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Lil Rel Howery feints ending his second HBO special a couple different times, in a few different ways.
Then theres a pause and a bit of self-reflection.
Theres a tenuous transition onto the topic of Al Sharpton, which then leads to an Al Sharpton anecdote.
The audience ripples in response, pleased but generally calm.
Howery pauses again, then says, I think Im gonna get the fuck out of here.
Its been about an hour.
This gets a bigger laugh than the Sharpton joke, but Howery doesnt end here, either.
Theres a tiny Rel act-out as a man whos decided to sell Popsicles but only grape.
Only grape, he chuckles to himself.
He puts the mic back in the stand.
He pauses, buttoning his jacket.
The audience, reading this as yet another joking attempt to end the special, laughs in recognition.
But this time it really is the end, not with a bang but with a moment of appreciation.
The ending ofI Said It.
He is in Chicago, playing a theater hes walked past hundreds of times in his life.
This is not a special about painstaking joke balance or stunning, genre-defining narrative precision.
Its a special about feeling very, very good.
To some extent,I Said It.
Yall Thinking It.also plays with several iterations of a particular idea.
Theres no menace to that act-out, in spite of how easy it might be to mock this woman.
Hes befuddled by why his friend would want to live on that wavelength.
Meanwhile he, Rel, is perfectly happy to be exactly where he is.
So instead of a heady, mournful, challenging set of themes and variations,I Said It.
Theres a long joke thats just Howery explaining and performing parts of the movieLean on Me.
Superfically, that material all falls into some obvious categories.
Theyre demonstrations of Howerys age because they reflect the culture he consumes.
Theyre pop-culture jokes, largely referential and light.
He gets to play characters, something he loves.
I go to therapy every Tuesday.
Im just a happy motherfucker, Howery says in the specials closing minutes.
This is what happiness looks like.I Said It.
Yall Thinking It.does not reach the bravura genre-defining heights of his last special, but hes absolutely right.
This is what happiness looks like, and its a delight to get swept along with him.
