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Aside from afewnotableoutliers, 2023 has been an unremarkable year for comedy specials.
Again: This is not bad!
Not everythings going to beRothaniel, you know?
It cant (and shouldnt!)
always be MoNique pulling the ripcord ona career retrospective, or John Early doinga high-concept concert-film parody.
But many hour-long comedy specials are less cohesive and deliberately meticulous.
This, more than anything else, is whats most exciting about Michelle Wolfs new Netflix special (series?
),Its Great to Be Here.
The material itself is a mixed bag at best.
Theres one called New Neighborhood and another one called Me Too (sigh).
The parts arent structured like TV episodes, but they do signal some of the same fundamental ideas.
Sections can stand alone.
Theyre not quite interchangeable, but they resemble one another.
And most importantly, they can be watched as a comfortable screen companion, not as enormous events.
Theyre small, on purpose.
The visual and production design supports a tone of relaxed ordinariness.
The mics all sound a little crunchy.
Is this kind of special profitable?
How much does it cost versus a standard hour-long stage setup?
How much did Netflix pay for it?
Does the multiple-parts element better feed into Netflixs algorithm?
Do Netflix viewers prefer shorter chunks?
Economics aside, it would be good to see more comedians adopt this approach to a special.
Theres no need to smash all of those things into the same general shape.
Let specials be special.
Make more space for well-made comedy shows.
