Kumail Nanjiani’s first hour long special is really, really good you guys.
I hate to start off a review so informally, but it should be said right at the top. It’s an incredibly funny show, and writing about something this good without giving away any of the punch lines (if that’s your thing, Comedy Central has posted a couple of clips! Go check those out for some specifics!) is really difficult. I’ll be the first to tell you, writing from a place of anger or dissatisfaction is a lot easier than writing from a positive place, which is where I am after listening through Beta Male a couple of times. It’s a solid hour of genuine material from a genuinely funny person, and it was refreshing to listen to something so funny without resorting to being mean about things.
Full disclosure: I was able to see some of this material last year when Kumail and Jonah Ray brought their weekly LA based stand up show, The Meltdown, to NYC as a part of the New York Comedy Fest. The great news is all that material really holds up as part of a larger special and all of the material I hadn’t heard before is equally as great.
Kumail tells his stories in a really approachable way, while also remaining terribly interesting. His comedy is proof that you don’t have to directly relate to a story to find that story compelling. I don’t game (do we use game as a verb?) but his material about video games is some of the funniest stuff on the album because it comes from such a good place. Conversely, there are some things we all can relate to, because some experiences are universal: without getting too personal, I dare you to make it through some of the bits about porn without nodding your head at least once.
Beta Male premieres on Comedy Central on July 20th at midnight. It will be available for purchase on July 23rd, but if you’re super jazzed about it already you can pre-order it on amazon.com right now.
CNU Editor Sarah has seen exactly one episode of Franklin and Bash. She tweets here.