's trying... The show was good overall but lacked a spark of sorts.. a mojo, if you will.. Jim just seemed to have lost the passion for the topics he talked about. I understand it is harder for him to find the zeal maybe partially due to the Jim Jefferies show where he just has to sift through a horrible amount of information and news and try and pick the most interesting or funny ones. How much involved in the production of the JJ show he is, I do not know, but it seems to wear him down a bit. Jim just doesn't seem like the day in, day out working kind of guy...

Granted I haven't really been a fanboy here, but I have watched some of Jim Jefferies previous shows, and yes I have been quite amused by those. So when I found this 2018 "This Is Me Now" on Netflix, I did of course give it a chance.

Well, I must start right off by saying that the spark is fading. This show was nowhere near his previous shows in intensity, in humor, in stage presence, or even in enjoyment. It felt like he was running on auto-pilot and was doing a half-hearted attempt at delivering jokes based on material which wasn't all that funny to begin with.

I was only laughing twice throughout the entire show. Those times was during the scene with the son and the toilet, and the second time was with the Al Pacino segment.

Aside from that, then this was a very bland experience. And I must admit that I was actually sitting with my phone and playing Uno on Facebook during the show, and just listening to him stumble about on the stage. Yeah, the show had that little appeal.