Dec. 14, 2024

A look at Best Of 2024 lists from Jason Zinoman of the New York Times and Vulture's Top Specials

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode, we delve into Jason Zinoman's column from the New York Times on the best comedy of 2024. The conversation touches on his picks like Nikki Glaser's new HBO special, Ronnie Chieng's Netflix special, and other notable works including Tom Papa's clean comedy and Josh Johnson's prolific TikTok content. We also discuss Vulture's top comedy specials, which range from Ali Wong to Anthony Jeselnik, and the host shares his own opinions and plans for compiling his year-end list. Join us for an in-depth look at the year's standout comedy performances and specials.

00:22 Reacting to Jason Zinnman's Best Comedy of 2024
05:35 Vulture's Best Comedy Specials of 2024
09:26 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Plans

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media.

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Jason Zinnemon is critic at large for the Culture section

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of The New York Times and writes a column about comedy.

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I consider him to be a friend of the program,

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and we interact on social media sometimes, and he was

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a great guest on here a few months back. On Tuesday,

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the Times publish an article called best Comedy of twenty

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twenty four. The subheadline John Stewart made the daily show

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Mussy TV again, Theo Vaughn had a memorable moment with

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Donald Trump and Nicki Glazer broke through. I thought I'd

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take a look at Jason's column. I've skimmed it. I

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haven't really read it because I wanted to react in

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the moment. Here. Let's start with his comedian of the Year.

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Much like Consequence of Sound, he also has Nicki Glazer. Now,

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I said my piece about that on Tuesday's podcast. I

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don't think it's an absurd pick, but I don't agree

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with it. But I could see Jason Zinneman knows a

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lot more about comedy and has seen a lot more comedy,

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especially in the last decade, than I have. So I'm

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not gonna lie arm wrestle him to the ground. I'd

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be like, no, you're wrong, I'll just respectfully go I'm

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not seeing it. Jason talks about the Rose set, but

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says her new HBO hour provided more substance. Wearing a

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glittering dress and a strategic smile, she performs showbis cheer,

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but underneath that shimmering facade is not just an ace

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club comic, but a restless artist exploring darker terrain. Gleezer

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gets underestimated because she's filthy, but she can go high

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as well as low. Cover universal subjects and metacomedy analysis,

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do hilarious character work and brainy jokes. This relentlessly funny

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hour is bleaker than it looks. Digging into suicide, rape,

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in the Apocalypse, and any year when it seemed like

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everyone had a comic take and why you shouldn't have kids,

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hers was the funniest again, will agree to disagree. I

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don't even have that special on my best of the

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Year list. I just thought it was, like, eh, now

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really interesting to me. Jason has as best special Ronnie

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Chang's Love to Hate It. This one is out on

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Tuesday on Netflix. The log line there, Ronnie Chang unpacks

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fertility treatment Fiasco's the dark side of men's self health

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and scam sensitive parents in this witty stand up special.

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So I've been holding off. I'm itch you to take

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my own best of the Year episode, but I'm gonna

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wait to the other side of Ronnie Chang. I heard

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from a friend of the show, Dan Bubletz Junior, who

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texted me and he's like, why don't you record your

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top Specialists of twenty four after New Year's and run

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it like the first week in January? Which makes a

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lot of sense, doesn't it, because everybody else is putting

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out there topless in early December, so as I wrote

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back to Dan, because Channy Mack wants to take a

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couple of days off after Christmas. That's why. Sorry, Just

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try to be honest. They're Dan Buobletz Junior. You know,

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a little pre tape action on like December twenty seventh

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and twenty eighth goes a long way when you do

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this every day. Zinneman has best political special RAMI Usef's

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More Feelings. That was the one that I hated the

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direction on. I just didn't like how it was shot

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and I couldn't stick with it. Maybe if it was

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released as an album and I listened to it, I'd

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be like, oh, okay, But you know, I struggled with

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that one. Best Clean Comedy, Tom Poppa's other in the category,

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Gaff Again, Fortune and Nate's Best YouTube special, Brooks Wheeland's

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Alive in Alaska. Getting fired after one season at SNL

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has shadowed his career, but it's also given him a

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relatable backstory. I'll have to add that one to my

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list of things to watch. There's just so many of these.

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I remember at one point, I think it was a

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decider pointed out there was like something like three hundred specials.

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I like this. I like doing this. No one torches me,

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nobody makes me do the podcast, But like, you can't

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keep up. I mean, I guess if this were a

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full time job and I did nothing else and never

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talked to my family, I could keep up. But I

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can't even keep up with what comes out. Best Topical

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Comedy Josh Johnson on TikTok. Josh has been putting out

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a ton of content. According to Josh, he's put out

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twenty two hours of comedy in a year, and Jason

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wrote about some other things I did link to it

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in the Facebook group on Tuesday morning. The Facebook group

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is Daily Comedy News Podcast Group. Feel encouraged to join,

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Feel encouraged to participate, Feel encouraged to start converse. I

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enjoy when the listeners start conversations outside of me. Those

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are my favorite posts. My choice for commed of the Year.

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Nate Brighetzi. He dropped the trailer for his upcoming special

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on December twenty fourth. In the special, and Nate discusses

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wanting a second dog, how much pizza at order for

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Guys Night, his wife being the responsible one, and even more.

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Pretty good trailer. It's like a minute and a half.

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We'll use that into the break.

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My wife she runs everything, but I do do my

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own laundry. One day, I was like driving home and

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it popped in my head and I was like, all right,

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I'll bring that up. And I bring it up that day.

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I was like, I'm sure there will be a time

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where we're be in some fight. I'll be losing this

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fight and then I may not just come. I'm like,

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I do my own laundry. I went to career day

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for my daughter's school, so I was hoping to sit

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at a table alone. They put me at a table

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with a surgeon, which I think they did it on purpose,

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almost to show the kids. Here's the difference between reading.

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They asked him, how long did you go to school

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to be a surgeon? You know, he's like fifty four

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years or whatever it's like, and they ask me, They're like,

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how long to be a comedian. I was like, you're

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good now, so look, finish elementary school and make your

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parents happy. But then I'd get out and get after it.

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Vulture Publisher They are Best Comedy Specials of twenty twenty four.

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Back on December fourth. They have at number ten Alie

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Wong's single Lady. I feel like I watched I don't

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know ten minutes of that one. I'm a comedy snob

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and not everything tickles my brain. And also from the understandpoint,

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not everything is for me, and that's fine personally. Not

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on my top ten. It's actually on my not on

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list section of my number nine. Langston Kerman's Bad Poetry.

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I also have that one on my not enlist notes

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where I wrote fine but NH and I'm glad I

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wrote that down because I don't remember even hitting play

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on it. Langston. I like Langston. He's been a guest

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on this program. Just wasn't feeling that one. Number eight

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RAMI Usef's more feelings, as I talked about in the

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first half, I wrote in my notes here to myself.

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Didn't like the direction, couldn't focus on the material. A

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lot of weird camera angles in that one. At number seven,

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Kyle Kinane's Dirt Nap. Absolutely, it's got my favorite chunk

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of the year, which is his fast and Furious chunk.

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This one absolutely on my personal best of the year.

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I won't tell you where until I released my episode,

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but it's up there. Like that one a lot. I

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like Kyle a lot. Number six Courtney Peruso's Vanessa five

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thousand Vulture Rights. Vanessa five thousand is part of the

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current indie clowning wave, and Peruso's clown is a mindless,

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stilted sex robot named Vanessa and black leather and a

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cheap blonde wig. Peruso gets the audience in game with

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aness on the terms defined by her programming. I haven't

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seen that one even like the cover art, just doesn't

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grab me personally. Not everything is for me Vulture. At

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number five, they have Anthony Jessinicks Bones and all I

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lasted seven minutes on this one. I just felt like,

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been there, done that. It didn't do anything for me.

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Number four Nikki Glazers Someday You'll Die. I've discussed this

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at length. I'm gonna sit over here in the corner

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with the people who have unpopular opinions. I guess I'm

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wrong because everybody else is saying that special is great,

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except me and the people in the Facebook group. I

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don't know. I thought it was okay. At number three,

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Vulture has Adam Sandler's Love You. I've been warming up

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to this one right now. I have it in my

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second tier, so I've got like my top specials of

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the year, and then I've got another group that's like

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these were good as well, and Sandler's in that second group.

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But as I've been reflecting on the year, I'm warming

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up to this one. What I like about Sandler's special

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is he tried to do something, and I always appreciate

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someone who's trying to do something as opposed to some

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pretty big names who did what they always do. And

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I guess that's fine. But like I punched out on

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a lot of specials because it's like, Okay, I know

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what you do next. I'm busy as Adam Zaandler's specials go.

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I guess this was my favorite one. I historically have

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not been a fan of his coledy, but I did

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like that special. Number two is Jacquelinovak's Get on Your Knees.

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As I said earlier, not everything is targeted at me.

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Not everything is for me. Ortists can do their thing,

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and if John doesn't like it, that's fine. My note

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lasted four minutes. And if you know what that special

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is about, and I say lasted four minutes, there's a

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great joke in there. But I keep this show clean.

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On number one, Ali sadiqz Domino Effect Part three, I

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think this is one of those that I was intending

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to watch and for whatever reason, never did. I don't

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have it on any of my lists, so it's on

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the didn't watch it list. Vulture writes, it's hard to

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imagine what other comedian could ever come close to pulling

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off this epicreation he's been building for the past few years.

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Each YouTube installment is its own long special, but they

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all connect as pieces of Sidiq's autobiography, beginning from childhood

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and continuing through the years he spent incarcerated for selling drugs.

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No part of Domino Effect is bad, but part three

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is a particularly remarkable standout. All right, so that's their

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number one special of the year. Probably worth checking out then, right,

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all this is subjective. You have your list, I have

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my list, Vulture has their, as Jason Simon has his.

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It's just all fun. Let's not take this too seriously.

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It's comedy, different things for different people. I'm planning on

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doing my list right after Christmas is the plan right

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now from an editorial standpoint, As I mentioned, Jenny Mack

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wants to pre tape a couple and put his feet

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up for a couple of days. And that's your comedy

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news for today. Normal episode tomorrow. See you then,