Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Watched the new Dave Chappelle netflix special, and it's just so lazy.

Like the first 15 minutes of the special don't even feel like Dave wrote them because they're just repeats of a bunch of bad jokes from twitter. Like the joke about going to women's prison. It's not a new joke, it's not an original joke, and he didn't even tell it particularly well.

Dave later makes a joke about people saying his comedy is lazy, but it's true. The jokes were lazy and hacky. It feels like Dave has nothing left to say at this point, but either because of stubbornness (or more likely because people who liked his comedy 20 years ago are still willing to throw money at him) he just keeps plowing ahead.

I didn't laugh once during the special, and I think I smiled twice. Dave also talked about Chris Rock's recent special, and he talked about it in a positive way and described Chris Rock as the best comedian on the planet, and I have to say, that special was also fucking terrible.

There is also a new Ricky Gervais special. He did a PSA about it before it released -

“In this show, I talk about sex, death, paedophilia [sic], race, religion, disability, free speech, global warming, the holocaust, and Elton John,” he said.

“If you don’t approve of jokes about any of these things, then please don’t watch. You won’t enjoy it and you’ll get upset.”

Ricky Gervais explains why Netflix didn’t promote divisive stand-up show

Comedian’s special has become a blockbuster hit anyway

www.independent.co.uk

It still went to number one. Chappelle was at number five but it only had one day in the charts.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

There is also a new Ricky Gervais special. He did a PSA about it before it released -

“In this show, I talk about sex, death, paedophilia [sic], race, religion, disability, free speech, global warming, the holocaust, and Elton John,” he said.

“If you don’t approve of jokes about any of these things, then please don’t watch. You won’t enjoy it and you’ll get upset.”

Ricky Gervais explains why Netflix didn’t promote divisive stand-up show

Comedian’s special has become a blockbuster hit anyway

www.independent.co.uk

It still went to number one. Chappelle was at number five but it only had one day in the charts.

How many people watched something isn't a measure of quality though, especially on a streaming service. People being curious about what Gervais and Chappelle would say regarding their recent controversies and tuning in for that doesn't mean that the jokes were actually any good.

I mean, Rebel Moon also hit number 1 on Netflix and pretty much everyone agrees that it was quite bad, but I watched it out of morbid curiosity.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

How many people watched something isn't a measure of quality though, especially on a streaming service. People being curious about what Gervais and Chappelle would say regarding their recent controversies and tuning in for that doesn't mean that the jokes were actually any good.

It did win Best Standup (new category) at the Golden Globes last night.

I watched it today. It was alright. Not great, not terrible. I give it 3.6 Roentgen. I've already forgotten everything about it except for two jokes:

1. AIDS babies in Africa.

2. A hypothetical kid jerking off pedos at public restrooms for puppies and candy. He mimes the whole thing rather memorably. He later moves the premise to China; when the pedo offers the kid a puppy he replies "No thanks, I've eaten".

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It did win Best Standup (new category) at the Golden Globes last night.

Yeah, I kind of don't give a shit about anything the Golden Globes might have to say.

‘The curtain has been lifted’: can the Golden Globes overcome controversy?

After allegations of impropriety and issues with diversity, the Golden Globes are returning but is the industry ready to take them back?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Casual Shinji]

How Ricky Gervais got any sort of career in comedy boggles my brain. But then people spent years claiming Leonardo DiCaprio deserved an Oscar as well, so what do I know.

 

[Ag3ma]

Loved Ted Lasso. All 3 Seasons. I admit I was irked by Season 3. Things were working out but because characters weren't acting themselves. Wife and daughter pointed out: that is what Ted said was his goal. To change people for the better. And it appears to have worked. I still think the show uneven but well worth watching. They're favorite episode is in Season 3 when the team goes to Amsterdam.

At core I really like that idea of Ted Lasso: that sometimes great management is not being the smartest person in the room with the best strategies, it's knowing how to get the best of out people and then letting them get on with it themselves. I just often find too much earnest nicencess grating. My wife said that there was a substantial drop in quality across the seasons.

 

[Thaluikhain]

How Ricky Gervais got any sort of career in comedy boggles my brain.

Apparently he started off actually sorta funny. But then went "edgy", the only guy saying what everyone else is too scared too and all that. Awards shows (I think plural) would get him to host, he'd say awful things, and they'd act shocked that he would give them publicity that way. Though, that's just what I remember, not an expert.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Apparently he started off actually sorta funny. But then went "edgy", the only guy saying what everyone else is too scared too and all that. Awards shows (I think plural) would get him to host, he'd say awful things, and they'd act shocked that he would give them publicity that way. Though, that's just what I remember, not an expert.

I mean, I remember he got his big break with The Office during a time when that awkward non-comedy comedy was hip.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I mean, I remember he got his big break with The Office during a time when that awkward non-comedy comedy was hip.

That time never really ended, did it?

 

[Casual Shinji]

That time never really ended, did it?

Well, it certainly lost relevance, but then comedy in general seems to have when it got absorbed into the summer blockbuster.

 

[Hades]

Its been fairly late but I finally watched Rings of power. Its not bad, and its not great. Its perfectly fine. I enjoyed myself well enough.

Yeah....I don't get the big controversy. Though I will admit that Galadrial really is every bit the insufferable brat her critics say she is. That said I think that's to some extend intentional and something the writers realized, given how they started the show with everyone around her desperate for the brat to just go far away.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Its been fairly late but I finally watched Rings of power. Its not bad, and its not great. Its perfectly fine. I enjoyed myself well enough.

Yeah....I don't get the big controversy. Though I will admit that Galadrial really is every bit the insufferable brat her critics say she is. That said I think that's to some extend intentional and something the writers realized, given how they started the show with everyone around her desperate for the brat to just go far away.

I don't mind Galadriel starting off a brat. She wouldn't be at this point in the history of Middle-earth, but whatever. I do mind that she continues to be a brat throughout, and remains a brat by the end.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

The Dreamer.

About what everyone expects at this point, for better or worse. Some decent bits, but I only lol’d once, about the strip club sequence. Too much of his show feels like retreaded ground, although the ending had more sentimental leanings than the rug pull humor or otherwise circle-back punchlines he’s known for. Not sure if his Netflix stint is complete, or if there’s a couple more in the pipeline as apparently it was either a three or five special deal. Hoping he moves into new territory if it’s the latter.

Will probably watch Gervais’s Armageddon tonight.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

How Ricky Gervais got any sort of career in comedy boggles my brain.

Pioneered mockumentary TV and second-hand embarrassment comedy with The Office, then either popularized or revitalized the joke of famous actors playing horrible versions of themselves in Extras. I think in general his shows benefited from focusing on mundane, real life workplace situations at a time when people were getting sick of canned laughter and phony sitcom tropes. And The Office US only gave him even more prestige.

I think the dude's work lost its heart after splitting up with Stephen Merchant though, and more or less fell into place as a self-appointed court jester baiting social outrage. He's been doing the same standup act for years now.

But then people spent years claiming Leonardo DiCaprio deserved an Oscar as well, so what do I know.

He did, but not for eating a real fish in The Revenant.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Dreamer.

About what everyone expects at this point, for better or worse. Some decent bits, but I only lol’d once, about the strip club sequence. Too much of his show feels like retreaded ground, although the ending had more sentimental leanings than the rug pull humor or otherwise circle-back punchlines he’s known for. Not sure if his Netflix stint is complete, or if there’s a couple more in the pipeline as apparently it was either a three or five special deal. Hoping he moves into new territory if it’s the latter.

Will probably watch Gervais’s Armageddon tonight.

I just watched it too. Yeah, it's a bit heavy on the retread territory. If you're tired of the constant flack from your LGBTQ+ material... move on, dude. And starting the show off by saying since the LGBTQ+ population is off limits, he's now targeting the disabled, c'mon, man; it's clear he's feeding off of the taboo which is sorta lazy. And he admits such, surprisingly.

But it still managed to be funny, if only because instead of "in your face" fodder like Gervais' latest special (spoiler alert, "Armageddon" isn't anything, disguising offense for bravery,) Chappelle manages to be more lackadaisical in his approach in a "I know they say I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to say it flippantly and in stride to let you recognize how harmless it is." I'm not to the point of rabidly defending him; anyone feel free to say otherwise, but it almost seems like he's trying to normalize the taboo, i.e.: anybody should be prepared to be the butt of the next joke if they were willingly to laugh when someone else was the butt of a previous joke.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

How Ricky Gervais got any sort of career in comedy boggles my brain. But then people spent years claiming Leonardo DiCaprio deserved an Oscar as well, so what do I know.

He actually had a couple of pretty good specials back in the day. The rise of twitter really killed his entire shtick though.

I remember one special he had it felt like 60% of his jokes where about things he said to other people on twitter. If I gave a shit about what he said on twitter I'd be following him on twitter, and if I don't give a shit about what he says on twitter then I don't need a whole show about it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Its been fairly late but I finally watched Rings of power. Its not bad, and its not great. Its perfectly fine. I enjoyed myself well enough.

Yeah....I don't get the big controversy. Though I will admit that Galadrial really is every bit the insufferable brat her critics say she is. That said I think that's to some extend intentional and something the writers realized, given how they started the show with everyone around her desperate for the brat to just go far away.

Ah, but are you a hardcore Tolkien fan?

To me, the issue was more that Amazon is cartoonishly evil, not the show itself.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Watched about the first half of Gervais’s Armageddon.

Ehh. He’s better off ripping on Hollywood. Here it’s just lowbrow for the sake of itself. Only one bit so far got a chuckle out of me, when he was complaining about his own family. I’ll probably finish it but it hasn’t done much to hold my attention yet.

So here’s what I think is the main difference between him and Chappelle, since both are considered to o have highly offensive acts. Regardless of what people think of Dave, it’s undeniable he has a certain charisma and knows how to command a room. His body language and mannerisms, tonal flexibility, delivery, etc. all add to his act.

Gervais is…well, he has a British accent. That’s really about it. There are plenty of people who use their British accents to cool/humorous effect, but he mostly sounds like he’d fit in with the Cuckoo’s Nest crowd as one of those people who just rambles on about nonsense. It kinda makes me anxious whereas watching Chappelle is oddly relaxing.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Watched the first episode of Echo with friends.

It's actually commendable how much of the show is told in sign language. Every person who gives half a shit about Maya Lopez bothered to learn how to sign, and that's wholesome. No idea if that's realistic, given I know no deaf people. The lady they cast, who is both deaf and has a prosthetic leg, was an amazing choice. Hell, she's even actually Native American. AND her child actor looks so much like her it's genuinely weird.

What is not commendable is how roughly 20% of the first episode was literally scenes cut directly from Hawkeye. Which felt incredibly cheap, and I felt like it still wouldn't really help a person who has not watched Hawkeye get up to speed. So odd choice there.

But I was genuinely shocked at how good the one big action sequence was here. It's DEFINITELY better than anything that's even been shown on Disney+, and yet still different from Daredevil on Netflix. Not sure how I feel about the main character and her motivations, but I am more than willing to stick around for this kind of eye candy.

 

[Piscian]

I'm all caught up on Monarch legacy of monsters S01E09

Well all the cats are out of their bags. It's a tad annoying that what was teased in the first episode, essentially what happened between 1950-2016, is answered in one episode.

That's sorta the key issue with the show. It is both a "Mystery box" show JJ Abrams style and it has some severe pacing issues. Way too much of the show is fetch quests and traveling montages.

However I can't help but feel like that was Apple+ studio notes like "Hey we need to keep subscriptions going drag this out", because the show itself is smartly written. There's a distinct effort here to make these comicbook characters come to life in a way that makes the boring human drama enticing. I was sitting there playing on my phone when they decided to tell the hacker girls back story and literally thought "I don't give a shit about this", then 5 minutes into I'm like "Alright dammit I am curious now", and rewound it to catch up.

I'm not saying the show "has" to cut anything, but theres definitely room for trimming. There's a love triangle subplot that, despite what I just mentioned, I still had no real interest in and it was an unnecessary mystery box tease. They are "setting things up" and "paying them off", but some of the mystery boxes have the equivalent dramatic weight of waiting for an RMA to process.

Anyway yes Godzilla shows up so 10/10