Going out on a limb here: you could probably use a good laugh. Fortunately, a lot of the best stand-up
comedy is more than just silly stuff. Today’s most popular stand-up comedians have expanded their vision to become more like camp counselors and philosophers who can also tell a mean fart joke and make you laugh out loud. Fortunately, it’s fairly obvious where to turn for The Funny these days because no streaming service has invested in stand-up quite like . Forget the world and stream some acerbic humor because we’re listing the Top 25. You can see the full list of the best stand-up comedy specials on
Netflix below: 1. 2018 64 minutes TV-MA After making us wait ten years, Rock commanded the stage for a soul-bearing set that proved he’d gained an elder statesman’s wisdom without losing any of his youthful rebellion. The topical political riffs may hit differently now that we’re not in the dead center of the Trump presidency, but his barbs are sharp as ever, and the real meal is his personal journey of fatherhood (and personhood). With Bo Burnham in the director’s seat, the special feels like we’re right there in the room, witnessing the funniest therapy session in history. For those that want even more, Rock directed his own version with another half hour of material. has a slightly less intimate vibe, but comes with a huge extra serving of jokes. 2. 1979 78 minutes TV-MA Rock’s spiritual predecessor is also on Netflix — a legendary standup where, 40 years earlier, Pryor broke down his experiences as a Black father, the absurdity of
American policing, and a host of other raw topics. It’s no wonder considered it the single greatest stand-up comedy routine captured on film, and why it influenced hundreds of comedians who followed. Pryor was bold enough to do what had never been done before: release a movie in theaters that consisted solely of his stand-up. The result is an uproarious hour delivered with his unmatched manic expertise. It’s a must-watch (and must-rewatch) for comedy fans and truly one of the best comedy specials of all time. 3. 2014 76 minutes TV-MA There are few comics who get away with saying anything they want quite like Jefferies. The bombastic
Australian went for everyone’s jugular in this special with an impish “telling it like it is” glee. Beyond offering excruciating detail about his dating life and his appreciation of certain uncomfortable sex acts, he went long on the absurdity of how America deals with its epidemic of . That’s why you see clips of this special crop up in regular rotation. Jefferies expounds on Australia’s gun ban and skewers gun culture in the
United States in an extended bit that remains sadly relevant. 4. 2020 71 minutes TV-MA Who better to laugh through the depression than ? The impending end of the world has offered exactly one silver lining: the culmination of Maron’s specific brand of happy sadness applied to a global existential threat. Sure, the sky is on fire, but at least we all brought our own bags to the grocery store. Despite reducing his
Job to “thinking of things that are funny,” Maron is at the top of his game here as one of the most humane critics of our current state of being. As he faces down the end of everything (and questions his own existence with philosophy-killing cat Monkey), he goes after the bullsh*t artists making our time on earth worse. 5. 2017 67 minutes TV-MA Some will want to fast-forward through certain portions of . The full experience is evidence of a genius comic mind who is shaking his fist at the clouds at the ripe old age of 42. What makes it work is that Chapelle is direct and honest about his confusion at the real-life modern world he’s somehow aged out of. To that end, a lot of the subject matter is weirdly dated, even for 2017, but Chapelle makes it all work with astonishing insight and clarity. It’s raw, and while Chapelle is bracing and biting, he’s also introspective and attempting to feel what younger generations are all about: namely the relation of his watching the
explosion as a child and wondering how the new generations can stand seeing tragedy like that unfold every single day of their lives. 6. 2019 65 minutes TV-MA Directed by Spike Jonze, Ansari’s special features crew watching from offstage as the alum riffs on social media, the race relations of white people watching , and more. It’s a that features perhaps the finest possible example of a comedian heckling his own audience. Riding the wave of stand-up expanding its horizons, Ansari weaves thought-provoking concepts, personal experiences and tragedies, and toweringly hilarious jokes together to form a unique storytelling experience. With his goofy smile firmly in place, its a massive step forward for him as a comedian, and we get to reap the silly benefits. 7. 2020 51 minutes TV-MA With some comedians, you get jokes and maybe a little light introspection. With Andre, you get to see a man doing a full cardio set while screaming and making you fall out of your chair laughing. The natural heir to Sam Kinison, it sometimes feels like Andre doesn’t even need an audience for , content to rant and rave like no one’s watching. Yes, he’s intense. He also lets us live vicariously through his outrageous life, whether that’s finding a new erogenous zone while on an unadvisable amount of MDMA or trying to see the Tupac Hologram at Coachella while insanely high. Or doing some other stuff while sober, possibly. After watching this special, you’ll have lost 400 calories and want to legalize ranch. 8. 2017 71 minutes TV-MA In typical
fashion, this is simultaneously her filthiest and most heartfelt. Not only does it feature her coolly telling jokes that bring about profound shame and belly laughs, it also offers an origin story for her comedic superpowers which involve serial bedwetting, sleepaway camp, and her dad gifting her two raunchy joke books the year she learned to read. The next time someone tells you that comedians just can’t say anything taboo anymore because of the PC Police, sit them down with a giant tub of popcorn and press play on the story Silverman tells about her sister’s freshman year at college. Then, watch the rest after they’ve recovered. 9. 2021 87 minutes TV-MA Is he making fun of people or empathizing with them? Hard to say! Although diving into the claustrophobic special made during may feel a bit like running back into the haunted house you just escaped from, the flourish of Burnham’s songs beautifully captures that funny feeling of living in a
Hurricane of loose context provided by a constant internet connection. Each is meticulously crafted and performed in flashy sequences despite the limitation of being stuck inside a small guest house. The layers of artifice alone are worthy of a TED Talk, but it’s a stellar achievement to craft songs that are viral, hilarious, and worthy of being covered by Phoebe Bridgers. 10. 2018 73 minutes TV-MA Adam Sandler is an enigma. The same guy who can skewer his own schlocky movie work in has no problem going right back to making schlocky movies (and then sprinting headlong into ). He completely lacks pretension, and this special highlights what a lowbrow knucklehead he’s remained since we first met him on in the ’90s. Yet he’s matured. A little. Most of the Steven Brill-directed special involves a patchwork of Sandler bits at different venues where he sings entire songs about taking his phone, wallet, and keys with him wherever he goes, but he delves deeper in a clear search for human connection. It’s hilarious, sometimes sweet, and it ends with a powerhouse musical tribute to Chris Farley that won’t leave a single eye dry. 11. 2023 80 minutes TV-MA A longer-than-conventional Netflix comedy special was to be expected here because — let’s face it — John Mulaney has lately. An intervention, a rehab stint, a divorce, a new relationship, and a baby add up to the short version of events, but he’s also ready to be funny again onstage. So, he headed to Boston’s Symphony Hall for his latest special which follows up on 2018’s and 2015’s . In other words, don’t call this one a comeback (apologies to LL Cool J), and hopefully, he will be around for so many years to come. 12. 2022 60 minutes TV-MA There hasn’t been a bigger comedy break out than Tomlinson (who also has a new special, ) over the past few years. The comic who got her start going to a church comedy class has emerged as an impressive voice who’s already over it (life) before she’s hit thirty. Taylor Tomlinson’s fully displays her sardonic wit delivered with a cheerleader smile, and it’s just bigger and bolder this time around. Tapping into her unique status as a beloved figure for both elder Millennials and the TikTok generation, Tomlinson proves herself unafraid in this special, absolutely crushing a long-form riff where she compares mental illness to not knowing how to swim. Calling it brave feels trite, especially because Tomlinson is so matter-of-fact, confident, and funny. 13. 2017 66 minutes TV-MA is really two specials in one. The first is a whip smart, ludicrous routine about politics and the bizarre wonders of everyday life. The second is a reflection on losing your soul mate. Written, polished, and performed in the year after his first wife, , died, this stand-up is a magnum opus to the early phases of profound grief. The same Patton that lovingly mocks is still around, but he’s angrier and messier, pushing through a lot of darkness to find his own weird version of the light. The special feels like someone who’s returning to what he knows best to find some stable ground and using that foundation to build something new. 14. 2018 60 minutes TV-MA When he was a little kid, got a powerful lesson from his father about life, the universe, and everything. The rest of the special is a banger, but the heart of the hour is his explanation of the Jigsaw analogy for — and the explanation for why he’ll probably die (happily) alone. Sloss manages to spin a self-help guru truism into something gracious and awkwardly funny, splitting the audience between those laughing and those who will probably break up within a few months or hours. In fact, Sloss openly credits his Netflix special as directly leading to hundreds of breakups and divorces. Don’t be sad, though. The point is that sometimes those splits are for the best. 15. 2017 67 minutes TV-MA Buress stands alone. No one else finds the same simple surrealness to life or delivers it with his detached, jovial irritation. His down to earth vibe comes cleanly through in this masterful special where he essentially delivers a fireside chat about weird interactions he’s lived through — from a
police officer going full fanboy in a crummy to the nuisance of having to show ID as someone in his 30s. Buress’s comedic gift is finding a punchline on top of the punchline on top of the first punchline. He fills all the nooks and crannies with extra little gags and deadpan additions that keep the laughter flowing. is like inviting your funniest friend into your home to hang for a bit. 16. 2023 70 minutes TV-MA star Mae Martin delivers a fantastically skewed view on the world. Their presentation here is more mature than ever before, commanding the stage with an easy confidence while telling jokes about all the dead hypothetical children they’ve had with ex-lovers. It’s a sheer delight. Martin sublimates emotion through a cocktail shaker of intelligent to pour out a glass of pure joy on the other end. The jokes are freewheeling and wondrously strange, showcasing their unique perspective and ability to transform life into belly laughs. It’s a charming winner. 17. 2018 64 minutes TV-MA Two years after busting through with , Wong did it again, rocking the stage with a prodigious pregnancy belly and a fiery attitude. The follow-up to a hit special can be a highwire act, but Wong makes it look effortless. It’s a stellar performance filled with aggressively honest observations about motherhood, and the grotesque expectations we place on
Women. It’s also a kind of op-ed for treating all mothers better that happens to be uproarious and shocking. Wong’s performance is balletic. She puts her whole body into it, but her absolute best feature is the ability to perceive with pinpoint accuracy how absurd so many thing we consider “normal” really are. That and channeling the desire to collect checks in her pajamas by voicing a piece of tofu for Pixar. 18. 2023 69 minutes TV-MA A year after Will Smith slapped him at the
Oscars, Chris Rock lorded over Netflix’s first experiment in live programming. Leaving aside the fact that we’ve just invented television all over again (complete with commercials and fees), the experiment was an artistic success, pitting Rock against the world as he delivered a potent stand-up show. It also gave us a rare peek behind the editing curtain of how these specials normally run. Rock’s delivery was wild and raw, shedding his normal persona as a perfectionist in search of pristine delivery in favor of something that felt more intimate and immediate. His targets involved companies espousing anti-racism while charging obscene amounts, the
Social Media attention
economy and, of course, the
Academy Awards. 19. 2018 69 minutes TV-MA Gadsby’s 2018 special blazed a huge trail, building on ‘s 2012 vulnerability tour de force to craft a special that defies comedy convention so thoroughly that people are still debating whether it counts as stand-up. Spoiler alert: it does. It conforms far more to the Edinburgh Fringe style than the standard Chuckle Hut rhythm. If you don’t want to think with your comedy, look elsewhere, because Gadsby doesn’t let the audience turn off their brains for a single moment. Like a huge sign in the outback warning about the last gas station for a trillion kilometers, she even warns the audience when the last joke comes… before she weaves together intense depictions of physical and psychological abuse with shocking throwaway lines to let some steam off. It’s a truly stunning comic achievement. 20. 2016 TV-MA 60 minutes Ali Wong’s first Netflix special goes where no pregnant woman has (publicly) been allowed to go before. The sex talk gets incredibly vulgar, the talk about what happens as a result of sex gets graphic, and honestly, you might not be fully prepared for this if you don’t know her brand of delightfully bawdy and abrasive humor already. Wong later filmed the special, in which she was even pregnant (if that’s possible at all). 21. 2022 60 minutes TV-MA Noah absolutely explodes on the stage in this energetic special. Shifting away from , Noah proves again to be a powerhouse of observational comedy, narrowing his eyebrows at the abject stupidity of political figures, bigots, and life’s tiny absurdities. As with his book , Noah riffs on his upbringing as the child of a Xhosa woman and a Swiss man. He also unsurprisingly hammers American government and its various sex pests, trotting out a shocking amount of incredibly good impressions. It’s a Jim Carrey-esque side to Noah that hasn’t really been seen until , and Noah emerges from the event as a rock star of comedy. 22. 2017 65 minutes TV-MA The multitalented
Tiffany Haddish makes headlines for with Snoop and Lil Wayne, but her bread and butter is still being funny as hell. And sometimes, when we are extra lucky, she even does so during stand-up gigs. This particular entry is full of raunch and verve while Haddish tells anecdotes about her rise in the entertainment industry. 23. 2019 67 minutes TV-MA Burr is another legacy comic who continually proves his relevance by exploiting a unique ability to piss off an entire audience before winning them all back. It happens multiple times during , none more than when he relates how happy he is that is dead. Most comics are terrified of boos, a few endure them momentarily, some build an identity on only receiving hate, but Burr luxuriates comfortably in the boos before impossibly wringing more laughs from the crowd that was just about to grab their pitchforks. He’s on
fire here, pouncing on social landmines with a jester’s joyful abandon. 24. 2023 TV-MA This series tackles an array of topics, including Segura’s rascally ruminations about marriage and mortality. Yet some of the secret sauce here can actually be found in a that includes Segura’s observations about what it’s to be the neighbor of a much maligned sitting U.S. senator. Yikes! 25. 2017 72 minutes TV-MA is very much an extension of his politically charged show . Yes, he sets the jokes up and knocks them down, but Minhaj shines more as a storyteller, especially here with American flags projected on big screens behind him. This is a special about growing up as a second generation Indian Muslim
immigrant, mocking and celebrating the differences he noted between him and his father after . The political gets merged with the personal, and Minhaj masterfully navigates both with his gigantic eyes and freewheeling energy. Unlike other specials, the camera work here follows next to Minhaj, letting him directly address the home viewer as much as the theater audience, creating a remarkably intimate tone for an intimate series of topics.