The 2021 Awards for Remarkable Achievements of Exceptional Noteworthiness for Unrelated Things in Comedy
Some of the best comedy moments defy categorization but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve recognition. Some of these ‘awards’ are genuine and some of them are a little tongue in cheek. Here are some of our favorite award-worthy happenings in comedy in 2021. And scroll down to the bottom to see what we’re looking forward to most in 2022!
Don’t forget you can also vote now for Comedian of the Year! Vote for Comedy Movie of the Year! Vote for Comedy TV Series of the Year! Vote forComedy Special of the Year! Vote for Best Comedy Book of the Year! Vote for the Best Comedy Album of the Year!
On to the Excies!
The Iron Man Award
Colin Quinn is the Iron Man of comedy. His latest touring one man show, The Last Best Hope, is another work of art in a long series of great shows. He’s the Tom Brady of the game, getting stronger every year. Someone check him for steroids.
The Welcome Back Award
Congratulations Al Franken. You escaped from Washington and politics back to a place where you can actually change the world. Live stand up comedy.
The Welcome Back 2.0 Award
We couldn’t be happier to welcome Artie Lange back to comedy, with the return of Lange to the podcasting world with his hilarious Halfway House podcast. It’s free, it’s on Youtube and he’s been releasing them more or less once a week, with extra content on Artie’s Patreon page. The guests are amazing, the stories are always hilarious. Check it out on Artie’s YouTube, follow him on Twitter too.
Best Comedian to Call if Your House Gets Flooded Award
This one goes to Rich Vos, home alone during a hurricane that flooded out his basement, taking care of his daughter and doing gigs, but still found time to completely rip out his dry wall and redo his basement. Honorary mention to Rich Vos for Outstanding Landscaping.
Are You Sure You’re Not a Stand Up Award?
The best stand up comedian we have in America right now isn’t even a stand up comedian. Fran Lebowitz’s mini series Pretend It’s a City showed that the best stand up this year was performed sitting down, by a writer. If you haven’t watched it, this is must see comedy.
Are You Sure You’re Not a Stand Up Award: TikTok Edition
Fran is the voice of experience, and Elyse Myers is a sign of what’s to come. Comedy is evolving and young people on TikTok are weaving elements of stand up comedy with multimedia and social media to produce something new and wonderful. Follow @elysemyers, her videos are hilarious, she’s hilarious and she’s a star in the making.
The 6th Annual Colin Quinn Award for Twitter Excellence
The Second bi-Annual Non Stop Social Media Activist Award
Every year one comedian stands out as making the very best use of Twitter. And every year one person seems to be the most active at getting their political anger out there. And this year one person did both. Andy Kindler is the King of Twitter this year, bringing us our favorite hilarious tweets AND a massive dose of righteous indignation with plenty of the best self deprecation on the internet sprinkled on top. Come for the anger, stay for the jokes. “Jingle Bell Rock doesn’t.” “What better way to say Happy Holidays than a cameo from from your third or fourth favorite Jewish comedian.” “I’m going on a winter tour to open for Van Morrison and Eric Clapton as Andy Vax.” ““If Trump wins he will put us all in Trumpcentation Camps. The greatest concentration camps ever made. I will get the Jews to pay for the camps.” “No wire cliffhangers.”- Andy Kindler
Stop Acting Like You’re Joking, We Know You Love Doing This Award
Greg Stone’s brand new band released an album this year, and had the song of the summer. The band is Night Cream, the album is Cream Supreme and the song, of course, is Mr. Go Down. Is It all just a joke? Or is it a legit band? The answer is yes.
The Jim Morrison, He’s Hot, He’s Sexy, He’s Dead Award
Patrice O’Neal remains as relevant as he was before he died, and his legend grows bigger every year. If you haven’t watched the new documentary on Comedy Central, Patrice O’Neal: Killing is Easy, it’s required viewing.
Funniest Comedy Audio Book That Wasn’t a Comedy Audio Book
We’ve already raved about how great Audible is for fans of comedy in our Innovators 2021 awards list, but we still wanted to give special mention to the funniest audio book of the year that wasn’t “written” and wasn’t really a comedy. Jennifer Jason Leigh narrated Quentin Tarantino’s novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and her performance just crushes. When one person can perform all of the characters in such a complex story, and make you feel like you understand them all, it’s such an outstanding achievement. Add in the QT comedic elements, and you have a book that brings it in the comedy department. Last year’s winner of this award had a huge cast of voice actors. This year, it’s a one man band and its fantastic. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a masterful narrator, taking on all the characters with heart, suspense and laughs. Available at Audible.
It’s Time to Give Her a Show Award
Casey Balsham may be the funniest young person in comedy who hasn’t been spotted by “The Industry” and by the industry, we mean the business. She’d fit in scripted, unscripted, talk, hosting a game show, hot goss. She’s fearless, and funny and ridiculously likeable. Let’s go, let’s make this happen.
The Greatest Out of the Gate Comedy Special of 2021 Award
Also known as the Ali Wong award. Not since Ali Wong dropped her first special on an unsuspecting public has a newcomer dropped their first recorded comedy and blown us out of the water. Brian Simpson‘s half hour special is part of Netflix’s Third Season of The StandUps and it is killer 30 from opening joke to closer. The excitement of seeing someone whose name you never heard before perform at this high of a level is why everyone who works in comedy is in the business. Brian’s not exactly new to the game. He killed on the David Spade Show, he had a monster set at New Faces for Just for Laughs this year. And he’s had a couple of appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience. But most of you will discover him from this season of The Standups and you couldn’t get a better introduction. The entire lineup is packed with power hitters, so watch every episode of The Standups Season 3. And thank us later.
Finding Your Lane Award
Huge congratulations to Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton, two incredibly funny young women who have figured out their own path to finding their audience. Their Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast is as unique as it is funny and entertaining. And that’s a lot. They read celebrity memoirs so you don’t have to, delivering only the parts you are going to care about. Claire and Ashley are exhaustingly funny, and they know how to work TikTok, getting most of their posts hits in the six figures, and they’re getting oh so close to the three comma club .
Coolest Hat in Comedy Award
Justin Stangel. Nothing else need be said
Best TV Show for Hard Drinking Home Improvement Buffs
Backyard Bar Wars, hosted by Chris Distefano was this summers best show to tune out reality. And Distefano deserves an award for helming the show, keeping shit funny, and making up great nicknames for himself, all while drinking cocktails invented by West Coast alcoholics. We love it. We can’t wait for more. Keep em coming. And to really up the ante, can we hit up some Staten Island back yards this time? Lets get gritty.
The Heir to the Chris Harrison Throne Award
Forget Harrison’s replacement on the Bachelor. The heir to the dating show dynasty belongs to Nikki Glaser, host of F-Boy Island, and the only person we know who may be able to tame fuckboys in the wild. Rawr.
It’s Good to be The King Award
Mel Brooks is 95 years old, and he is sharp as a tack, can still improv better than almost anyone else out there, and is either a genius using hidden earpieces or he has a better memory than performers half his age. He’s a goddamn national treasure and we’re lucky to have him.
The Roast That Was More Like Toast Award
Netflix’s Jonas Brothers Roast because, do young girls even watch watch roasts and do people who watch roasts care about the Jonas Brothers? Can we get back to roasting comedians please. Thank you.
The Little Festival That Could……Change How Festivals are Run Award
This award goes to Skankfest creators Luis J. Gomez, Christine Marie Evans and Rebecca Trent who took their gritty, street, high energy comedy love fest to a new level this year, finally getting to bring their festival to Houston for Skankfest South. This total DIY fest gets all the best comics and all the best audiences because everyone who goes is excited to be there.
Please Write Your Way Out of This Scary Swerve Ending Award
Flatbush Misdemeanors was the only comedy show this year to scare the shit out of us during the season finale. Hurry up and come back, we need to know what happens next.
Best Overall Trend in 2021
Experimenting with the length of comedy specials, is an idea long overdue. Some specials should be longer than an hour. Most of them need to be a little shorter. The era of the streamer means a special can be 43 and a half minutes if you want it to, and it’s an option comics and distributors are finally taking advantage of. Kill your darlings, darlings. You’ll thank us.
Worst Trend in 2021
ABC’s Live Sitcoms. We really don’t need to relieve terrible versions of our favorite childhood tv shows. Can’t we just watch a rerun? The Brady Brunch every Sunday on MeTV is all the nostalgia we need.
The Reason We Still Love Austin Award
The city of Austin enjoyed a big moment in the sun in 2020. Everyone moved there, and now the city is seeing some rough times, This wonderful city is getting the first bad press in modern history, with big problems in the traffic, homeless, and crime departments, plus inflation is hitting the city pretty hard this year. But the city has also brought the resurrection of two comedy clubs we thought we lost in 2020- The Creek and the Cave, and Cap City Comedy Club. Thank you Austin!!!!
Biggest Comedy Comeback For a Comedian Who Never Started
The king of the catch phrase, Doug Bell took 2021 by storm this year, with his hot catchphrases, incredible stories about his history with famous comedians and Hollywood Celebrities, his high energy delivery, and the launch of his Doug Bellcast and the best merch in the biz. What the Bell is going on? You can ring Doug’s Bell.
Most Anticipated Projects of 2021!
Look, we don’t have a clue what’s actually going to be happening, but here is a preview of some of the projects that are supposed to happen in 2021, that we’re most looking forward to. So many of last year’s most anticipated projects made it into our awards this year, so consider this a preview for A Year in Comedy 2022!
We’re starting off the year with a brand new series from comedy goddess Bridget Everett brings us “Somebody, Somewhere”, premiering on HBO on January 14th. Tom Segura has a book of essays coming out in June that is at least tentatively titled, “I’d Like to Play Alone, Please.” We’re told through the grapevine that a movie about Joe List’s life is coming out in 2022, along with a brand new hour special. Both are expected to be amazing. A return of “Party Down” series is in the works, and we’re hoping to see that in the coming year along with a series based on Mel Brooks History of the World movie that’s currently in development.
We’re also getting new seasons form some of our favorite shows. We haven’t seen “Altanta” since 2018, but the show returns in 2022 for a third season, and we can’t wait. Pamela Adlon’s “Better Things” is returning for his fifth and final season next year and we’ll be watching every minute of it .Our favorite shows of 2020, “Flatbush Misdemeanors” and “The Ms. Pat Show” are both coming back with second seasons. And in January, we’re getting a brand new season of Danny McBride’s “The Righteous Gemstones.”
We Miss You So Much Award:
We thought 2020 was a crushing year for loss, but we couldn’t have prepared for how rough 2021 was. . We lost some comedy giants, true icons, and dear personal friends.
The list of legends who left us this year is long with Norm Macdonald at the top of the list. It was a loss we didn’t see coming, and one that rocked the comedy world. We lost groundbreaking voices like Mort Sahl, and Rusty Warren, Paul Mooney and Anne Beatts. All four were trailblazers in comedy whose influence will be felt for a long time to come. We said goodbye to the owner of New York’s Comedy Strip Richie Tienken this year who helped define what it meant to be a comedy club in New York City. We lost Jackie Mason and his unforgettable style and delivery, often imitated for decades. We lost two young talents this year, both who died before their time, victims of tragic accidents, Trevor Moore and Fuquan Johnson. We mourned the passing of some of our great comedic actors: Jessica Walter, George Segal, Charles Grodin, Ed Asner, Chloris Leachman, Peter Scolari, Dean Stockwell, Pete Aykroyd, Eddie Mekka, Charles Robinson, Willie Garson, Lou Cutell, and James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther from Friends. The world mourned British comedian Sean Lock, David Richardson who wrote for F is for Family and The Simpsons, Ricarlo Flanagan, Phil Jerrod, Scott Hansen, Phil Butler, Erica Faye Watson, and Tom O’Connor. And so many more.
We lost two tremendous and beloved stand up comedy talents. Carl Labove and Mitchell Walters were the best of the best. Two of the originals of Sam Kinison’s outlaws of comedy, they were a part of the comedy fabric in Los Angeles and beyond, and they are both irreplaceable personalities. Walters was not only a great comedian, and an incredible writer but also one of the great colorful characters of all time. LaBove was as good as anyone who ever grabbed the mic, and anyone who ever saw him perform would agree.
And finally, the loss of radio host, friend, and tremendous talent Fez Whatley shocked us all in 2021, and the pain that followed is impossible to put into words. One half of the legendary Ron and Fez Show, he was a brilliant artist, as fast as anyone who ever told a joke, and raised the idea of commitment to a bit to a level never seen before and won’t be seen again anytime soon. Fez was a comedy giant, a great friend, and a long time collaborator. His contributions to this website, and to the Year in Comedy Awards after he left radio were anonymous and invaluable. He was a legend. And sometimes it’s hard to even think about comedy without him here. He was a complicated man who touched so many lives in so many ways. He was everyone’s uncle. Or sometimes aunt, and he was the best. He will forever be a part of the lives of everyone who ever heard his voice. Gone much too soon. We love you Fez, forever.
And with that, we close out our Year in Comedy 2021.
You can continue voting for your favorite comedians, albums, books, specials, movies and tv shows through January 3rd. We’ll post the winners shortly after.
