Comedy: Why do I love it?

Comedy has been a very important and influential part of my life. It has helped me lighten up in the toughest of times. I have lost count of how many times I have been able to radically shift my moods just by watching an SNL skit, an Office episode, or just a random standup video on YouTube.
I strongly believe that comedy writing and perfoming jokes is an extremely impressive and special skill. I myself tried my hand at standup comedy when I lived in the Bay Area (more about this on the Bay Area blog post).

My Top Favorite Comedians

Neal Brennan

Neal is probably the smartest and wittiest comedy writer and standup perfomer in the business right now. He’s the co-creator of The Chappelle Show, if that tells you something about his credibility and talent.
I discovered Neal when he came out with 3 Mics on Netflix, which is a masterpiece! It was not just standup comedy. Neal took it to another level by making it a platform to talk about mental health, social commentary, and hot takes.
I have so many favorite bits/quotes from this special, some of them are as follows:

• The Women have huge egos bit
• ”..and if you don’t know the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist, congratulations! you’re living a great life!”
• “ITS NOT SAFE!” (I’m not even going to explain this one lol, you’ll have to see it for yourself)
• The Men are lecherous creeps bit

I also got to see Neal live at Clusterfest and he had a pretty good set.
My second favorite work by Neal is his podcast How Neal Feel which he co-hosts with his bud Bianca Sia. They talk a lot about race, current events, and also answer fan questons.
I am drawn to this podcast because Neal indulges in some really intelligent banter with Bianca which is refreshing and entertaining. The podcast is on hiatus right now because Neal is filming his second comedy special called UNACCEPTABLE (Can’t wait for it to be on Netflix!)

Nikki Glaser

Nikki is not only my favorite comedian but also my favorite person lol (atleast for now!). She’s funny, smart, talented, witty, and gorgeous. She isn’t afraid to show vulnerability or be self-deprecating.
I also think I am drawn to her because she is very outspoken, especially about sex and mental health. Both of these topics are a big taboo in the culture I was raised in, so getting to see a woman who he is really not afraid to talk about hilariously graphic deets of her sex life on stage is impressive to me.
You can find that to be true in her Netflix Special Bangin and in her other comedy sets. She also KILLS it on all of the Comedy Central Roasts she has been a part of. I am an avid listener of her podcast. Initially it was You Up with Nikki Glazer but that ended and now I catch up on her on The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Nikki discusses her week including comedy gigs she’s on. They do a news segment, a why do I care segment where they discuss ‘news’ that really shoudln’t be news but it is, so why not discuss it and roast it, right? lol. Then there’s a fanthrax which is just fan questions amd reddit dumps. Nikki has a wonderful opener named Andrew Collin, who is also her best friend and roommate atm. Andrew’s laugh is contagious on this show. They make a pretty cool comedy duo.
I got a chance to meet Nikki (and Andrew) at the San Jose Improv.

It was a great time! Nikki brought in another opener named Emil Wakim who also did a pretty good job of warming up the crowd.
If you’re not into super raunchy stuff, Nikki may not be for you. But if you listen to her podcasts you may realize there is a lot more to her than just sex talk.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the You Up podcast where Nikki shares an awful date story with Moshe Kasher and Natasha Leggero(also two great comedians)

Other Favorites

Other than my top 2, I also enjoy Mark Normand, Hasan Minhaj, Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Michelle Wolf, Amy Schumer, Michael Che, Andrew Schulz, and many more

Here is a YouTube playlist of my favorite comedy sets (This list keeps growing!)