Stand-up from Hoffman, Nanjiani and Chappelle
If we’re not laughing, we’re crying, right? Or, more often, both at the same time, in a rictal horror that may never be unmade; it is still 2025 after all. As much as I relish the grand collaboration of the movies, there is something immediate, undiluted and handmade about stand-up comedy that can satisfy the same — or at least a very similar — need. At its best, the medium creates a sense of intimacy, almost of conspiracy, that is more like music or literature than cinema, but its performative element brings it literally out of the darkness; no one is more exposed than a comic in the spotlight. (It occurs to me now that the shared laughter of a comedy show resonates more with me than the so-often soiled communal experience of the movie theater).
Anyway, stand-up isn’t really cinema, try as some directors might to enliven the affair with camera moves and editing tricks. No, what we show up for is to watch a person tell stories (hopefully funny ones) to us. And, in that, comedy shares at least some of the fundamental stuff that can make movies so magical, that quiet channel of direct experience that can, at its best, give us a sense of connection and possibility. I’ve also long believed that stand-up, like hip-hop, has often been the overlooked source of some of the greatest wordsmithery in the English language, so that’s another win.
To cut somewhere closer to the chase, I couldn’t feature sitting through another Avatar, much less finding something to write about it; no disrespect to Cameron, et al. To my great relief, three significant stand-up specials all debuted within days of each other (all brought to us by conglomerates whose motives beyond profit and growth are questionable, at best, but we take the good with the bad with the worse). They’re from perspectives about as disparate as they get in the same language and without drifting into the lunatic fringe. And they signify a (mostly) apolitical broadside against the idiotic but widespread notion that “you can’t say anything anymore.”
Briefly: I’ve had a number of white men (of which I am one) suggest this notion, among other even more odious ones, to me in conversation. To which I have increasingly responded that they can say whatever they want, but they have finally had to prepare themselves for a response. And, in comedy, we’re seeing the revolution of the call and of the response: Some of these jokes will offend, but we can learn something from our reactions.
ROBBY HOFFMAN: WAKE UP. One of 10 children born into a sometimes Hasidic Brooklyn family and now married to a Bachelorette alum, Robby Hoffman is not in the business of playing to anyone’s expectations. She is, rather, a stand-up in the grand old style, a force to be reckoned with while she’s stalking the stage.
Immediately disarming, with her boyfriend jeans, tight bun and vape pen, Hoffman could, to the uninitiated, create the appearance of a newbie, a hipster who probably thinks she’s edgy. But then, oh, but then, she erupts into a perfectly timed fusillade of vulgarity and confession that is as hilarious as it is brazen.
In this, her second special, Hoffman performs a live dissection of contemporary culture as only she can, pitching her singular, merciless voice at socio-sexual dynamics and bathroom etiquette in equal measure. It’s filthy, unfettered and often breathlessly funny, but also a testament to the transformative power of the medium. In the spotlight, Hoffman is on offense, not defense; woe to those who would stand in the way. TVMA. 66M. NETFLIX.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: NIGHT THOUGHTS. It’s troubling to think how long I’ve been following Kumail Nanjiani (although I did take a bit of a break for the whole Marvel thing). This special reminded me that we saw him, as a surprise drop-in, working out material for his first special, in San Francisco too many years ago.
Even though I’m not a gamer or a comics nerd, I am a cat guy and a sensitive, and something about Nanjiani’s unassuming presence, both on and off stage, has always worked for me. And this special, marking a return to stand-up after a decade away, is an apt reminder.
There isn’t anything particularly ribald or controversial in the material here, but that’s never been the guy’s stock in trade. Rather, this is an hour of shared celebration and discomfort, a discussion of unhappiness in the face of success peppered with jokes about swimming pool trespassers and cat medicine. TVMA. 55M. HULU.
DAVE CHAPPELLE: THE UNSTOPPABLE … Yes, I know, we are and should be conflicted. My wife, who remarked while watching Chappelle’s remarks upon receiving the Mark Twain Prize in 2019, “He’s a pretty special person, isn’t he?” now piped up with a “Really?” when he, in this special, once again came back to the anti-trans material. She’s not wrong, of course, but I think much of the outcry about what Chappelle has said from the stage has less to do with his personal bigotry and punching down, and more to do with a segment of the audience wanting the man to be a spokesman for something, rather than an individual, which is a troubling perspective indeed.
Like Chappelle or not, it’s inarguable that he is a titan, a master of the form who can make hours of prepared material seem completely unrehearsed and, in so doing, deliver some pretty profound messages. And make me laugh as hard as anybody. In The Unstoppable, recorded in front of an enormous crowd in his hometown of Washington D.C, Chappelle takes the wrecking ball to the whole world as only he can. And, as in all his recent recorded work, he creates a text that will bear further study, as salient a broadside about America in this moment as anyone can render. TVMA. 75M. NETFLIX.
John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.
NOW PLAYING
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. Na’vi-on-Na’vi violence in the latest installment of James Cameron’s sci-fi action franchise. PG13. 195M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
DAVID. Animated Old Testament tale about a shepherd who beans a giant with a rock. PG. 115M. BROADWAY.
ELLA MCCAY. Comedy-drama about a newly elected governor (Emma Mackey) with a complicated family. PG13. 115M. BROADWAY.
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2. Sequel to the Chuck E. Cheese-esque animatronic horror. PG13. 104M. BROADWAY.
THE HOUSEMAID. Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in a thriller about weird dynamics with the help. R. 131M. BROADWAY.
MARTY SUPREME. Timothée Chalamet plays a ping pong champ in the 1950s, when that kind of thing apparently got you laid. R. 150M. MINOR.
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS. Your favorite boxy hero takes on the Flying Dutchman’s ghost. PG. 96M. BROADWAY (3D).
WICKED: FOR GOOD. Elphaba and Glinda reunite from opposite sides of the yellow brick tracks to save Oz in the sequel. PG. 137M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
ZOOTOPIA 2. Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman return to voice the rabbit and fox crimefighting duo in the animated comedy adventure. PG. 108M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
For showtimes, visit catheaters.com and minortheatre.com.
This article appears in Through Mark Larson’s Lens 2025.