The Ten Best Comedy Specials of 2020!
Our celebration comedy in 2020 continues with perhaps the most prestigious of all the categories- the 10 best stand up comedy specials released this year. A special is a culmination of years of work, and the truest hallmark of a comedian’s talents, this is one of the most coveted awards every year.
This year Netflix delivered three of the best stand up specials, Amazon Prime is the home for two specials on our list. But it’s YouTube that boasts the lions share of our top ten list with four specials available for free via the streaming platform. That’s pretty incredible that four self produced specials made the top ten this year, beating out many big budget hours that were handpicked by top execs. Both HBO and Showtime surprisingly got shut out this year. But there were so many great specials that it felt nearly impossible to narrow down to top ten and plenty of specials we loved had to be left off the list. Two honorable mention specials were both under the HBO umbrella. Colin Quinn & Friends was ineligible for this category because it’s a showcase instead of a single performer special, but it’s easily one of the best recorded hours in comedy this year. HBO can also claim credit for Yvonne Orji’s very strong hour, “Momma I Made It” which we truly loved. And oh my god we left so many great great hours off of this list because how do you choose when you’ve got specials from Bert Kreischer, Tom Papa, Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope, Patton Oswalt, Jim Jefferies and Jim Gaffigan released? These are comics who never disappoint, and they didn’t disappoint this year. There are also first timers releasing their first hours for tv, like Beth Stelling and Taylor Tomlinson and Jesus Trejo who put out great work, and we know will be in the running for years to come. Long time greats like Jimmy Tingle, and Tammy Pescatelli put out hours this year. Unique offerings from Ted Alexandro, Sarah Cooper, Gina Brillon, Jeremiah Watkins and Preacher Lawson. Put all of their specials on your list of what to watch next. They’re all terrific. Michael Kosta’s new hour which wasn’t out in time to be considered for this year’s list but its bound to be one of the year’s best. So now there’s a top 30, but who’s still counting?
For those of you wondering why you can’t find Dave Chappelle’s new special on our list- its because we’ve declared the big league hall of famers ineligible. You don’t need us to tell you that Chappelle or Seinfeld are stand up giants; they’re already lifetime winners. Chappelle’s 8:46 is brilliant and every media outlet in the country has already explained to you in every way it can possibly be said. He puts out two or more specials every year now, and they’re all great. You don’t need us to tell you again. He doesn’t need our award, there’s no room on the shelf. Go ahead put him above the headline. He’s earned it.
Now, before listing the nominees, let’s take a quick look back. In 2014, you picked Jim Jefferies “Bare” as the comedy special of the year. In 2015, the honor of best special went to Jim Norton’s “Contextually Inadequate.” In 2016 the late great Barry Crimmins took the award for “Whatever Threatens You.” In 2017 our champion proved to be the World Champion Judah Friedlander, for his Netflix work of art “America is the Greatest Country in the United States.” In 2018 you chose Gad Elmaleh’s “American Dream.” And last year, you overwhelmingly voted for Dan Soder’s “Son of A Gary” as the best special of the year.
Our 2020 nominees come from four seasoned pros, five up and coming young comedians, and one in the ‘other’ category.
Also don’t forget to vote on the best of everything in comedy this year– books, albums, specials, stand up of the year and more! And read all of our 2020 year in comedy coverage here.
Go through our list and vote for the Best Hour Special of 2020! Voting opens December 30th.
EDDIE PEPITONE: FOR THE MASSES. AMAZON PRIME. In “For the Masses,” Eddie Pepitone is a fire breathing dragon. He’s an angry embittered crotchety curmudgeon, he’s neurotic, he’s self sabotagey. But he cares. It’s a crucial mixture of rage and empathy that gives Pepitone his unique perspective, and he’s fucking brilliant. Eddie is an artist- a tremendous writer and performer. He’s not just on stage talking in this 60 minute whirlwind. Eddie Pepitone is performing. And for all the energy he gives to this audience, they give him back tenfold. They are exhausted after Pepitone wipes the floor with them, covering American civilization and culture through metaphor, illustrative stories, and straight up ranting. When did murder become entertainment, useless advice, zoloft, his dockworker dad, Trump, and tangents, tangents tangents. You could write a movie based on any one of Pepitone’s glorious colorfully detailed tangents. “For the Masses” starts funny and ramps up like a fever dream getting more dizzying as the hour continues, as Pepitone launches into rants about American porn habits, adult coloring books, and other signs of the collapse of a civilization. What starts as a description of a wedding toast becomes a full special within a special, and if you aren’t familiar with Eddie’s fabric softener audition closer, it’s just a masterpiece. He’s white hot anger in one minute, defeated and depressed the next. But he is on the right side of history throughout. Take the ride. You’re going to love it.
Director: Steven Feinartz
TOM SEGURA: BALL HOG. NETFLIX. There’s no gimmicks keeping Tom Segura on top ten lists consistently. He’s 100% legit. His material is smart, fearless and straight up hilarious. But Tom isn’t fearless because he doesn’t care about consequences. He’s fearless because he knows how to steer directly for the edge of a cliff with absolute confidence that he will hit the brakes at exactly the right moment for maximum thrill. If at any moment it seems like Tom is talking about something that will not shock and horrify, get ready, it’s coming. Ball Hog is his 2020 contribution to his legacy and its filled with brand new material and call backs to earlier specials. Tom starts light, talking about loving pets except under certain circumstances, and slowly ramps up until you’re hearing him say things about your mother that you never ever want to hear again. He’s not a bad man, but he will say terrible awful things, and you will enjoy every moment of it. After getting some unflattering fan mail in response to prior specials, Segura doesn’t back down, he doubles and triples down, revisiting his takes on Gypsies, Louisiana residents and even the “r” word. Tom Segura enjoys upsetting people, and he’s great at it. And if you’re offended, he knows exactly how to handle it. *Mwah*
Director: Rami Hachache
MARIA BAMFORD: WEAKNESS IS THE BRAND. AMAZON PRIME. Maria Bamford isn’t just funny in her new special, she’s a scream. Bamford crams every minute full of so much comedy that you will have to watch the hour again so you can catch all the nuance and digest it later. The title of course is hilarious because Bamford is anything but weak on stage. In fact her confidence is blinding. But the title comes from a joke where she compares herself to her blind and deaf dog, while talking about a tremor she has that can be distracting. She doesn’t correct it because, well, Weakness is the Brand, and it’s made her a millionaire. But there is no sign of weakness in this power hour. Whether she’s in an argument with herself, debating whether she’s an idiot or an attention whore for filing a restraining order against the president for example- or singing about turkey legs- or brilliantly Inhabiting the characters of the people who personify the true crazy in our culture, the hour is a whirlwind of hilarious. Who else could conceive of sexual role play with her husband that revolves around intractable social issues-? Yes many comedians have talked about gentrification, but never through the device of a sex scene between Jen, a hipster who moves into a cheap neighborhood, and Art, a gruff artist whose lived in the neighborhood for 30 years. Maria is everything that has made her a star and more in Weakness is the Brand.
Director: Robert Cohen
LOUIS C.K.: SINCERELY, LOUIS C.K. DIRECT DOWNLOAD. You can refuse to watch Louis CK’s new special because you think he’s a piece of garbage, but it won’t change the fact that his new special is one of the year’s best. Whether he should be or shouldn’t be allowed to be funny on a stage is a question you will have to decide for yourselves. But his new hour is a tour de force special that reminds us all why Louis C.K. was at the top of the stand-up pyramid for nearly 20 years. After a year of very public viewing of the evolution of his material, Louis showed exactly how the mind of a skilled comic works. In “Sincerely, Louis C.K.” you can see the honed versions of the jokes that seemed kind of shitty when they were leaked early in his process. The final versions are superb. And that’s what we’ve always loved about Louis- that he could take the most offensive premises, and hone them and chip away at them until there was brilliance. C.K. walks out to a standing ovation, and once on the stage, Louis addresses his time off in a way that will not be satisfying to those hoping to witness contrition. He is not apologetic. But it is consistent with C.K.’s character, he has never shown interest in begging for approval of others. If there’s a gene for that, he’s clearly missing it, for better or for worse. What follows is brutal, but astutely brutal. The hour is offensive and purposefully so. It’s almost as if CK wanted to make a point that he isn’t afraid to go to the dark dark places he visited for the last two decades, so he uses all the dirty words, stares down all the taboos. He talks about his mother’s death, does a lengthy bit about the word retarded, jokes about physically handicapped people, anal thermometers, Auschwitz, and infant mortality. These are topics Louis can navigate with all the skill you used to expect from him. C.K. wields sarcasm like a weapon, and it’s razor sharp. The highlight of the hour is his impression of God, through the vehicle of a five minute press conference that he feels would clear a lot of things up. “I don’t care who you fuck,” he says as God. “It never mattered. It was Adam and Eve and Steve. They were all fucking each other. Have fun and use all the holes,” he says. “Also you’re supposed to fuck the animals.” Later he will smoke out the audience’s own hypocrises in a bit about the handicapped. And the last ten minutes are spent with Louis confronting his sins head on with advice for the audience. Yes he’s an asshole, and the hour is dark. You could skip it. Or better yet, hate watch it. That way you don’t have to miss it.
Director: Louis C.K.
MARK NORMAND: OUT TO LUNCH. YOUTUBE. Mark Normand’s second hour is a big leap forward for him. And it has to be. He’s being watched. Plenty of the best living comedians have tagged him as one of the funniest young people, including Jerry Seinfeld who not only name drops Normand, he has taken him on stage with him. From his opening joke about finding a better system for how to seat people on the plane, to his closer about the importance of sex, Normand is in top form. He’s in peak smart-ass mode, and this special is packed with more laughs and jokes than a Network sitcom, only their much better jokes. There is zero filler here- it’s all strong. Filmed at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles just a month before the lockdown, Out To Lunch covers airline travel, alcoholism, fear therapy, bed wetting, alexa dependence, and pedophilia among other topics, but its not the categorization of Mark’s material that matters, its Mark’s unique take. He has created a character in himself that is so well defined you could write episodic television about him. What would Mark do in this situation? And he’s already got catch phrases, so is sitcom the next step for Normand’s unique talents. Normand has no shame, he’s perfectly comfortable admitting his flaws, be they past or present. At one point it was bedwetting, at another alcoholism, or perhaps fear of intimacy. His opening joke about wanting to pick the person he’s sitting next to on a plane instead of choosing the seat is hilarious. “Obese Nazi with a service dog, swipe left. Tiny Asian Lady with a surgical mask? That’s my gal. I hate small talk and eye contact.” Normand is a joke machine and he’s ready for the bigger time. Out to Lunch was self produced with the help of an amazing team of friends, and self distributed on YouTube. Since its release in May, Normand has racked up almost five million views, raising the bar yet again.
Director: Jakob Markovits
JOE LIST: I HATE MYSELF. YOUTUBE/COMEDY CENTRAL. Joe List filmed his very first hour special at his home club, The Village Village Underground at the World Famous Comedy Cellar. It was recorded two weeks before live comedy shut down, and was one of the last specials to record that still talked about travel, airlines in particular. In this hour, Joe unpacks an unending stream of neuroses, anxiety, and discomfort and he’s more than willing to shine light on all of them to entertain us, and not only will you laugh but you’ll finally feel like you’re not alone. Not since Woody Allen has a comedian been so funny about his fears and so comfortable talking about his discomfort. Everyone will relate to some of Joe’s anxieties but nobody will relate to all of them. So you will find yourself laughing sometimes because you get it, and the rest of the time because you can’t believe there’s a person who is worse than you are, at getting through life. List devotes his first ten minutes to exploring why he’s uncomfortable on airplanes and its a great warm up. Many comedians have noted that it’s uncomfortable to have a conversation with strangers on an airplane, but Joe may be the first to authoritatively explain why it’s so damn uncomfortable. But where Joe really shines is his material about healthcare, with a so-funny-your-sides-will-hurt series of stories about self care including a visit to a healthcare store, an ear doctor, a dentist, the eye doctor and his therapist. His encounter with a dentist List also covers With two million views and counting, Joe List’s new special is a certified hit. Now available for free on YouTube.
Director: Jason Katz
FORTUNE FEIMSTER: SWEET & SALTY. NETFLIX. Fortune Feimster taped her debut Netflix special at the beautiful McGlohon Theater in North Carolina in December 2019. Brought to the stage by her mother, the hour is not only hilarious but its also sweet and inspirational just a little bit heartbreaking. This hour is Fortune’s life story from being a little kid who nobody wanted to snatch. Through her adventures in the girl scouts, the swim team and even a coming out debutante ball, Fortune knows how to mine these priceless stories for endless laughs. Sweet & Salty is an Incredibly personal but also relatable hour representing Fortune’s life story, and the story of a lot of little girls, boys and others investigating their own labels. Maybe not everyone discovered their sexual identity while watching a Lifetime movie and realizing “Oh my God, I’m Gay!” but a lot of people struggle with the question of self identification. Particularly those young people who do not see images in the world around them of people who seem to be just like them. On one level Sweet & Salty is all funny stories and laughs but on another, it’s all about representation. There was no representation in popular culture of the person she knew she was. But times have changed, and one of those changes is Fortune herself, who now is that representation for others. She’s become for others, what she was missing in her life. And thats pure magic. Feimster is a phenomenal storyteller, and she’s got great stories to tell. Get Sweet & Salty on your to do list, its one of the best specials of 2020.
Director: Krysia Plonka
SAM MORRIL: I GOT THIS. YOUTUBE/COMEDY CENTRAL. Sam Morril released his sophomore comedy special in 2020, and its dark in all the best ways. Filmed at the Village Underground and released pre-pandemic, “I Got This” is just about getting through life’s normal difficulties- navigating loud neighbors, a membership at a low budget gym, and all the assorted characters you meet when you’re a road comic. The hour plus is a well orchestrated blend of jokes and stories, with the latter being used to break up the rhythm of the former. Stories like the time he was accidentally roofied, or the neighbor fight he witnessed, and his closer, an encounter with a Jewish Super Hero from Cleveland. Morril a joke technician, and he knows it. He even takes the time to tell the audience how structurally sound his comedy is. A side benefit of “I Got This” is that you can really learn something. Like how it’s possible to have negative one rapes on your record, or some interesting ideas on how to perform background checks for people who want guns, and why taking an Uber is a lot like a first date. You may not get all the answers, but you’ll be wondering for days about how people find out they are into autoerotic asphixiation. Sam financed and filmed the special without the help of a distributor, and his determination paid off. With nearly 5 million views, Sam Morril has proven he doesn’t need them anyway.
Director: Jason Katz
MICHELLE BUTEAU: WELCOME TO BUTEAUPIA. NETFLIX. Michelle Buteau is having one of those moments when everything is possible. With her great supporting roles in movies like Someone Great, Almost Love, Work It, Always Be My Maybe, shows like Tales from the City and Russian Doll, and as the host of their breakout reality hit The Circle, Butueau is becoming known as a scene stealer. She just released a new book, Survival of the Thickest: Plus Sized Essays in a Small Minded World. She’s co-starring with Jennifer Lopez in the movie Marry Me due out in 2021. But it’s her debut special for Netflix that is getting the bulk of the attention this year. Taped at New York City’s Sony Hall in early March, right before the shutdown, WELCOME TO BUTEAUPIA is a hilarious hour, delivered by an up and coming super star. Laughs are everywhere in Buteaupia. Michelle married, and had twins with a Dutch man which has led to story after story of culture clashes and craziness. He wants to climb mountains, she doesn’t. She comes across a tad bit aggressive at times, and to his ear, maybe she sounds like DMX. There’s also body positivity through use of the drumstick emoji, stories about working with J.Lo (“the hardest part of working with J. Lo is pretending that I didn’t know everything about her), and if you don’t already have babies of your own, you will learn what is referred to as “a blowout” in the baby world. She’s big, she’s black, she’s beautiful, she’s the creator of the viral rallying cry “Nobody want to see your dick!” and she’s responsible for one of the top ten specials this year. Much more to come.
Director: Page Hurwitz
TIM HEIDECKER: AN EVENING WITH TIM HEIDECKER. YOUTUBE. This is Heidecker’s first comedy special ever. Sixteen years ago, Tim Heidecker got his start with Eric Wareheim with their show Tom Goes To The Mayor on Adult Swim. All these years, movies and shows later, Heidecker releases his first comedy stand up special, for free, on YouTube and he swooshes it right into the top ten. This special is as unique as this entire year has been – if you love stand up (or hate it) – it’s an hour of comedy you have to watch. It was filmed pre-covid in Los Angeles and showcases a stand-up character of Tim’s who is as sad as he is obnoxious. From the opening “bit” of the special to his horrendous “crowd work”, Heidecker uses his character to make fun of the comedy special as a whole. For a guy who’s known more for his acting and video productions in comedy, rather than his stand-up, the special shows that he’s been paying attention enough to know what does and doesn’t work. “An Evening With Tim Heidecker” is a highlight in a year for a performer who also had a series premiere on Showtime and released an album of original music. And as a bonus for Heidecker fans, he ends the special performing songs from his short lived band The Yellow River Boys. This is a meta-comedy about stand up comedy, a parody at some moments, brilliant stand up at other times, and its one of the year’s best.
Director: Benjamin Berman
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