A Word on Jim Jefferies’ (Disappointing) Most Recent Special

So, normally, I love Jim Jefferies. If you don’t know him, he’s an Australian comedian, whose specials mostly consist of long, gut-busting, and unnecessarily crude stories, with an often offensive, controversial, but somehow sensible narrative.

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The bit he’s most known for is his piece on gun control:

His jokes have some real gems in them, and although you may not agree with his political, religious, or sexual commentary, you’d likely admit that he raises some interesting points and made you chuckle. He also has a late night show now (I know, I know, like we didn’t already have enough political late night show hosts) that has some funny bits, although it can be somewhat leftist shill-y, as is to be generally expected from popular late night shows. Even with its bias (remember, everyone has one) his show represents some great writing in addition to on-site interviews and stories.

However, his most recent special, “This Is Me Now”, doesn’t hit the same comedic sweet spots and topical insights as most of his material.

I think the best word to use to denote the first 20 or so minutes of this special would be vulgar. But not his usual, cheeky, come-and-go vulgar, like a slow, persistent, and grotesque vulgar, as thick as molasses. He spends far too long on the topic of rape, which I thought (hoped) we would see less of from him in this day and age. Rape jokes are simply unfunny and cruel to victims. He has some in his earlier specials, but they were generally just a line or two he would pop in every once in awhile. This is still inexcusable, but also not half as bad as a full bit about rape, that carries on for roughly 10 minutes. It was a hard thing to sit through - I felt bad for the audience at times, especially victims of sexual abuse.

He spends something like 10 minutes talking about ‘docking’, which if you don’t know what it is, I’m not going to explain it to you in detail without any warning or actual point like a total asshole (hint hint: he does this, don’t look it up, gnarly)

Jefferies also blatantly insults the deaf, which seemed really unlike him. After a laugh pause, he just starts back up with “I hate the deaf”. After awhile, we figure out that it’s really a joke about the signers that come in to his shows to present his dialogue in sign language. I get that it’s for shock value and you’ll get thse laughs but come on, man. So unnecessary.

Anyways, the first half sucked. Like so bad that I wanted to write it here so that anybody that might have liked Jim Jefferies as much as I do (did? I don’t know, I can’t decide yet) doesn’t get uncomfortable watching him trudge through this insane material. The second half wasn’t all that bad, it felt like Jim Jefferies as usual, but please don’t watch that first half. I’d actually recommend the second half, just skip to the 30 minute mark and you’re good! I don’t see how this special can not lead to him losing lots of fans from his Comedy Central show, and his standup in general.

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