Editor’s Note: In the event that you find yourself endlessly scrolling through a gauntlet of streaming services for something to watch, and you come across a comedy special you may not be familiar with, chances are the first question you ask yourself, as you contemplate your next move will be something to the effect of ‘Is this something worth an hour that I can’t get back?’ — and we are here to help you shuffle through the latest and greatest comedy releases to make sure that hour and change is well spent. Welcome to The ReVue Stage. Here in this little corner carved out in Vanyaland’s comedy coverage, we have you covered when it comes to dishing out the good word on everything from new specials and albums, to books and even recaps of live shows. It’s all killer no filler around these parts, comrade. So kick back and let us help you figure out your next dose of comedic relief.
***
For anyone familiar with the creative force of Alex Edelman, it should come as no surprise that his latest project is holding some serious heat. So much so, in fact, that it feels almost unfair for someone to be that damn good at what he does.
After years on stages all over the world, from Edinburgh to Broadway, Edelman’s Just For Us found its way to HBO and Max earlier this month, and immediately made an impact on the social landscape, with praise and enthusiastic recommendations coming from every corner of virtually every media platform around. Of course that reaction makes perfect sense for anyone who has watched the special already, or for those who knew of its power before hitting the big screen, but seeing it as the finished product truly showcases every aspect of creative and comedic drive that has made the Brookline native such a compelling and multi-faceted artistic machine over the last few years, and really over the course of his entire career.
Starting from the very first joke of the special, Edelman dives directly into some of the most intellectually potent material we’ve seen in awhile. Let’s be honest here, it’s almost frustrating how good the show starts, as he incorporates his well-known verbal illustration with a flurry of smoothly executed sign language, then proceeds to self-deprecate by explaining how much time and money he spent on sign language classes for one joke. Regardless of if it’s one joke or the whole show, to come out of the gate with that? That’s a level of confidence that truly challenges the entire comedy game to get on his level.
What follows that opening bit is a full-on cavalcade of comedic and theatrical wizardry, as Edelman flaunts a full deck of impressive skills and weaves those elements into a treasure trove of quick stories and asides, as well as the main story, which follows his journey from the dark alleyways of Twitter to the meetinghouse of a white nationalist group in Queens.
One element that shines the brightest on the surface, as it has for years before, is Edelman’s physical delivery. Commanding the entire stage throughout the show, the high-octane energy and pace with which he rolls out every story and observation elevates the power of all of his biggest strengths and helps us to picture the stories he’s recollecting with great detail, but not so much detail that it becomes long-winded and overdone. In fact, the highly detailed approach makes the show better as Edelman talks through a plethora of both funny and traumatic experiences, like how it felt to celebrate Christmas one year in his Jewish household, and everything that came with it.
Another standout element that makes this 90-minute roller coaster ride of emotion and laughs so attractive is the theatrical nature of it. Not in the sense that it’s over-produced, because the simplicity of the stage setup actually helps to focus more intensely on Edelman and his many detailed reflections of his family and growing up in the Boston suburbs. But rather, the three stools that Edelman places on the stage as he starts to roll out the main story seem to serve as a constant placeholder that there’s more to come as he often veers off into side stories and reflections that somehow find their way tied back into the main plot.
That right there is a whole other aspect, and a rather obvious one when you think about it, that brings this show into the stratosphere — the writing. The joke writing, of course, is on point and hits the mark at all the right junctures, and his balance between drama and hilarity create such an exciting but the general composition of the show is truly a sight to behold when you pull back and see how Edelman pieces every little thing together. It can’t be all that easy to make something as dark and evil as a nazi gathering seem light, but Edelman goes beyond just finding the humor in the moment, and builds up to a surprisingly suspenseful closing where he’s able to round third and head for home with gusto, with the help of callbacks and some of the best storytelling chops you’ll see all year.
We don’t always want to throw the word “masterpiece” around too freely, but after watching this special, and then watching it again, we feel a bit more comfortable putting that elusive stamp on it. Edelman has always held a special quality or five, but this project really shows that, for starters, his Olympian brother A.J. isn’t the only Edelman capable of going for the gold, and it also shows him at the top of his game — and chances are it won’t be the highest he tries to go in the future.