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Stand Up Specials That Laugh In The Face of Death (or behind death's back)
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items Because sometimes we laugh about things we really aren't ready to talk about yet. Start an end of life conversation with someone you love with, yes, these stand up specials. I promise you, it helps.
Oswald lost his wife unexpectedly; in this special he shares about how life's smallest moments can be upturned by grief. I appreciate the tenderness Oswald demonstrates here. It's like he striking a blow at toxic masculinity and grief stigma at the s...
Patton Oswalt: Annihilation
Recorded just days after her diagnosis with breast cancer, Tig Notaro performed this set. It became one of stand up's most profound comments on mortality. While also being scarily likely to make you LOL at the same time! Also a good reminder to all s...
Tig Notaro LIVE
Talk about before her time! Maria Bamford filmed this in her living room with only her parents as the audience…in 2012! In this special, Maria Bamford shares candidly about mental illness, depression, and yes, even suicidial ideation…with funny voice...
Maria Bamford: The Special Special Special
Nanette isn't the first stand up special to flip comedy back over to tragedy and then back to comedy again; Beth Lapides' Uncabaret and all of alt comedy in general has been doing interesting versions of this trick for decades. However, Gadsby took a... Also, Gadsby invites us to consider the question whether laughing at our tragedy is truly for our own good, or to make other people more comfortable, and that's a pretty important question. The special itself is available behind Netflix's paywall, bu...
Hannah Gadsby's 'Nanette' Probably Doesn't Need to Be Discussed But...
They're aren't too many pieces of art that can be said to have definitely resulted from a twitter thread. Or at least not ones that SHOULD exist. This special (available at the time of this writing only as a made for Audible audio) is an exception.
Sorry for Your Loss-MCK
Alt comedy icon Laurie Kilmartin live tweeted the death of a parent, hoping for some emotional relief. What resulted was a stand up special. Don't miss her weirdly helpful nonfiction but humor book on the same topic.
LAURIE KILMARTIN-CIS Woke Grief Slut
Of all the NSFW specials on this particular list, this is the NSFWiest! But Pryor's iconic stand up isn't just some of the funniest comedy ever written about not quite dying--it's also an elegant description and illustration of addiction, written fro...
Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip
One of the things I love about this special (besides being completely and easily available) is tackles how people potentially can and I would argue should show up for grieving people. Hint: If the person doesn't need the support at the moment, put a ...
Good Grief: A Comedy About Loss and Being Bad at It (Full Special)
Perfect commentary about Disney using dead parents as a plot point. Can't vouch for everything else necessarily, but this particular video is chef's kiss!
Disney Are "Killing" Parents | Jason Manford: Muddle Class | Stand Up Comedy
Check out the comments section. It's lovely.
Total Loss: a Comedy Special About Death by Will Martin
This is more of (slightly meandering) story than stand up but it's included here because it's an excellent example of someone talking honestly about grief when a friend dies. And talking honestly about complicated loss.
JJ Grief Is a JERK JJ Buechner
This special-- about losing a partner and dealing with diabetes-- isn't fully available online yet but it's included here because it is probably headed to a theater near you. I love that Sam's delivery is iconic Ptown campy style, but his subject mat...
Sam Morrison-- Sugar Daddy
Cue the hack joke about how stand up specials are becoming more like TED talks. I've included this here because there are enough laughs to qualify as stand up, even though the topic requires deep vulnerability.
How I made friends with reality | Emily Levine