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If one thing unites each of these Emmy-eligible comedy specials, it’s unparalleled levels of authenticity. Whether they’re deploying innovative production design to tell a story, reflecting on religious trauma in an actual church, or bounding across the stage like a sugar-high antelope, each of these comics have raised the bar with their newly televised material.
Atsuko Okatsuka, ‘Father’ (Hulu)
When Okatsuka thinks about the fans who call her “mother,” the bowl-haired stand-up submits that they would be better off calling her “father.”
In addition to being the title of her second special, “Father” hints at the comedian’s domestic cluelessness while sincerely nodding to the story of how, after coming to America as a child, she reconnected with her real dad in Japan.
“I had painted this image of my dad — that he’s such a good guy, he was so innocent, and I was taken from him by my grandma,” Okatsuka says. “And all that’s true. But as I’ve spent more time with him, he told me, ‘I was in over my head. I’m glad she is the one that raised you because I can barely cook. I’m more of a vibe.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m kind of a vibe, too.’”
Chris Fleming, ‘Live at the Palace’ (HBO)
Watching “Live at the Palace,” it’s easy to see why Conan O’Brien once referred to Fleming as “the goop that’s inside of a lava lamp.” Fleming reads unconventional in every way, from his manic and meta delivery to his glam-rock crushed-velvet bodysuit to a rubbery tendency to leap around the stage, no limb left behind.
“I’m moving the way that I’ve always wanted to be moving, largely thanks to the size of the stage,” Fleming says. “When we went to tour theaters in Chicago, they would time me to see how long it would take to sprint from one side to the other. At the Cadillac Palace, it took six seconds. I think it achieved a grandiosity that I have always dreamt of.”
Kumail Nanjiani, ‘Night Thoughts’ (Hulu)
(Elizabeth Sisson / Hulu)
In the decade since his first comedy special, Nanjiani has been a TV star, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, even a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But superpowered paychecks and a ripped torso don’t necessarily bring inner peace — alternatively, they might give birth to some uncomfortable “Night Thoughts.”
“I hadn’t really done stand-up since ‘The Big Sick,’” Nanjiani says. “As time went by, it started to feel scarier in my head. “[But] so much of acting is putting it into a format that can work in another setting,” Nanjiani says about structuring the special, which includes self-aware stories about pool trespassers, what he’d love to say to commenters who made fun of his going to therapy after the poorly received “Eternals” release, and dealing with a pet’s declining health.
“When I started talking about [my cat], Bagel, the energy in the room completely changed,” he says. “We’ve all had and lost pets. It felt like it was very much a communal experience.”
Leslie Jones, ‘Life Part 2’ (Peacock)
Jones’ uproarious special might as well be a side-of-the-bus ad for how awesome existence can get after 50.
Using herself as a case study, Jones outlines exactly why, despite hustling at comedy for three decades before her breakout role on “Saturday Night Live,” she wouldn’t have been able to handle success in her 20s and 30s, a segment that leads to a full-on admission that her younger self absolutely would have slept with industry predators in exchange for a movie deal.
“Our parents were sold the idea that at 50, it’s over,” Jones says. “I feel like the way that I’m handling coming of age is the natural way to do it — to just face it.”
Marc Maron, ‘Panicked’ (HBO)
(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)
Maron’s been the king of anxious discourse for decades. But “Panicked” finds the comedian meeting the moment with more precision than ever as he diagnoses what ails America (Theo Von, progressives annoying everyone into fascism), as well as himself.
Balancing sorrow with self-deprecation, Maron covers childhood abuse, his father’s dementia, evacuating his home with three cats during the L.A. fires and becoming the unlikeliest of Swifties.
Maron also wanted to tell and show. “You see the lines, and it becomes a new piece of art,” Maron says of Marc Janowitz’s Kintsugi-inspired production design. “Once you get into the darker, more personal parts of the show, you’ll notice that the Kintsugi lines fill the wall. The whole thing worked as a piece, and it wasn’t just a comic standing in an old theater doing another special.”
Taylor Tomlinson, ‘Prodigal Daughter’ (Netflix)
(Todd Rosenberg / Netflix)
Filmed at the cavernous, non-denominational Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., “Prodigal Daughter” finds Tomlinson in a state of true acceptance. She’s more at peace with herself, her sexuality, the trauma of her strict religious upbringing, and the ultimate mystery: whether God really exists. “Every time I’ve touched on religion, it’s come from an angry place,” Tomlinson says. “It took me a long time to deconstruct my faith.”
Unlike previous specials, Tomlinson purposefully wrote “Prodigal Daughter” to be more accessible to the community she left behind. “I really wanted it to be an hour of material that my religious family could watch and not feel bad,” she says. “Where they felt seen, but could also laugh at the points I was making.”
