Anthony Jeselnik: Thoughts and Prayers
There's no subject too dark as the comedian skewers taboos and riffs on national tragedies before pulling back the curtain on his provocative style.
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- Cast:
- Anthony Jeselnik
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Memorable, crazy movie
Instant Favorite.
For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
I did not like this stand up comedy. I had to cut it off after the child molestation and child harming jokes. I mustered up the nerve to continue watching after he joked about the baby in the hot car in Cali. Then there was the child molestation/child sex offender jokes I disagreed with. I am sure he is not a terrible guy and may have looked at his jokes from a different point of view but from my point of view, and being a Victim's Advocate for Sexual Assaults, I find this very inappropriate even for adults. I would edit this stand up comedy, as I find it offensive and harmful in nature. With all the sexual assault cases being Brought up in Hollywood (and they are just as important now than ever) this is not the show that should be representing anyone right now. This is the type of things that are allowed because it comes from a man, yet had this been a female comedian with these same jokes, this show would have not even made it to the TV or any major network, but because he is a male, he can get. pass. This is unacceptable and VERY disgraceful comedy. There is a difference between dark comedy and just plain ol ignorant.
I am a huge fan of standup, it is my favourite genre, but this entire set was not in the least bit funny. I understand black comedy and it's certainly fun, when done properly. Seems this guy was just "hmm, what are tragedies that I can reference for shock value comedy?" Everyone likes puppies, right? Here's some jokes about neglected puppies dying. Babies... yeah, babies... here's something about a baby's violent death." Nothing even remotely sophisticated about this. Just, obvious, Dane Cook type comedy. To make matters worse some hyena managed to find her way into the audience, so the entire thing all you can hear is her shrieking laughter, over literally anything. Now I get she bought a ticket but seriously, by minute 3 someone should have ejected her from the theatre and offered her a mandatory refund. You can't have that during a live taping. Couldn't even finish it was so bad.
If you like black comedy, you must be familiar with Daniel Tosh and Anthony Jeselnik, and if you are, then you're well aware that they don't hold back. After seeing Thoughts and Prayers, I think I can safely say Anthony is the darkest comic out there as far as subject matter, and I love it. If you don't like dark comedy, then obviously this isn't for you, so if you're uncomfortable with dead baby jokes, sexist jokes, abortion jokes, pedophilia jokes, or world tragedy jokes, then stay the f*ck away from Anthony Jeselnik. But if those jokes don't phase you no matter the content because, you know, they're jokes, then Thoughts and Prayers is a must-see comedy special.What makes Jeselnik's punchlines work is the fact that you don't see them coming. Even though you know he's going to say the most terrible thing possible, he somehow manages to surprise you. His demeanor also translates well with his jokes because he's one of those people that you can't really tell when they're being sarcastic or not because he says everything with a straight face. And he's fully aware that he makes politically incorrect jokes. He comments about how society is always super sensitive about one thing at a time, and he exploits the hell out of that. Seriously, it's crazy how much he gets away with here and it's kind of refreshing to see that Netflix (and pretty much everyone that allows him to continue doing shows) can actually appreciate and promote dark humor. Yay, society. The audience even gets tested A LOT, but they always find the way back to the funny side. So basically, you should know whether or not you're the target audience for this, and if you are then I'm here to reaffirm that you should see this. If you are easily offended and give this a shot anyway, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
I didn't know that cringe humor can have too much cringe, but Anthony made me realize this. I really love humor without limitations, well I though I could handle everything until this one. That was just cringe and cringe and cringe. He is the master of cringe that wanted to always be at the top. So much that he lost the humor part. I really liked his comedy series, from last year or the year before that, but this is just too much. Can he even go back now? I doubt that he can. When you go to 11 its very hard to go back to elegant 8. He still is one of people that I follow through career, so I sincerely hope he will find his way through this.