Wanda Sykes - Not Normal (Netflix comedy special): Decent, but a lot of pandering present
Wanda Sykes has appealed to me in the past, primarily because she is a master of delivery and timing as far as working an audience is concerned. She also can be quite edgy and take risks with the jokes she chooses to tell. This special was funny, but for a lot of it, it was straight-up pandering to a NYC crowd.
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She starts out immediately by bringing up Trump and then goes on this tirade for a full 1/3 of the special. I don't mind when people tell jokes about the President, but when you are in one of the most liberal cities in the country, bashing a topic matter that you are pretty much guaranteed that the crowd is going to identify with, it just seems a bit lazy.
In the past I have appreciated some comedy that she did because she took risks. For example she did some stand up at LGBT festival when she told very sexist jokes such as
"all ya'll broads need to sit the F**K down because i need to hurry and finish up so I can get home and cook my man a hot dinner!"
She went on to tell many other sexist jokes but the crowd understood that she was joking and it was edgy, fun, and hilarious. When you go into a liberal city and say things that are bound to be something they already agree with, it isn't edgy, it is like bringing candy to an elementary school classroom: Of course they are gonna like it.
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sweet, they have it in Thai as well
When Joe Rogan went to Boston (another liberal stronghold) and told jokes that would automatically appeal to conservatives... That was edgy, that was daring, that was cutting-edge.
She also dedicated an entire segment to racism, and that horse has been dead for a looong time in the comedy realm.
She was a writer on the Roseanne reboot, she could have talked about that and that would have been daring... but not a word was mentioned about it.
Anyway, it was decent, and I laughed a bunch. I just find it irritating when really funny people take the easy route in their material and she certainly did that.
On a scale from "Urgh!" to "Wowsers!" I give Not Normal an overall rating of...
If you are interested here is a list of the specials I have watched that are currently available on Netflix (for my region anyway.)
Stuff I rate as "Excellent"
Ricky Gervais- Humanity
Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh
Joe Rogan: Strange Times
Dave Chappelle: Equanimity, The Age of Spin, and Deep in the Heart of Texas
The "Really Good" stuff I have seen includes
Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid
Kevin Hart: Irresponsible
The "decent" stuff I have seen includes
Wanda Sykes: Not Normal
Zach Galifianakis live at the purple onion
Ellen Degeneres: Relatable
Ken Jeong: You Complete me, Ho
Tom Segura: Disgraceful
And the really not so good to awful stand up is
Amy Schumer: Growing
Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (quite possibly the most unfunny thing I have ever seen)
Donald Glover: Weirdo
Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado
When I first read your review I thought you said appalled and I was like oh man, I think I am not going to like this because I really dig Wanda Sykes. Then I got reading it and realized you said appealed. :) That does seem a little lazy of her to stick with what is safe. Being who she is I can't really see her standing up and telling a bunch of conservative jokes though. Unless she found a way to turn them back on herself somehow.
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Yet another solid review - @gooddream
It's been a while since i've watched a standup - I think last full one i watched was one of Gabriel Iglesias' standup on netflix that i found absolutely hilarious. I've been meaning to watch the stuff in your "Excellent" tier as well as Kevin Hart's.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts about the Zach Galifinakis one. Personally i've found him to be very funny in his films and skits that he's done in the past. (Of course Skits\Movies are much different from Standup). I actually didn't know he had done this stand up so i'll probably be checking that out eventually.
As far as this stand up is concerned, I would have guessed it had potential, but i had guessed it would feature some lazy material at the president. I don't mind comedy involving politics, but when it's not good or extremely overdone (as it has been with the trump presidency) , I find it more annoying than remotely funny, mainly because here in the states, i have seen that far too often.
Also I must say, i'm amazed to see anyone actually watched the Amy Schumer standups. From what clips i've seen and reports from other people it sounds like it's amazing that anyone finds her funny. Which is strange, i've really never seen a comic that has been found by so many to be unfunny and yet still be very promoted.