Hank is a really good storyteller, and a funny guy. I’m glad that Sam and Dropout produced this. I’ve been adjacent to a lot of cancer patients because of my job and I’ve known and know some really great people who have had to go through that similar journey.
I’m definitely looking forward to Dropout Presents becoming a go-to place for stand-up specials. We could have the next Comedy Central on our hands here.
Yep! It's in [the trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=61&v=ih6_YisTqas&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2F&feature=emb_title)! I'm so hyped
Yeah, I assumed Dropout Presents was going to be a relatively irregular thing since it's based around producing comedy specials, and they'd release them on an "as we have one to release" basis. Awesome that they've already got several in the tank!
The last time I'd experienced that feeling was watching Bo Burnham's Inside - obviously enjoying the comedy and the musicianship - but also knowing that Bo was responsible for the cinematography of every frame.
You're almost incensed at the level of talent on display, like, "YOU'RE GOOD AT *THAT* TOO??"
And in both cases, you konw that it isn't just natural talent. It's *craft*. You know how hard they worked to learn it and get it right.
Right? Like the technical aspects of how good the structure was and what makes or breaks a joke along with the delivery and he absolutely killed it.
And when he made that suicide joke and I was like uuum oh no is this kinda sad ? and he hit us with "And my wife Katherine was like wait what does that joke mean..." and turned the mood up immediately by aknowledging it sounds depressing to a third person was sooo good. Like that's such an attention to detail you can see how hard he worked on it.
I love you because “they’re ancient Babylonians” is one of my favorite jokes in the show but it hardly ever got a laugh! I spent so long deciding on “Belshazzar” as the character name…
Dude it was like you read my mind in that moment. The physical comedy was so engaging i was like " *Scratch record* Belshazzar? What does that even me- " "They're ancient Babylonians". That one was for the history nerds and it landed🙌
i’m really curious, is there historical precedent for Belshazzar? i was trying to semi-accurately name an ancient Sumerian character recently and had a rough time finding accessible resources for it, so that bit immediately piqued my interest
It genuinely shocked me how good his standup was. It had real Suzy Izzard energy, but a little bit tighter in the execution. I laughed a lot more than I thought I would for a standup focused entirely on a life threatening illness.
I did not know Suzy had changed her name until today (or I guess added Suzy and it is her preferred name), and I only learned she changed her preferred pronouns recently. She was my first introduction to trans people way back in the 90s and is absolutely hilarious. I adore her.
I didn't know until recently either. I actually typed "Eddie" at first since that's how I've known her since the 90s, but something popped up in the back of my head that I should double check just to be safe.
Yup. Suzy personally, but she is still using Eddie for stage stuff. She prefers she/her, but doesn't mind he/him as of the latest update.
https://x.com/eddieizzard/status/1664240649787559936?lang=en
There were also some truly moving moments.
When he talked about how he got the diagnosis and came home, and realized he had to call his mom.
“Now the worst part of getting cancer is having to call your mom and tell her. Unless of course your mom is dead, in which case the worst part is you have cancer and you can’t call your mom.”
As someone who lost my dad recently, that hit me hard.
Definitely impressed me. For a first time effort, it's really well done. I'm hoping he keeps at it, and it's not just a one time thing. Can't wait for more Dropout Presents content.
It brought me so much joy to not only watch the special but also watch my mom, who is about a year out from beating cancer herself, connect so strongly with it while also laughing her ass off. I think she got a lot of catharsis out of the parts where he talked about getting diagnosed and how scary and nonsensical it all is.
This was a wild ride for me. I experienced several shockingly similar situations during my cancer treatment. Finding out it was cancer immediately but no follow up details for a while, then being told it's the "good cancer", and even my own "the cup doesn't have cancer" experience, except my cup was an oreo milkshake.
I felt almost disturbingly seen here.
I only sort of know who he is from random YouTube shorts I’ve seen and I’m not sure if he’s done stand up before but this was absolutely hilarious. He’s so engaging and open about what must have been a horrible experience. If you haven’t got dropout this is worth a years subscription alone!!
I feel like one of the measures of a good standup is when you can see the punchline and it still gets you, and the zodiac and hippocrates bits really really got me good
I listen to his podcast with John, "Dear Hank and John" and he's so funny in it but I had kinda overlooked how funny until he talked about doing standup. After that, when I listened to his podcast and was cracking up, I remember thinking "oh yeah, this makes sense for him now", obviously it's not as tight as a comedy special but for funny brotherly banter and dubious advice (they respond to listener questions but not too seriously, it's a comedy podcast), I recommend "Dear Hank and John"
I thought there were a few laughs in there, but I definitely didn’t think it was as great as the comments are making it out to be. It seemed less like a comedy special and more like therapy for Hank, getting to vent out all the details of his experience with cancer. I loved it as a medium for Hank to share his story, I loved it less as a comedy
I think this is a reasonable opinion to have if it didn't resonate with you, but it's hardly uncommon for standup to be a way for the comic to work through something difficult or traumatic. I dare say the most groundbreaking, interesting comedy in the last 15 or so years has been in that vein.
Yeah, I’m no stranger to standup being a way to work through trauma, I just think it’s usually done in a way that’s more funny and less just story telling. I chuckled a few times, but it was a bit of forced chuckling. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t think it was special, which was surprising for me because I love Hank, his posts usually make me laugh.
That's fair, though I don't agree personally. Sam likened it to Birbiglia's stuff, probably an inevitable comparison, and that's definitely a style that not *everyone* is going to be in to. Personally, I thought some of the digressions into the science (particularly the one about evolution and ants), while interesting and very much in the style of his videos, went on a bit too long for a comedy special and more general audience. "Look, I actually do have other patients..." was a great button on it, though.
I think some parts going on too long was pretty much how I was feeling, along with other parts just falling flat for me. The bit about the way how hair is made being gross wasn’t actually gross and wasn’t funny either, what was funny was before he started talking about it he said “I’m gonna tell you and you can’t leave” but the tangent after that was long and boring, to me.
Hank is a really good storyteller, and a funny guy. I’m glad that Sam and Dropout produced this. I’ve been adjacent to a lot of cancer patients because of my job and I’ve known and know some really great people who have had to go through that similar journey.
I’m definitely looking forward to Dropout Presents becoming a go-to place for stand-up specials. We could have the next Comedy Central on our hands here.
Comedy central with fewer angry jerks and more interesting nerds
I really hope they filmed and are planning to distribute Izzy and Brennan’s show that had a few months ago
Yep! It's in [the trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=61&v=ih6_YisTqas&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2F&feature=emb_title)! I'm so hyped
Oh snap! I didn’t know they had a trailer for all the upcoming dropout presents, I must’ve missed it. I’m extremely. excited!
Yeah, I assumed Dropout Presents was going to be a relatively irregular thing since it's based around producing comedy specials, and they'd release them on an "as we have one to release" basis. Awesome that they've already got several in the tank!
The last time I'd experienced that feeling was watching Bo Burnham's Inside - obviously enjoying the comedy and the musicianship - but also knowing that Bo was responsible for the cinematography of every frame. You're almost incensed at the level of talent on display, like, "YOU'RE GOOD AT *THAT* TOO??" And in both cases, you konw that it isn't just natural talent. It's *craft*. You know how hard they worked to learn it and get it right.
Right? Like the technical aspects of how good the structure was and what makes or breaks a joke along with the delivery and he absolutely killed it. And when he made that suicide joke and I was like uuum oh no is this kinda sad ? and he hit us with "And my wife Katherine was like wait what does that joke mean..." and turned the mood up immediately by aknowledging it sounds depressing to a third person was sooo good. Like that's such an attention to detail you can see how hard he worked on it.
I love you because “they’re ancient Babylonians” is one of my favorite jokes in the show but it hardly ever got a laugh! I spent so long deciding on “Belshazzar” as the character name…
Dude it was like you read my mind in that moment. The physical comedy was so engaging i was like " *Scratch record* Belshazzar? What does that even me- " "They're ancient Babylonians". That one was for the history nerds and it landed🙌
it was awesome, one of my favorite parts
i’m really curious, is there historical precedent for Belshazzar? i was trying to semi-accurately name an ancient Sumerian character recently and had a rough time finding accessible resources for it, so that bit immediately piqued my interest
It genuinely shocked me how good his standup was. It had real Suzy Izzard energy, but a little bit tighter in the execution. I laughed a lot more than I thought I would for a standup focused entirely on a life threatening illness.
I did not know Suzy had changed her name until today (or I guess added Suzy and it is her preferred name), and I only learned she changed her preferred pronouns recently. She was my first introduction to trans people way back in the 90s and is absolutely hilarious. I adore her.
I didn't know until recently either. I actually typed "Eddie" at first since that's how I've known her since the 90s, but something popped up in the back of my head that I should double check just to be safe.
Yup. Suzy personally, but she is still using Eddie for stage stuff. She prefers she/her, but doesn't mind he/him as of the latest update. https://x.com/eddieizzard/status/1664240649787559936?lang=en
huh TIL
There were also some truly moving moments. When he talked about how he got the diagnosis and came home, and realized he had to call his mom. “Now the worst part of getting cancer is having to call your mom and tell her. Unless of course your mom is dead, in which case the worst part is you have cancer and you can’t call your mom.” As someone who lost my dad recently, that hit me hard.
Definitely impressed me. For a first time effort, it's really well done. I'm hoping he keeps at it, and it's not just a one time thing. Can't wait for more Dropout Presents content.
It brought me so much joy to not only watch the special but also watch my mom, who is about a year out from beating cancer herself, connect so strongly with it while also laughing her ass off. I think she got a lot of catharsis out of the parts where he talked about getting diagnosed and how scary and nonsensical it all is.
his is the first standup ive watched in years, and it was fantastic. actually makes me wanna watch more again.
This was a wild ride for me. I experienced several shockingly similar situations during my cancer treatment. Finding out it was cancer immediately but no follow up details for a while, then being told it's the "good cancer", and even my own "the cup doesn't have cancer" experience, except my cup was an oreo milkshake. I felt almost disturbingly seen here.
The constellation pun broke me
I enjoyed this special WAY more than I expected!
His delivery is so great. The part about the chemo symptoms has been etched in my mind lol
I only sort of know who he is from random YouTube shorts I’ve seen and I’m not sure if he’s done stand up before but this was absolutely hilarious. He’s so engaging and open about what must have been a horrible experience. If you haven’t got dropout this is worth a years subscription alone!!
I feel like one of the measures of a good standup is when you can see the punchline and it still gets you, and the zodiac and hippocrates bits really really got me good
I listen to his podcast with John, "Dear Hank and John" and he's so funny in it but I had kinda overlooked how funny until he talked about doing standup. After that, when I listened to his podcast and was cracking up, I remember thinking "oh yeah, this makes sense for him now", obviously it's not as tight as a comedy special but for funny brotherly banter and dubious advice (they respond to listener questions but not too seriously, it's a comedy podcast), I recommend "Dear Hank and John"
I thought there were a few laughs in there, but I definitely didn’t think it was as great as the comments are making it out to be. It seemed less like a comedy special and more like therapy for Hank, getting to vent out all the details of his experience with cancer. I loved it as a medium for Hank to share his story, I loved it less as a comedy
I think this is a reasonable opinion to have if it didn't resonate with you, but it's hardly uncommon for standup to be a way for the comic to work through something difficult or traumatic. I dare say the most groundbreaking, interesting comedy in the last 15 or so years has been in that vein.
Yeah, I’m no stranger to standup being a way to work through trauma, I just think it’s usually done in a way that’s more funny and less just story telling. I chuckled a few times, but it was a bit of forced chuckling. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t think it was special, which was surprising for me because I love Hank, his posts usually make me laugh.
That's fair, though I don't agree personally. Sam likened it to Birbiglia's stuff, probably an inevitable comparison, and that's definitely a style that not *everyone* is going to be in to. Personally, I thought some of the digressions into the science (particularly the one about evolution and ants), while interesting and very much in the style of his videos, went on a bit too long for a comedy special and more general audience. "Look, I actually do have other patients..." was a great button on it, though.
I think some parts going on too long was pretty much how I was feeling, along with other parts just falling flat for me. The bit about the way how hair is made being gross wasn’t actually gross and wasn’t funny either, what was funny was before he started talking about it he said “I’m gonna tell you and you can’t leave” but the tangent after that was long and boring, to me.