Tom Papa: You're Doing Great!

source: Tom Papa: You're Doing Great!

This is the kind of stand up special we need in these strange times! Funny, positive without being too over the top, comes across as thoughtful but doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a nice return to a more old fashioned style of comedy: a simple mix of funny stories and observations, good timing, and good energy from the comedian and the crowd.

This was my first look at Tom Papa, and although he wasn't bust a gut funny, I do appreciate the poignant observations about everyday life that he characterizes in a humorous way. His main schtick in this comedy special was informing the audience that they were as good as they were ever going to get, and for all intents and purposes, that was great, hence the title of the show. I could see how some folks might get turned off by that message, but he massages it to the point that you don't consider it a downer. Filmed in New Jersey before a home town crowd, this didn't appear to be done in a major venue, as the audience is shown in a socially distanced setting at tables set the way they might be in a night club. The release date suggests it might have gotten in just under the pre-Covid wire but I'm just guessing. If you've had it with all the outrageous stand-ups throwing four letter words around in every sentence, you might give this guy a try. You'll be doing great.

Ok I watched many of Tom's Stand-up Show's. He is one of my Favorites why? He is a Daddy about Daddies Lol. When he Talks about his Daughters Lol. Oh my God it's like My Daughter my Baby Cakes runs Daddy Lol. She is now 25 she is still my Little Girl but my Baby Cakes. Then when he goes on about growing up Holy cow my Dad you could not say two words to him when he got home from work. All his stuff was reminding me of Growing up. NOBODY LIKES YOU AND YOUR WIFE CHANGES. Oh when he went on about Building Bird houses. I don't Build Bird houses. But I do hide in the GARAGE AND WORK ON BUILDING WOODEN CHAIRS, SHELFS, AND TRYING TO FIX ALMOST ANYTHING TO STAY AWAY FROM THE WIFE. Maby I should build BIRD HOUSES LOL.

I laughed so hard, I had to pause the show because I was starting to have an asthma attack. Apparently, from what I read in the other comments, this comedy special was not for everyone. But it sure as hell was comedy gold for me.

None of the angry-at-the-world/system/self bits found in much of stand-up. Fresh angles on simple daily life. Really funny.

I couldn't finish this through until the end. Like another reviewer said, the only time I laughed was at an unscripted moment he had with an audience member. He sounds like a sixth grader reading a chapter book story out loud in class. Netflix has promoted this special ad-nauseum on their SXM station. His vocal inflections are UNBEARABLE! Up down, up down, up down....he sounds incredibly scripted like he is rushing though a memorized routine. He has ZERO comedic timing. His material is feel-good "be who you want to be" not comedy. He may be a great person, but as a comedian, he sucks. I couldn't get into anything he was saying because of his incessant vocal modulations. His talk show ruins my day and I can't for the life of me understand why Netflix chose him as their de-facto face of their radio station. Don't waste your time. Actually go ahead, do, but you'll see what I mean.

I'm not a huge Tom Papa fan, but I like him and have seen him live. This special started out a little weak, but then started to improve. We were having some good laughs. Then Papa went into an amazingly callous "comedy bit" about euthanizing a pet cat, describing in morbid detail the process of saying goodbye to an animal, be it one hated like the cat he's describing, or one loved like the one we had. I can imagine that anyone who has gone through the sadness of saying goodbye to a pet like that could listen to this segment of Papa's show and find humor in it. It really shocked me that a comedian of Papa's caliber would find this an acceptable topic. What's next? Jokes about suicide or the holocaust? We turned it off and didn't watch the last 15 minutes.

My dad (50ish) laughed a bit, but told me these are mostly old as the hills Jersey jokes. It put me to sleep.

"Men are awful, men are the worst, ugh, men are terrible..." Just once I'd like to play a random Netflix comedy special and luck out on picking the one guy who's not a simping beta male doing the exact same jokes other simping beta males do in every other special. Is this a Netflix requirement? I wouldn't be surprised at this point.