Dec. 14, 2025

Comedy News Today – Did Bill Burr Have the Worst Year in Comedy?

Show Notes
Transcript

From Riyadh to his worst special. did Bill Burr have the Worst Year In Comedy?

Johnny Mac shares his reflections on the best and worst comedy events and standup specials of the year. He highlights Conan O'Brien's Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Netflix as the top comedy event, praises Shane Gillis' SB monologue, and enjoys series like 'Last One Laughing' and 'Tires' on Netflix. Johnny also discusses why certain standup specials didn't make his top 25 list, critiquing performances by Bill Maher, Andrew Schulz, Rosebud Baker, Chris Distefano, George Lopez, and more. He gives a nod to some notable Golden Globe nominees like Kevin Hart and Sarah Silverman, and mentions upcoming specials to watch. Concluding, Johnny stresses the subjectivity of comedy and invites listener engagement.

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, Johnny Mack with your daily

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comedy news. Yesterday I revealed my top twenty five stand

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up specials of the year so far. Today we'll take

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a look at things that didn't make the list. But

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first I want to list things that were funny but

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not stand up specials, because, point blank, the best comedy

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event of the year on your television was Conan O'Brien

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the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor that

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was on Netflix, far and away the best, even better

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than Mark Maron special, which I have at number one.

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Big names coming out to celebrate Conan O'Brien, including John Mulaney,

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Will Farrow, Bill Burs, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, even Adam Sailor,

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Yes he was there, Triumph the Masturbating Bear. What could

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you not want? A celebration of why Conan matters? Absolutely fantastic,

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all right. Another thing that was really great Shane Gillis's

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SB monologue on ESPN. Not a special, but it was

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fifteen minutes or so of Shane doing what Shane does best,

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not pulling any punches or really gotta laugh out of

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me that Chuckley you just heard, was me flashing back

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to some of the jokes he told that night fantastic.

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I really liked Tom Sagora's Bad Thoughts on Netflix, specifically

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the stuff that's totally not making fun of Garth Brooks.

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It's not Garth Brooks at all. He's not making fun

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of Garth Brooks. Why would you make fun of Garth Brooks.

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It's not like Garth Brooks is a serial killer, which

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he's not. What a wonderful show Tom Sagora's Bad Thoughts.

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Did you watch Last One Laughing UK? That's on Amazon

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Prime Video. They lock some funny people in a room

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for six hours with one rule. Do not laugh. If

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you laugh, you get a warning. If you laugh a

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second time, you're out. Jimmy Carr is your host. One

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of my favorites, Richard Ayuada was on there. Rob Beckett

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did a great job. Bob Mortoner doing magic is hilarious.

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It's fun to play along at home. You sit on

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the couch and see if you can not laugh yourself.

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I recommend on Last One Laughing. They're actually working on

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a second season which will feature, among other people, Diane

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Moore ran from the Kunk series. She's great and David

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Mitchell from Mitchell and Webb. I'm looking forward to that.

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Maybe my favorite thing all year was Jonathan Kite's Anthony

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Bourdain impression on Instagram just injected into my veins. He

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could put out one of these every single day and

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I would watch it. If you haven't seen it, find it.

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It's incredible. Kite as Bordain visits places like in and

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out Burger, can't get enough of it, and Shane Gillis

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twice making less Tires on Netflix. It's like blue collar

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The Office but in an auto repair shop. Fantastic show.

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Can't get enough of Tires on Netflix. Yesterday I did

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the top twenty five. Here are the specials that did

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not make the list. I just want to acknowledge they

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existed in no particular order. Bill Maher, is anyone else

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seeing this? Nominated for a Golden Globe that was on HBO?

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All right? Whatever, I know it's a hack line, but

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the titles. Is anyone else seeing this? And apparently the

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answer is no. I didn't see anybody talking about that,

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but it's nominated for a globe. Okay. Andrew Schultz's Life

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was on Netflix. It just didn't work for me. For me,

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the storytelling felt off. I couldn't get into his journey.

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I know a lot of people really like that one.

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I just didn't connect with it. Rosebud Baker is the

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mother Load. This was the one where she took two shows,

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one in which she's pregnant and one after she had

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the baby, and split them together. It just didn't work.

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It was more distracting. Christa Stefano had one of the

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Hulu specials this year. I was not a fan of

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the Hilarious brand for the most part. His special, It's

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just unfortunate. Here's my entire review hack. While we're being negative.

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George Lopez is special on Amazon. I wrote the word horrific.

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I can't believe Georgia actually released it. Lisa Trigger had

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a special on Netflix called night Owl. She has tremendous energy.

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I didn't love the material, didn't connect with it. On Amazon,

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Eliza Selessenger's a different animal. Now watch this one and

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pay attention to her performance. She is reciting her act

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as if she's in an empty room, no regard whatsoever

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to how the crowd is reacting. She's not surfing the energy.

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She's just got words in her brain, and the brain

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is connected to the mouth and she's going to deliver them.

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It's really, really weird. Another disappointment from Hulu Bill Burr's

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dropped dead years. I know we're supposed to come away

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impressed by how enlightened Bill has become. Those were the

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talking points. The press spit back, Yeah, Bill, you're so

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enlightened now. I think it's the example of how hilarious

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is the brand you go to when you're on your

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way down. I think Bill Burr might be past peak now.

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He did not have a great year in general, his

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late night appearances, everything around birth this year was bad.

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I think Bill Burr might have had the worst year

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in comedy. Let's think about that and we'll come back

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and talk. Some more specials. Some more specials from twenty

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twenty five that did not make my list. Steph Tolev's

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Filth Queen on Netflix. I know people really like that one.

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Filth Isn't my thing, so I was like, Eh, I

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just don't want to do this. It's probably a very

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funny special, It's not my thing. Devon Walker is loll

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Live special on Hulu has one good Chris Rock joke.

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Also on Hulu, Ralph Barbosa's Planet bos uh. This has

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my typical notes. Civilians will like it, but I'm a

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comedy snob. I never connected with this one, and I

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like Barbosa a lot. I hope I'm wrong when it

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comes to my Hulu theory and Barbosa. I hope he's

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still on the way up and hasn't peaked, because I

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do like him. Joe lists small Ball on YouTube, I

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did not believe a single word coming out of Joe's

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mouth was true. I understand comedy. I understand repetition and exaggeration.

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I get it. I know how it works. I also

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understand that anyone up on a stage is doing a performance,

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just like I'm doing a performance right now for this podcast.

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I get it, but I need stuff grounded in reality,

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like I'll break character for a second. Do I like

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Adam Sandler movies? No? Do I walk around kicking my

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dog all day because Adam Sandler put out Happy Gilmore too. No.

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I don't think about Adam Sandler at all unless I'm

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sitting here in the studio with a microphone in my

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hand and slipping into the Johnny Mack character. So this

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is a performance, just like Joe lis Smallball as a performance,

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But I didn't believe a word of it is true.

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Opinions on Sailor are true. I'm just repeating them and

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exaggerating them for effect. But the small ball material, Nope.

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David Spade's Dandelion on Amazons started out really slow and

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I lost interest. And maybe the back forty minutes is awesome,

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but you know, dude, you got to get things going here.

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We've heard comedians talk about Netflix specials that they're moving

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their closers up to the first act because of people

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like me. Maybe Spade needed to do that. Maybe his

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closer is amazing. I'll never know. This next special actually

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upset me from Hulu yet again. Sebastian maniscalcos he ain't right.

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The trailer radicalized me. It's the editing and this and

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Sebastian making the stupid faces. Enough with the stupid faces,

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and then I put on the actual special and I

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have come to the conclusion that Sebastian is doing a

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character that I have called old man Dice Clay at

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sixty years old. It's like if the Dice character just

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got gray hair and decided he was going to work

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clean and talk about food. That's what Sebastian doing. I

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don't know what's going on there. And Jim Gaffigan's Bourbon

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Set on YouTube clearly not his best work, but over

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three and a half million people have watched on YouTube,

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which all suggest I am a loser doing a podcast

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in the basement whose opinions are just terrible. And Jim

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Gaffigan is right. I cannot argue with any of that.

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So those are the other specials that are quote not

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on the list. Before we go, let's take a look

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at the Golden Globes nominations for Best Performance in Stand

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Up Comedy on Television. They are Bill Mahers, Is anyone

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else seeing this? Brett Goldstein's The Second Best Night of

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Your Life? That's in my top twenty five, Kevin Hart's

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Acting My Age that was my number two, Camille nan

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Gianni's Night Thoughts not out yet, Ricky Gervais's Mortality not

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out yet, and Sarah Silverman's post Mortem also in my

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top twenty five. And I don't get to pick the

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Golden Globe. I don't know how I would give the

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award to you here among the ones that I've seen,

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so definitely not mar and I like Goldstein a lot,

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but for me, I keep staring at Kevin Hart and

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Sarah Silverman and where I'm strung buggling is I have

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Kevin Hard as the number two special of the year

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because it's funny but it's not art, and what Sarah

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Silverman did, I would consider it to be art. Now,

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the correct answer here would be Mark Marin special, which

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was both funny and art. So I don't know. Could

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I give a golden globe to Sarah Silverman and be like,

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this is an award winning piece of work, whereas Kevin

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Hard is just a good time in a theater for night.

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Or is that unfair to Kevin Hart because John, you

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got it at number two so it's funny and mission accomplished.

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I don't know. I think if I had to vote,

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I think i'd vote for Sarah Silverman. Does that make

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any sense? Maybe it doesn't. I'm not even sure it

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makes sense to me anyway. That is the look at

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this year's stand up comedy specials. Again, as I mentioned yesterday,

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there are a few that I haven't been able to

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watch yet because I tape this on Tuesdays to who

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accommodate my publicist, and some aren't out yet. Friday Night,

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Sarah Sherman released Live plus in the Flesh Tonight on Netflix,

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Robbie Hoffman's Wake Up. I could see both of those

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making a revised version of this list. December nineteenth, com

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Ounanjianni's Night Thoughts. Vulture has that as their best special

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of the year. I'll believe it when I see it.

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Tom Sigora's Teachers on Netflix Christmas, even Ricky Gervai's Mortality

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on Netflix December thirtieth. So I will do a revised, updated,

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quick flyover version of these lists at the end of

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the year, but for now, because I had a hand

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on the homework, those are my top twenty five stand

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up specials of the year. I listened to yesterday's episode.

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I'll combine with today, and those are my thoughts on

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the year. I would like to hear your thoughts. And

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we have a Facebook group which is Daily Comedy News

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Podcast Group. I'll remind everybody it's just a list. I'm

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just a dude in the basement hosting a podcast. Your

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list will be different. Your list is valid. My list

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is valid. Vultures list is valid, Golden Globes list is valid.

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It's all valid. It's comedy, it's art, it's subjective, whatever,

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it's just a list I'll see tomorrow.