The Year in Culture – The Best Comedy Specials of the Year
New York magazine|December 18, 2023
2023's best television series, movies, albums, art shows, books, podcasts, and more.
By Kathryn Vanarendonk
The Year in Culture – The Best Comedy Specials of the Year

1. Marc Maron, From Bleak to Dark (Max)

Maron's previous special was about how to live in an apocalyptic moment; From Bleak to Dark is about what happens when the apocalypse arrives and you find yourself still standing. The core is Maron discussing the death of his partner, Lynn Shelton, and though the material is not appreciative light, it has an quality to it, a sense of delight from Maron almost in spite of himself.

2. Beth Stelling, If You Didn't Want Me Then (Netflix)

Stelling's persona, which ticks between disaffection and full-throated weirdness, is especially effective in this special, which she recorded in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio. It's full of reflections on her childhood, and the highlight is a stretch of jokes about her father, culminating in an account of his hobby: feeding raccoons in his backyard. The whole sequence is dumb, surreal, and sad-yet endearing.

3. Joe Pera, Slow & Steady (YouTube)

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