Aziz Ansari drew a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden even though his performance was not superb. From immigration to animal cruelty to misogyny to technology, he had some good topics, but he didn’t land the punches. Perhaps he was too nice to take a firm position on his stands. It could also be that my expectation of him has escalated after Buried Alive.
One-line review of recent movies I have watched.
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which took over twelve years to complete, gives viewers the true evolvement of the characters.
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, both Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman gave their outstanding performance.
In Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, Bruce Dern gave an unforgettable performance of an aging man who refused to give up what he believes.
Mark Raso’s Copenhagen is just a beautiful romance.
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street marks a fruitful collaboration between Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.
A brilliant documentary of the renowned designer couple Lella and Massimo Vignelli. Beyond their expansive portfolio ranging from corporate identities to furnitures to interior designs, what stood out are the two advices from Mr. Vignelli. First, never work with bad clients because you’ll get worse ones. If you work with good clients, you’ll find better ones. Second, it’s not about the size of the project, but the size of effort you put into it. Thank you Mr. Vignelli.
Jefferies, like Louis CK, is one of those comedians that pushes the button. In his Netflix’s special, BARE, he tackles standup’s favorite subjects, including sex, gun, fatherhood and the disables, but in a very offensive approach. His dark sense of humor is enjoyable, but not without a guilt.
With his unique Korean-Irish background, Steve Byrne championed jokes on stereotype. From Black, White, Asian to gay, Byrne spares no races and genders in his latest stand-up special. Champion is available on NetFlix for some energetic, comical pleasure.
Jewish comedian Elon Gold takes race to whole new level. His sex marriage is spot on. Chosen & Taken is available on NetFlix. Also worth watching is Christian Finnegan’s The Fun Part. He packed tons of witty commentaries on politics as well as sex at 40s.
The Queen of Comedy is funny and filthy as fuck. She delivered an hour full of raw, entertaining materials ranging from sex, celebrity and more sex. Her advice on maintaining a relationship is to respect and say “please.” Even if you have to say, “Would you please stay the fuck out of my face.” If you have NetFlix, check her out.
Caught a few standup comedies on Netflix.
Segura delivered many quick, witty shots. While he landed punches, I wish he covered less topics and more details.
Remember Johnson? The Mexican chick who made terrible Vietnamese accent. Her recent show, however, was not so bad. Unlike most standup comedians, Johnson didn’t use one curse word. If you could get past her slightly annoying pitch, Johnson could be enjoyable. Her jokes were lighter and her charisma carried through. Thank goodness that she didn’t try the Vietnamese imitation.
Out of the three, Redd stood out the most. His metaphors were brilliant. So many great lines in his routine, but the one stuck in my mind was on racism: Before you do your laundry, you have to separate the white from the color because the color will fuck up the white. His perspective made even mundane things sounded interested. Try to explain to your kids how the Whopper Jr. was made. I am sure Burger King didn’t think of it when they came up with the mini version of the Whopper.
Trevor Noah, a young comedian from South African, shares his fresh, hilarious perspective of the “American-centric” such as language usage, airport security and Black American. He’s charming, thoughtful and witty. Unlike most comedians, he pulls off his punches without dropping the F-bombs and explicit sexual content.
Stand up comedies have been my late night enjoyment. NetFlix is perfect for stand comedies on the iPhone with the earbuds so that I don’t wake up the kids. Here are a few recent watch:
Russell Peters’s Notorious: Peters has become a one-trick pony on racism and occasional nasty sex. His latest Notorious isn’t all that new, but still funny. The best parts are the interaction with the audience.
Aziz Ansari’s Buried Alive: Another Indian comedian. Was not feeling with one of his old routines, but Buried Alive is quite impressive. His topics are a bit scattered, but on point. Didn’t realize that dick pics are so common.
Ron White’s A Little Unprofessional: Lots of filthy jokes. More like a lot unprofessional. Still entertaining.