The Best 30 Comedy Specials of 2024

A completely subjective list from a guy on his couch with a podcast

Look, before we dive in - it's just a list. Comedy is subjective. Some things tickle one person's brain and don't tickle another's. Let's not overreact to any of this. I've been tracking these specials all year, keeping notes as they come out, and here's what rose to the top for me.

The Top Ten

1. **The Roast of Tom Brady** (Netflix) - Simply epic. Kevin Hart brought his A-game, Tony Hinchcliffe got on everyone's radar, and Nikki Glaser stepped up in class. The individual performances alone make this the best of the year.

2. **Dave Attell: Hot Cross Buns** (Netflix) - 35 minutes of pure Attell showing how it's done. All killer, no filler. Got up, crushed, hilarious, out.

3. **Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: You Lucky Bastards** (YouTube) - Absolutely hilarious. Had me on a Triumph kick all year.

4. **Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It** (Netflix) - An awesome storyteller who got genuine belly laughs out of me. I didn't see the tags coming, which is rare these days.

5. **David Cross: Worst Daddy in the World** (YouTube) - Not enough people are talking about this one.

6. **James Acaster: Past of Most Resistance** (YouTube) - Very, very funny.

7. **Dusty Slay: Working Man** (Netflix) - Maybe it came out too early in the year and people forgot, but he's one of my favorite comedians today.

8. **Kyle Kinane: Dirt Nap** (YouTube) - His 10-minute chunk about Fast and Furious movies is the best chunk of the year.

9. **Matt Rife: Lucid** (Netflix) - Say what you will, but he tried something different. He went for it.

10. **Sam Morril: You've Changed** (Amazon) - Very, very funny special.

You can hear me discuss these specials on the December 27, 28 and 29 episodes of Daily Comedy News podcast.

The Rest Of The Top Tier

11. **Dimitri Martin: Deconstructed** (Netflix) - Love how he tried something different with the drawings.

12. **Des Bishop: Of All People** (YouTube) - From the opening crowd work in Mandarin, I was hooked.

13. **Hasan Minhaj: Off With His Head** (Netflix) - Yes, he's stylized, but I felt this one.

14. **Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer** (Netflix) - He always makes my list unless he really drops the ball.

15. **Phil Wang: Wang'in There Baby** (Netflix) - Got genuine couch laughs from both me and my daughter.

16. **Chad Daniels: Empty Nester** (Netflix) - More comedians are talking about Chad - he might be stepping up in class.

The Solid Tier

These aren’t in the Top Tier. These are the specials that are perfectly fine to sit on the couch and laugh for an hour. Most (not all) of these really aren’t TRYING to be anything but a solid hour of comedy, and if you’re not a Comedy Snob like me, that’s just fine for most people.

17. **Seth Meyers: Dead Man Walking** (HBO) - I have no witty comment here as it’s just a solid comedian delivering a solid hour with some solid laughs.

18. **Tom Papa: Home Free** (Netflix) - same note as Seth. The two specials are similar.

19. **Ellen DeGeneres** (Netflix) - Good material but too much victory lap

20. **Greg Fitzsimmons** (YouTube) - 80% funny, 20% hack

21. **Katt Williams: WokeFolk** (Netflix) - Fine but didn't match the Shannon Sharpe interview hype

22. **Hannah Gadsby: Gender Agenda** (Netflix) - nice solid hour, but the third best of Hannah’s three specials

23. **Connor O'Malley: Stand-up Solutions** (YouTube) - Very high aspirations. A roller-coaster of highs and lulls.

24. **Adam Ray: Dr. Phil Live** (Netflix) - the first 20 minutes and me texting everyone I had ever met to tell them to put it on. The second twenty minutes knocked this all the way down to #24,

25. **Brian Simpson: Live from the Mothership** (Netflix) - A Roganista in ascension.

26. **Tig Notaro** (Amazon) - Tig doing Tig things.

27. **Taylor Tomlinson** (Netflix) - buy stock in Taylor’s career. A few years of having to work clean for CBS will do wonders for her and broaden her audience. You don’t need the unnecessary F Bombs Taylor.

28. **Rachel Feinstein** (Netflix) - hey we tried to give her the Morning Show at SiriusXM toward the end of my run there but the bosses didn’t listen.

29. **Joe Rogan: Burn the Boats** (Netflix) - so now everyone is mad at me either because I have Rogan on the list or because he’s too low on the list. Fine hour, nothing amazing.

30. **Adam Sandler: Love Ya** (Netflix) - Actually warming up to this one more in retrospect. It maybe should be #17 and in that first group. Sandler did some weird choices (fake tech problems?) but at least he went for it and was funnier than usual. I am a known Not A Fan.

Notable Specials Not Making The Cut

Some big names didn't make my list this year. Jim Gaffigan's special on Hulu felt like "Jim doing Jim things" - nothing wrong with that, but nothing new either. Pete Davidson's Netflix special had some suspicious laugh editing that took me out of it. Did someone add laughs? Same note on Neal Brennan and way too many specials this year. Jamie Foxx's special had moments but got too preachy. Nikki Glaser’s special made a LOT of other lists but I think she was overshadowed by….herself…at the Roast.

Still To Come / Haven't Seen

As I'm writing this in mid-December, there are some specials I haven't caught yet:

- Nate Bargatze's Christmas Eve special (Netflix)

- Rose Matafeo (Max)

- The Netflix end-of-year roast

- Michelle Buteau's New Year's Eve special

- Ilana Glazer (Hulu)

There also were 300+ Youtube specials that come and go. The industry is getting a little loose with the term “special.” For me, it’s a combination of Who and Where.

Joe Blow at the Chuckle Hut on Tuesday is not a Special just because it’s on Youtube.

Joe Blow at the Fox Theater in Atlanta with a proper three camera shoot? Special.

Adam Sandler at the Chuckle Hut on a Tuesday night. Special.

Remember folks - it's just a list! Your mileage may vary, and that's perfectly fine. Comedy is subjective, and these are just the ones that worked for me this year.

Happy New Year everyone. Stay safe NYE. I hope 2024 was good to you and 2025 even better.