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Sarah Silverman has landed a comedy special and a late-night series pilot at HBO after the recent backlash over a photograph of her in blackface.
In August, the comedian revealed she was fired from an unspecified film after producers unearthed an old photograph in which she sports blackface in a sketch from her 2007 comedy series The Sarah Silverman Programme.
She was then widely criticised for bringing up her blackface appearance in the context of “ cancel culture ” and the “culture of people going backwards”.
Silverman said at the time: “I think it’s really scary and it’s a very odd thing that it’s invaded the left primarily and the right will mimic it."
She went on to dub the entire concept “righteousness porn”.
Show all 10 1 /10Best comedy shows on Netflix Best comedy shows on Netflix Elder Millenial, Iliza Shlesinger If you didn’t think you could possibly laugh at more joke about the trials of womanhood, think again. New York native Iliza Shlesinger brings a fresh take on topics from modern dating to wedding planning headaches. Her show is a delightful mix of reality checks and insightful takes.
Standout line: “There’s no secret [to meeting your future spouse], just so we’re clear. Don’t buy the books, don’t buy the hype. There’s no secret, OK? I’m gonna be 35 when I get married. If there was a secret, I would have f****** used it. There’s no secret. There’s no special magic to it. I’m never going to be like, ‘GATHER ROUND, LADIES! Off the 405, lies a toad hole. You must go to it.’”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Nanette, Hannah Gadsby In 2018, Nanette pushed the boundaries of the stand-up special – and indeed it’s so, so much more than a comedy show. In a little more than an hour, Hannah Gadsby deconstructs the makings of a good joke, explains why she’s done with self-deprecation, and delivers an unforgettable, incredibly powerful take on the trauma she’s experienced as a lesbian in Tasmania.
Standout line: “I have built a career out of self-deprecating humour and I don’t want to do that anymore. Do you understand what self-deprecation means when it comes from somebody who already exists in the margins? It’s not humility, it's humiliation. I put myself down in order to speak, in order to seek permission to speak, and I simply will not do that anymore. Not to myself or anybody who identifies with me.”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Hard Knock Wife, Ali Wong If you liked Ali Wong in Always Be My Maybe (which she co-wrote!), then you’re going to love her in Hard Knock Wife (her second Netflix special and a follow-up on her 2016 debut Baby Cobra). Her unapologetic takes on motherhood and marriage (did you know she makes a lot more money than her husband and she’s not sorry?) are gold.
Standout line: “Now, I make a lot more money than my husband by, like, a long shot. My mom is very concerned that he’s going to leave me out of intimidation. I had to explain to her that the only kind of man who would leave a woman who makes more money… is the kind of man that doesn’t like free money.”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Relatable, Ellen DeGeneres After 15 years of not doing stand-up, the comedian and talk show icon returned to the stage – and, of course, turned the experience into a Netflix special. Under the pretence of pondering whether she’s still relatable, Ellen DeGeneres basks in the (well-earned) glory her accomplishments, reflects on her personal experiences – including her 1997 coming-out and how it was received in Hollywood – and riffs on the absurdities of daily life. What a treat.
Standout line: [On losing her sitcom, then struggling to sell a talk-show to TV executives after coming out as a lesbian:] “A lot of people didn’t want to buy it, because no one thought they’d watch. There was this one station manager that said, and this is a quote: ‘No one’s going to watch it. No one’s going to watch a lesbian during the day.’ And I said ‘Well, they weren’t watching me at night. What time of day is good for a lesbian?’”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Son of Patricia, Trevor Noah Trevor Noah has been starring in comedy specials for a decade, so it’s no surprise that he can take just about any topic (tourism in Bali, trap music, a conversation with President Barack Obama) and turn it into incisive jokes.
Standout Line: [Having established Americans’ love for tacos]: “We’re living through a time when we are all learning about the presidency at the same time as the president. That’s never happened. How wild is that concept? You wake up every day reading the news, and you’re like ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’ And somewhere, at that exact same moment, he’s reading the same news, going, ‘Wow, me too.’"
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Glitter Room, Katherine Ryan Katherine Ryan’s second Netflix special (the follow-up to In Trouble, which came out in 2017) tackles some of her trademark topics, from dating to co-parenting, in a lighthearted, self-affirming way. A delight through and through.
Standout line: [About a romantic partner:] “He said, ‘Well, I need to be with someone who makes me a priority. And I suppose, because you have a child, I will never be your first priority. I shall always be second.’ And I was like, ‘Hah! Second? Oh… no.’”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Weirdo, Donald Glover Back in 2012, Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, was appearing as the unforgettable Troy Barnes in Community – and spared a little time to record a Netflix special, which remains available to this day. Throughout this one-hour show, he shows off his range, reflecting on his music career, reaching his late twenties, and that brief time when the internet really wanted him to play Spider-Man.
Standout line: “I lived in Downtown LA, and Downtown LA is kind of like the Eighties decided to stay there. They’re like, ‘Oh, OK, you guys go ahead and be the Nineties. Go enjoy Ace of Base – we’ll be here practicing the Moonwalk and selling crack.’”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Not Normal, Wanda Sykes There’s perhaps one person on Earth who can make the Mueller report genuinely funny – and that person is Wanda Sykes. The comedian might be best known for her roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Black-ish, but her stand-up is well worth a watch. She has impeccable timing, sharp writing, and an apparently effortless ability to connect with her crowd.
Standout line: “In the Mueller investigation, how does [Trump] not know that he’s Individual Number one? Come on. Everybody who’s been indicted or going to jail… Papadopoulos, Gates, Flynn, Manafort… It all says in the Mueller report that they co-conspired with Individual Number One. Motherf*****, that’s you! If everybody you come in direct contact with gets herpes, wouldn’t you be like, [confused face] ‘Am I giving everybody herpes?’”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Growing, Amy Schumer Amy Schumer was expecting when her special was released on March 2019, so it’s no surprise she discussed pregnancy – and the overall business of existing in a female body – with her trademark honesty for a large part of her show.
Standout line: “It’s a new invention called THINX. They’re just this underwear that you just bleed into [during your period]. Which I guess… makes me a f****** inventor. Who knew? Should I go on Shark Tank?”
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Best comedy shows on Netflix Live Shows, Daniel Sloss This special is actually made up of two shows, Dark and Jigsaw. The Scottish comedian refreshes the “fish out of water” archetype by delivering his take on the US – and that time he told a joke about being an atheist in Indiana. His smart writing enables him to tackle topics, such as disability and – yes – paedophilia, in a way few comics could pull off.
Standout line: “As a parent – no, I’m not a parent, but I like speaking for other people, because I’m white, middle-class and male, and that’s what my people do.”
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In a statement announcing the late-night pilot, which she will executive-produce with Judd Apatow and Amy Zvi, Silverman said: “I’m as passionate talking about my face-washing routine as I am talking about why billionaires cost us money.
“Nothing’s off the table and nothing’s too high or low brow for me. I mean, look at my face, I’m literally all brow.”
Silverman is currently shooting opposite Jennifer Lopez in the forthcoming romantic comedy Marry Me and is adapting her memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee into a musical that will premiere in 2020.
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