5 Comedians Who Make Me Laugh Out Loud
Truth Is Funny
If you've heard me speak about how to find humor that's authentic to you and organic to the situation, you know that "Truth is funny."
All we do as comedians is observe and report truth.
Whether these comedians are your taste or not, they're all BRILLIANT at what they do – and I say that as someone who's spent the past 27 years as a comedian myself and a writer for some of the biggest comedians in the US. (Said for context, not for bragging. Ok, little bit of bragging there.)
Comedy Devices to Watch For
When you watch these performances, keep the phrase "truth is funny" in your mind, and see where you can spot the comedy devices I talk about most often:
Self-awareness
Specificity
Misdirect
Understatement
Callbacks
5 Comedians Who Make Me Laugh Out Loud
I've ranked them in order from least to most spicy, based on language and content.
1. Jim Gaffigan
Brilliant funny and very family friendly. He's a master of self-awareness, and even has a voice for the audience he uses to fill in what they're thinking.
HOW TO WATCH: Easy to find his specials on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, AppleTV
2. Jeff Cesario
There's a lot I love about Jeff – he's a good friend, we've been on a few writing staffs together – but what I love most about his stand-up is how good he is at specificity. Every example he uses is not only deadly accurate truth-wise, it also sounds funny, by which I mean he's found a colorful word that's literally fun to say.
HOW TO WATCH: Stream his latest album, "What Was I Thinking?" on Spotify here. Seriously, treat yourself. It'll make any train ride or car journey a delight.
3. Gina Yashere
Owns. The Room. Ridiculously funny, with incredible presence. Absolutely brilliant at reflecting back the funny truth of her own experience as a gay, British Nigerian who went to the US and got her own network sitcom.
HOW TO WATCH: Several specials available to stream on Amazon Prime
4. Wanda Sykes
Wanda puts me on the floor. She's a master of it all: writing, expression, delivery, characters. And she's especially brilliant at making uncomfortable truth – like race and racism – funny.
She's on the spicier end of the list because she gets political, which I certainly don't think is a bad thing in a comedian, just letting people know, cause everything's loaded these days.
When it comes to acknowledging the elephant in the room, there's no one better. The opening joke to her 2019 Netflix special, "Not Normal" (Netflix) made me laugh so hard I needed my inhaler.
HOW TO WATCH: Lots of specials are available on Netflix
5. Jim Jeffries
The spiciest. Like Wanda, Jim's material also embraces uncomfortable subjects, sometimes relentlessly. But so funny and so truthful. And brilliant at storytelling, in a Billy Connolly, "How on earth did you tie up all of those tangents so neatly" way.
When I recommend him to people I think will like him, I usually say that 2 minutes in, they may hate him, but 5 minutes in, they'll love him.
FULL DISCLOSURE & SPOILER WARNING: This classic clip is about guns. (The spoiler is he doesn't get America's obsession with them.)
HOW TO WATCH: Most specials are available to stream on Netflix
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